Site Search

Weight Loss: Diets and Supplements and Their Ridiculous Claims! No More Bogus Claims About Weight Loss

By Brian T. Rurak

So, let me begin this article by saying, no by SCREAMING: "THERE IS NO PILL THAT BURNS FAT IN YOUR BODY & DIETS DO NOT WORK", to an extent. I will explain later.

Weight loss is the number one New Years resolution which, in my mind, is bittersweet. On one hand it's awesome that people are willing to at least make the attempt. But on the other hand it is sad that there are SO MANY people in our world that have to make that commitment.

The other sad part is that if only 2% of these people actually achieve their resolutions, it would be a miracle. Speaking of miracles, what about those miracle weight loss diets and miracle supplement drugs that solve all your problems and 'melt' the fat right off your body?

It's been going on forever and I am sick of it. It makes me cringe any time I talk to a person who buys into these ridiculous offers conjured up by multi-billion dollar companies. One time while doing a consultation with a new client, she pulled out a full bottle of a carb blocker supplement. I threw them out and she freaked out. I didn't care because I knew her body needs carbs to burn fat; PERIOD. You can't argue human physiology and the biochemistry that occurs in all of us.

The problem is that we are so easily and overly medicated in this country that if we just took all these snake-oil products and got back to basics we would be so much better off.

People start taking these supplements before they even try to change their nutritional habits or begin exercising. Then when they finally do address those and they begin losing weight, they think it was the supplement that did it. UGH!!!!

The diet book & supplement business is a $20 billion a year business with over 150,000 people taking part in it. Sometimes I wish I wasn't an ethical person. If I wasn't, that is exactly where my efforts would be focused. I would put the best damn infomercial on TV to make millions. But, I am not a millionaire and I am an ethical professional. My business is run under the premise of 'Fitness thru Truth and Logic'.

There's a good chance that if you have turned on your TV or have opened a magazine you have encountered the ads for weight loss. And I can guarantee you have come across the miracle supplement ads or seen them on the shelf in the grocery store. There are thousands of diet books and hundreds of weight loss aides on the market that claim you can lose 10X the amount of weight than with just diet and exercise alone.

Are you kidding me?? First of all, our bodies are not designed to do that. That shows true in all the people who are taking these supplements or are on these low calorie diets and are still overweight. And if by chance they do lose weight they become squishy. Meaning, they have depleted their body of muscle which is the weight loss and they have held onto their fat which means they still jiggle. And the worst part about it is they have also just destroyed their metabolism.

Second, the body is designed to lose 1-2 lbs. per week safely and sensibly. So if you were to take these supplements you should be losing 10-20 lbs per week. In a month you would have lost a small person and in 2 months, you will vanish into thin air!!!!! If these pills do work, why is our country investing so much money in extreme surgeries like gastric bypass and we are still in the same poor condition and getting worse?

You may think I am being a bit harsh against people with some of my comments in this article. Please don't get me wrong, I love working with people and I left teaching high school so I could educate more people. But I also want to educate people who want to be educated and are willing to put in the effort. My frustration lies solely with these companies who are taking advantage of the unsuspecting consumer.

You have to remember a supplement is something that is ADDED to a diet because something is missing. It is a multivitamin or maybe a meal replacement shake because you are on the go. But that is it, it is NOT 5 shakes a day, 8 pills a day and one meal a day....that is the formula for failure.

Let's talk a little about diets. Diets can work but diets generally don't work! Why? Because if you start a diet, it's a good chance you are going to come off that diet. You may have come off because you were frustrated with it. Or perhaps you reached your goal or got close so you figured the work was done. Wrong! Your work just started.

You must learn how to discipline yourself in the 'real world' of eating. Self-discipline and life balance is what will prevent you from putting the weight back on, plus extra. It's also a good chance you were so sick of being on the diet that you planned to 'treat' yourself to some of the 'good' foods that got you there in the first place.

Enjoying some "treats" now and then will not hurt you if you stick to your plan. I like to recommend that people eat 80- 90% mindfully and they can cheat 10-20% depending on their goals. Just realize, enjoying a treat now and then will not hurt your progress as long as you don't make it a daily habit.

Referring back to putting weight plus extra back on is the Yo-Yo effect and I am sure you have either experienced it or heard of it. If you have achieved an (over)weight status, you have added fat cells to your body. You can shrink those cells by losing weight but you don't lose them. So, when you go off the diet and start eating the way you used to, all those fat cells fill right back up and will also split. Many times this results in an extra 10-20% weight gain. Isn't dieting great? And again, there is NO supplement pill out there that melts fat off your body.

