Physicians recommend that the safest and most effective way to lose weight is to undertake long term, sustainable lifestyle changes. That is, alter your eating so you’re consuming fewer calories and/or exercise more so you’re burning more calories. But people are always on the lookout for something easier. Preferably something faster as well. I know all that about healthy eating, but my high school reunion’s in less than a month and I have to drop these 20 pounds!
What they want is a shortcut to weight loss. And there is no shortage of unscrupulous folks willing to separate them from their money by promising just such shortcuts. Google “fast weight loss,” “best weight loss,” “best diet pills,” etc. and find out. If you’ve got a credit card number, they have the answer to your problems.
Plus the stereotype of women being the ones obsessed with losing weight is largely a thing of the past. Nowadays men too are a major consumer of all things diet related.
So is there a pill that men can take to lose a lot of weight, and lose it fast?
Certainly there are diet pills that have at least some small effectiveness, some available only by prescription. There are significant drawbacks to them as well, but some of these drawbacks don’t apply so much to short term use. If you really just need to drop weight for that upcoming reunion, then drawbacks like long term addictiveness or a likelihood of gaining back the weight after you stop taking the pills aren’t going to interfere with that. You won’t be taking them long enough to get addicted, and your reunion will be long over by the time you gain the weight back.
The more relevant problem is that they don’t have the degree of effectiveness that someone eager to drop substantial weight quickly is looking for.
Consider that one of the most effective weight loss pills is orlistat, which blocks the absorption of fat. In clinical studies, over the course of a year, only about half of the subjects lost weight, and they lost an average of only 5% of their body mass. (That’s for the prescription strength diet pill. Results for the non-prescription version-Alli-are even more modest.) A year’s not exactly what most people have in mind when they want to lose weight “fast,” and really not very many people lost enough weight even in a year to make a striking visual difference. The number of people who lose a noticeable amount of weight with these pills in a couple weeks or a month-like our hypothetical fellow urgently seeking to lose weight quickly for his reunion-is miniscule.
In addition to fat blockers, there are amphetamine appetite suppressants. As good as any for fast weight loss is phentermine, another drug available only by prescription. But it’s effective only to a comparable degree as orlistat. So again, far from a magic pill that will make you slim and trim in no time.
If you are a man needing to lose weight quickly, then certainly it’s worth talking to your doctor to see if he or she believes a prescription for orlistat or phentermine or another drug is in order. Just don’t get your hopes up expecting miracles.
Alternatively, there are natural substances and foods with appetite suppressant qualities that for many people will have at least as much effect as diet pills. The publication Men’s Health notes that the pectin in apples, the casein in cottage cheese, and the omega-3 fatty acids in fish all have modest appetite suppressive qualities.
But longer term, there’s no question you should be looking into some kind of physical activity or exercise, and healthier eating habits. And preferably not of a type you hate that will take constant will power, because these are changes that need to be sustained. For few if any people are diet pills the way to go.
Sources:
Dustin Driver, “Extreme Weight Loss Techniques.” Ask Men.
Over-the-counter weight-loss pills: Do they work?” Mayo Clinic.
“Prescription Weight Loss Drugs.” WebMD.
Which Diet Pills Really Work?” Men’s Health.
