As a health and fitness professional, there’s little that annoys me more than the ‘weight loss industry’.
I say the ‘weight loss industry’ because none of the products discussed here are intended to improve your physical fitness or health. It’s all about moving that needle on the scale back a couple of notches.
Diet pills, Skinny coffee, Diet creams, Waist training, Laxatives, Slimming World, and gimmick diet after gimmick diet. All promise quick easy results without the need for exercise if you’re willing to pay of course.
Let’s have a look a some of these and methods and the claims they make.
Slimming Creams
Yes, diet cream is a real thing. For £30 or more, you can just rub some cream into your problem areas, sit back and watch your stomach, thighs, and butt get “slimified”.
Sounds unbelievable, doesn’t it?
As a health and fitness expert, I can guarantee that any weight loss experienced through using diet creams is purely coincidental and are more likely due to other factors like exercise or healthier eating habits.
Although, a complete waste of money at least diet creams are harmless to the user. The same can’t be said for…
Diet Pills
Unlike diet creams, it might be possible that diet pills could help you lose weight if you keep buying and using them continuously.
The real cost might not just be financial though. There are serious questions about the safety of a lot of the ingredients, involving some unpleasant side effects, such as irregular heartbeat, upset stomach, loose stools, and insomnia.
The diet pill industry is poorly regulated and has been linked to 26 deaths in the UK since 2007. Is weight loss really worth risking your health or even your life?
Like everything discussed in this blog. diet pills are no substitute for healthy lifestyle changes in the form of healthy eating and regular exercise.
Diets
In general, I am not a fan of the word “DIET”, for the reason that they will work up until you hit a plateau, become discouraged, and give up. Once off the diet, “normal” eating habits tend to resume and weight tends to be put back on, potentially more.
There are also the psychological effects that dieting has. Depending on the diet you could be depriving yourself of valuable nutrients. This might have a detrimental effect on your mood, health, and performance.
There’s also the question of fulfillment. Many diets have you depriving yourself of the foods that bring you enjoyment, making you less likely to stick with them.
Once again, an educated approach through healthy lifestyle changes and regular exercise is a far better option to enjoying lasting results.
Waist Training
This one involves the return of a controversial Victorian-era fad that has become popular with some celebrities, using a corset to “train” their waist slimmer.
This so-called “weight-loss” method might successfully make you appear slimmer but it looks incredibly uncomfortable and won’t help you lose fat (only move it around). It can even damage internal organs and ribs, according to this article in Women’s Health.
Anything that looks more like a torture device than a piece of exercise equipment, claiming to produce weight loss is likely a gimmick.
Diuretics
Like some of the other weight-loss gimmicks listed here, diuretics focus on weight loss through fluid loss. You probably don’t need me to tell you that this is only a short-term solution as fluids are gradually replenished over time.
Taking a diuretic works by creating an imbalance in a person’s body chemistry, causing the expulsion of fluid. In addition to the loss of water, essential minerals such as potassium and magnesium are lost in the process.
So essentially diuretics make the body dehydrated and unwell.
Body Wraps
This method of wrapping the body tightly in hot towels claims to take inches off the waist during a short session.
Similar to a diuretic the body will help lose water weight quickly.
However, such a quick loss of water can be a huge shock to the body resulting in low blood volume caused by severe dehydration.
Dehydration can also cause light-headedness and irregular heart rhythms. So, in short, it’s not a good idea.
Skinny Coffee
This drink is said to contain a host of natural ingredients to aid weight loss. It also claims that coffee decreases hunger, increases metabolism, motivates and energies, and enhances stamina and fitness, as well as clear up your skin and reduce wrinkles.
Skinny Coffee is the latest craze among celebrities (mostly because they’re paid to promote it), using highly disputable before and after photos to sell the benefits.
Also, if they are losing weight is this because they are using the coffee as a meal substitute? Possibly.
Are they supplementing their Skinny Coffee programme with exercise? Maybe.
Coffee can be part of a healthy lifestyle but on its own, without the aid of proper nutrition and exercise, it will not burn fat. Sorry.
Slimming Clubs
As a professional, I have my opinions on slimming clubs. From reps who are not qualified to give dietary or fitness advice, to overly complicated diet systems designed to keep their members ill-informed.
To their credit, unlike most of the gimmicky weight loss methods, I have discussed here slimming clubs can at least claim to have long-term successes for some.
However, the percentage of members who keep the weight off is relatively low.
If you want to know more, I have already covered slimming clubs in more detail in the blog Do Slimming Clubs Work?
The Real Health Fix
The one thing that all of these weight loss methods (excluding Slimming Clubs) have in common is that the weight loss being created is largely superficial.
Losing water weight is not good for your overall health. You need water! Your body is 60% water.
With the exceptions of Slimming Clubs, no fat loss is occurring here so what good is it really?
Sure you may be a couple of pounds lighter when you jump on a scale, but is that any real indicator of how healthy you are, your overall appearance, how good you feel, your overall level of fitness?
The only real “quick fix” for weight loss is through adopting lifestyle changes consisting of exercise and healthy eating.
The beauty of exercise is that you will start to feel healthier and fitter almost instantly within a few days. If you stick with it you’ll begin to see real physical transformation happen as the months pass.
This is the real health fix
If you are unsure of where to begin or need someone there to guide you along the journey, then that’s what we’re here for.
If you’re ready to ditch the quick fixes, stop investing in skinny coffee, creams, and slimming clubs, then come and see us for a 1-to-1 success session
Until next time, “Strength for Life”,
Davie
Davie McConnachie
Davie McConnachie is Scotland’s leading health and wellness coach, multi-award-winning gym owner, motivational speaker and the founder of DMC Fitness, a fitness education facility known as the premier choice for 1-2-1 personal training. He has inspired thousands of people to fall in love with fitness – his true purpose and mission in life.
Diving into the world of fitness and wellness has helped Davie to deal with his own trauma and inner demons. He, overcame many dark times using his own unique methods to continue his cycle of healing.