Hi, I have tried so hard to lose the last 40 pounds. I have lost 22 pounds and now I am at a standstill. I bought some papaya enzyme because it states that it helps to breaakdown food in the body. I bought the cayenne fruit to help boost my metabolism. I read in a magazine that emr'gen-c vitamin c suppose to help you lose weight also. I bought something call herbalclean cleasning cocktail that I will be taking Monday. I am so desperate. I have spent so much money on weight loss produts. Last year I paid $150.00 on a weight loss pill call didrex. I bought hoodia last week. I have tried dexatrim, weight loss patches, cortislim, lexapril, diurex (to try and rid excess water. I know my husband gets tired of me spending all the money on weight loss products. I am a stay at home mom and I don't eat like I use too. I don't eat potato chips and I eat very little. My husband is a professional chef and when he cooks he fusses at me because I don't put very much on my plate. I don't know what to do. I was doing good at first. I exercise on may gazelle and ab lounge. You would have thought that I have learned from spending a lot of money on weight loss products. Have anyone tried any of the products I mentioned above? I am losing it here. I was depressed earlier in the year and the dr put me on lexapro. Big mistake. I was always tired and lost interest in everything, even husband. I can't stand being fat anymore. I weigh 165. Need words of encouragement.

Hi Rena

I haven't tried any of the weight loss products you've mentioned but I have used Emrgen C. I take a packet of it with water before I workout and I feel like it gives me a little extra energy. I don't really think it helps with weight loss unless you exercise more from taking it.

I'm on Lexarpo too and I think it makes it hard to loose weight. How many times a week do you do the Gazelle?

Good luck!

I'm going to rant, but I'm not ranting at you, don't worry It's the industry I'm upset with.

I get the impression that you've tried so many pills that you've learned that they don't work. The hoodia you bought isn't even real hoodia (long story, but the real thing is still in Africa, despite the fraudulent claims on the various websites or products that sell it).

Much of what you bought is really just diuretics, and unless you have some medical condition that causes you to hold abnormal amounts of water, then you don't need them. If you do need them, you should only take what your doctor advises or prescribes, and not the OTC kind.

The cayenne is a myth and cannot boost your metabolism. It's just a marketing ploy to sell more product. The idea behind it is that hot spices make you sweat, so theoretically you would burn more calories. But it's not the same thing, you are not buring any more calories. Well, maybe one or two It's a gimmick. Plus according to the Physicians Desk Reference When taken internally, Cayenne can cause diarrhea and cramps. High doses taken over extended periods of time may cause chronic stomach problems, kidney damage, liver damage, or nerve problems.

Get rid of the HerbalClean, it will do nothing to help you lose weight, but it will give you the runs. Who cares how much water and waste matter you lose down the crapper (sorry for being so blunt) if you still have exactly the same amount of fat on your body when you stand back up.

The papaya enzyme is another myth. It is a great meat tenderizer, though, lol.

The Emergen-C is a dose of vitamins, but there's nothing in there to help with weight loss. We're always surprised by the amount of weight loss advice in women's magazines that have been shown to be false. Some has even been dangerous.

The weight loss supplement industry rakes in billions of dollars by making claims they don't have to prove. It's an unregulated industry, so they make up wild claims, etc, and depend on our personal desperation to fall for it. They know we want to lose weight, so we are their willing victims.

I'm sorry to be so blunt. You're not alone, though, because they make it so easy to believe them, and if people didn't fall for it, then they wouldn't still be in business. But the fact that the nation is just getting fatter should be evidence that these products are not working. I've always said that if these things really worked, we'd hear about them from our doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, on CNN, and on the cover of every major newspaper in the country. But we don't. We hear about them from flashy labels and gimmicky magazine ads, and a bazillion anonymous cookie-cutter websites.

Now that I got that out of my system ....

Do you keep a food log? You might want to consider writing down every bite you eat every day, or use a free online service such as www.fitday.com Count the calories, and make sure you are getting the right amount. It's important not to overeat or undereat. Also, writing it all down will help you see if some of your choices are not as wise as others.

How much do you exercise? The new guidelines are at least 60 minutes of cardio five times a week for weight loss. Many of us need more than that. You might also keep a fitness log to see how much you are exercising, and see if there are any times you can squeeze in more, if needed.

Have you had a good physical to see if you are insulin resistant or have some other medical condition which affects your weight? If you are, then you may need to go on a special diet to control your weight.

Have you tried joining Weight Watchers, going on South Beach, or some other structured diet? A lot of us do well by just eating smaller portions, etc, but many of us need something more structured before we see any progress.

