“I found the best diet pill ever!”
That’s all the initial post on Facebook said. I admit that it caught my attention. Based on the number of likes and comments, it obviously caught a lot of attention.
This post was made by a friend of mine. She’s someone whom I’ve talked to about health, fitness and weight loss on more than one occasion. Quite frankly, it hurt my heart to see this post from her. Why?
There is no magic pill.
Yet here she was declaring that she had found a magic pill, and many of our friends – both people I personally know and friends of hers that I don’t know – were begging for details on this diet pill. “What is it?” “Where did you get it?” “Do you have to have a prescription?”
My friend shared a picture of the bottle and the name of the store where she bought it. That comment garnered many likes, too. It’s what she shared next that shocked me the most.
“I took just one pill today, and I’ve just not been hungry. I ate a bowl of cereal, a turkey sandwich, and 3 bites of my salad. That’s all I ate all day! If I don’t eat, I’ll lose the weight! The bottle says to take two pills a day. I can’t wait to see how I do tomorrow with two pills!”
Let me say it again. There is no magic pill.
Starving yourself is NOT the answer. You MUST eat to live! What happens to your car if you don’t put gas in it? It stops running. Your body is the same way. If you don’t put fuel (food) in it, it will stop working. Being a far more complicated machine, your body needs more than one kind of fuel. You need carbs, fat, and protein! The trick, of course, is finding a healthy balance of all three.
My friend’s list of her food for the day totals about 600 calories. The generally accepted minimum number of calories a day needed for a woman is 1200. You can’t tell me she got all the nutrition she needed in those 600 calories and one little pill! Men, being generally bigger, need a few extra calories per day. Their minimum is considered to be 1500. (Here’s a great source to back up my statements.)
One person asked her if she was tired after working all day and eating so little. “These pills are full of caffeine, so I still have all kinds of energy!”
Caffeine may provide a temporary energy boost, but then you crash. Your tolerance builds up, and you find yourself needing more and more caffeine just to feel normal. I’ve been there, done that! Don’t get me wrong – I do LOVE a good cup of coffee. I do not, however, like being addicted to caffeine or the way it makes me feel.
If you need more energy, try turning to good nutrition. Remove the processed junk from your diet, and stick to whole, natural foods as much as possible. When you “eat clean,” you’ll feel better and have more energy because you’re eating wholesome, natural things and not man-made junk. Ask me when I’m running my next Clean Eating Challenge. Give me a week, and I’ll show you how to eat!
You are what you eat, after all.
I have no doubt that these pills will lead to a quick weight loss for my friend. I also have no doubt that continuing to eat this way will soon cause her body to fight back. It will hold on to every tiny bit of food she gives it. It will store away what it can because her body is starving. I just pray that she stops these pills before she makes herself sick!
If you’re trying to lose weight, there’s only one answer: move more and eat less. Even then, you still have to eat enough! Contact me if you need help.
Because it can’t be said enough, here it is one more time: There is no magic pill!
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