In an odd way kind of complimentary.

[GingerBiscuit]

Me- Obviously the best.
SW: Sucky woman.

SW: Oh, hi, can you help me? I want to lose a bit of weight and was wondering about the diet supplements.
Me: Sure. Can I just ask you a few questions? *go through my questions, finishing with* And how much weight were you looking to lose.
SW: Oh, I want to be about as slim as you. How much do you weigh.
Me: Urrmm about 9 stone. (the heaviest I've ever been actually. I ate tons of junk on my holiday, and normally am 8 and 1/2 stone.)
SW: Wow, I'm your height and I'm about 14 stone. What diet pills did YOU take?
Me: I didn't take any.
SW: What? How are you so slim then?
Me: I eat healthily and exercise.
SW: That's not how. You can level with me.
Me: I have never taken any of these, besides, even if I had, the'd only be effective following a healthy, calorie controlled diet with regular exercise.

I mean, her wanting to be 'asl slim as me' was kind of flattering, especially as my trousers are currently feeling uncomfortably tight, but to assume I'm slim because of taking diet pills? And then not believing me when I said I didn't?

Most of them don't work anyway. Eat right, fill your plate with fruit and veg and exercise. That's what works. If any of the pills work they only work by speeding the process started off by that.

[iradney]

Probably because she doesn't want to believe that yes, hard work and self discipline DOES have beneficial effects.
She was probably hoping you were taking a diet pill so that she wouldn't feel guilty about taking the "easy way out".
And I say this because this is how I used to think.

[Bright_Star]

Far too many people are waiting for the day that a "magic" pill comes out that they can take & they'll lose weight. No fuss, no bother.
They need a reality check. You want to lose weight AND be healthy too? The only sure thing that works is to eat sensibly & excercise. & that takes time too so for someone to start it & then quit after doing it for a week or so aren't giving it a chance.
Those that are out of shape & overweight need to realize that it took a while for them to be in the shape that they are now. It's going to take time for them to get back in shape.

[iradney]

Plus, amazingly enough, it's cheaper to eat healthily, and not take diet pills.
Well, here it is anyhoo.

For example, diet pills are about R250 for a month's supply. Then you carry on having a hotdog and choc chip muffin for lunch every day at R30 a pop. That's nearly a thousand bucks right there (lunch and pills together). For R30 you can get a week's supply of fruit - apples, pears and maybe bananas.

[Shengirl]

Nice. I know around here, you can either pay $1 for a double cheeseburger or $2.99 for a prepackaged salad in the grocery store. $.10 for a brick of ramen noodles...or produce for as much as $2.99 a pound. More for cherries and other stuff, now that I think about it (no one buys cherries unless they're on sale!). There's a reason obesity is so prevalent in the lower tax brackets in America. Well, it's prevalent in every bracket, but you know what I mean.

[walking with scissors]

This kills me. I lost a bunch of weight a few years back and everybody was always asking how I did it. They always got quiet and dropped the subject when I said that I'd been walking a lot and not eating junk. It's true, everybody (almost) is looking for the magic weight-loss potion. Unfortunately, our culture does not discourage that.

[AnaKhouri]

I'm pretty sure that a vague understanding of genetics is the worst thing to ever happen to Americans. Most people can't actually tell you what DNA is, but they know it's responsible for all their flaws.

One day I was ringing up two middle-aged women buying a diet book. They were talking amongst themselves, I made no attempt to intrude on their conversation on the problems of losing weight, until one of them looks at me and says, "Of course YOU wouldn't understand, you're so slender!"

I stared at her. "Actually ma'am...I have a tendency to be overweight. I was always a heavy kid. Now I work out 5-6 times a week and watch what I eat very carefully."

The woman's eyes widened in amazement. She turned to her friend. "Did you hear that? She says she has to WORK at it!"

Yes. Yes, I do.

I do like the new diet pill Alli, on all the advertising it states quite clearly that it is not a magic thin pill and you must be willing to work out and watch your food intake, and if you're not willing to do that then don't bother buying the pills.

[Ill_Used_Heroine]

This kills me. I lost a bunch of weight a few years back and everybody was always asking how I did it. They always got quiet and dropped the subject when I said that I'd been walking a lot and not eating junk. It's true, everybody (almost) is looking for the magic weight-loss potion. Unfortunately, our culture does not discourage that.

Same thing happened to me, six years ago. I lost around 90 lbs. and NO ONE wanted to hear that I stopped eating fast food, and started eating only salads, fruit, cut out the dairy and fat, and worked out 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. *sigh* I only wish I could be that way again, cause it's creeping back up on me, and I'm so tired/stressed after work, that I just want to eat dinner and read a book before bed.

I still don't know where I got that motivation/discipline. Wish I could have it back.

