According to Bharat Bhise, the obsession with losing weight has overshadowed human fascination with food and different cuisines. Weight loss consistently comes up as one of the top New Year’s resolutions. A lot of people turn to diet pills to lose weight. Let’s check out if they actually help you lose weight.
The Pills
Weight loss journey and introduction to diet pills – Most health professionals, coaches, and nutritionists agree that the healthiest method of weight loss is regular exercise combined with a well-balanced diet of healthy food in moderate portions. Understanding your eating habits and moderating them is also crucial for losing weight successfully.
According to the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology, increased exercise, a healthy diet, and behavioral therapy can help people lose around 10 percent of their body weight within the first six months. However, some people look for a quicker way of losing weight.
If you have a BMI of 30 or more, have obesity-related health issues, and haven’t been able to lose a pound every week even after six months of diet and exercise, your doctor may recommend weight loss medications. Things start to go very wrong when you try to take control and start buying over-the-counter diet pills.
Diet pill controversy – Weight loss medications are very controversial for obvious reasons. After serious health problems, too many products have been taken off the market. For instance, Fen-Phen, a combination of phentermine and fenfluramine, was linked to numerous deaths and was linked to damaged heart valves, and hypertension. After a probe from the FDA, the manufacturers recalled their products from the market.
There are many such cases where severe side effects were linked to weight loss pills and that’s why doctors have also become very hesitant to prescribe them. Moreover, most people lose around 5 to 10 pounds more from taking weight loss medications. While these results are significant to the medical community, they are very disappointing to patients. Moreover, those few pounds are quickly gained back when patients get off those pills.
FDA-approved pills – Weight loss pills from different brands work very differently. Some reduce your body’s capability of absorbing fats from food while others suppress your appetite. Moreover, along with weight loss pills, diabetic medications, antidepressants, and anti-seizure medication is also prescribed to deal with the side effects.
Usually, for the short term, your doctor may prescribe you FDA-approved pills like Didrex, Tenuate, Fastin, Bontril, and more. For the long term, you may be prescribed FDA-approved pills like Qsymia, Saxenda, Contrave, and Xenical. However, you should avoid over-the-counter weight loss pills since most aren’t FDA-approved. They are usually ineffective at best and dangerous at worst.
Conclusion
Bharat Bhise suggests that you do your own research and scrutinize diet pills before you purchase them. According to the FDA, most diet pills that promise an easy route to weight loss don’t work. Some of them may even be dangerous. While you should try to avoid obesity, diet pills may not be the answer.