We're glad you are here and we hope you'll stick around. There are a lot of people here that have been exactly where you are now, that can share advice and support so you can get back on track and lose the rest of your weight. Congratulations on losing the 22 pounds so far, and don't worry, you'll reach your goal

I've used Emergen-c but don't see any reason to believe it would help in weight loss; it's basically a vitamin C supplement; ditto on the papaya enzyme, which is simply a digestive aid, IMO. Diurex is just a water pill, IMO, it won't help you lose weight.

Sorry, I don't mean to sound negative when you need encouragement and are depressed (been there, done that), but all these pills and things aren't going to help much as far as weight goes and who knows what the mixture is doing to your health, in my opinion.

IMO, you aren't "fat" at 165 pounds, so maybe the first step would be to work on the mindset that you describe as "desperate." Only you can decide to do that. The weight loss part will come, but what's the hurry?

You mention that you aren't eating much; that can be a problem in weight loss. If you've cut back too far, you might be unable to lose because your metabolism is slowing down to conserve energy. This could maybe be contributing to your depression and sense of futility, which in turn is just making it all much harder than it needs to be.

Also, maybe you could mix up your exercise a bit more. The Gazelle and Ab Lounge are all well and good, but maybe you could add a walk outside in the sunshine (for depression) and some light weights to build a little more muscle as well.

But, IMO, whatever you do, it's gotta be fun and relaxing for you. Being "desperate" and madly spending money on supplements and pills is maybe just contributing to that "desperation" and IMO isn't going to get you anywhere.

Sorry again, not meanin' to offend, but hope you can find a way to relax and enjoy the journey ... have a wonderful time enjoying life and healthy food and don't worry, that weight will come off when it's ready.

Maybe you need to stop trying so hard...especially if it's stressing you out.

First off - those cleansing cocktails are nothing more than laxatives. Sure, you'll probably lose weight on the scale when you do them, but that's not fat weight.

(Personally, it scares me to see the diet marketers pushing laxatives & diuretics again as they did back in the 1980's with the 'diet tea' which turned out to be dangerous - people died from using them. Overuse of laxatives can REALLY screw up your system big time - as I leared from personal experience back when I was 15 years old and using laxatives to 'get thin' - ended up fainting in the middle of a store from dehydration and lack of nutrients - the ONLY time in my life I have EVER fainted! Of course now, they don't call it "laxatives" they use "cleansing the system" as though it were the same as using Drano in your sink, like there's something blocking your innards keeping all those nasty calories from escaping... As for diuretics, I've heard SEVERAL horror stories - and seen photos of at least one involving someone who lost 100 lbs, went into bodybuilding competitions and used a bunch of products including a diuretic made from dandelion root to get her bodyfat down to the low single digits for a competition - three days later she had regained at least 20 lbs and was totally bloated. Another example of the pendulum swing - if you push the pendulum too far in one direction, when it is let go it will swing WAY over in the other direction! )

If you've already lost 22 pounds - instead of stressing about another 40, why not just practice MAINTAINING the weight you've lost? I'm a BIG advocate of losing weight SLOWLY - check out this article I posted some time ago on the subject.

Exercise - you know that exercise is a STRESS BEATER - to me it sounds like your body and maybe you are sick of the same old Gazelle and Ab Lounger routine. If you've been using the Gazelle in front of the TV forever, no wonder you're bored! I know the cold weather is setting in, but why not put on your walking shoes, grab a Walkman or something and take a brisk walk outside - ask your husband and maybe your kids to go with you too - that way EVERYONE benefits. You might try looking for exercise videos for when the rainy season sets in. Find something YOU enjoy doing that keeps your body moving. And do a VARIETY of things. I don't know how old your kids are or where you live, but you might try looking for a gym - I know, I know, everyone's scared to go into a gym at first but give it a whirl! (If you have a YMCA nearby - they usually have great deals on family memberships where again EVERYONE can benefit).

Pretty much all of those diet pills are crap, and Hoodia is the crappiest of the crap (please read the Hoodia sticky at the top of this forum - if there IS any hoodia in the pills, it's a very minute amount, and the appetite-supressing ingredient doesn't even work when it's in pill form - it has to be a fresh piece of the plant which is why Pfizer opted out of the whole project once they found out they wouldn't be able to make a workable pill from it!). If you want to invest money in your health, try getting a gym membership, buy a new pair of walking shoes and some workout clothes, or just save the money for smaller clothes later on. Not those majic pills...

That's my two cents anyway.

If you would like to loose those last 20 pounds my suggestion would be to get up early in the morning and do about a half an hour of cardio ( walking, jogging, arobics, etc...) followed by a muscle toning workout which could be pilates, weight training, etc... Those weight loss supplements sold on the shelf don't work. Like said above they are money grabbers. The only way to lose weight is to eat right and excercise. If you do Cardio first thing in the morning then you are more apt to lose weight faster because your body hase low glycerides and has to use the body fat for energy. When you do your cardio in the morning you burn twice as much fat as you do the rest of the day, The Key is to do it in the morning on an empty stomach so your body can use your body fat as energy instead of the carbohydrates and sugars in food. If you do this then you still have to eat right but even if you do have say a chocolate bar it won;t inhibit your weight loss because you have jump started you metablolism for the day.

