Why do people do it????

The simple answer is: They think they've found the magic weight loss pill...

we have a winner.

People do it because they are tired of feeling ugly and worthless because that is how society takes on fat people. I know I have thought about taking something to get these last 90lbs off. It took a yr to get to 70 I don't want another year to lose the last bit. For some weight hinges on a lot of other things.

and by taking a pill to lose weight because serious effort and determination and developing a good relationship with food is just too much hard work, right?

Since losing weight takes consistent focus and work, I think a lot of people want to find the magic short cut. I did at one time.

I have a friend who is in seriously great shape. Every year around December he gets questions from overweight co-workers about how to get fit "like him" (note: he has been weight lifting for 17 years regularly). He tells them diet and exercise. The last person who asked this responded "Oh hell no! I am not exercising. Isn't there a pill or something that I can take?"

Sad but true.

I got a rude awakening when I found used needles in my gym. The thought of people taking steroids hadn't even crossed my mind.
Started looking at people in the gym in a whole new light, and it's explained a lot of weird shapes and voices.

steroids are a big problem across the uk at the moment, especially teenagers taking them.

Jeff is 13 with a full beard ...may be on something

One of my clients came in for a workout today and told me that she was so pleased with herself...she'd managed to get hold of some banned ( in the UK) weightloss pills.

I told her in no uncertain terms that they will just make her poorly, she's already got a racing heart symptom.
She's normally quite sensible.

Why do people do it? So dangerous and there's nothing wrong with losing weight the old fashioned way.

I'm so proud of having done this the old fashioned way. There is no magic pill, there are no short cuts, really there are not. The hard work it takes to do it the old fashioned way builds character, and everything you learn along the journey comes into play for the rest of your life and maintenance.

They do it because our society teaches that there is a pill for everything, things can be done with as little effort possible, and instant gratification.

You did the right thing in setting your limits. First, you don't feel comfortable training her. When a professional doesn't feel she is the right person to help, it's often best to refer to someone else. In this case, a good referral would probably be her doctor.

Someone mentioned drinking. This woman has a pre-existing heart condition and is taking illegal drugs that affect the heart. It's not that different from taking someone who is drinking out on a country road where they can't hurt anyone else to practice driving. I wouldn't do that. Why? High risk of hurting themselves.

For me, it's the moral thing and goes against what I trained to do, train clients..if I have a client who looks obviously unwell then I don't train them. Simple as that. If this woman starts to show symptoms I shall send her home. Simple.

That's quite the judgement call! Exercise is known to help all kinds of illnesses, from mental health issues to cancer. But you won't train them if they look ill? I'm not trying to be argumentative, just interested as to what folk's codes are.

If they come in with a migraine the last thing they need is vibrating on a plate. As most of my clients are women, if its they're TOM and they have severe cramping, not just mild, then I'll not train them as its not productive, they can't put everything into it. But I will do stretches and massage with them, not full blown exercises.

Ive got a headache, not sure if its a migrane or not, but I want to exercise as it often helps, can we keep our appointment?

I'm taking P78 pills for extra stamina during exercise, can we increase our sessions to 90 minutes?

I'm recovering from a dose of Malaria I had a month ago, can we start the sessions again?

Do you like my new top, a guy in the pub sold me loads of brand new ones that he 'obtained' Do you like it? Is our session still on for tomorrow?

These new diet pills are brilliant! I think they have just been approved over here. Are we still ok for next week?

I think you are taking the p!ss now..it's not like that and you know it. If a person appears/ acts/ looks unwell, unless I think it's something that will not hurt the session then yeah sure ill carry on with it.

I know it's not like that, I wasn't trying to be funny, just giving you different scenarios to see what your response to each of these would be

More disturbing is finding them in your 14 year olds purse! And she is thin and fit!! I made her flush them (painful for her considering she had saved up her baby-sitting money for them) and then we googled deaths related to taking them. She got a real eye opener. She's 19 now and never went down that path again.

That is disturbing! I love how you dealt with it, though. It taught her something!

Common sense would prevail.

I don't think knowlege about pills and suplements can be called 'common sense'

Your client specifically told you that her pills were banned and you made your decision (correct one in my opinion) based on that. But how about if she had just said she was taking Ephedra diet pills? Or Stimerex, or P65X, or wonderpill etc etc, would you research to see if they were ok, refuse to train her, or train her?

Yes I would research them if they were legal and what side effects were...if there were not many health threatening side effects, then I would train her.

The fact is they are banned makes me concerned.

Well then you sure are a responsible and professional trainer so you have to respect that. Unfortunately though I fear you are in the minority and I can't see the 18 year old personal trainers down my gym refusing to train anyone that could be roused from a drunken stupor.

In fairness though it does sound like you are a different type of Personal trainer to those

I think you have made the best decisions.

In worse case scenario she could collapse while you are trainer her. What do you do ? and do you inform the paramedics that she was taking the illegal tablets. This would reflect badly on you as you knew she had taken these tablets and was having adverse side effects but on the other hand not telling them might mean she wont get the care she needs? Would your insurance cover you if you admit that you knew she was taking illegal drugs.?


Hopefully the fact that you wont train her might be a wakeup call and she might stop.

You sound like a very professional guy and pity there is not more trainers out there who care about their clients well-being and not their purses.

I think a lot of it is impatience they want to see results quickly and if it isn't quick enough they go for aggressive measures like lowering calorie count to 1200, diet pills, whatever crap Dr. Oz is telling people to take, fad diets, etc.