Are you looking for diet pills to lose weight quick? If so, you’re not alone. The fact is that Americans spend billions of dollars on weight loss products and services including surgeries a year. This includes pills, supplements, teas, drinks, diets and books.
Do you remember Fen-phen? It was later shown to cause fatal pulmonary hypertension, heart valve problems and neurotoxicity of the brain. One particular company was forced to pay out over 13 billion dollars in damages. While this is a huge number, we’ll probably never hear about the physical and emotional pain that the victims endured. One very brave person who did speak up was comedian Margret Cho who revealed that her addiction to diet pills, particularly Fen-Phen led to a heart murmur. According to Margaret, “I have permanent damage to my body because I wanted to be thin.” While the promise of becoming thin quickly seems alluring, the ultimate price can be a very high one.
Celebrities will often chime in and endorse products saying that they really work. Unfortunately, most of those celebrities gain back the weight plus some. They experience yo yo dieting much the same way as everyone else does.
In probably one of the most comprehensive studies done on the ingredients found in weight loss pills, German researchers have recently announced that weight loss supplements just don’t work. After testing nine popular weight loss supplements against placebo pills on 189 participants, researchers discovered that the supplements were no more effective than just taking nothing at all. That’s right – nothing! According to Dr. Ellrott, “Not a single product was any more effective than placebo pills in producing weight loss over the two months of the study, regardless of how it claims to work.”
Another weight loss supplement study done by the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth in the U.K., concurred that they found no hard evidence of actual weight loss by taking weight loss supplements. The only one that did seem to make a difference was Ephedra the active ingredient in Fen-phen, which as I mentioned earlier, is not even an option because it’s dangerous. That being said, it’s becoming clearer every day that there really is no magic pill.
The truth is that losing weight isn’t just about losing weight, it’s about making lifestyle changes – becoming a healthier person overall. How you lose weight will dictate whether you gain it back or keep it off permanently. I’ll give you an example. Years ago, I had a friend that would snap her fingers as she said, “Oh I can lose weight like this. I just don’t eat for a few days and then my stomach goes really flat.” What she failed to realize what that through constantly starving herself, when she finally did eat, she would binge. To make things worse, she would pick the worst foods. Not too long after, she had gained even more weight. She never really did lose weight, she only gained. Years went by and it only became worse. That is why short term weight loss is not a true test of weight loss. It doesn’t mean you are being healthy. You have to look at the long term results as well as how you feel.
If you are asking yourself: “So what can I do if I want to lose weight?” Modify your thoughts and behaviors so that the decisions you make are in line with your weight loss goals. Your mind needs to be retrained to see things differently. I love the way Margaret Cho put it when she said, “When you stop focusing on dieting you turn the focus to a different part of your life and for some reason the emphasis on food kind of goes away. Since my real transition into this type of way of living, it’s amazing how much weight I’ve lost, which is really weird, since I’m not focused on it, I can’t believe I lost weight.” Modify how your mind thinks and behaves and you will be able to control your weight.
For free tips, ways of thinking and interviews with medical experts that will support your weight loss goals, be sure to Like and Follow my Healthy Mind + Healthy Body Transformation Program on Facebook. Also, be sure to sign up for my newsletter on this same website and select your preferences. This way, you’ll have access to my free life coaching and hypnosis audio programs. Soon, I’ll be launching my actual weight loss program. It features the same techniques that I’ve used to successfully help women to release the excess weight and stay their normal and natural size. By signing up to the newsletter, I can let you know once it’s ready to go. You don’t want to miss it. Sign up now!
Sasha Carrion
Sources: Margaret Cho: She’s the One that She Wants: Interview conducted with Margaret Cho by Michelle Caswell of Asia Society August 2000.
International Congress on Obesity, July 12, 2010, Stockholm, Sweden.
Research presented by Dr. Thomas Ellrott, the Institute for Nutrition and Psychology, University of Gottingen Medical School in Germany and Dr. Igho Onakpoya, MD, Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, U.K.
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