Poll: Should You Take a Weight Loss Pill for Ideal Weight?
Eating less and exercising more are the basics of most weight-loss regimens. However, for many people, weight-loss pills may help. Browsing through the internet, you’ll discover that there’s an abundance of pills purported to have weight-loss treatments hidden within them. However, it would be best if you only take FDA-approved weight-loss pills. Before you embark on weight-loss medication, you should first ask yourself whether it’s safe and if it really works.
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How Do Weight-Loss Pills Work?
Prescription weight-loss pills work in different ways. Some help you feel full sooner, or less hungry, while others reduce the rate at which your body absorbs fat from the food you eat. All the approved weight-loss pills produce significant results. According to studies, combining weight-loss medication with lifestyle changes provides better results than what lifestyle changes alone would produce.
The time that you’ll be on medication depends on how the pills help you to shed weight, and whether you experience any side effects. In case you end up shedding weight without any adverse side effects, your physician could recommend that you keep taking the pills indeterminately. If you fail to lose at least 5% of your body weight 12 weeks after embarking on medication, your physician will recommend a different weight-loss drug or change your treatment plan.
Medication isn’t a substitute for healthy eating habits or physical activity as far as shedding weight is concerned. The pills work best when they get incorporated into a healthy lifestyle program. Therefore, you should ask your doctor about the most suitable lifestyle programs that can be combined with the prescribed weight-loss medication.
Who Are the Ideal Candidates for Weight-Loss Medications?
These pills are meant to help individuals who are battling health complications arising from obesity. Before weight-loss medication is prescribed, physicians often consider the following:
- The possible benefits of shedding weight
- The medication’s potential side effects
- Your health condition and other medicines that you’re using
- Your family’s health history
Often, doctors use patients’ BMI to decide who will benefit from weight-loss medication. Contrary to what you might think, weight-loss pills aren’t meant for everyone who has a high BMI. For instance, some overweight or obese patients lose weight by adopting a lifestyle program that improves their physical activity and diet habits.
In recent years, there has been a rise in the number of obesity cases among children. This may leave you wondering, can children or teens use weight-loss medications? Well, the weight-loss pills recommended by the FDA are meant for adults only. However, Orlistat, a weight-loss medication prescribed by physicians at facilities such as Mango Clinic, is approved for patients who are as young as 12 years.
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How Beneficial Are Weight-Loss Pills?
When you combine weight-loss pills with changes to your lifestyle, you will experience long-term benefits. On average, individuals who take weight-loss pills as part of their lifestyle program shed between 3% to 9% more of their body weight than those who don’t take any medication. You could lose at least 10% of your body weight by taking medication pills. However, results tend to vary from one person to another.
Here are some tips that can help you benefit from weight-loss medications fully:
- Take the pills as per your doctor’s prescriptions
- The medication should be part of a healthy diet and physical activity regimen
- Beware of warnings and the possible side effects of the medication
- As your doctor about possible alternatives if you won’t have shed any weight after three months
- Avoid taking the pills if you’re pregnant or planning to get pregnant
Safety Concerns On Using Weight-loss Pills
Thanks to the Internet, weight-loss drugs are readily available online. However, this has raised safety concerns because some of the pills that have flooded the market are not FDA-approved. You should avoid taking over-the-counter weight-loss medicines, and instead, only use pills recommended to you by your doctor.
The FDA only approves medications that have been tested and meet the highest health and safety standards. Medicines that are not approved may not conform to these standards. Therefore, they can lead to severe problems such as high blood pressure, liver damage, stroke, seizures, irregular heart rate, high blood pressure, and heart attacks.
The side effects of weight-loss pills vary, and they depend on how the medications act on your body. Generally, these side effects tend to be mild, and are likely to improve as your body gets used to the medication. Rarely do serious side effects occur if you take the medications as prescribed by your doctor?
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Getting started on Weight-Loss Pills
Indeed, you can slim down by using weight-loss pills. However, taking the pills alone without any changes to your diet and lifestyle won’t produce the desired results. Contact us at Mango Clinic or click the banner below to book an appointment today to get started on weight-loss medication. Our doctors will evaluate you before prescribing the best weight-loss pills.