My official opinion is: Meh. Diet pills.

You can do plenty fine without any of them, and simply count your calories, and add in activity to up your fitness level along the way.

Why are you so set on having to use a diet pill in conjunction with weight loss?

Yes to all of this. Diet pills really only succeed in making your wallet lighter.

Eat less and move more. If you're wanting to supplement, I've heard green tea can be good for the metabolism (I don't drink it myself) and it's much cheaper than a bottle of diet pills.

Please don't go the diet pill route. Weight may go but will quickly come back on when you return to your current way of eating. Browse our site for other ways to lose weight via a healthy lifestyle. Calorie counting is a good way to start.

If you want to be a police officer - best advice would be to get addicted to working out!! Look at the fitness requirements to pass the physical portion to become a police officer. Then, set some of your own fitness goals that will bring you closer to that level. Couple that with calorie counting and voila - you're well on your way to living your dream! There are no magic diet pills and there are a lot of things out there that are not healthy for you. There are tons of people on this board who are doing it sans medication - and I bet you can to! Good luck

I tried Xenical and believe me, the side effects out weigh the benefits. There's no magic pill, just alot of snake oil out there

You don't need diet pills. Pills are never a solution for making things easier.
You just need willpower.
You can do this!!!!

I worked in policing for several years and I've done the fitness exams many, many times.

First, no diet pills. You are not at the level in which they may be useful (that's when you are already low body fat and need an extra 'edge' for whatever reason).

You need a full lifestyle change and to drop a good 70-80lbs to become functional in the academy (*Remember ladies, I am speaking directly to the physical requirements of police fitness exams/academy). I would suggest a MINIMUM goal of 2 years for this - because pure fat loss is not going to help you. You will need to train hard physically - full barbell squatting, benching, rope climbs, plyometrics, pushups, pullups.

I suggest hiring a personal trainer and dietician ASAP to get started on this. If you become a police officer, the day will come where you will need to sprint at 10-12.0mph, fight a 200lb man in the street for your life. It's not just about basic requirements, it's about life survival skills.

Thinking about diet pills are simply focusing on the *wrong* thing here. You may find CROSSFIT to be a very useful fitness tool - if you can do FGB (the "Fight Gone Bad" workout), you will be in good shape.

You're looking at a year, 2 years, of fat loss along with strength training to recomp your body. Good luck to you and please let me know if you need any more help...

I'm going to second what everyone else said. I've often been where you are. Wanting a quick fix, an easy way, a for sure thing to at least help with the weight loss.

The fact of the matter is pills imo are bad. For more than one reason. Say you found a magic one that works wonders, awesome. But, if you stop using that pill, or if they take it off shelves, then you are back at square one just with less weight. Now, that sounds better than square one more weight right? Not really. You'd still have to learn what is healthy what isn't and start working out. Why not do it all now?

Then you have the health part. Where you see these ads of things people used but they weren't tested enough and now people end up with side effects or die from them. It just isn't worth it.

Losing weight can be hard, especially if you have underlying problems. But, for me and many people on the forums, especially ones not close to goal. I find it really isn't hard. It's all a mindset. I'm losing slower than some, technically on the scale. But, it's not hard. Once you decide to change, your mind changes. And, once you start seeing those changes and more than that feeling them, it pushes you even more.

Pills, also may take weight off, assuming you find one that works. But, even then it does not in any way make you healthy. And who knows if you'd be losing fat or muscle or both? We need muscle. That is why exercise plus a healthy diet is best. That way you lose fat. In my opinion being skinny and flabby is just as bad as fat and flabby- your insides are probably still as healthy or unhealthy and maybe worse off after using diet pills.

I bet if you tried it, you'd be pleasantly surprised all YOU can accomplish without the help of pills.

As far as tips, healthy eating for me. Means less meat, no sodas, cutting back on things like sugars, mayo and anything else with extra goo we don't need to put in our bodies.

