My doctor told me I should get on some weight loss pills. I thought that was kind of weird because I thought those things were frowned upon and I was always skeptical about them anyway.

I've lost 4 lbs since I last saw him on Monday by restricting and exercising a lot more. Also been taking B Complex, but with my exercise routine, I don't think I can keep up with it everyday. It's too much.

So, I don't want to hear "exercise more and eat less". What I'm wanting to know is if you have tried diet pills, which ones did you take? Which were the most successful? What were the side effects?

To be perfectly honest, I haven't had a single positive reaction with diet pills.

The first ones I tried, I can't remember the name of them, left me very shaky and caused me to bruise easily. I had liver function tests that came back bad, so I stopped them. Within a few weeks of stopping the pills my liver tests came back normal and I was no longer bruising.

The second ones I tried were Hydroxycut (the new formula without ephedra) and again, they made me so shaky and sick. I was sweaty and hot all the time and once again, started bruising too easily.

I tried Quickslim and same results.

Plus, none of those times I lost any more weight than I did when I was off of them.

I tried a bunch of different ones when I was younger and they usually made me shaky too.

I have tried Alli. I don't take them everyday, sometimes if I have a meal with a higher fat content then usual, I'll take one, but I haven't since I started eating different 3 weeks ago.

Most people that don't like them don't eat right while taking them and they have the bad side effects (like messing their pants) They think they can eat whatever they want and take them and they should lose weight. You could read up on them and see what you think, but you have to realize that they are meant to be taken on a healthy diet.

Wow about the anxiety thing. I already have bad anxiety. Don't want to risk messing that up even more.

I think it's also important to consider that if your doctor wants you to take weight loss pills, he/she would put you on a prescription pill - not the OTC pills posters are talking about. Prescription pills are heavily regulated, and don't have many of the same side effects as something you can buy at Target.

I took Meridia for a year, several years ago. I lost almost 100 lbs on it, and experienced no side effects. However, as soon as I stopped taking it, I gained the weight back. This is not the fault of the drug, and is solely my responsibility. Since I didn't have to change any of my behaviors to lose 100lbs, sans taking a pill twice a day, I neglected to change anything after I stopped taking it.

I've chosen to not take a prescription diet pill again, but I don't have an "issue" with them - as long as it's medically supervised. The problem with them is that it's entirely too easy to become complacent with the weight loss on the drugs, and do nothing in addition to taking the pills. If you learn healthy habits and use the medication as just another tool to weight loss, they can be beneficial. If you rely on them to do all of the work for you, expect to gain back everything you lost when you stop taking them.

I've only ever taken appetite suppressants - and I've taken pretty much every major one to hit the market (OTC and prescription, oh the things doctors would do in the 80s) since I was 11 and a whopping ten pounds over weight. I'm now almost 300 pounds so you can judge for yourself how successful I've been.

IMO, a safe appetite suppressant is probably not a bad thing if used properly. For someone who is very overweight, like I am, going on a calorie restrictive diet can be a shock. You might need a little help to get over the hump of feeling hungry all the time. I think that's a reasonable way to use appetite suppressants. However, if you use them like my mother - so that you can just not eat ever - that's a mistake. There's just no way to keep that up and the weight will come back. What a waste of hard work.

If it seems like too much, maybe you can adjust your diet and exercise to a level you can live with. It's so tempting to just say fine, forget it, I'm going to eat 800 calories a day and exercise for two hours - but most people can't live like that and then all your hard work won't stick.

It will come down to "exercise more and eat less" one way or another. A diet pill may make it somewhat easier to eat less or it may give you more (jittery) energy to exercise more but there is nothing that will "burn" or "melt" fat away. I assure you if that existed, there would be no fat people.

As for me, diet pills of all kinds make me cranky and mean and my parents, both siblings, as well as every roommate and boyfriend I ever had could tell you that. I think I have finally learned my lesson. Diet pills are not for me.

You mention losing four pounds in less than a week, what are you trying to rush?

