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General health

any safe diet pills out there?

14 replies

threeangels · 31/07/2002 00:29

Has anyone ever checked with their doctor on a specific diet pill to help lose weight? I have never taken any of these kinds of pills you see on tv because I have heard that none of them are safe. So Im pretty cautious. I was wondering if any of you have had any kind of exp taken a diet pill and if it has been proven to be safe by someone trustworthy you know. I dont feel safe to go by what these people on tv say when trying to sell these products. I have dieted the low fat natural way which does work well for me I just would like a little extra help.

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SueW · 31/07/2002 07:08

A friend who is in the medical profession swears by the fat magnet ones - the type that stop your body absorbing the fat. She uses them when she goes on holiday, I think or is having a big blowout. I don't know which brand she uses though.

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Mooma · 31/07/2002 08:12

SueW - I got all excited about the idea of a 'fat magnet', typed the phrase into Google, came up with loads of sites selling these pills, but also this warning
So it seems they are controversial, but it's interesting that your friend believes they work, especially since she has medical training.
Might be worth a try!

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Jendy · 31/07/2002 16:32

I know some people who used the fat magnets and there were mixed responses. I also found out that some problems with them are that you need to be careful because they can inhibit the absorption of fat soluble vitamins (can't remember which ones they are) also they have a tendency to cause wind (and tuumy pains, diahorrea a poss too i some people. The origin ones were shellfish based (chitin) although there are some artificial ones ones now, so I think you have to beware if you have a shellfish intolerance. Grief do I sound like a medical report?!

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threeangels · 31/07/2002 20:20

I have heard some positive stuff out there about pills but also negative. Probally more neg. Maybe I will just forget about this idea. Who knows what can happen using these types of pills. Id be too afraid to take a chance on them. I think I will talk to my doctor about it though. Thanks all.

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Willow2 · 31/07/2002 23:15

Anyone know anything about Herbal Life (bit like Slim fast).

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SueW · 03/08/2002 09:56

I read up a bit on diet pills last year as Australian mags seemed to be even more filled with ads for them than ours (or maybe I was just noticing more because I was dieting at the time!).

It seemed to me that most of the products were just compressed fibre and required an awful lot of water to be consumed alongside them - one article/ad said you would need to drink 4 litres of water per day which is double the norm, I think. Hardly surprising you feel full if you've a bellyful of fibre and water!

It did cross my mind that the sort of pellets you buy for animal feed (rabbits?) might be just as effective and a lot cheaper!

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MalmoMum · 04/08/2002 18:18

Willow2, I used to work on reports on foodstuffs for the herbalife account in Brussels many years ago. The office was full of the stuff without the hard sell. It is supposed to nutrtionally balanced but it depends on what would work for you in a diet. If you know what you should be eating and can follow that, i think you would be as well off.

Never fancied the stuff myself and the other girls were always on some sort of food restriction thing so never able to tell if any boddy shapes were due to this. otherwise it takes care of most things: milkshake meal replacements, vitamin supplements, fibre filler ups and guarana boosts which have an effect like coca cola.

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janh · 04/08/2002 19:06

Malmomum, dear, are you going in for supermum of 2002???

Malmobabe is only 18 hours old, come on, you're allowd to have a little rest!

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WideWebWitch · 04/08/2002 20:48

I'm pretty convinced that diet pills in general are probably not a good idea. From what I've gathered they used to mostly be speed based, i.e they sped up your metabolism, or, now, as someone said, they're fibre and vitamins and encourage you to drink a lot of water, which is going to have the effect of filling you up so you eat less.

Much as I'd like to believe in a fat magnet I think the only one I know of is me I wish there was a substitute for healthy eating and exercise but sadly, I don't think there is. But please, someone DO correct me if I'm wrong!

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Mopsy · 04/08/2002 22:26

WWW you're definitely not the only fat magnet

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Zoe · 04/08/2002 23:41

I would have thought that if they were considered to be clinically effective and appropriate that they would be widely available on prescription, given the amount of money spent on treating people with obesity related problems in the NHS. I really worry about the effect that these so-called slimming pills might have.

Zoe

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Rara · 07/08/2002 09:05

Afraid to say I took a course of so-called slimming pills a few years ago. A friend gave them to me - her brother had sent them from USA and I was rather irresponsible and decided to take them. Well, they worked - my appetite disappeared (which for me is a miracle) and I began to lose weight quite quickly. After a week or so, though I also began waking throughout the night, having palpitations/heart racing, felt very on edge and shaky. Stopped taking them and vowed not to again. As wickedwaterwitch says, they're speed based. NOT one of my best ideas!