Weight Loss Aids, Pills, etc....

Hi y'all. Yep, I am still here, lurking, trying to find some information that will help. Here is my question....

Why does everybody have such a negative attitude toward weight loss aids?
It seems that every time it is mentioned you all react with great disdain.

It reminds me of the lady who was having a 14 pound baby and EVERYBODY told her she was a terrible mother for not wanting to do it without any pain medication. That somehow it wasn't a pure experience if she used medication or an epidural.

There are things out there (there must be) that will help in our quest for weight loss. Why is the only acceptable way of losing this weight through the pain and agony of doing it the "hard way"? Does it make us better people? Improve our Karma? Make us appreciate being skinny more?

Why is ok to use drugs to improve your sex life (Viagra), or stop a headache/toothache/muscle ache, or to stop your nose from running when you have a cold, but it's NOT ok to use chemicals to HELP lose weight? It sounds like a HUGE double standard to me. Why is the only acceptable method pain and suffering? I don't get it.

Apart from my first couple of weeks of dieting, I've never averaged more than 2 lbs. per week. My average over the 16 months or so I've been dieting is around 1 1/4 lbs. per week -- somewhat less lately. I don't think a significantly greater weight loss rate would be attainable for me while maintaining adequate energy for work and exercise. My calorie level has been on the order of 6.5 to 8.5 calories per pound of bodyweight (lower ratio at the start, higher now, as I've not cut calories proportionately to my weight), and I exercise (fairly serious lifting and cardio for a woman my age)
5x/week. I don't think pushing it any more would be a very good idea.
And I've not been in a hurry anyway. I mean, it's not like someday
I'll get to a magic weight and then just stop doing all this stuff.

People lose at different rates for a whole lot of reasons.

Well, it's because most people peddling weight-loss nostrums are scamming you. The only over-the-counter weight-loss drug with any scientific efficacy is an ECA stack. Drumlib answered here and Jayjay gave the link to his site so I'll leave that be, but I can tell you that I've been doing an ECA stack on and off for about 9 months.

It's a tiny benefit. I do it mostly for reasons other than the thermogenic effect. Is the risk/cost worth the benefit? It seriously depends on the exact specifics of the case. Ephedrine is an asthma drug,
I have asthma. I already take caffeine and aspirin. I sometimes (in specific cases) have a need for a stimulant and my body can handle it. For me the answer is yes, sometimes. For you the answer might be no.

But the fact is, even when I'm doing an ECA stack I don't lose weight unless I work out six times a week and eat a restrained diet. And NO ONE keeps weight off once lost unless they change the habits that made them fat, i.e., they have to eat less and exercise more.

And that gets to the crux of the matter: when you do a risk/benefit analysis of almost ANY weight-loss product or plan, the risks and costs of any of the drugs are so in excess of the teensy benefit they provide, whereas the risks and costs of exercise and eating well are far outweighed by the enormous benefits they provide. So you add it up: big costs/little benefit for drugs, little cost/big benefits for diet&exercise... and voila, we short-cut our answer to say, "skip the drugs, do diet and exercise."

you're ready to really do what it takes to lose the weight, that method actually works and is practically free!

Just wanted to reply to some of these questions...
it's simply natural, the way it was meant to be, and changing the way our society has conformed to eat habits.
are needing it because of their diet. Therefore, a healthy diet especially over a good period of time would probably aid a man and woman in their sex life. Can you see how eating affects so amy areas of ones life? Many people who are sick and need medicines are many times in that predicament, due to improper eating and exercise. I'm not saying everyone is in this boat, but most.

It naturally w/o drugs if possible. How much better would you feel knowing you lost the weight by exercising and diet? I know I'd feel better! Most of the people here are use to years of trying to lose weight and have tried many drugs and know that ONE thing they can count on is THEMSELVES and support of others wanting the same thing.

He never posted pictures. I meant look at the pictures on the body for life website. Here's one that rather resembles my husband (at that time - now he's more in the middle.)
http://www.bodyforlife.com/finishers/2002/bios/ thomas_phillips.shtml

I'm planning on putting up pictures of me soon. Really. Maybe.

Who here got the willies reading this line just before Thanksgiving?

You're probably never going to look like that guy, and neither am I (not sure I want to) but you could give weightlifting a try for a while. I didn't like it in the beginning either.

I am at the gym at 5:30 AM every day (well, not weekends). It is the ONLY time that I can go and not have it interfere with the rest of my life and family.

It just depends on what you want to do...

"Shashay Doofray" :

Well, I don't know about everyone else, but I have taken duromine (i.e.
phentermine). I never actually used up my 30 day supply, because I didn't notice any difference in my eating patterns, though it did make me slightly more energetic during exercise. Only very slightly.

I suspect the reason many people have a negative reaction to them is because they may aid in weight loss, but they don't help you maintain it. You can't keep taking them forever, and as soon as you stop, if you haven't fixed the old, bad habits then the weight will just come back on. Sooner or later you have to learn to live without them. You might as well save your money and do it on your own from the start.

Aside from that, the pills have negative side effects for many people.
They're expensive. I think they may have some value for people who are going through stressful patches which would otherwise cause them to eat bad foods or neglect their exercise routines. But, to extend your analogy, if you had a perpetual headache, you wouldn't keep taking painkillers, you'd get to the root of the problem. Weight loss drugs don't fix the root cause of obesity.

Rowena.

Shashay, good question.

Personally, if there was a wonder pill that would make me want to eat exactly as I need to maintain my weight, and which definitely had no side effects, I would gladly take that pill. (I no longer need to lose weight but I maintain it).

Unfortunately, I am not aware of such a pill. If you say "there must be one", maybe you can point it out to us. My guess is that it was a wild assed guess of yours and you would not be able to find such a pill.

I know what caused my weight gain. I ate too much, wrong food and I did not exercise enough. Once I fixed it, I lost 47 lbs in
100 days, magically. Since I fixed this problem, I am not regaining either. Naturally, I know well tat if I started eating too much or exercising too little, I would regain weight as well.

If I took some magic pill that would cause me to lose weight, went off the pill, I would regain unless I adopted healthier attitude.

So... show us the wonder pill that you are talking about!

It's a man thing.

When I first started the Body for Life program I lost about 15 pounds in the first 12 weeks. My husband lost about 15 pounds in the first six weeks. Then he started gaining muscle while still losing fat. He lost about 20 pounds overall while building muscle: he went from "okay looking" to "drop-dead gorgeous" in 12 weeks. (Look at the BFL pictures - he did that.) Meanwhile, I went from "obese" to "chunky". When the 12 weeks were over he said, "well, that was fun. I lost what weight I want to lose but keeping the body-builder's physique is too much work so I'm going to quit weight-lifting." In the year since then he hasn't regained any of his weight - he's just lost the muscle definition. Meanwhile, I'm still plugging along at about .5 pounds/week on average, working out six days a week, watching everything I eat... while he NordicTracks maybe 20 minutes three times a week and eats anything he fancies...

It's not fair. Wendy

[raising hand]

Also, that's like 3.25 pounds per week. Most people wouldn't consider that a healthy rate of weight loss.

I have nothing against them, but I hear that they work best if used with an exercise and diet program--that oughta give you a clue. Like the cellulite creams that "work best when applied after vigorous exercise."

I lost my last 20 some pounds without spending a dime making somebody else rich. I'm pretty proud of that. I understand that some folks need extra help, and medically supervised programs and prescriptions are great for them. But the stuff advertised on TV and in tabloid mags smacks of snake oil and con jobs.

As always, my opinion, and ymmv.