Are Diet Pills Really A Magic Bullet To Losing Weight Or Are They Dangerous For Your Health?

For so many of us struggling to lose excess weight, diet pills seem like the magic solution. Are they really? What are the dangers of diet pills? How will you feel while taking the diet pills?

Let me tell you a story about myself, I wanted to lose an extra 20 pounds and I was desperate as I had a family function to go to in a month and didn?t want relatives I haven?t seen in ages to see that I had gained about 20 pounds. One night when I couldn?t sleep I saw an infomercial for this awesome diet pill. I jumped up from my chair and ran to the phone to order these miracle pills.

Over the next few days I paced the house waiting for my diet pills to be delivered. I was convinced this would give me a boost to lose the weight. I had been watching my calories and exercising. I will be honest I wasn?t exercising as much as I could but why bother I had a miracle diet pill coming so I didn?t need to add additional exercise to my already overloaded to do list.

Finally the UPS man came. I watched as he walked slowly up my driveway carrying my package. I threw open the door and quickly signed the board and shut the door and like a kid at Christmas time ran into the kitchen to rip open the box. I was excited! I read the booklet that came with it, by passed the warnings and immediately opened the pill bottle to take my first set of 6 pills a day. I was sure that I would look like Anna Nicole Smith in just a few days.

Let me tell you what happened after just one dose of this ?magic pill?. I became jittery, more so then when I drink 3 pots of coffee in one day. The pills made me have to urinate and have bowel movements every 5 minutes, not an exaggeration! I passed it off as ?well it must be cleaning out my system?. I felt good because I was taking the ?magic pill?.

After two weeks of this I was going crazy! I couldn?t keep this up, imagine a grown woman panicking at the store because she needs to find a restroom! So I quit taking the pills. Know what happened then? What little weight I did lose I gained it all back! My eating habits hadn?t changed. I was still exercising.

I talked to a doctor about the diet pills and he told me that most diet pills have diuretics and laxatives in the pill which lets you momentarily lose the weight giving you a false sense of accomplishment. I quickly realized that I needed to get back on a ?old fashioned? diet.

So I went home and did some research on the internet. I found that if I just increase my exercise routines to two more days a week with 2 days off and ate 6 small meals a day with raw foods (vegetables, fruits etc) I could lose the weight. So that is exactly what I did. It took a little longer but I wasn?t running to the bathroom every few minutes, I wasn?t cramping or jittery anymore either. I felt more alive then I had in years! I lost about 10 pounds by the time my family reunion came around and I felt good. I still watch what I eat, exercise daily and eat 6 small meals a day.

So what if it takes me twice as long to lose the weight, at least you won?t see me running frantically through your local grocery store yelling ?Where is your bathroom!?.

Rebecca Chan is a freelance writer. She is particularly interested in diets and weight loss plans. See http://www.weightlossquest.info . An example of her work is located at http://www.weightlossquest.info/diets/diet-pills.shtml that you can read and digest in the comfort of your own home.