Weight Loss On Your New Years Agenda? Prepare For The Top Weight Loss Scams Of 2006! PART 2

If there’s one thing we can agree upon it’s that “eating right and exercising” is the true path to long term results. We know this yet so many people who have met repeated failure after failure even with “eating right and exercising” as they “perceive” to know it have slowly lost the belief that positive change is even possible.

What happens next is that they become prime targets for the quick fix, pill in a bottle magic weight loss solution. Compound that with a society that’s geared toward “easy” everything and you have droves of individuals buying into weight loss in a bottle.

So here it is: Part 2 of the Top Weight Loss Scams of 2006.

2. The Ephedra Free “Natural” Fat Burners Or Anything In Pill Form That Claims To Be a Solution In And Of Itself.

If you look real closely at that device too many people sit in front of on a daily basis and pay attention to the commercials you’ll see an increasing amount of ads for fat burners around this time of year. Fat burners are the supplement companies flagship, mega profit generators come New Years.

First, supplement simply means “extra” and if a concern for the right nutrition, moderate aerobic exercise and a concern for muscle are not met in a synergistic fashion then you can forget about long term results just by taking a pill.

Since the main or active ingredient in many fat burners (ephedrine) was pulled (not banned) from the market, supplement sellers had to come up with its “natural” replacement; synephrine which is “natural” and comes from bitter orange or citrus aurantium just like ephedrine came from ephedra or the herb ma huang. Synephrine is found in many OTC nasal sprays however, natural doesn’t always mean safe. Nicotine is “naturally” found in tobacco and is one of the most addictive drugs (poison actually) in the world. Need I say more on tobacco’s long term “natural” effects on the body? Granted this isn’t the best comparison but just take a look at the warning labels on the OTC nasal sprays that contain synephrine and see for yourself. Too bad they don’t put these on the Ephedrine free fat burner labels.

The mechanism by which many fat burners work is through diuretic water loss which is misleading and appetite suppression forcing some people to cut way back on calories neglecting necessary metabolic demand and tricking the body into thinking its starving. Yes, you might lose weight initially and many times these products don’t find repeat customers because of long term results but because of a “natural” addiction created by a product that alters endocrine function and is pretty close to legal speed.

A lot of times you see the words “research has proven” on products like these. Do you want to know who they did the initial research on with synephrine as it pertains to fat loss? It was Blaberus Discoidalis. So what on earth is that? COCKROACHES! They did the research on cockroaches, not humans! Of course this isn’t the only ingredient found in fat burners and many supplement companies put together their own “proprietary blend” of ingredients aimed at fat loss. Now they have fat burners geared specifically towards women that will “get rid of” body fat in a particular area. It’s False!

What’s also a LIE is when these products say things like “burn up to 800% more body fat.” If that was true and the American Medical Association recommends a weight loss goal of 1-2 pounds per week and you can lose 8 times that then you can lose 8-16 pounds per week. Awesome! Let’s take the middle road here and say 12 pounds of weight loss per week. Well that would equate to 624 pounds per year! Awesome! Is this realistic? Of Course not but this is what marketers of these products do.

Do fat burners actually burn fat? Nope. Fat loss is a 2 step process in which fatty acids must be released from the adipose cell and shuttled via the blood stream to the muscles where they can be burned. BUT…can fat burners slightly increase metabolic rate and put the body in a state to where it might release and burn a little more fat? Yes, pending you are eating in a manner that supports metabolism and ongoing fat release and within that lies a problem for many. If not, prepare to be frustrated. The fallacy lies in believing that a pill that the magazine ads or the supplement store employee tries to sell you will melt the pounds right off of you and get you into the body you’ve always wanted.

What causes people to buy the “other” pills with the pharmaceutical sounding name advertised on T.V. that say “lose weight without diet and exercise?” Desperation; its what causes individuals who have repeatedly failed to achieve a fitness and weight loss to break out their credit card and recite some numbers. While hope is still high that something is out there that will ease their pain, their belief in making a positive change is pretty much lost so they resort to the quick fix that society has conditioned us to believe in.

Bottom line: if you’re convinced by the marketing and testimonials of these products (just check out Anna Nicole Smith) go ahead and try them if you like but exercise caution. If you first don’t have a proper nutrition and exercise program supportive of fat loss in your arsenal then you can forget about long term results and you can probably expect to create an addiction to these pills just to get you through the day. You might also alter endocrine function and possibly experience some negative side affects in some cases. Definitely read the fine print with both eyes please and don’t let the marketers words of “lose weight fast” blind your rational common sense.

Stay tuned for Part 3: Work the Abs, Reduce the Waistline and Tone, Firm and Shape a Particular Area with “Research has Proven” Infomercials.

© David Otto *All Rights Reserved

David Otto is a Personal Trainer in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. To receive David Otto’s e-newsletter “The Otto Report: Getting Real With Fitness,” simply send an email to [email protected] and request your copy.

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