Hello! I'm new here, just wanted to say hi! and ask if anyone is on Meridia.I began my diet quest in 6/1/02 and am down 47 lbs but I still have a waaaaay to go. I would like to lose another 90, gosh that sounds like so much. Anyway, I was doing eDiets for a while, and then just started counting calories and using Fitday religiously. I guess my plan is just basic diet, only whole grain carbs-no pasta or potatoes, 5 fruits and veggies a day, no junk (well I try) I havent had fast food since September... you get the idea my loss has slowed dramatically. I am still losing but only about .5-1 lb a week. Before I was consistantly losing 8-10 a month. Tho I did lose 5 lbsbetween Thanksgiving and News Year, very proud of that! I have tried everything, cals up and down, exercise routines changing on a daily basis etc. It is getting hard to be patient, I have worked so hard for 7 mos and Im not even halfway there. I am having a hard time staying motivated. Someone suggested Meridia to me, and I was a bit leary of it as I have yo-yo dieted with every fad diet, pill that's ever hit the market. So I was wondering if anyone had any experience with it and what they think. Also, what happens when you stop taking it, since that is the real problem with diet pills is you cant take them forever. Gee, I never really mneant for my post to be so long sorry! But thanks for reading any help!
Verna,
You are doing everything fine. When you have a lot of weight to lose, the first part of it usually comes off pretty quickly, but soon it usually slows to what you are experiencing-.5 to 1 pound a week. You are doing fine, and this is a good, healthy time table of losing weight. It is not uncommon to even have a week now and then that does not show a loss at all. Do not despair. You have lost a great deal of weight already.
Try not to feel like you are failing because you are slowing down, and that you have so much more to lose. Think of what you HAVE accomplished, and how much better you feel now then when you started.
Instead of thinking of it in terms of ''gosh, I have 90 more pounds to lose, I am never going to make it!"-try to make mini goals for yourself-working in small min-goals of say, 5 pound losses. Reward yourself for each mini-goal that you make. For every 5 pounds you lose, buy yourself a new lipstick or small beauty item-or some sort of small reward. Keep a journal or weight losss chart to mark how far you have come.
I know of some women who buy a 5 pound bag of flour for every 5 pounds they lose-and keep them all stacked or lumped together to have a constant reminder of how much they have successfully removed from their bodies. (It is cheap, and it is a good visual aid of what you have acccomplished.)
I do not recommend Meridia at all, or any other diet pill-over the counter or prescription. Some women think that they need them, but I personally see them as a crutch, and you will have a harder time maintaining your weight loss after you stop taking them, than if you were to just continue losing like you are now.
If you are counting calories, one thing I can recommend is that you take a look over your daily food eaten, and make sure that it is balanced with fruits and vegetables, and not all meat and starch. This may help speed up your losses a touch as well.
I also invite you to join us at Doin' it the Old Fashioned Way-a thread on this very same board. We are all "natural" dieters-a balanced eating plan, plenty of exercise, and no pills or gimmicks. We have some great ladies there, and one of our members has lost 103 pounds, and has been maintaining that for quite a while now. I hope you will join us for that extra motivation that you seem to be needing!
Hang in there, this is a long journey, and not always easy-but it is well worth it.
Aphil
We had a Meridia thread up until last year - it 'died' from lack of participation. You can search for the threads - they were all in the Diet Plans forum.
I concur with Aphil - there is no diet pill that 'works'. In fact, there are some disturbing new facts coming out on Meridia that I have been reading about lately. IMO, it was 'rushed' out far too quickly without enough study being done on the product. Back in 1997, when it was first approved by the FDA, Phen-fen and Redux had just been banned (for an indepth look at that, read "Dispensing With the Truth: The Victims, the Drug Companies, and the Dramatic Story Behind the Battle over Fen-Phen" by Alicia Mundy - quite disturbing) so the market was clamoring for a 'new' diet drug. When Meridia first came out, I begged my doctor for a prescription, but he stood his ground and would not relent - I am so glad in retrospect that he did so.
FDA Should Immediately Ban Dangerous Diet Drug Meridia
Risks of Heart Problems Far Outweigh Benefits, Public Citizen Petition Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should immediately remove the prescription diet medication Meridia from the market because it has been associated with 29 deaths and hundreds of serious adverse reactions since it was introduced in 1998, Public Citizen said in a petition filed today. The FDA knew prior to approving the drug that it significantly increased blood pressure and heart rates in many people and is only minimally effective, Public Citizen said.
Just two weeks ago, the Italian government pulled Meridia, the brand name for sibutramine, from the market following two deaths associated with its use there. Other European governments also are reviewing the drug, including France and the United Kingdom, where there have been more than 100 serious adverse reactions and two deaths.