Being healthy is not being skinny. It's a lifestyle change and you can easily lose weight while changing yourself inside and out.

Don't think that you can't do anything except diet pills. You can. I'd suggest you check out the Goal forum for motivation. It's doable. It may or may not be faster than pills. but it's much better for your health as well as maintainable. Once, you've got down to where you want to be you know how to keep yourself there. You were the one that did it.

Here's Lipovox on Better business bureau with a grade of F
http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-rev...em-ut-22302157
"In September of 2009 the BBB requested extensive substantiation of this company's advertising practices including, "Burn up to 400% more fat than with just diet and exercise alone", "#1 for fat loss & acne", and "acne aid", "wrinkle treatment", and "weight loss pill". The company provided information for review. At the end of this review, the BBB determined the claims made were not adequately or convincingly substantiated by the references provided; as such, the BBB requested the company modify and/or discontinue the advertising. As of June 9, 2010 the company has not responded to the BBB's requests for modification and/or discontinuation and the advertising has not been modified."

It is also not FDA approved, like most if not all diet pills.

It's not that I am trying to discourage you. I am only trying to discourage from putting mystery things into your body. I can't even find a place that says how much of any given ingredient is in the pill. Apparently, the pill has caffeine in it, which they fail to mention. I assume it's from the green tea extract or whatever. There are many natural things you can eat, not a blend of some super whatevertheycall it. At least you know what's going in your body.

Just be so careful and good luck if you still decide to try the diet pill route.

First off congrats on deciding to get healthier and on your college/career goals.
But I have to agree with everyone else here and say I think you should just follow a healthier, calorie specific diet plan and incorporate exercise.
Diet pills sometimes work, but at what cost? In the 90's Phen Phen was wildly popular and people lost weight on it, then they started dropping dead from heart valve damage. Side effects totally outweigh the weight loss.
You should be fine with diet and exercise.
Good luck to you.

I agree with everyones advice to start working out. I calorie count and I jog. This summer I have been eating an average of 1500 cals a day, and jogging 5 days a week and I have lost 30lbs. If you are not currently jogging your should try the c25k program.

Sacha's advice is REALLY practical. Adjust your behaviors to your desired goal, like she said.

I have to pretty much agree with everyone else.

I will add that I am a person that actually tried a bunch of different diet pills and I started when I was younger than you. Metabolife was a big one back around when I was 15 or 16. My mom was using it and it was considered safe so she let me use it as well. I lost a little bit of weight, but was completely shaking and just felt off when I was using it. It was taken off the market of course. I remember after that one I used to get different things all the time, they pretty much all made me shaky or just didn't work. I also tried weightloss patches, something I think was called pearls, and these terrible tasting disolving tablets. None of them ever worked, I just wasted a lot of money.

There are some great suggestions here, good luck finding something that works for you!

I second what TooManyDimples said. I had a friend in college who tried a magic diet pill against her doctors recommendations. She would come to class every morning talking 100 miles a minute, shaking like a leaf, and would be sweaty and feel clammy. After two weeks of this, I had to go to her house to intervene. Doing that to your body is not worth it.

I was very close to your stats not too long ago. I'm 5'4 and weighed 196 at my highest. I started keeping a food log where I list everything I eat and the calories. I total them at the end of the day and try to keep them in the 1,200 - 1,400 range. In addition to that, I exercise daily, which has made a huge difference in how my body looks. I'm tone, gaining muscle, losing fat, have tons more energy, and just feel great! I do 30 minutes of cardio every day along with weight training for different muscle groups. I alternate legs/abs and back/arms/shoulders. You can do this without a pill! Good luck!

This is the bottom line, in my opinion: if it were as easy as taking a pill, none of us would be here. Unfortunately you gotta get your eating and exercise in line. I second the poster who suggested that since you want to be a cop, go find some exercise you can really get into, since you're going to have to stay fit!