Weight Loss Supplements – What You Don't Know Can Hurt You
Normally for overweight people I recommend a long term approach to weight loss involving sustainable methods like diet and exercise. But for those people who are obese and need all the help they can get to kick start their weight loss efforts there are supplements that can help.
The two types of weight loss supplements are fat blockers and appetite suppressants. A lot of obese people have had great success with using one of these methods.
How Does It Work?
For fat blockers, let’s take an example: Xenical; it is a fat blocker supplement that highly recommended by the medical community. Xenical works by interfering lipases enzymes, an enzyme that broke down dietary fats. This interference causes the enzymes no longer available to hydrolyze dietary fat into an absorbable state. As a result, up to 33% dietary fats will pass through unchanged.
An appetite suppressant such as Reductil, helps by blocking neurotransmitters in your brain which prevents noradrenaline and serotonin from being absorbed into your cells. This allows you to feel fuller sooner so you don’t eat as much which leads to weight loss.
Side Effects
All supplements have side effects. Some are mild annoyances such as flatulence, headache, and dizziness while others are more serious and even potentially life threatening like irregular heart beat, and allergic reactions. These side affects can be far more serious and dangerous if you already have underlying medical issues such as, heart problems, high blood pressure, depression, or if you are pregnant or nursing. You should always consult with your doctor before you start using any of these supplements especially if you have these underlying health issues.
The Proper Way to Use Weight Loss Supplements
1. Keep in mind that many of these supplements are only available by prescription and should only be used by those people who are obese. Make sure to carefully read and understand all instructions before you start using any supplement.
2. Carefully read and follow all dosing instructions.
3. Make sure you know what possible drug interactions there can be between this dietary supplement and anything else, prescription and non prescription, drugs you may be taking. Even over the counter medications can create potentially dangerous drug interactions. Sometimes just taking the pills 2 hours apart will be enough, but make sure to contact your doctor and follow her advice.
4. Using the supplements only WILL NOT SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM INSTANLY; you still need to complement it with a good diet. For example: Reductil is best used in conjunction with low calorie diet.
5. One common side effect of weight loss supplements is increased blood pressure so it’s important to monitor your blood pressure while taking these medications. If you have increased blood pressure you will either have to cut your dosage or discontinue use. Talk to your doctor.
6. Most of the available weight loss supplements that approved by Food and Drug Administration are short term use, just a few weeks or months; if you plan to use it on the long term period, consult your doctor before. There are cases reported that at some point, some people develop tolerance for the medication. Usually, this happen after 6 months usage.
7. Xenical is the only weight loss supplement that isn’t considered a controlled substance. With all others you will need a doctor’s supervision when using them to avoid becoming addicted.
Conclusion
Weight loss supplement should only be used to supplement an intelligent, safe weight loss program. Whichever weight loss supplements you use remember to carefully follow all directions to avoid any potentially dangerous side effects.
View a selection of the best weight loss program to overcome your obesity problem and use it in conjunction with the right weight loss supplement; Visit Stefan Vincent’s blog, Diets That Work, to gain many other valuable weight loss tips.