The Real Skinny on Diet Pills

The diet pill industry is huge in America, and it continues to expand along with our collective waistlines. In this article we look at what diet pills are, what kinds are available, and whether or not they really work.

There are essentially three different types of diet pills on the market: 

Appetite Suppressants - Drugs of this class are frequently stimulants of the phenethylamine family, related to amphetamine (speed). 

Fat Burners - Drugs of this type may help increase the body's metabolism and increase the burning of fat. 

Fat Binders or Blockers - This type of drug reduces the amount of fat molecules that pass through the intestinal lining. 

Appetite Suppressants

This class of drugs is designed to appeal to people who believe that the cause of their weight problem is too much hunger. Certain stimulants (which are sometimes addictive) will reduce the individual's interest in food - at least temporarily. 

Many people turn to this type of medication to lose weight, because they believe they eat almost compulsively. The drugs promise to reduce the feeling that food is needed, thereby suppressing the psychological motivation for eating. 

Studies show that appetite suppressant medications work best when combined with a weight-management program that helps you improve your eating and physical activity habits. It has also been shown that most people regain the weight they lose when they stop taking the appetite suppressant medication.

Fat Burners

Both appetite suppressants and fat burners help to regulate the appetite by acting on the hypothalamus, a part of the brain. 

Fat burners also release chemicals into the brain that increase the stress response, which is sometimes known as the "fight or flight" mechanism. When this stress response is triggered, the body will burn more calories to ready itself for the perceived "danger," even though the body remains at rest. 

This type of product is sometimes sold as "thermogenic weight loss formulas". Fat burners containing ephedra (a chemical very similar to methamphetamine, an illegal recreational drug) were among the first to become popular, but they were banned by the FDA due to the high rate of serious side effects and related deaths in 2004.

Fat Binders

Fat binders work by "binding" the fats in the stomach and intestines, preventing the body from fully digesting and absorbing them into the bloodstream. Naturally, this type of pill will only assist a patient to lose weight if the diet is high in fats. Some claims have been made that fat binders will also help lower cholesterol levels, but this has not been proven. 

Fat binders appeal to the public because of the perceived promise that weight can be lost without a change in diet. When taking the drugs, a patient should be closely monitored by a doctor to make sure that they are absorbing enough of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.

All diet pills prescribed by a physician, whether appetite suppressant, fat burner, or fat binder, are meant to be used by people who are morbidly obese, or who have health problems that can be made more critical by being overweight. 

They are not intended for the folks who need to lose a few pounds to get into a nice pair of jeans, and few reputable doctors will prescribe them for this purpose. However, most health insurance companies will not cover weight loss drugs because of fraudulent "weight loss centers" that pushed addictive amphetamines in the 70's and 80's. 

All patients using any of these drugs should be closely monitored for any possible side effects, and should also receive nutritional counseling and education so they don't regain their weight once they stop taking the drugs. 

Although many supplements and diet pills are also available over-the-counter, without a prescription, people should be very cautious about using them without getting a good physical checkup, and without talking to their doctor first. A drug that is safe for one person may not be safe for another, because underlying health conditions can be made worse if the wrong drugs are taken. 

Appetite suppressants containing stimulants like caffeine have been known to raise the blood pressure and heart rate, an increased risk for anyone with heart disease. Fat blockers can cause intestinal disturbances like flatulence and diarrhea, as well as causing nutritional imbalances. And some diet pills can become addictive.

Regardless of the type of diet pill a person uses, they are not a substitute for a healthy diet and an increase in healthy exercise. Without permanent changes in diet and lifestyle, most people regain their weight as soon as they stop using the drugs.

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Is Using Diet Pills to Increase Metabolism a Good Idea?

We are fast becoming a society in search of instant gratification. More and more people are beginning to think and believe that somehow with all our scientific knowledge and research that losing weight and getting in shape should be an easy undertaking. Losing weight should be a lifestyle choice that is based on living a healthy life. Using a pill to lose weight might work for the short term, but without serious changes in eating and exercising habits most people will soon gain the weight back, particularly when they stop taking the pills.

Why?

Here's why. A diet pills primary ingredient is a stimulant of some sort such as caffeine. The nice thing about a stimulant like caffeine is that it does indeed increase the body's metabolism and suppresses the appetite. That might sound like the perfect weight loss recipe but unlike naturally increasing metabolism using an artificial stimulant only lasts as long as the drug is in your body.

The other thing that people who use diet pills must be aware of is that the pill is not the end all and be all of losing weight. Simply taking a pill and not changing their current eating habits will lead to few if any weight loss results. The pill will give a good starting point but without some serious lifestyle changes about eating and exercising it will not give the results asked for.

The problem with any diet pill, or stimulant for that matter, is that it is artificially stimulating the body's metabolic systems. The body reacts to this stimulation by an increase in metabolism brought about by certain hormones being released into the blood stream. This does burn off extra calories but it comes at a price. The body's supply of hormones is not infinite.

The adrenal glands supply a good portion of the body's hormones. If they are constantly bombarded with caffeine or other stimulants they will soon exhaust their supply of hormones, many of which are responsible for metabolism and weight control. Before long the body's inability to regulate itself naturally weight loss will begin to have affects, some of them serious.

With any appetite suppressant one has to be aware that not actually eating enough can also have the opposite effect they might be looking for. If the body goes into starvation mode its metabolism will actually begin to slow down to store it energy for the perceived lean times ahead. This is why anyone cutting calories, either through diet or with artificial means, needs to be careful with how much they are cutting. The body requires a certain amount of calories per day to function at peak efficiency. Take in to many calories and it gets stored as fat. Take in to few and the metabolism slows down protecting the fat stores it already has.

Using diet pills in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise program can be a good way to start losing weight. They can give that initial boost to ones metabolism and start the weight coming off, which can be a great motivator. They are not, however, a good long term weight loss and maintenance solution. The best long term weight loss solution is a change to a healthier lifestyle that allows the body to naturally increase its metabolism to a level that burns calories at an optimum rate.

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