Whilst vitamins and minerals aren't going to be a magic bullet for aiding weight loss, there are several that can assist with the process. There's 3 main ways in which vitamins help with weight loss most of which mitigate some of the difficulties that come when dieting and exercising making the process easier.
The first is giving you more energy, the second improving sleep quality and the third is improving athletic performance (helping you burn more calories, fat and build more muscle). Some can even reduce cravings and other issues that people struggle with whilst dieting.
There are other supplements that can help with weight loss as well as just vitamins, and the best contain a mix of the effective vitamins for weight loss and a couple of other effective ingredients, like caffeine and glucomannan.
Best Vitamins For Weight Loss (Combined Supplements)
Instant Knockout - Best Overall
Hourglass Fit - Best For Women
Hunter Burn - Highest Dosed
Losing weight will always come down to calorie intake vs calorie expenditure. No matter what you do, your body weight will not go down for the long term unless you have a caloric deficit. Small fluctuations of a few pounds can happen even on a daily basis due to water retention, how much you've eaten that day and so on. Vitamins aren't going to change that. However, vitamins and minerals are essential for your body to create muscle mass, and as we've mentioned keep your body functioning well whilst you do everything you need to do to lose weight.
What Vitamins Help With Weight Loss The Most?
Whilst there's a lot of vitamins and minerals that help with weight loss, and you can get a lot of them from a healthy diet it does always become more difficult when you're restricting calories to lose weight, that said, we've ranked the ones that are going to be the most effective overall.
Vitamin D - We gave vitamin d the number one slot due to the fact it boosts energy levels, has been shown to increase athletic performance when training, keeps your hormones in line (which also increases weight loss, especially in men). The interesting thing about improving exercise performance is that this showed consistent improvement well beyond the minimum RDI. On top of this vitamin d also keeps your appetite under control, and reduces stress related cravings. All of this is amplified quite dramatically if you're vitamin d deficient, and almost half of the US population is at least mildly deficient, and most northern countries recommend you take vitamin d supplement all year round, never mind in the winter. Very few food sources give us enough vitamin d and the sunlight that passes through windows is filtered in a way that our body can't use it to produce vitamin d. In short vitamin d levels are incredibly important for our body and overall health especially if you're trying to lose weight.
B Vitamins - Whilst there are some rather uncommon b vitamin deficiencies that can cause weight gain, that's not the main reason that B vitamin comes second on the list. The main reason for it's inclusion is the known energy production boost that b vitamins give. Something, that the fitness industry often talks about is NEAT (none exercise activity thermogenesis) this simply means, how many calories you burn by moving around without exercising. This is often cited as a reason why overtraining isn't effective, or why your "metabolism drops" when you're dieting. Simply put, if you use a lot of calories without consuming extra, your body will subconsciously move less, and as a result burn fat and calories less effectively. As such anything that helps you keep energy levels high whilst dieting is great. Beyond that, it is also essential for your body to break down fat and convert it to energy. And whilst dieting, the important thing is to eat foods that you like that allow you to keep in a caloric deficit. So, you'll want to make sure you supplement for the essential vitamins you may miss.
Magnesium - One of the biggest issues when in a caloric deficit is getting enough sleep, hunger in the evening is where a lot of people slip up and consume more calories than they realise. Magnesium supplements help you sleep better, and rest is also essential for weight loss. Beyond that, magnesium supplements have been shown to improve testosterone production in men (building more muscle mass and breaking down fatty acid) as well as improving training performance, and the more effectively you work out, the more calories you burn.
Calcium - Calcium supplements have been shown to help with weight loss, people who took calcium supplements along with a calorie restricted diet outperformed those taking placebos in multiple trials. On top of this, whilst dieting calcium is one of the most common deficiencies as most natural sources tend to be high in calories. It's essential for keeping your body healthy whilst controlling calories.
Zinc - Zinc is mostly a supplement that helps men with weight loss, even mild deficiencies can cause a reduction in testosterone production, which can lead to weight gain. Unfortunately this deficiency is quite common in the US. There's isn't much if any benefit to taking more than the recommended daily intake unlike raising vitamin d levels, so just make sure you get the minimum.
