What is our criteria for a recommendation?

That's a good question.

It should be stated right off that there is no such thing as a miracle pill, and none of the products we recommend will help you lose 30 pounds in 30 days, or build slabs of rock hard muscle with minimal effort or anything like that.

That said, we do know that quality products delivered by reputable companies can help with the battle of the bulge—if, and only if you are eating right and exercising (and then you probably don't need a supplement anyway, right?).

Our criteria for a product recommendation:

1) Produced by a reputable company with a proven track record: Quality companies know that the only way to ensure success in a competitive marketplace is to produce great products that generate happy customers and repeat purchases. A company with "no brand" may be one to be suspicious of -- since it has nothing to lose by marketing an inferior product with deceptive marketing tactics.

2) Reliable clinical data: While very few fat burners have peer-reviewed clinical studies performed on them (there are a few exceptions) we do look for products that contain the precise amounts of ingredients that correspond to promising clinical studies. If there's enough good data validating the ingredient profile, the product will get a recommendation.

We're not big fans of in-house clinical trials -- i.e., studies performed by the same people who are retailing the products. The conflict of interest is simply too great for us to ignore. We're really after double-blind, placebo controlled, peer-reviewed studies published in a reputable journal.

3) Money back guarantee: We mean a money back guarantee with teeth. All sorts of retailers (especially those selling online) offer a money-back guarantee, but few actually honor it.

As far as we're concerned, a good guarantee allows the retailers the opportunity to "put their money where their mouth is" by removing all financial risk from the customer. And, if a product really is as good as advertised, why wouldn't a company do so? A valid guarantee is the ultimate demonstration of a company's confidence in its product.

4) Stellar customer service: One thing we do hear a lot about here on UltimateFatBurner.com is customer service. Horrible customer service.

Delivered by rude, abusive, patronizing and insulting sales reps.

In our opinion, the fact that you spent your own hard earned cash entitles you to be treated fairly, and with politeness and dignity.

5) Good Better Business Bureau ratings: Poor customer service, shoddy billing practices and inferior products lead to lots of complaints at the Better Business Bureau.

6) A clean slate with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission): The FTC is the U.S. governmental body charged with protecting consumers from nefarious retailers who promote products with claims that have no basis in reality. When we see a company has been sued by the FTC, we can be pretty sure it's not one that has a whole lot of focus on the best interests of its customers.

7) Competitively priced offerings: Occassionally, we'll stumble across a well-formulated product but it is so over-priced it doesn't warrant a recommendation. When you can purchase the core ingredients in a formula in isolation for much less, a recommendation doesn't make sense. Many products retailed online have inflated costs to cover the huge referral fees paid to affiliates. We can't recommend such products in good conscience, especially when there are cheaper and more effective alternatives available.

8) No deceptive billing tactics: We won't recommend a product that is marketed with deceptive billing tactics -- i.e., an auto-ship program (where you receive the product every thirty days on an on-going basis). We've heard so many horror stories from folks who were added to such programs without their consent and then were unable to unsubscribe from them.

Not all of these are required for a recommendation, of course. For instance, suppose a credible company offers a money-back guarantee on a product. Suppose also that the product does not have much in the way of clinical data to support it. The fact that the company is willing to remove the risk from your purchase is often enough to generate a recommendation -- with a caveat.

Of course, the only way for this to work, is if the money back guarantee actually has teeth -- i.e., they honor it. But since we do our due diligence to ensure they do, you won't need to worry about it!

Other products may not be sold with a money back guarantee, but there's enough evidence available to warrant a "give it a try" recommendation. Still others might be so cheap as to be worth the experiment. You get the idea.