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Are diet pills really the answer?

Posted: 10/10/2009 at 07:55am by Rich Leigh, founder of Fat Free Fitness

Quick fixes are rife in fitness and weight loss in particular, hence the over-reliance on crash dieting, steroids, aesthetic surgery and of course, diet pills. I am constantly reminded of the old adage ‘anything worth doing is worth doing right’, and it definitely holds true with weight loss in my opinion.

Diet pills have a great potential to help you lose weight and this can be very appealing, especially if you are someone who has struggled to lose weight in the past.

Prescription diet pills are very strong drugs, and each has the potential for dangerous side effects. Some of the side effects from taking diet pills can be dangerous. The recent widespread exposure of Alli diet pills for instance was particularly depressing for me and my trainers; it was if it was suddenly becoming acceptable to promote these dangerous quick fixes, which of course, do not address the psychological aspect of weight loss and any issues you may have with food.

Each diet pill has its own set of potential side effects, including incontinence (try dealing with this whilst in a meeting!), insomnia, depression and a rise in blood pressure which can result in palpitations, or irregular beating of the heart. This is of course not an exhaustive list, but for me, the prime case against diet pills is that is can only ever be a short-term answer. Ask yourself, are you going to take them for life? Are you happy to be hungry for the period of time which you take them, never actually addressing your food dependency and making healthy amendments? You will in probability lose weight, I'll be honest. If that’s all you care about, without worrying that as soon as you don’t use them, you’ll put the weight back on, you may as well stop reading here.

Some diet pills, especially the stimulant-based diet pills, are habit-forming and as such can be abused. Abuse of these drugs may lead to dependence.

Most diet pills suppress the appetite, which causes you to consume fewer calories. On the surface, this seems like the ultimate solution for losing weight. However, as you reduce your caloric intake, your metabolism also slows down, as we’ve mentioned before. As your metabolism slows, the amount of weight you lose also slows down. This is why it is common for people to lose only a certain amount of weight while taking diet pills alone. The solution, of course, is to combine lifestyle changes with healthy eating, looking at the foods you need to eat rather than necessarily want to eat. Lifestyle changes such as regular exercise, dietary changes such as implementing treat/cheat days, and regular health checkups can greatly increase your weight loss success.

As always, please get in touch for free advice. Our experts are always more than willing to help, and with issues such as diet pills and the reasons a person may choose to use them, we're particularly keen to help you find viable and successful alternatives.

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