Posted by CS on March 23, 1997 at 09:02:35:
In Reply to: Re: CARNITINE-L - Need advice posted by JOHN NATURAL on March 22, 1997 at 22:20:35:
: : OK, a friend gave me some Ephedrine and a jug of Carnitine-L for some weight loss at the end of my rather large cycle........Just what the hell is this Carnitine?.....I can't get a straight answer...Is it a fat burner? Is it a caffeine thing? What? Please help.
: : Thanks. A Great Canadian.
: L-CARNITINE is an amino acid that helps fatty acid cross the mitochodrial(cellular power plant)membrane for use as energy.This will inturn lead to an overall usage of fat for fuel and thus fat loss as long as excess calories are not ingested.
: JOHN NATURAL
John, your answer was exactly what I was going to say (except you said it a lot better and with less words than I ever could!). Apparently this is why l-carnitine is good for us endurance athletes. Not that I put my entire (if too much at all) faith in Michael Colgan, but he has a good section on l-carnitine in Optimum Sports Nutrition that talks about how athletes, especially endurance athletes can benefit from using this amino acid. (paraphrasing his words...)Normally everyone gets enough in their diet but athletes tend to go through the supplies in their bodies quickly and supplementing with 2-4 grams an hour prior to workout may be helpful in preserving glycogen and in ultilizing fat as an energy source more efficiently. Since I've been able to get l-carnitine fairly easily (I work at a health food store and can get some stuff for wholesale), I've been using it for awhile off and on, fairly consistently. Hard to say if it "works" but since there's a good chance I may be using up supplies quickly, I tend to think I'll err on the safe side and take the stuff. It may help, it's not going to hurt, and since I can get it fairly cheap it's worth taking "just in case".