0 Tips to Lose Weight in a Healthy Way

Instead of trying quick fix, artificial means for weight loss, it's best to go in for natural, healthy means: regular exercise, a nutritious, low-calorie diet and stress control. Many weight-loss pills have serious side-effects and are therefore best avoided.

Weight-loss pills can help obese patients only if used together with a restricted diet and regular exercise or the treatment will be ineffective. Also, they are meant for simple nutritional obesity and have no role in patients suffering from other causes of increased weight such as thyroid disorders, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), side effect of certain drugs, etc.

Different weight-loss pills work in different ways. Sibutramine is a weight-loss agent that acts on the brain to enhance satiety, helping patients feel satisfied with a smaller portion of food. The problem with the pill is that the weight loss is rather modest-in the range of two to four kilos at the most-and much of the benefit is lost when it is discontinued. The drug also increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes by 16%.

Therefore, its use has been banned in Europe. Another drug orlistat acts within the stomach and small intestine by preventing the absorption of up to one- third of dietary fat. Its side-effects include increased defecation, menstrual irregularity, fatigue, sometimes jaundice or even liver failure and rectal bleeding. It can cause severe hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar levels) in diabetic patients. It must not be used by breastfeeding mothers.