Does it Work?Unsure if the latest product or service lives up to it's claims? From popular products to the latest scams, discuss it here before you buy!
Over the last couple of days I have noticed every form of weightloss and excersise program being hawked on TV. Alot of people make weightloss their New Year Resolution and it seems like alot of these people are just ready to earn a quick buck on it. The truth is no matter what program your on it's the combination of activity and reduction in calories, package it any way you like.
Plus being thin doesn't solve all the world's problems, that why I am glad I found a free site like 3FC. A place that I can get support and work on some of my inner blockers and not feeling like I deserve to be healthy and trim. Plus you get great advice such as this thread.
So my resolution is not to make any one else rich off my hard work!
Holiday gluttony over, pounds and presents acquired in equal measure, anyone with an e-mail account now is likely being served heaping helpings of spam.
The creatively worded subject lines play on people's guilt about their holiday indulgences, making big fat promises of a thin new you. The paunchy and jiggly among us can't help but pay attention to these provocative, exclamation point-laden claims:
Eat pizza, lose weight!
Lose 48 pounds in 13 weeks!!
Pounds melt away while you sleep!!!
No diet, no exercise, no problem: Lose now, as seen on Oprah!!!!
Those who actually read the e-mails are treated to eye-popping before-and- after photos, heartfelt testimonials ("It really works!") and seemingly legitimate data from "medical professionals."
Diet products are a $35 billion industry, and surveys show nearly 70 million Americans are fighting the battle of the bulge in a given year. So what is a consumer plunking down money on Jenny Craig or Dr. Atkins or other weight-loss programs from seaweed extract to apple cider vinegar to believe?
Last summer, the Federal Trade Commission released a report excoriating the industry, saying many weight-loss products make deceptive claims that could cost consumers money and perhaps even jeopardize their health. The FTC said that 40 percent of 300 advertisements studied during a two-year period made false statements. Most common: Pounds can come off without exercise or cutting calories.
"That's probably still the best, safest way to lose weight and keep it off - - to decrease calorie intake and increase exercise," said Natalie Lagomarcino Ledesma, a registered dietitian at UCSF Medical Center. "It's not what we in the U.S. like to hear."
With Ledesma's permission, we spammed her some e-mails we've received hawking a variety of get-fit-quick schemes. Here are her professional opinions of the following:
HUMAN GROWTH HORMONES: The most ubiquitous Internet ads are for human growth hormones, such as the one for Grow-Lean 15, which promises you can "lose up to 14 lbs. while sleeping . . . no dieting, no hunger pains, no cravings, no strenuous exercise." Plus, HGH can reduce your wrinkles, increase virility, improve emotional stability and grow back your nails.
HGH has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for those with medical problems, such as a slow-producing pituitary glands. But doctors also can legally prescribe hormone injections "off label" for a variety of medical reasons.
Ledesma: "We definitely know that HGH increases fat oxidation and you do see the glucose metabolism increase, and it can increase muscle mass and decrease body fat. But there are a lot of other complications to be considered.
It has questionable safety and efficacy. It could produce a diabetes-like effect in someone with a higher insulin level and higher body weight.
To give any hormone to the average person without a medical condition is risky. I work with cancer patients (at UCSF's cancer research center) and if you're putting more hormones in a body that already produces it, you put yourself at risk for hormonal cancers."
Another problem with the HGH advertised over the Internet, says the FTC, is that it is not the potent injectable form of HGH. The pills are said to contain only trace amounts of HGH.
NONHORMONAL SUPPLEMENTS: Products such as Power Diet Plus also give the hard sell. The company sent an e-mail out on Dec. 19 promising you could "lose 32 pounds by Christmas." The key ingredients are lipotropic fat burners, which the diet maker claims increase metabolism and cause rapid weight loss. Among the supplements are carnitine, chromium and choline, which Power Diet Plus people call "fat emulsifers."
Ledesma: "Almost all the research I've seen shows that carnitine has no effect on weight loss. Research articles are in agreement that none of those significantly work. They only help you if you have a deficiency."
VINEGAR PILLS Perhaps the wildest e-mail claim came from Bridgport Labs: You can "flush fat away forever" by using Apple Cider Vinegar Enhanced "all natural pills."
Ledesma: "There's even less research to prove that one. From what I understand, the Egyptians first used it. I don't really think anyone knows what it does. But I bet if you took a lot of it, you'd get some GI (gastrointestinal) disturbances from all that acid."
As for the high-protein, no carbohydrates diets, such as Dr. Atkins'? Ledesma says that people may see dramatic weight loss initially but that, in the long term, it can be deleterious.
"Carbs are important for a number of reasons -- essentially it's our primary energy source," she said. "You've got to eat the right kind of carbohydrates -- fruits, grains, foods that are nutrient-dense.
"But I guess we're living in an environment where marketing dominates. Everyone wants to find alternatives. But if you just sit back, eat a healthy diet and exercise, you'll lose."
hi chicks:
I came back here searching for a miracle diet pill to try. I do know better - I am just hungry 150% of the time. If you gave me free rein I could just eat the entire day. I do try to have some restraint and I concentrate on fruits & veggies.
I am over 8 # over my weight I need to be at for my clothes to fit, and now there is no miracle pill that is safe to use.
The New Year
