Anyone experiencing side effects from the L-carnitine? Are some brands more or less prone to causing side effects?

I've been stalled for over 9 months, and after reading this thread I bought some L-carnitine. I took 1 250mg a day for about 3 weeks, with no side effects but no weight loss.

I then switched to Twin Labs' Mega L-Carnitine 500mg. The bottle says to take 4 a day on an empty stomach. I have been taking 2-3 a day but they give me pretty bad "GI distress". I've tried taking it with meals and on an empty stomach - with meals makes the side effects worse. And after all of this, I've only lost a couple of pounds over 3 weeks, making it just not worth it for me.

I have problems with any "mega" pills. Can't take them. Upsets my stomach. The ones I take, I get at wal-mart by Nature's Bounty.
How about your inches? Have they changed?

Nature's Bounty is the brand I tried when I was taking the 250mg - they did not bother me but I did not lose. Not sure if that was due to the dosage being so low or to it simply taking time to kick in. I will buy some more and try taking a higher dose to see if they work.

As far as losing inches rather than pounds, I have not been measuring. I'm still wearing the same clothes that I did last September - my jeans seem to be a bit looser on my butt and thighs but still fit the same on my stomach. Think I need to start saving for that tummy tuck

Measuring really helped keep me going during those stalls. That and trying on the old clothes. But I can really tell a difference when I track my measurments. I also have learned to take the L-Carnitine in the morning with my breakfast. If I take it at night, my legs get the wiggles when I try to sleep. It is like they just won't shut off.

Congrats on the break of the stall!! That is awesome!!

Ditto on breaking your stall!! :-)

L-carnintine is known to effect mostly if taken in dosage of atleast 2000mg per day. I use the walmart one, and it seems to help!

Good thread...I have been taking l-carnitine -- but, like others who posted here, only sporadically and I stopped for a while because it is so pricey. Even at my most consistent I wasn't taking enough, though.

I am taking 1000 mg's of the tartrate form currently. But I am going to up my dose as Crahorn suggests in Carnitine Miracle , which I just finished reading.

It is expensive, but I would pay anything to be thin again so I am going to bite the bullet for a while to see if it can overcome my metabolic resistance.

Per Crayhorn's book, I am also going to up my flax seed oil capsules a bit, too.

Note to new users: be careful taking it too late in the day -- it can make falling asleep quite difficult.

Walmart has it, 30 tabs for about 11 bucks, I bought some yesterday and popped my first tablet today.

One things for sure, all of a sudden I am feeling extremely hot, feels like it ramped my metabolism up. My co-workers are shivering and I am still very hot.

I have been taking l-carnitine for many months, but only 500 mg a day. It hasn't prevented my weight loss slowing down to a crawl. After reading this thread, I'm planning to experiment with higher doses. Sometimes I have been able to get the capsules at 2 for the price of one during sales at Walgreens--that helps with the cost!

Aha!!! Oh my I am so glad to read this...I was at a sort of stall of 141 pounds and then I started eating more than 1200 calories like 1300 to 1400 calories (I exercise aerobics and toning 1-30min. 5x per week) well when I added calories I went down to 138 then this morning was at 136....but it dawned on me with reading your alls posts that I also began the walmart brand of l cartinine 500mg at the same time along with the co-q10 and alpha linolic ...so withing 4 days lost about 5 more pounds....must have been the cartinine helping there too!!

Wow Matty, as others have said, your list of attempts to break you stall sound very similar to mine and the list is just as long!

Congrats for still sticking with it despite the stall, I really commend you!
(I realize, more than anyone, that people do need to hear that!)

I realize that I am also very metabolically resistant. I keep on keepin' on though. I'm committed. I'm going to be a skinny girl YET! hehehe. Because of how committed I am, I too have tried it all! Many things have worked, and I will continue to do them, but I do experience stalls or marginal weight loss often.

Anyway, I went to the Atkins website and
for many who've posted comments, it appears that a lot of people aren't taking enough L-Carnitine to get the benefits of weight loss

Atkins suggests 500 mg 3x a day of L-Carnitine (which I will also purchase and start taking) (see: http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/11/30-273880.html )

It also suggest CoQ10 and chromium as they all work well in conjunction with one another. I was opting to get the L-Carnitine only in the interest of keeping the cost low, especially since it has been working well for Matty and those who are taking enough, but I guess I will get all three to maximize the effects. Wish me luck!

Can you guys tell me what is the difference between Acetyl-L-Carnitine and just L-Carnitine?
Any reasons why the Acetyl one is no good?

Thanks

It's not that it's no good -- it is just absorbed differently. Some recommend L-Carnitine as better for weight loss, and specifically the tartrate form. Some think the acetyl form is better if your goal is specifically heart health, not weight loss.

Bought my L-Carnitine and CoQ10 last night and started taking it! We'll see how it goes.. one day down! Wish me luck!