Welcome to Gaia! ::

As we all know, weight loss can be frustrating and the fruits of your labor may take longer than desired to appear.

This in mind, have there ever been times or have there been times recently that you've been tempted to or have used a product to help the process?

Diet supplements // pills, creams // gels, etc.

The three things that have frustrated me the most and have taken the longest to even shrink in the slightest are: the fatty masses (the pooch on my lower belly, the pooches on my inner thighs, and my massive love handles that even after a 30lb weight loss have not shrunk...) that remain on my body due to my birth control (most pills make it difficult for you to loose and even maintain your current weight), the cellulite on my butt and the sides of my thighs, and the stretch marks.

I admit that I used to go to drug stores and stare down diet pills every couple of weeks, but due to my lack of money I've never been able to buy them, but after a while I realized it wasn't worth the 30 capsules for $50 when you have to take three capsules a day. . . that and most pills only contain egcg, hoodia, and niacin. . . all things that you can get in a balanced diet.

Anyway, anyway. . .

What are the products you have been tempted to or have used?

I was looking into lap-band surgery, but my doctor said that I should lose a little weight to prove to the insurance company that I was trying and it wasn't successful, so that they'd pay for the cost of the lap-band surgery. She recommended Weight Watchers as the healthiest program she'd ever found for her patients who need to lose weight. I'm glad I took her advice; as it turned out, I don't need the surgery.

I'm terrified of pills, so I've never been tempted to use those. I'm glad, too. A friend of mine took some of those pills for the recommended maximum of six months, and they worked great for her. Then she stopped, as recommended, and she put on DOUBLE the weight that she'd lost. Now she's more than 100 pounds overweight, and very unhappy. The pills messed up her body's ability to metabolize what she puts into it; she can't burn off the fat anymore.

I'd also tried several different diets, including the Michael Thurmond 6 Week Body Makeover, the Setpoint, the Zone, South Beach, Atkins, and Protein Power. Nothing did a thing for me, really. I'd lose about 10 pounds, then I'd gain it back.

Weight Watchers is working well for me. I don't have to stand up and talk about my feelings about food and weight. My weigh-in is confidential; only the weigher and myself know the outcome of my weigh-in, unless I choose to share that information. I'm eating normal foods, not special foods, so I'm the one with the power to make the choices that control what I'm eating, and when, and why. I can eat out at restaurants, too, or over at friends' homes. This is something I can live, lifelong, not something I'll want to quit in a little while. It's changing my life, not just the way I eat this week or this month.

(If you think that birth control pills are causing weight gain/retention, check out my new thread about birth control.)

When I see commercials for the diet pill stuff, I'm partially tempted-- but I know the truth is that they just.. don't work. if diet pills REALLY worked, nobody in the world would be fat! There is no short cut.

Plus, they're really dangerous-- and for people trying to lose weight.. isn't our HEALTH most important??

Also, here's something disgusting. One of my mom's friends decided to try the new diet pill called "Alli" (pronounced as al-"eye" ) The way the pill works is by affecting your intestines-- making them INCAPABLE of digesting most oils. So, if you eat something really buttery-- your body can't absorb most of the oils from it.

.. unfortunately, when your intestines can't absorb oils, guess where they go?

My mom's friend said that after she eats, the oils in the foods .. D: LEAK OUT OF HER BUTT! And since it's oil she can't like.. hold it in. She has to wear pads because it comes out even when she's not on the toilet, and it smells terrible. (like poo.)

xd Yeah, sorry, that was DISGUSTING to even type out. That definitely made me stop thinking about Alli.

I've been tempted to buy Yoga Booty Ballet too, actually, but I have other videos and I can't use them. Our living room is so tiny that there's barely enough room for the TV, couch, and coffee table. There'd be nowhere to stand and work out.

There's also this one program where they've got a ballet type barre to work out with, and I'd like to get that and do it in our office, which ironically has more floor space, but there'd be nowhere to watch the TV and work along with the program since the TV's in the other room.

I mentioned before, no, there's no way to move things. The living room is actually TINY. And the office, while larger, is full already with two enormous computer desks taking up both walls; the other walls are filled with a window on one side (which would be blocked if we put the armoire in front of it) and a door in the middle of the other side (which would be blocked if we put in a couch), so there is honestly nowhere to put both a TV, a couch, and an exercise space. I don't actually have friends with televisions. So, I get my workouts in the gym that's in our building. No open floor space and no TV/VCR/DVD player, but they do have a lot of fancy machines.

Eh. It's not so bad. At least I do have access to the building's gym, 24/7. That helps. When we're looking for a new apartment in a few months, though, I'll be hunting for one with a larger living room, or at least a separate room I can use as the office, which will free up some space.