Diet pills. How do they work?

jgnatca

I avoid any that are caffeine or ephedrine based. (Both keep you cooking so you burn more calories.) It hardly needs to be said that this can be overdone to your detriment, even to death.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/05/16/a-teen-chugged-a-latte-a-mountain-dew-and-an-energy-drink-the-caffeine-binge-led-to-his-death/?utm_term=.da09f7f86ef3

You will find quack cures everywhere there are desperate people. Think about all the hair loss "cures" and cancer "cures".

Need2Exerc1se

Saying they don't work is false. They work is a variety of ways. There are appetite suppressants which work just as their name implies. There are fat blockers, which make you poop out some of the fat you eat instead of absorb it. There are laxatives that make you poop out some of everything you eat instead of absorb it. And there are things like caffeine and amphetamines that speed you up.

But none will work unless you are in a calorie deficit. And some have some pretty nasty side affects.

Fuzzipeg

Way back, I was put on appetite suppressants by my doctor. That was when I knew no better than to trust them implicitly. Much better to use a calorific and or carb deficit and see how that goes, then if you do have a real health issue, as I did and still have, you have more chance of getting it sorted in a proper and more timely manor. It can be helpful to have something printed off to show a doctor as evidence. Heaven Forbid anyone needs too.

Jayj180894

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

Saying they don't work is false. They work is a variety of ways. There are appetite suppressants which work just as their name implies. There are fat blockers, which make you poop out some of the fat you eat instead of absorb it. There are laxatives that make you poop out some of everything you eat instead of absorb it. And there are things like caffeine and amphetamines that speed you up.

But none will work unless you are in a calorie deficit. And some have some pretty nasty side affects.

What if you're eating at maintenance, while taking the fat blockers or laxatives? Will you still not lose anything at all?

savithny

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

savithny wrote: »

Advertising in the diet industry is poorly regulated and is full of false claims:

http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1093&context=jlh

Congress’s passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) in 1994, however, shifted the balance of regulatory power in the diet industry toward the FTC, particularly where diet supplements are concerned. DSHEA essentially removed a class of compounds known as dietary supplements
from the FDA’s pre-marketing approval process....

This means that manufacturers can put dietary supplements on the market without first proving they work, and the primary method of enforcement is a false advertising claim. Unfortunately for the FTC, the organization seems to be fighting a losing battle: for each success, ten new companies seem to appear. With an increasing audacity, diet companies continue to disregard federal guidelines in order to promise a quick weight-loss fix, even though their products have no effect on weight-loss and can even be harmful. Each time a manufacturer succeeds with exaggerated promises, regulators say, a few more follow suit, “plastering the airwaves and the Internet with invitations to drop weight while driving, lose [ten] pounds in a weekend and, of course, never diet again.” FTC officials have conceded that the agency can do little to curb the increase in companies marketing fraudulent diet products.

I want to say the NYTimes did an expose in the last five years that revealed that a huge number of supplements on the market (including but not limited to diet pills) didn't even include the active ingredient listed on the bottle. I want to say most of them were garlic and sawdust. The current regulatory structure doesn't work at all.

Yep. They reported on an FDA projet that was not widely publicized:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/science/herbal-supplements-are-often-not-what-they-seem.html

I've seen another report that found that many of the weight-loss and muscle-building supplements don't just contain substitutes - many contain dangerous substitutes, including unregulated doses of actual pharmaceuticals including sibutramine, epinephrine, Lorcaserin ... and sometimes its straight-up speed.

savithny

Here you go. This is the risk you run buying diet pills, from a 2015 study in a peer-reviewed journal:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1541-4337.12173/full

More importantly, recent studies have shown that weight-loss PFS are frequently found to be adulterated by the illicit addition of synthetic drugs (Table 1). Since the sale of PFS advertised for weight loss has become a very lucrative business, manufacturers can be tempted to increase profits by doping PFS with drugs in order to achieve quicker effects and to advertise the effectiveness of their products (Chen and others 2009; Tang and others 2011; Deconinck and others 2012a). The drugs most generally associated with weight-loss PFS adulteration include anorexics (such as sibutramin, orlistat, diethylpropion (amfepramone), rimonabant, fenproporex, phentermine, and mazindol, and so on) but also stimulants (ephedrine, norephedrine, and synephrine), anxiolytics (mainly benzodiazepines such as diazepam), antidepressants (fluoxetine, sertraline), diuretics (such as furosemide and hydrochlorothiazide), and laxatives (including phenolphthalein). Several of these drugs are considered by regulatory agencies as being controlled substances or prescription drugs and others were banned/removed because of their adverse effects in humans (De Carvalho and others 2011).

stanmann571

Jayj180894 wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

Saying they don't work is false. They work is a variety of ways. There are appetite suppressants which work just as their name implies. There are fat blockers, which make you poop out some of the fat you eat instead of absorb it. There are laxatives that make you poop out some of everything you eat instead of absorb it. And there are things like caffeine and amphetamines that speed you up.