[Jester]

Nice. I know around here, you can either pay $1 for a double cheeseburger or $2.99 for a prepackaged salad in the grocery store. $.10 for a brick of ramen noodles...or produce for as much as $2.99 a pound. More for cherries and other stuff, now that I think about it (no one buys cherries unless they're on sale!). There's a reason obesity is so prevalent in the lower tax brackets in America. Well, it's prevalent in every bracket, but you know what I mean.

That being said, it is still cheaper and far more effective to eat healthily and sensibly and get some exercise then to continue eating the same crap and buying some bs magic diet pill.

Is produce cheap? No. Do you have to eat ONLY produce to lose weight? Also, no. Eating sensibly does not mean going completely veggie. It means eating more fruits and vegetables than you did eat. It means not eating junk food, such as candy bars, lameass processed foods, chips and snacks like that, and too much fatty foods. You CAN eat burgers and lose weight. You just can't make burgers a main staple in your diet. A BALANCED diet, combined with exercise, WILL get you into good shape. A diet pill, with no other changes in your life, will possibly help you lose some weight, but will be unhealthy for you, and in all likelihood you will just gain the weight back when you get off the pill. Why? Because you are still eating nonsensibly and not exercising.

Someone really wants to lose weight? Get a bicycle, get on it, and try to keep up with me. And good freakin' luck.

[earl colby pottinger]

Me too

This kills me. I lost a bunch of weight a few years back and everybody was always asking how I did it. They always got quiet and dropped the subject when I said that I'd been walking a lot and not eating junk. It's true, everybody (almost) is looking for the magic weight-loss potion. Unfortunately, our culture does not discourage that.

Well, I am fat now and I plan a crash diet and exercise program for the next couple of months before going on a cruise. I did this once before and the results were just like you said, only worse. I had one person hound me repeatedly for the name of my secret pill. They refuse to believe that you could lose so much weight just from diet and exercise. The fact that I was walking over twenty kilometers a day, every day seemed lost on them. The fact that I stop eating hamburgers, milkshakes, chocolate bars, cake, donuts and everything else with lots of fat did not matter. I had to be taking some secret pill according to everyone else.

[Max]

I do like the new diet pill Alli, on all the advertising it states quite clearly that it is not a magic thin pill and you must be willing to work out and watch your food intake, and if you're not willing to do that then don't bother buying the pills.

Of course, if you eat a healthy diet (avoiding excess calories and fat), Alli is about as useful as an third nipple. From what I know (not much, admittedly), it blocks absorption of a certain percentage of the fat you ingest. So if you eat way too much fat, you won't lose weight. And if you eat a healthy amount of the right fats, it's better not to take it.

If someone's doctor prescribes them something to lose weight (say, for a medical condition or something), that's fine. But OTC diet pills? Worthless, yet expensive. Better just to educate yourself about exercise and nutrition, formulate a thoughtful plan of action, then carry it out. Effective, without the oily stools and anal leakage*!!


*Yes, these are side effects of fat blockers. After all, where do you think all that blocked fat is going to go??

[Tigress]

I'm actually heavier than I look, so people are shocked when I tell them my real weight. (Or the weight I was when I last went to the doctor's. I refuse to keep a scale in the house.) And they want to know my "secret."

Taekwondo - 2 days a week
30 min. Cardio - 3 - 4 days a week
Lots and lots of yummy veggies
Junk food as an occasional treat
Water

I'd like to get back into weight training, but I'm waiting to get a real house to make a workout studio to keep a weight bench, a sand bag and stretching machines in.

[auntiem]

I lost a lot of weight last year. Everyone wanted to know how I did it. The magic answer? I broke my leg - not only that I didn't know it was broken for two weeks (I suspected, but didn't want to believe it). So I burned a ton of calories crutching around, was in pain so I didn't eat very much and snack raids to the kitchen was difficult to manage - so I lost 20 lbs.

[GingerBiscuit]

Of course, if you want to lose weight really fast, try gastroentiritis. When I got it last years I dropped a stone (about 14lbs) in a month because I was burning so much energy with my body fighting the infection, throwing up most of what I ate, and could only keep rice cakes down.

It's not a particularly pleasant way to do it.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Of course, if you want to lose weight really fast, try gastroentiritis. When I got it last years I dropped a stone (about 14lbs) in a month because I was burning so much energy with my body fighting the infection, throwing up most of what I ate, and could only keep rice cakes down.

It's not a particularly pleasant way to do it.

Panic attacks, severe anxiety, and depression will do it, too...when you're afraid you're going to choke on everything you eat, it makes it easy to bypass that donut... 20+ pounds in under 3 months, just like that <snaps fingers>...

Also not a pleasant way to go about it...