I Drank the Kardashian-Approved Fit Tea for 14 Days—This Is What Happened

I'd be remiss if I didn't first mention that I know the Kardashians get paid a ton of money for their (carefully constructed) Instagrams of this product.

Of course, they do.

But that doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't work. So, I decided to test that theory and try Fit Tea for a full 14 days and record how I felt, what I saw, and if it fulfilled its claims at the end.

Going into the experiment, my expectations were not particularly high. It is just tea, after all. If I've learned anything from my time spent with beauty editors, fitness experts, and nutritionists, it's that healthy weight loss with staying power doesn't happen overnight. Before drinking the tea, I did some research and ran the claims by a few experts. The consensus: While the ingredients are legitimate and you may even see positive results, ultimately, no fad tea can replace a nutritious diet and a healthy lifestyle.

Purported Benefits of Drinking Fit Tea

• Increases rate of metabolism
• Manages levels of cholesterol
• Aids digestion
• Suppresses appetite

What's In Fit Tea?

To better understand the benefits of Fit Tea, let's break down the powerhouse ingredients themselves: Green tea, oolong wu yi, and garcinia cambogia extract.

Fit Tea's website claims, "Green teas have the ability to speed up the body's metabolic rate by up to 4 percent. This seemingly insignificant boost in metabolism can, however, with little or no effort than just drinking two to four cups daily, help to burn stored body fats and reduce fat storage. Over time, this 4 percent boost in calorie burning can substantially increase an individual's overall fat-burning capability. Green tea gives you energy by slowing the usage of carbohydrates in our body, meaning you can exercise much longer without feeling tired. Thus, you can burn more calories."

Theresa Krier, the founder of couture tea brand, Big T NYC, agrees: "The best teas to help you lose weight are green and white teas, which are rich in EGCG, a form of antioxidant that helps boost metabolism." A 2016 review supports those claims.

Next up: Oolong wu yi.

The FitTea website claims that Oolong tea increases metabolic rate and fat oxidation in men, but there's no word about its effects in women.

Amy Rosoff Davis, a fitness expert, wellness guru, and Selena Gomez's long-time trainer verifies that claim. "This antioxidant-rich, delicious traditional Chinese tea not only helps keep cholesterol levels in check and aids digestion, but it can also help with burning calories," says Davis. "Like green tea, oolong is packed with catechins, which improve fat oxidation and thermogenesis—your body's production of energy, or heat from digestion." A 2009 study in the Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine found that participants who regularly sipped oolong tea lost between two to six pounds over the course of the six-week time period.

And finally, garcinia cambogia, the native fruit to Indonesia.

"Hydroxycitric acid (HCA) is an active ingredient extracted from the rind of the Indian fruit Garcinia Cambogia," the Fit Tea website reads. "It inhibits adenosine triphosphate citrate lyase and has been used in the treatment of obesity."

Elissa Goodman, celebrity holistic nutritionist and cleanse expert, substantiates the website's claim. She agrees that HCA is said to block fat absorption and suppress the appetite and inhibits a key enzyme, citrate lyase, that the body needs to make fat from carbohydrates. This is supposed to help you feel fuller more quickly and help convert the food you eat into energy as opposed to being stored as fat. "However, the most promising studies to prove this were animal studies," according to Goodman. Reviews of human trials indicate that weight loss results are inconclusive and more research is needed.

Fit Tea 14 Day Detox $25.00

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What to Expect

Once I realized the ingredients were legitimate, I started the detox. My first impressions were that the tea tasted really good (just like green tea and honey) and drinking it every morning was a breeze. From the get-go, I could tell it was highly caffeinated—and a diuretic. I swapped out my usual cup of coffee so I wouldn't get too jittery, and the symptoms subsided after the first few days.

As time went on, I started to realize it was working. I didn't change my usual diet or exercise more (to control the experiment and because I'm not exactly the exercising type). I woke up each morning feeling lighter and less bloated than usual. The difference wasn't huge, but I could definitely feel it. I don't use scales (as a way to stay positive about my body and keep from driving myself crazy), so, unfortunately, I can't report on weight-loss. But if the goal is looking and feeling good, the tea passed with flying colors.

The Final Takeaway

Goodman had some more advice, though, that wasn't surprising. "There are many other options to recommend for weight loss and maintenance," she says. "No fad fruit herbal tea is going to take the place of consistency and healthier habits." I decided to celebrate the positive results and head to my local yoga studio instead of ordering another dose of tea. Afterward, I vowed to eat a bit healthier in the next week and maintain the results. So, in the end, it seems the Kardashians aren't totally wrong about the effects of the tea. It does work. But I'm choosing to fall back on good old diet and exercise to keep myself healthy and happy.