Mommies Magazine

Vitamin B12 and Weight Loss

Posted on 07. Nov, 2009 by Mom Mag in Health

There is lots of different information going around about B12 and whether it can help you lose weight.  It’s hard to distinguish between right and wrong information.  So what’s the truth?  What is B12 and can it help you lose weight?

B12 is a nutrient that we get naturally in our diets.  B12 is one of the nutritients that our bodies need for proper functioning.  Someone with a B12 deficiency will have serious side effects to their body.  Look at it this way, if you are baking a cake you wouldn’t bake it without the flour would you?  Obviously not because when you leave one of the most important ingredients out, the cake just doesn’t turn out right.  Your body is exactly the same.  When your body lacks something as vital as B12 it just won’t work right.  This vital nutrient lets your body operate more effectively and efficiently which in the long run allows you to lose weight because it improves your overall health.

Another great thing about B12 is the energy boost it gives your body.  This obviously won’t take off the pounds itself, but it gives you the motivation to get up and moving.  And when we get up and move we know what the natural reaction to that is – weight loss.

Another weight loss helper is your metabolism and B12 boosts it.  What exactly happens when you have a boost in your metabolism?  Well you digest food faster and will burn more calories just sitting there.  And basic science tells us that the more calories you burn, the fewer calories you store as fat.  And when you increase your exercise level that will also give your metabolism an extra boost!

B12 shots tend to be on the pricey shot, about $65 a pop!  Our bodies all have B12 from the foods we eat so a shot isn’t necessarily the route to take.  In fact you can get more B12 in your system simply by adding it to your diet.  Start eating more things like salmon, trout, liver and clams which are high in B12.

As mentioned earlier, there is a lot of information out there regarding B12 and there are scientists that claim it’s not effective.  But there are thousands of people out there that say it helped them lose weight.  There is no magical pill or cure to losing weight, it’s determined by how hard you work at it.  But, B12 if combined with diet and exercise could just be that extra boost that your body needs to shed those extra pounds!