I'm kinda new at this...I started out needing to lose over 100 lbs...I'm about 12 lost right now and just starting a body cleanse/detox and I'm wondering if anyone here has tried one, how it affected you, if you lost any weight doing it?
Thank you all

We have a BUNCH of threads regarding this topic - basically your body does a very good job at cleansing itself without these products!

Anytime I see the words "detox" or "body cleansing" on a product, it's a huge red light IMO.

Oxy-Powder colon cleanse for health reasons

Colon Cleansing

What do we know about colon cleanse??

Check out this response that Suzanne wrote regarding one of the many colon cleansing products on the market:

If you *MUST* do this, I would HIGHLY recommend discussing this with your primary care physician...or better yet do your own "detox" by spending a few days or a week eliminating sugar and processed foods from your diet and eat totally 'clean' foods and drink water - maybe use some Metamucil if you feel it's necessary. This, IMO, would be a lot more beneficial than throwing your money away on what is most likely actually a bunch of herbal laxatives and diuretics...

My boyfriend and I just did a juice cleanse. My father is a strict vegetarian and water cleanses every other month or so. The reccommendation is to do it at the change of the season. I didn't do it to lose weight. It is NOT weight loss aid!!!

Ever since the holidays, I haven't been able to kick this bloated "yucky" feeling, I've felt sluggish, and my digestive workings weren't so normal (and that's as candid as I'm going to get on that). So I talked with my dad and read up on some different products and decided on what I was going to do. I looked up some different juice recipes as well. The system I used was not a laxative or a diruetic, but fiber and vitamins. I ate my egg whites in the morning and made juices throughout the day and drank TONS of water and let nature take its course. Here is what happened:
-I ended up losing about 5 pounds of "garbage".
-starchy food became absolutely unappetizing to me (but that will come back after returning to normal)
-I crave raw food like I never have before (and I ate lots of it before)
-everything is working normally again (if you know what I mean)
-I drink a lot more water than I used to
-My energy level went through the roof
-my sense of well being improved
-When I did this, everyone around me was getting sick. I have yet to get it (and I get everything)
-the yucky bloated feeling I had went away

So, two weeks later, the excess weight hasn't come back (which was a nice fringe benefit).

If you read up on cleansing, people do it for many different reasons. Some do it for spiritual clarity (which was a great benefit to me), others do it to release toxins that build up (like in the liver). i think there is a misunderstanding that cleansing consists of just diruetics and laxatives. It requires none of that. With all of the processed crap that we eat, some of it gets built up over time and some feel a benefit from cleansing. I understand that this is a weight loss forum, so inquiring minds are asking about this to lose weight. Well, you aren't going to lose 100 pounds. I read quite a bit on it and some of it I disagreed with. But I was able to decide the right course of action for what I wanted to accomplish and I feel fabulous. I eat better, I feel better (physically and emotionally/spiritually) and I will try it again when the time is right.

Ok. Soapbox over.

I strongly agree with your last statement. Simply eliminating processed foods and sugar while upping your fiber and water will work wonders. On anyone.
No "supplement" needed.

Let me tell you my first experience with cayenne. I had a bad case of severe congestion. A friend of mine told me to mix cayenne pepper, slippery elm bark, eculyptus oil and honey together & if warmed in the microwave it could be used as a cough syrup that would break up the congestion. It worked--I truly believe that the cayenne pepper melted everything!! It was hot the whole way through!!

Hello all! I was searching for posts related to Hoodia and came across this post. I know this is an old post but I felt that I really needed to put in my two cents...Rena, it makes me sad that you are 165 pounds and feel that you are at a weight that you need to resort to weight loss pills and diet aids. I don't know how tall you are, but unless you are under 5 feet tall, 165 pounds is NOT severely overweight. I get very upset when I see women who feel they are not good enough and that they are large when in reality they just have a few extra pounds to lose. I wish we could all feel good about ourselves (trust me, I am not the expert on feeling "adequate"). I am not trying to pick on you, Rena, but I am very saddened at your post. Please don't be so hard on yourself. We all need to be realistic, most of us are never going to be skinny supermodels. We will never have the "perfect" size 2 body. I realize that you may have lost a bunch of weight already and feel that 165 pounds is your plateau, maybe you are frustrated at not being able to lose those "few last pounds". Please, do yourself a favor and try not to be so hard on yourself. I know, that is always easier said than done.