About Weight Loss and Diet Supplements

There is a certain weight loss supplement advertised on TV that says it is "clinically proven to reduce body fat and weight"

The clinical study performed at a university they are referring to has determined that the pill helped the participants lose an average of 3.86 pounds over the course of the 8-week study. This translates into less than 4 pounds in 8 weeks, or, half a pound per week, of weight loss.

Let me repeat that: ONE HALF OF ONE POUND PER WEEK

What does this tell us? It tells us several important things:

#1 Taking this pill over the course of a full year, or perhaps about 50 weeks or so, will result in the loss of about 25lbs. and this is the case if and only if the pill is taken under consistently ideal circumstances, i.e. you don’t have any health complications or sicknesses, you don’t overeat on the holidays, you are exercising and following a diet, you do not have food allergies or Candida overgrowth, and so on...25 lbs of weight loss from a so called "miracle" fat loss pill over the course of a year…Hmmmmm

#2 It also tells us that the so called university study accepts that significant weight loss is half a pound per week. One half a pound of weight loss per week is not significant; it is considered normal weight loss for anyone who is embarking on a healthy eating and proper fitness lifestyle. The advertisement seems to attempt to “mislead” the consumer by fabricating and exaggerating very mundane facts about weight loss.

#3 It clearly proves that there is no pill or snake oil that will cause you to lose 10 lbs in ten days or anything like that. The commercial also says that "75% of the weight lost was body fat". No, really? Under normal circumstances, the human body can only shed half a pound to one and a half pounds of fat per week. The exception would be under circumstances of extreme famine, starvation, or illness.

#4 So if 75% of the weight lost was fat, then the rest would most likely be water. This additional weight, which can fluctuate as much as 4 lbs per day, is water. When you go on a diet and lose something like 5 lbs in a week, I figure that at least 3 pounds (conservatively speaking) is water. If this is in fact the case, than this product acts as a diuretic and purges the body of its water stores. This can actually lead to more water retention in the long run. The immediate effect of dehydration alone makes this pill potentially dangerous.

And finally, in small print at the bottom of the screen, it says "diet and exercise recommended". So, what they are saying their pill is most effective when one is engaging in healthy eating and exercise, which people should be doing anyway. It is a well known and proven fact that healthy weight loss is next to impossible without diet and life style changes.

So, the bottom line:
If you are eating healthy diet and exercising properly, you will lose at least half a pound of fat a week anyway, and "said diet pill" is a modern day snake oil, as many fad diets are, and the only weight it will legitimately help you lose is in your wallet.

Michael
Staff of Life Nutrition Consulting Inc.