"Not only does this drug contribute to major cardiovascular problems, but its effectiveness in lowering obesity is meager," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, which filed the petition. "The FDA is aware of this and must take it off of the market."
Even before it approved the drug, the FDA was concerned about the safety of Meridia. An FDA advisory committee in 1997 voted 5-4 that the benefits of the drug did not outweigh its risks. The FDA medical officer who reviewed it recommended that it not be approved because research showed the potential for heart problems.
Data obtained by Public Citizen through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request show that from the time it was introduced in February 1998 to Sept. 30, 2001, there were almost 400 serious adverse reactions in patients taking Meridia. This included 19 cardiac deaths, including 10 in people under the age of 50, three of whom were women under 30. The average yearly weight loss for patients taking a standard 10 mg dose was only six and a half pounds more than the loss in those taking a placebo.
"There is no evidence that this drug has prolonged the life of a single patient, or reduced the risks of strokes or heart attacks tied to obesity," Wolfe said. "Instead, it has left patients with only higher risks of injury or death from using it and high drug bills."
Further, the FDA must raise the standard for approval of diet drugs and require drug makers to show an actual health benefit, rather than relying on short-term studies that merely demonstrate a statistical superiority over a placebo.
Since 1996, Public Citizen has petitioned for the removal of four other FDA-approved drugs — the diet drug Redux, the diabetes drug Rezulin, the antibiotic Trovan and Lotronex, a drug for irritable bowel syndrome. Redux, Rezulin and Lotronex have been banned and Trovan severely restricted. In all of these drugs, as with Meridia, there was clear evidence of danger before their FDA approval.
I know that we all dream of a magical fat-loss pill or an 'effortless' way of losing fat - unfortunately that does not exist and I highly doubt one will ever exist (and if it ever does, whether it will be safe - I doubt it since overeating is generally more of a mind thing rather than a body hunger thing). There are some excellent books out there - I always like to recommend "Fat of the Land" by Michael Fumento - since it was written in 1997 it might be a little outdated but it still packs a punch (not to mention it's very well written - it's very much a fun read) and the basic info is right on...
Take care *BTW, you can generally find me hangin' out at the BFL/Bodybuilding thread - feel free to visit!* and have a great weekend!
Thanks MrsJima dn Aphil for your caring responses. I did not know there had been deaths related to Meridia!! Yikes. A friend of mine has taken it on and off and said it helped her with her appetite. I will foward her the link. I do reward myself and take it in small chunks. In fact I hadn't even thought about how much more I had to go until I relized it was less than 100 lbs. When I started it was 140. Right now Im focused on getting below 200. Then Im am going to spend a day at the spa, massage, pedicure all of it!!! I am doing 20-30% protein, mostly fish and cottage cheese, 50% carbs- but no white stuff!!!I have had to entirely cut out pasta, even whole wheat because I find if I eat it I lose control the rest of the day. For all I know it;s just in my head but whatever works right? Lots of fruit and veggies. And I only eat good fats for the most part, lots of salmon, olive oil nuts etc. Well I try to stick to this, some days are harder than others, but I would be lost without fitday, I swear if it ever goes away I won't know what to do Thanks again for your answers. I think I might join the Old fashion thread.
Verna, I am the woman Aphil referred to--I have lost 103 pounds by watching what I eat and walking every day. I agree with everything Aphil said--especially about working on your mini-goals. DON'T be a slave to the scale--continue to do what has been working for you! You can do this! I hope you'll join us at Doin' it the old-fashioned way! We'd love to have you along for the journey!
Hi Verna! I can certainly sympathize with you. After losing 50 pounds I got stuck on a long plateau, that thanks to Body For Life, I am now getting off of!!! Weight Watchers also has a few tricks. Here's what you can try:
1. Change your carb/protein ratio. Try a 50% LEAN protein, 30% carb, 20% fat ratio. Make your fats olive, canola, fish, or flax oil. I like Udo's Choice. Carbs should be only unprocessed/flavored oatmeal, brown rice, sweet potatoes or whole grain bread (in that order). Have as many green/red/yellow veggies as you like WITHOUT salad dressings or condiments with high fructose corn syrup in them. Mustard and low sodium hot pepper sauce are great.
2. Plateauing Weight Watchers swear that mixing up your daily calories (or points in their case) works. You have a weekly allotment of calories (points) based on your BMR. Eat on the high end for 2 days (BFL does one day) and taper. This fools your metabolism into thinking it's not starving and is actually getting too much food. Other bodybuilding camps do a two WEEK cycle of eating more then eating less, but I'm too chicken to try that. It's easier to count WW points than calories though, keep a GOOD food diary.
3. Up your weight training. You will actually gain weight but lose inches, and THAT'S what you really want. Don't let the stupid scale make you depressed. Even if you do cardio, the next day or two you will GAIN weight from water retention.
Hi! I'm new! Anyone take Meridia?