But none will work unless you are in a calorie deficit. And some have some pretty nasty side affects.

What if you're eating at maintenance, while taking the fat blockers or laxatives? Will you still not lose anything at all?

Some of them impact the CICO formula. So yes, maybe.

Carlos_421

Jayj180894 wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

Saying they don't work is false. They work is a variety of ways. There are appetite suppressants which work just as their name implies. There are fat blockers, which make you poop out some of the fat you eat instead of absorb it. There are laxatives that make you poop out some of everything you eat instead of absorb it. And there are things like caffeine and amphetamines that speed you up.

But none will work unless you are in a calorie deficit. And some have some pretty nasty side affects.

What if you're eating at maintenance, while taking the fat blockers or laxatives? Will you still not lose anything at all?

Only if the resulting diarrhea causes a calorie deficit.

singingflutelady

Jayj180894 wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

Saying they don't work is false. They work is a variety of ways. There are appetite suppressants which work just as their name implies. There are fat blockers, which make you poop out some of the fat you eat instead of absorb it. There are laxatives that make you poop out some of everything you eat instead of absorb it. And there are things like caffeine and amphetamines that speed you up.

But none will work unless you are in a calorie deficit. And some have some pretty nasty side affects.

What if you're eating at maintenance, while taking the fat blockers or laxatives? Will you still not lose anything at all?

Why would you want to abuse laxatives? The only thing that actives make you lose is somewhat water weight and poop and they can cause major digestive issues for a long time. Becoming laxative dependent is probably not fun.

Need2Exerc1se

Jayj180894 wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

Saying they don't work is false. They work is a variety of ways. There are appetite suppressants which work just as their name implies. There are fat blockers, which make you poop out some of the fat you eat instead of absorb it. There are laxatives that make you poop out some of everything you eat instead of absorb it. And there are things like caffeine and amphetamines that speed you up.

But none will work unless you are in a calorie deficit. And some have some pretty nasty side affects.

What if you're eating at maintenance, while taking the fat blockers or laxatives? Will you still not lose anything at all?

It would still depend on how much you are eating vs. burning. Pills don't change that fact, they just change how you get there.

Laxatives are a particularly poor choice for weight control. Routinely take them for weight control will get you a diagnosis of bulimia. When you don't absorb all the calories you eat, you also don't absorb all the nutrients you eat. You can suffer from malnutrition and your body can become dependent on laxatives leading to chronic constipation.

TeaBea

Jayj180894 wrote: »

I've taken diet pills before. Nothing dangerous just the ones advertised on TV, or ones you can pick up in the supermarket. Obviously I lost weight because I was DIETING while taking them, so would of lost weight anyway! Obviously after a little bit of research, I stopped throwing my money away and stopped taking them. I just want to know what they actually do?!? You have be on a calorie controlled diet for them to work (so weight loss would be inevitable). Surely if they are allowed to advertise help with weight loss they have to do something?!? Disclaimer: Im not interested in taking any, and it's just a question out of pure interest. I do believe they don't aid in weightloss, but wondered if they did actually do anything at all?

One older example of how they "work."

Back in the day - there was a side effect for Contac cold medicine. It diminished appetite. Not sure if the formula is the same now......but whallah! Dexatrim, Accutrim, and a slew of diet pills followed.

When they did an actual study (diet supplements don't require proof) - they found that the side effect was temporary. People don't take cold medicine week after week, the same way they do diet pills, so the makers of Dexatrim, etc. may not have known this.

cerise_noir

They don't.

Jayj180894

singingflutelady wrote: »

Jayj180894 wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

Saying they don't work is false. They work is a variety of ways. There are appetite suppressants which work just as their name implies. There are fat blockers, which make you poop out some of the fat you eat instead of absorb it. There are laxatives that make you poop out some of everything you eat instead of absorb it. And there are things like caffeine and amphetamines that speed you up.

But none will work unless you are in a calorie deficit. And some have some pretty nasty side affects.

What if you're eating at maintenance, while taking the fat blockers or laxatives? Will you still not lose anything at all?

Why would you want to abuse laxatives? The only thing that actives make you lose is somewhat water weight and poop and they can cause major digestive issues for a long time. Becoming laxative dependent is probably not fun.

I wouldnt want to. I'm just interested in the affects it has on the body. I don't plan on taking any diet pills whatsoever. And also not interested in taking then. But so many people do, for a quick fix.