Diet Pill Concerns...

[SailorDoom]

Hi everyone, I have a few questions/concerns about a diet pill -- any information or advice would be greatly appreciated. Here's the deal:

A friend and I have been working out together lately; trying to motivate each other and keep one another accountable. Although it is nice to have a real life buddy in addition to these wonderful and inspiring forums, she's a little bit of what I would consider a "wimp". *Cringe* I mean that in the nicest possible way. What I mean to say is she just doesn't push herself that hard and she constantly makes excuses about why she can't eat well, work out harder, etc. She also recently admitted that she's been using a diet pill to help her lose weight. I say "admitted" because the conversation began with the phrase "I have something to confess...". Specifically, she's been taking Slimquick, which I know nothing about other than that its marketed expressly to women and contains "natural ingredients" (whatever that means), two facts that she continually cited as her reasons that taking this pill was okay in addition to the fact that her boyfriend said it was okay with him.

I don't know why this is bothering me so much! I guess I personally feel that the diet pill is sort of like cheating, especially in her case -- she's not overweight and she's simply looking to improve her fitness. I react very strongly to any "non-natural" supplements or eating habits since I was surrounded by eating disorders through my teen years (former gymnast and diver) and developed disordered eating habits of my own in my freshman year of college. Why would she think she needs this pill to accomplish her goals? Do you guys have any advice on what to say to her about this? I really don't want to offend or upset her, since it seems she may have body image or self esteem issues that I was previously not aware of. Is this something along the lines of a "toxic" workout buddy -- someone I should be friends with, but not “workout friends” with? Have any of you out there tried diet pills? If so, what has your experience been? I'm thinking maybe I should just keep my nose out of it and continue working toward my goals regardless of her habits, but I'm concerned for her too...

Thanks for listening.

[smooshmcsmeesh]

I am not familiar with Slimquick, and haven't tried diet pills since I was in high school "way back when" and Dexatrim was the rage at the time. I remember feeling very jittery and uncomfortable when I took it, and that didn't last long.

There is just no 'magic pill' solution for losing weight & keeping it off permanently... but it's human nature to want a quick & easy fix.

I would ask your friend why she feels the need to use a pill to aid her dietary progress, as opposed to just disciplining herself more with the healthier food choices & workouts. Is she trying to compete with you? Or not let you down by maintaining her weight?

I'm always very leary about diet pills. They scare me. I think the risks outweigh the benefits, but then again, I've never really met anyone who had much success with them.

One pill that I've seen alot of advertisements for is Alli. You can buy it OTC at any drugstore, and the marketing promotes it as a 'safe aid' to diet & exercise. Anyone have experience with that?

[awilliam65]

I have heard about the acai berry supplement for losing weight. Any thoughts about this? No side effects that I can see.

[hetemte@msn.com]

Hey all,
Ms. addictive personality here. I think I've tried almost all of them. Most of them made me feel like crap. Very jittery, upset stomach you name it and sometimes I ate more instead of less!

I have however used the Alli with success. You must follow the diet recommendations tho. If not, be prepared to never be more than 2 seconds away from a toilet! It does help tho and doesn't have any of the jitery crapy side effects.

As far as your friend being a weight loss buddy, I'm thinking your gut is right and you should just hang out. If your gonna have a buddy you need to be on the same page otherwise it gets very frustrating for you.

As for the Acai, they are full of anti oxidents which is good. I never had any adverse affects but I don't know that it helped either. You'll have to let us know.

Good luck!!

[Atkins4MeNJ]

Didn't work for me.

[rlynn456]

I've been taking alli for the past three weeks and it works pretty good, makes you keep your fat intake down and there is no bad side effects unless you eat somthing greasy or high fat... then you better be near the loo. lol
starting weight: 215
current weight: 208
goal weight: 145

[almeeker]

As far as I can tell, and I've tried quite a few of them, diet pills are a crutch. They make you think it's helping, but truthfully it's just giving you a fall guy for when you totally cheat and fall off the wagon (wasn't me, it was those pills...). They are also expensive and strive to make you dependent on the products for anytime you want to lose a few pounds. I don't really know what to do with your friend, if you enjoy her company at the gym, keep it going, because at least that way you are still motivated to get there. However I wouldn't put any money down on a weight loss contest with her as a partner. Maybe what you can do to motivate her to push it a little more is to find a 5-10K and sign the two of you up to run it.

[mhunter1222]

My trainer told me all those supplements are crap and that most of them don't have enough of the claimed supplement (for example acai berry) to make any difference. They are mostly caffeine which is a stimulant and gives you a boost of energy.

If a boost of energy and metabolism is what you want then he said the best way to get a boost is to drink coffee! Now, caffeine is a diuretic so drink plenty of water to counter-act that effect, but he said studies have shown that coffee is a weight-loss buddy in itself.