What you need to do is adopt a lifestyle change so when you come off the diet, which will happen, you have established good habits. This is the biggest downfall of people who are struggling with weight loss. We as fitness professionals help you to establish that lifestyle. We help you get around the obstacles that keep you from your goals.

We have a unique way of looking at your lifestyle and provide very simple solutions to your issues. Contact us at http://www.t3fitness.com/contactus.html if you are in need of some guidance and want to make some serious permanent changes to your body and lifestyle.

I want you to think about some of the diets for a second. They are just down right ridiculous. One that kills me is the Tabasco and lemon juice diet. Do you seriously think you are going to lose weight by drinking a Tabasco and lemon juice cocktail? I am a hot sauce FREAK! And when I say FREAK, I mean FREAK. I can shoot Tobasco straight into my mouth without a problem, it's not hot enough. I have over 60 bottles of the stuff and can't get enough. I eat hot sauce on just about everything and if that is the major contributor to an amped up metabolism, I would be absolutely emaciated and weightless. SILLY, SILLY CLAIM!!!!

Do you really think you will change your size, lifestyle and habits by taking a supplement pill? Your problem really isn't weight; your problem is resistance to change and possibly laziness. And again, it's no fault of yours because you are getting lied to from these companies wanting to sell you their ridiculous products. But, the blame is on you if you are lazy and you want to take the easy route.

The federal government has been cracking down on these so called 'miracle' drugs. Now in 2007 they are penalizing the companies for making these false claims and are basically saying put up or shut up. They aren't pulling them from the shelves, which I can't understand, but they are challenging the marketing aspect of the drugs which are making the outlandish claims of weight loss. They have to start backing up the claims with scientific facts. GOOD LUCK!!!!

I foresee that being a huge problem for these companies because it's not going to happen. The people they get to promote these supplements are paid individuals who are getting around $20,000 for their testimonials. And on top of that you have other celebrities like Anna Nicole Smith and John Daly claiming Trim Spa will help you step into their new world of weight loss and you too can achieve those results by taking their products. Why wouldn't you believe these people?

The miracle drugs currently being targeted by the federal government are the popular ones like: Xenical, Trim Spa, One a Day Weight Smart Formula, Xenadrine and Cortislim. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is conducting investigations and now handing down some hefty fines totaling $25 million to the marketers of these products. These fines are coming after they found absolutely no reliable scientific evidence supporting the claims of these drugs.

A good example of scientific evidence, or lack thereof, was Xenadrine claiming it was clinically proven to cause rapid and substantial weight loss. But the actual study proved the people who took a placebo lost more weight then the ones taking their product. My guess: the placebo people changed their habits and the control group did not.

Just to give you an idea of how long this has been around, at the turn of the century Frank J. Kellogg saw a need for a 'solution' to our expanding waistlines due to our abundance of food and the slowing of an agrarian culture moving into the industrial age. Since there were no regulations whatsoever from the FTC, he decided he would sell a weight loss solution that was compiled of thyroid, breadcrumbs and laxatives. YIKES!! He was the first one to capitalize on this upcoming trend and made millions until the American Medical Association reviewed his product.

As these products evolved and everyone jumped on the money bandwagon, companies started selling laxatives and other worthless appetite suppressants, or in other words starvation drugs, as the new miracle drugs. Then in the 70's Dexedrine became popular, not only for its weight loss claims, but also as a recreational psychoactive drug. (It falls into the same chemical class as the now popular drug used by teens known as MDMA or Ecstasy). That is just about the time when the government started to make some changes and pull back on the reigns.

Hopefully with past history and the new fines being levied upon these companies, this will be just the tip of the iceberg and soon many of these fraudulent companies will have to cease the production of these drugs. Then hopefully, people will come to understand that there is no magic pill or easy way to live a healthy lifestyle. Everything takes a little bit of effort or even a lot. But if you wait too long and your weight gets out of control that effort sometimes can lead to poor choices like a quick and simple fix.

Again, if you want real solutions to your weight problems and you are willing to give us 100% of your effort, come see us and I guarantee you 100% of our effort and a lifestyle that will help you lose weight.

About the Author:

Brian Rurak holds a Masters Degree in Exercise Science and a Bachelors Degree in Physical Education and Health. He is a certified fitness professional thru National Strength and Conditioning Association. He is a published author for a local Women's Health Newspaper and regularly presents health and nutrition seminars to the local university freshman orientation classes. His website is http://www.t3fitness.com