Achieve weight loss with the help of weight loss pills.

Are You Wanting to Lose Weight? Now We Are Completing This Page with Important Tips on How to Lose Weight. The page is structured so that you can begin with Tip #1 and continue exploring as long as necessary, or maybe only need one or two tips!

Today marks our 18th and final piece of advice – a “quick fix” many are searching for, yet it may not be exactly that straightforward. First a brief review of all previous tips:

Choose a low-carb diet;

consume real food when hungry;

measure progress wisely and be persistent when necessary;

track results carefully and remain persistent, whilst being wary of artificial sweeteners;

review medications;

reduce stress;

sleep better and consume fewer dairy products and nuts;

supplement vitamins and minerals;

intermittent fasting;

exercising smartly for maximum ketosis results.

Before getting your hormones checked, there are many things to keep in mind. Most people can live an effective and fulfilling life without it; but for some it can be useful… Here goes…

Consider Weight-Loss Pills/Drugs

At first, weight loss pills might seem like an appealing solution: just live as usual while taking one daily pill to easily shed unwanted pounds – no big effort necessary! No wonder weight-loss products represent such an immense market.

Does It Work? Absolutely! While many drugs can result in weight loss, I believe there’s only one drug you should seriously consider using for maximum success.

Before we present any potential medications, let’s briefly go over alternative choices and why they might not be appropriate.

Prescription-Free Supplements

The internet is full of advertisements claiming magic diet supplements will make you thin – only they won’t. Even if they were mentioned by Dr. Oz – which is meant as entertainment! – this doesn’t make them any less worthless!

Prescription-free supplements sold without being dangerous or illegal (like steroids ) will likely only have a minimal or inconsequential impact on your weight.

This holds true even with vitamin supplements mentioned in advice #13; their effect may be minimal, but their safety (possibly even healthiness) and affordability make them a potentially worthwhile investment (note that we make no profit off this advice).

Older Appetite Suppressants

In the US it is still possible to obtain amphetamin-like appetite suppressants for short term (weeks) use; however these drugs cannot be used as long term weight control solutions and do not exist within European Union regulations.

These drugs may cause side effects like insomnia, heart palpitations and raised blood pressure. Furthermore, it’s possible to become dependent on them; thus they require a controlled substance prescription from a healthcare professional. Examples include:

Adipex-P and Suprenza (Phentermine), Bondril (Phendiametrazine), and Didrex (Benzphetamine). Their effects are typically mild and short term; therefore I do not recommend these drugs.

The “Oily Discharge” Pill

Let’s examine one more older medicine: Xenical (previously sold with valid prescription only but now also available without one), recently sold without prescription as “Alli” with declining popularity.

This medication stops your body from digesting fat in its intestines. Instead, it simply passes through you and ends up either in the toilet… or on you!

Side effects may include stomach cramping, gas, oily stool leakage and inability to control bowel movements – as well as an “oily discharge”, often mistaken as passing gas.

This pill does not go well with wearing white pants and eating fat; therefore it cannot support a low-carb diet. That does not mean wearing white pants on a low-carb diet; rather it simply means eating fat (you already understand this).

Simply drop this medication. Most physicians already have.

Qsymia (The Dumb Pill)
Are there worse options than Xenical/Alli? Indeed there is: it’s called Qsymia.

Qsymia can be found in the US but was rejected in Europe due to unforeseen side effects, which were judged worse than any benefits. I liken this drug as “stupid pill”.

Qsymia combines a small dose of the old Phentermine (see Appetite Suppressants below) with Topiramate, an anti-seizure medicine.

Problematic side effects of topiramate medication include somnolence, fatigue, depression, attention disturbances, memory impairments, cognitive disorders and impaired psychomotor skills (which can result in you becoming clumsier), lethargy, balance disorders sedation as well as gait disturbance (walking like you’re drunk).

Simply put, this drug slows your brain activity similar to alcohol or sedatives – however are you really willing to risk doing that in order to lose a few pounds that will come back once the drug has worn off?

Belviq and Contrave were approved in 2012 as additional weight control drugs in the US, making them now widely available.

Belvic was recently rejected in Europe due to safety concerns; while Mysimba (Controve) is newly approved and not available for sale as I write this (September 2015).

These two drugs work by targeting different receptors in the brain to regulate appetite. While their results have been modest – 6-8 pounds lost over one year with some rebound, ongoing safety concerns exist with both drugs as do risks such as nausea, constipation, headaches and seizures for Contrave.

My evaluation is that these modest benefits do not outweigh any associated risks.

One Last Hope
There is only one FDA-approved weight loss drug left, but this one shows great promise and could speed up weight loss significantly.

GLP-1 is an injectable version of a satiety hormone which slows stomach emptying and tells your brain you don’t need food yet – an effective strategy for weight loss.

Victoza was initially designed to control blood sugar in type 2 diabetes patients; its side effect of significant weight loss proved appealing.

Studies conducted on those without diabetes who are obese (but without diabetes), reveal that higher doses are quite effective as pure weight loss treatments, with patients losing on average 12.3 pounds (5.6 kilograms). After one year they averaged being more successful than placebo groups in losing weight.

Saxenda was recently approved in both the US and Europe to treat obesity; though other GLP-1 drugs exist for treating diabetes type 2, none of these has yet been thoroughly researched and tested to meet FDA approval for treating obesity.

Saxenda is already available to US users at an incredible monthly cost of $1,000. Europe should see availability towards the end of 2015.

When starting, nausea and vomiting are likely; to minimize these potential side effects it’s wise to start off slowly with lower dosage levels before gradually increasing them as your body adapts to medication.

As an added benefit for type 2 diabetics, Farxiga (known in Europe as Forxiga) may lead to notable weight loss.

Bottom Line
There is no easy or effective solution for weight loss; all available medications have serious drawbacks or at best offer limited results.

Saxenda stands out as the sole exception in my view – however this medication requires daily injection rather than swallowing a pill.

Saxenda can be expensive – insurance may only cover part of it – and often causes nausea in people taking it. Furthermore, my own and other people’s experience treating patients on Saxenda indicates that it doesn’t work great for everyone: some experience only minimal weight loss while other may see more than 12 pound lost on average over 12 weeks in one recent study – just an average.

As with most medications, Saxenda only works if used consistently for a prescribed duration of time and once you stop using it weight typically returns. So whether losing 12 pounds worth $1000 monthly and risk of nausea is entirely up to you? Only you can decide.

Even for most people, even the best weight loss drugs should only be seen as part of a comprehensive treatment program including lifestyle-oriented measures. That is why this advice ranks 18th of 18.

More trandafir Learn all 18 tips on How to Lose Weight here. I don’t recommend bariatric surgery as an approach for weight loss – let me elaborate as soon as I can, but this type of surgical removal of healthy organs rarely provides effective solutions when treating diseases caused by hormonal imbalance.