A healthy weight loss is about 2 lbs a week, if you can't keep up with your own exercise routine you may be pushing yourself too hard. You could slow it down and still lose at a healthy rate.

I am currently taking Healthy Trim. Depending on where you live you might have heard their radio commercials. It is an appetite suppressant and an energy booster. I am one of those fat chicks who needed help to not be hungry all the time. This stuff is working well for me to help me keep my appetite in check and not be hungry all the time. I have lost 26 pounds so far while on it. Its different for everyone. Some lose weight fast. Some lose it slow like me. Others find that it doesn't work and they send the product back.

I'd get a new doctor. That's a doctor who has been trained by the drug companies to give patients the "easy way out" so you'll keep shelling money out to them. Any doctor who has asked me in the last couple years if I was taking any diet pills said "good" when I said "no". If you want to stick with this doctor, find out what drug he'd want to prescribe (OTC absolutely not) and then do some research on it. After many years of medical care, I've learned doctors make mistakes and don't always know what's best for you (or they just see you as a number, one of many they see in a day). And you're already questioning this from the start, so don't just accept what this doctor is saying without looking into it. Or get a second opinion.

I think that's a gross over-generalization. When my doctor put me on Meridia, he knew I was trying to lose weight, and knew I wasn't able to control my appetite. Not all doctors are idiot drug-pushers, shockingly enough there are medical professionals who listen to their patients and try and find what will work best for them. If the OP has been discussing weight loss with her doctor, perhaps he/she is trying to find another tool to aid in weight loss. And there is no "easy way out" when it comes to weight loss - to lose weight and maintain the loss takes work, no matter what route you choose.

Unfortunately, they're few and far between. Did you know only about 30-40% of American medical schools offer the national required nutrition curriculum and that's basically one class they take in their first year of medical school? And their schools are very influenced by the pharmaceutical drug industry, which often endow large amounts of money to universities and medical schools. I see drug reps at my doctors' offices all the time. You have a new symptom? Here, try this new pill sample. See if that works for you. That's what they've been trained to do. Not all, but most of them.
I said doctors offer pills as an "easy way out". Because most people don't want to change and are set in their ways or that's how we're all seen. People want a pill to fix everything (not just weight loss). Doctors routinely prescribe antibiotics for infections that won't even respond to antibiotics because that's what the patients want. They want an Rx and to be sent on their way to the pharmacy. It's become routine in daily medicine and it's destroying our health as a country along with all the crap the government lets corporations put in our food.

If you need a pill to help you with weight loss because nothing else works, that's one thing. My problem is when doctors see prescription drugs as the first option. I'm willing to change and I was lucky to find a Physician Assistant who specializes in PCOS in a fertility practice. I had to diagnose myself and seek help there because all of my other doctors didn't, wouldn't, couldn't listen to me that there was something wrong. Doctors need to be questioned and held accountable for their actions and recommendations (I'm not talking about malpractice). I'm not a number or a name on a chart.

The OP is having doubts of her own about the idea of a weight loss pill (and again we don't know what that means). If you're unsure about a course of treatment, you need to speak up to your doctor, voice your concerns and questions, and do your own research. The only person you can be sure is looking out for you is you. Your doctor might mean well but doctors are not infallible.

Why the rush?

Unfortunately it will eventually have to come to "eat less move more." I know it's not what you want to hear but that's how it works.

It's not worth the risk of permanent damage to your metabolism and possible side effect, IMHO to take something. In the long run it probably won't speed things up *that* much and I personally think the risk of re-gain is MUCH higher when you don't do things the natural way.

Best of luck!

I just started a prescription weight loss supplement called Phentermine. I have had so much energy all day long! I love it so far, I will let you know if I experience any side effects like WEIGHT LOSS!! LOL

These probably aren't the kind of "diet supplements" you are looking for, but Vitamin D, minimum of 2000 iu, is suppose to help with weight loss, as long as your diet is sufficiently alkaline (enough vegetables and fruits). CLA helps maintain muscle. Omega 3s are good for you, too.