I strive to be as honest and transparent as possible. You should know that product reviews are not paid for, but I may earn a commission on products purchased through the links in this article. Learn more here.

natrol acaiberry diet box

I’m skeptical of all diet pills. And I’m really skeptical of anything that so much as mentions acai berry or raspberry ketones. So when I first heard of Natrol AcaiBerry Diet, you better believe I had a good chuckle!

Then, just before writing them off permanently, I looked at the price, which just happened to be $5.99 on sale at Walgreen’s!

Even at the retail price of $9.99, that’s cheap for diet pills. Most of them are $40-60 per bottle, especially if they list the current superfood of the day on the label! (Acai berry might not be the new thing, but it’s still popular.)

I was able to stop at Walgreen’s the next day and grab a bottle of 60 pills (giving me a 30 day supply.) A few days later, I was using them.

What could you expect from these pills?

According to the label, lots of neat stuff. And some of it sounds legit!

The pills contain both acai and green tea – specifically the antioxidant EGCG, which is actually proven to aid in fat loss and overall health.

Then there’s the “Metabolic Activator” which is basically caffeine, but it comes from four herbal caffeine sources. I have no doubt that will fulfill their claims of revving up your metabolism, burning calories, and promoting energy and mental alertness!

There’s also a small amount of chromium, said to promote fat metabolism and improve insulin sensitivity, and “Berry Digest,” their enzyme blend which claims to support digestion. I don’t know if either will help, especially considering the low quantities, but I don’t think they’ll hurt.

And what’s the main selling point?

They say: “You can lose up to 20 pounds in 10 weeks when you follow this menu and exercise plan.”

Of course, this statement is followed up with a bunch of asterisks! If you want to check out the meal plan or exercise plan, you can download a PDF copy right on their site. Don’t expect anything fancy, though – it’s a low calorie diet (1500 for men, 1200 for women) made up of a variety of foods. If you starve yourself like this and still exercise, and you have 20+ pounds to lose, you could very well lose the weight.

The problem is, it’s a very poor plan if you want to lose fat, not weight! Not a big deal though, because I’m interested in the pill’s other benefits (not to mention, I can figure out my own meal plan!)

natrol acaiberry diet

My Initial Thoughts On This Pill…

As I mentioned, this stuff is cheap! If it does anything at all, it’s probably worth the price. So that got me hooked right away.

After checking the ingredients, I’m assuming most of the affects (extra energy, increased fat metabolism, and appetite suppressant) are probably from the caffeine content.

Any weight loss results would likely be attributed to the reduced calorie diet… coupled with the fact that most people buying these diet pills are probably 50+ pounds overweight and would drop quite a few pounds without adding the pills.

What sealed the deal is that these seem fairly safe. If you’re very sensitive to caffeine you could have trouble, but otherwise, they’re not as scary as other diet supplements. So I say, it’s worth a shot!

natrol acaiberry diet pills

My Natrol AcaiBerry Diet Testing

I tested this supplement through March 2013, following the instructions:

Directions: Take 2 capsules, one time daily, with a meal.

Due to the caffeine content, I knew I had to take these by late morning, so I either had them with a late breakfast or an early lunch. It was also good to get them in early so I could capitalize on the extra energy during my afternoon workouts.

The only alteration I made is that I took the pills six days per week, rather than every day. That’s because I like to do one day per week (usually Wednesday) where I abstain from caffeine. No coffee, no energy drinks, no diet pills, etc.

And what happened?

My Energy Levels

My energy levels skyrocketed! That’s not surprising, considering a 6oz cup of coffee gets me revved up, but this was a better energy rush than coffee or an energy drink! I wasn’t jittery, anxious, or anything negative. Not a whole lot different from FRS, but this was more potent and seemed to last even longer. Best of all – this lasted all month long!

My Workouts

Thanks to the extra energy, I was able to fit in some longer workouts, more often. The first day, I did an intense squat workout, went running, and practically ran around the house the rest of the day – I just couldn’t stop! This extreme energy didn’t last all month, but I could always feel some extra energy.

My Mental Alertness

This was even more pronounced than the extra energy during my workouts. All day my mind was sharp! Even if my body was physically tired, my brain was out in full force! This is what makes me want to keep taking these pills all the time!

My Sleep

At first, there were no problems. I could relax at night with no trouble – I’d be alert yet relaxed at the same time. Unfortunately, going into the third week, I noticed I was staying up later at night. Before long, I was rarely in bed before 1 or 2 AM. I just wasn’t tired. I realized I must be taking the pills too late in the day (since sometimes I wouldn’t have breakfast till noon or even 1 pm.)

