Outside of the usual, starvation, diet pills, exercise, anyone come up with a magic bullet such as an herb or food that sheds the pounds?
No.
It’s pretty simple; take in more calories in food than you burn off in exercise and you’ll gain weight. Take in less calories in food than you burn off in exercise and you’ll lose weight.
That’s the bottom line.
As we frequently discuss here, the formula for gaining or losing weight rests on two factors: the amount of energy in the food consumed and the amount of energy spent. Putting food in your mouth causes your body to become heavier. Passing those foods through your body causes you to lose weight. Storing those foods keeps the weight inside. Using up some of the food by metabolising them causes them to become waste products and causes your body to become lighter. The only way to lose weight by eating is by using up more energy than the food you ate contained. You use energy when you live. I.e. you use energy by being a living, breathing, moving mammal. (Note, you’re usually a pound or so lighter in the morning because you’ve been alive - moving, breathing, circulating blood, staying warm, etc.) But that minimum amount of energy use is usually not enough to counterbalance the weight of the food you take in, assuming it contains some potential energy (carbohydrates and fats, primarily). So, no, there’s really nothing you can do but use the energy you consume. Exercise, not starvation diets, is usually the recommended route. xo,
C.
Tapeworms.
No, I’m not really serious. Yes, I know they don’t work.
It’s not magic, but a regular old bullet to the brain will do WONDERS for losing weight.
If you want to lose weight and remain alive there is no magic bullet, except for that little blender thing with the terrible infomercials.
No.
All those wonderful diet plans, the Duchess of York or Jenny Craig or Weightwatchers or Kirsti Allie all basically consist of “eat only these pre-measured portions and do a decent amount of exercise”.
There’s that pill that prevents a lot of fat from being absorbed (Ally?) -apparently causing it to come out the other end, still fairly fluid but processed by bacteria to include gas byproducts; and by not absorbing some of what’s being eaten, you also miss out on nutrients, etc. You can’t fool with mother nature.
The short (and wide) answer - no.
While I agree with you… Beachlady specifically stated no exercise. :o
You mean the lazy-ass-I-don’t-want-to-work-at-it method of losing weight?
It doesn’t exist.
You certainly don’t have to exercise, as long as you eat fewer calories than your body burns just sitting around. For some people, exercise may even be counterproductive, leading to greater hunger later in the day.
A reasonable level of consumption (say 1600 calories per day) does not constitute starvation in any sense, though it will probably be difficult to do if you’re used to eating a lot more. The great thing about the human body is its ability to adapt, though. If you can stick with it, you will get used to eating less, and feel hungry less often.
Well sure…maybe over the long haul. The problem is that most people don’t want to go through that initial bloated stage.
Alli. It works for some people, but you need to adopt a low-fat diet as part of the regimen, or the potentially nasty side-effects become more pronounced.
And, in answer to the OP: sorry, it’s still pretty much “eat less and exercise”.
Eating a lot of fiber can increase the amount of food you can eat without increasing the amount of calories you consume, so you can feel fuller with less. It is no magic bullet, and the calories consumed to calories burned rule still applies.
Well, there are appetite suppressants like Sibutramine and Phenylpropanolamine, and drugs that reduce fat absorption like Orlistat. But none are “magical,” and they can produce terrible side effects.
Methamphetamine works wonders. But it will make you ugly as hell and you’ll die in a few years.
Laxatives.
There are drugs that can boost your metabolism so you burn more calories per hour… but the side effects are things you DON’T want to have.
There’s a reason it’s called a “magic” bullet, largely to do with the fact that magic doesn’t exist.
Eat only meals consisting of rice, chili peppers and vegetables for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Only drink tepid water or cold, black coffee and eat bananas between meals. After a month you’ll be sick of the sight of food.