Does Rhodiola Rosea Help with Weight Loss?

Rhodiola for Increased Energy

Feelings of fatigue are highly reported among those who are embarking on a weight loss journey. The combination of cutting down on food, exercising and moving more, and having an increased demand in mental energy to adhere to good habits can make us feel more run down than usual.

Rhodiola is known to have the biggest impact on resisting fatigue, which translates well into physical activity and exercise. It can simply make us feel more awake, alert, and more mentally prepared to tackle any challenges ahead.

While lacking physical energy is likely a nutrition and health issue, mental energy can be just as damaging to your progress. Rhodiola can help with just that!

Some studies have suggested that supplementing with rhodiola can improve all markers of mental energy, resisting the “burn out” feeling, and managing stress-related fatigue.

As rhodiola can help you feel better mentally and physically, it therefore provides you with the energy and mood improvements to face any weight loss challenge head on!

Rhodiola for a Positive Mindset

Exercising is known to make us feel good with a sense of euphoria upon achieving something physically demanding. However, exercise isn’t always enjoyable for some of us.

Rhodiola can help increase the amount of serotonin and dopamine—our “feel-good” hormones—which means you will essentially enjoy exercise more and increase and prolong that euphoric-like feeling.

While the mechanism behind this isn’t yet fully understood, it is speculated that this may be the reason for the benefits of easing symptoms of depression and anxiety upon the consumption of rhodiola.

Rhodiola for Burning More Fat

There are many supplements on the market that claim to burn more fat. Though, these supplements are usually just high caffeine powders or pills that are marketed as fat burners, showing little promise in providing meaningful fat loss results.

How rhodiola differs from the rest is that it helps produce more lipase—a substance that breaks down stubborn fat.

It has been shown that rhodiola can potentially boost the production of lipase, suggesting that individuals can possibly shift more stubborn areas of excess fat when combining supplementation with an effective nutrition and training program.

Rhodiola for Improving Athletic Performance

Studies have shown that rhodiola can possibly help improve exercise performance by providing certain benefits around increasing fat burn and improving mental energy and clarity.

One study actually showed a significant improvement in the uptake of oxygen and other markers of training performance upon supplementation of rhodiola.¹

Research has also found that rhodiola can boost red blood cell production, which is known to help our body use energy more efficiently.

As a result of these physiological advantages, there is also a clear mindset advantage knowing that rhodiola can make your workout more effective. That’s even more motivating, right?

Rhodiola for Decreasing Cortisol Levels

Cortisol is the hormone our body released in response to stress. When this hormone is produced in abundance, it becomes uncontrolled and can wreak havoc on our body.

It can make out body hold onto more fat and reduces our ability to fight off toxins and pollutants that cause aging. This is why stress is often marked as a killer!

While there are many ways to help cope with increased stress levels, such as exercise, meditation, breaking, and mindfulness, supplements such as rhodiola can also help.

As we have mentioned, rhodiola is one of the most popular herbal adaptogenics available. Adaptogenics are substances that can help our body cope better with physical and mental stress.

Rhodiola specifically can help our body react to short- and long-term physical and mental stress by prolonging the “resistance” phase of our stress response. This enables us to persevere through stressful situations before we experience a mental “crash”.

Adaptogens are also thought to have immune-boosting and cognitive-enhancing properties, both thought to promote overall health and wellbeing.

Keeping the body in a positive mental and physical balance is key to helping us feel more focused on the task at hand—in this case, weight loss. Additionally, keeping cortisol levels controlled would also allow our body to burn fat more easily as opposed to holding onto it.

Rhodiola for Easing Depression and Anxiety

As we have discussed, rhodiola can help reduce cortisol levels, boost mood and motivation, and promote a more positive mindset. This all centres around the benefits of easing symptoms of depression and anxiety.

While symptoms of these mental health conditions can be crippling, in many cases it can affect weight loss efforts in numerous ways.

Depression makes it difficult to focus, get motivated, makes you feel mentally weak, and have a poor appetite. It can be very challenging to try to tackle your physical health as well as your mental health.

A supplement doesn’t often have the answer to these issues, however rhodiola is thought to help ease the symptoms enough to potentially allow you to tackle your physical goals head on.

This may even result in an indirect improvement in your mental health, if you are able to exercise regularly and look after your physical health.

Rhodiola is thought to lift mood and promote a more positive mindset, thus allow you to feel more energetic and motivation to take on your daily challenges.

Rhodiola for a Safe Alternative to Stimulants

Rhodiola is one supplement that is thought to be well-tolerable for the majority of us, having no reported side effects provided the recommended dose is not exceeded.

Many weight loss supplements and stimulants can have a range of negative side effects, such as jitters, a “crash”, shaking, high blood pressure, and mood swings.

While rhodiola may have some initial stimulatory effects, it is not in the same realm of the likes of caffeine and is therefore considered safe.

Having said this, it’s always a good idea to consult your doctor before taking anything new!