So, for the last week and a half of the test, I decided to have the pills by 9am, even if I skipped breakfast. This did help somewhat, and I didn’t notice any problems from taking the pills without an accompanying meal. I still ended up having to crack open a new bottle of ZMA, though.

natrol acaiberry diet claims

My Weight Loss Results

Though I wasn’t concerned with losing weight here (I had already shed 10lb in the month leading up to this test with diet alone,) I tracked my weight out of curiosity.

For the time period from February 25 to March 31, I went from 163lb to 168lb. What?!

You see, on my last day of testing, I had a big Easter feast! I was actually around 161lb on March 27th, but on the final official weigh-in for this, I was way up! It shows what happens when you go back to eating carbs and junk food for a day!

Fortunately, a few days into April I was back down to 158lb!

[As I wasn’t expecting serious results from $5.99 pills, I didn’t put much effort into tracking anything. So I don’t have any photos or measurements to go with this test.]

A Warning

You need to be extremely careful when combining diet, exercise, and supplements. And it’s not just about side effects.

See, you may find yourself being physically exhausted yet still have mental energy. So you’ll want to train like a madman! Be careful! Don’t push too hard in your workouts because your body might give out without warning.

What happened to me was, I’d go to workout, and just not perform like I should have. I recognized it early since I’ve experienced it before. Had I kept pushing, I could have ended up crushed underneath too heavy of a weight or stranded too far from home, in the dark, facing a headwind.

My final verdict is…

For the price, this is a hard one to pass up. I don’t think it’s a fat loss miracle, but the extra energy was certainly nice (when used in moderation). I’m going to keep some on hand so I can take them occasionally, as needed. (I miss them already and it’s only been a week!)

If you need any help losing fat or staying energized, and you’re not overly sensitive to caffeine, pick up a bottle of these today. They’re only $6.29 at Amazon.com.

Official website: NatrolAcaiBerry.com

Buy online: www.Amazon.com

Product Review Details
Company: Natrol
Product: Natrol AcaiBerry Diet Pills
Reviewed by: Coach Levi
My Rating: 4.0 out of 5
Date first published: 2013-04-06
Date last updated: 2018-07-09
Obtained Product: Purchased at retailer.
CoachLevi.com Advertiser: No.

Click here if you would like to get your product reviewed on CoachLevi.com.

You may also like
4 Comments
  1. What kind of gelatin in this broduct

    • @Gdeer

      The ingredients simply say “gelatin” so I would suggest contacting the manufacturer directly to get the finer details.

  2. Leaving this review wherever I can to warn people of potential side effecta of using these pills.

    I usually never take pills of any sort, but something made me buy these. I thought, “They’re herbal, supposed to boost metabolism, let’s try them.” I would have two pills a day, one after breakfast and one after dinner. I was also eating a lower calorie diet than I usually do. It seemed to be going OK, I didn’t notice much difference in how I felt. I exercised as usual. The only thing that was off was a slight twinge in my left chest area, which I passed off as a muscle pull. And then on the last day of Week 2, I had some diarrhea. Something told me to read the fine print on the bottle and I noticed that each pill contains a coffee cup’s worth of caffeine. Since I was having a cup of tea and a cup of coffee everyday, I decided to stop the pills because this amount of caffeine scared me, and I wondered whether the pain in my chest was to do with this.

    The night I didn’t take the pill was quite hellish. I went to sleep as usual, but woke up in the night with awful chest pain, I thought I was having a heart attack or had angina. This was foolish thinking, because I’m in perfectly good health, and there was no cause for heart related problems. My stomach was also popping and fizzing. I somehow willed myself to go to sleep thinking I’d deal with it in the morning. It turned out that the chest pain was a whole lot of gas buildup, because the appetite suppressant/caffeine wasn’t in my system. This is what started as a long process of mood swings, constipation, diarrhea, soft stools, gas pains, bloated feelings, sleepless nights, etc, etc. The next few nights I would wake up in the night trembling and hungry because I didn’t have any caffeine. I finally visited the doctor after three weeks of all this, who told me that the pill was perfectly fine, but it can sometimes cause acidity, and I could continue to take them. I’ve never had acidity before, and if this is the sort of thing that this quite unnecessary pill does to the body, I’m definitely not taking them again. The doctor prescribed some antacids for a month. I decided to stop them yesterday as they’ve given me a bit of constipation and have instead started taking apple cider vinegar with a pinch of baking soda, which is working a lot better. I am now on Week 6 off the pill, and am much better, but the balance of my stomach is still getting restored. The stress of worry increased my symptoms and it’s taken quite a while.

    I thought I should share my experience with these pills. I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone. The digestive systen has a delicate balance, please don’t do anything to upset it. If it isn’t broken, don’t try to fix it.

    • @Reviewer

      Sorry about your experience! Unfortunately that’s the risk you take when you ingest any supplement (and diet pills are certainly one of the more dangerous options).

Leave a Reply