Iron - Iron is another energy production vitamin, it's also one that's commonly deficient amongst people dieting. Iron is essential for your body being able to carry oxygen around the body efficiently and that includes to your muscle function, meaning you can't exercise effectively without it.
Chromium - Chromium studies have shown it to help with weight loss in that it helps you burn fat rather than breaking down muscle fibre for energy production. It's also been shown to have a modest impact on overall weight loss against a placebo. It's been shown to be effective at as low as 600mcg.
Boron - Boron is interesting, it's more useful for men's weight loss due to it's impact on male hormone production, again low testosterone levels cause weight gain and the inverse is true of high levels, meaning it should help men lose weight. Only around 10mg is needed to have these benefits.
Which Vitamins Do I Need For Help With Weight Loss?
Whilst theoretically you don't need to take vitamins for weight loss, we'd recommend that everyone looks at the various vitamin b types for energy, Vitamin d supplements to boost metabolism, exercise performance and supress cravings. After that we have magnesium supplements coming in at 3rd for their multipurpose with mood, sleep and performance increase and calcium and iron at joint 4th to combat low vitamin levels that can make it harder to shift body fat when dieting.
Chromium is also a good inclusion due to it being one of the most commonly studied to promote weight loss.
Will Taking Vitamins Help Me To Lose Weight?
If you're already getting enough of some, they probably won't make all too much difference, however, if we're talking about vitamin d and vitamin b then you're going to see benefits beyond the recommended daily minimums.
What Other Supplements Support Weight Loss?
Vitamins and minerals aren't the only natural supplements that have been proven to help you lose weight. Some supplements are better than others, generally speaking supplements are broken up into a couple of effects. Those that suppress appetite, improve training performance, boost energy levels and those that raise your metabolism. Unfortunately whilst there is some minor effect in raising your baseline metabolism although we all wish these were more effective.
Glucomannan - Glucomannan is the most effective over the counter supplement for appetite suppression and in a lot of countries is the only one that's legally allowed to be claimed as statistically significant. (Although caffeine is arguably as effective for weight loss overall, there are reasons some countries don't allow it to be advertised as a weight loss aid). Glucomannan works by swelling up in the stomach, about 2000mg swells up to the size of a bagel and it's functionally 0 calories. It's quite easy to understand that taking glucomannan 30 mins before you have a meal, means you'll eat less. Or taking it through the day makes you less likely to snack.
Caffeine - Caffeine is a triple threat to help with weight loss, it suppresses appetite for about 4 hours after consuming it, raises your energy levels, makes you subconsciously move more and best of all, raises your baseline metabolism.
5HTP - 5htp reduces cravings and raises serotonin levels, it used to be a prescription only option, and has been proven to reduce interest in unhealthy foods under brain scan as well as positively tested against placebos. This is particularly beneficial for women's health as it helps mitigate cycle related cravings.
Green Tea Extract - Green tea supplements have a number of health benefits beyond weight loss, some studies show it to help people burn up to 3% more calories per day, although generally it looks more like 1-2%. Not a huge difference, but it's a nice extra in some combined supplements, but shouldn't be the focal ingredient.
Coffee Bean Extract - Green coffee extract is similar to green tea extract and some studies have shown that it can support blood sugar control and offer a minimal boost to an otherwise healthy metabolism.
What Are The Best Vitamin Supplements For Weight Loss?
The supplements that we recommend contain a combination of the best ingredients from the vitamins and minerals section and the general supplements list.
Instant Knockout
Instant Knockout is our "with caffeine" choice, with the product containing a heavy dose of caffeine and vitamin d as well as glucomannan, it's particularly good for people who are leaning into exercise as a root to weight loss and struggle with overeating with large meals.
Hourglass Fit
Hourglass Fit is the best choice for women, and toped our women's fat burner list, it mixes vitamins, glucomannan and 5htp as it's main ingredients. They don't include caffeine as women tend to be more sensitive to caffeine and often prefer to get it from actual coffee, although make sure to use sweeteners not sugars in your skinny latte.
Hunter Burn
Hunter Burn is the premium option, it's heavy on the glucomannan and vitamins, but avoids the caffeine, this makes it a good option for people who want energy, but don't want their sleep effected by caffeine, meaning hunter dietary supplements are a good option to take towards the evening if you have trouble with appetite later in the day rather than early in the morning.
