Diet Pills?
Wouldn’t it be great if a pill could melt the pounds
away while we slept, motivate us to exercise and help us feel
satisfied with eating less all without any side
effects?
While we wait for this perfect pill, there are
a lot of drug therapies for obesity that may be an option for
people who are having a very hard time reaching even a small
level of weight loss through traditional dieting methods. If
you’re considering diet drugs, keep in mind that diet pills
are one tool for weight loss and if you think you can burn your
workout clothes and put away your healthy foods, think again:
diet pills work in conjunction with a
diet program that includes eating well, exercising safely,
and changing your lifestyle habits that caused the extra weight
in the first place.
Diet medications work in one of these three
ways:
-
Reducing what you eat
-
Increasing how much energy you
expend
-
Or by interfering with the way food is
absorbed by the body so that weight loss occurs.
For example, appetite suppressants help people
eat less because they can delay the feeling of hunger or make you
feel full faster when you eat. Meridia (Sibutramine) is a
prescription drug that is used for longer term appetite control
and is prescribed under a physician’s care. Typically diet
drugs are considered when exercise and diet alone aren’t
producing enough results in people who have serious health risks
that are increased by being overweight.
Xenical (Orlistat) is another diet drug that
acts in a different way: it reduces the absorption of fat in the
diet so that the total calories eaten don’t get to the body
for metabolism and this can cause weight loss. Taking Orlistat
and eating a high fat diet can increase the uncomfortable side
effects with this drug, so a typical “low
carbohydrate” diet while taking Xenical is probably not the
best combination. Ideally, the diet should be around 30% of
calories as fat for best results, but not higher.
While there are many diet drugs including
Sibutramine, Orlistat, and Phentermine that are commonly
prescribed, there are health risks and side effects for every
drug and your own health condition must be considered – do
the risks outweigh the benefits?
Whether or not you add drug therapy to
your diet program, eating well and improving lifestyle choices
are a must for weight loss results – there’s no
getting around it. The good news is that there are no harmful
side effects to a healthy
eating plan and appropriate exercise program and you
can get started right away!
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