Are diet pills a legitimate way to lose weight?

[indigo]

i'm curious about diet pills, but don't know that much about them. i just looked up ephedrine, and it increases the effect of norepinephrine. a common trend i am picking up is that some diet pills improve low mood. i used to take norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (NRIs) for depression (so the link between ephedrine and mood appears relevant!). anyway, i stopped taking it because i had sexual side effects (i.e., low libido, difficult to orgasm). i can't remember whether the NRIs suppressed my appetite, but i did like the energy kick it seemed to give me.

anyway, is it common for diet pills (especially the ones that work on the norepinephrine pathway) to produce sexual side effects? apparently about 20 - 30% of people get sexual side effects from NRIs, and i'm wondering if norepinephrine-targeting diet pills to do the same. (in which case, i'd steer well away )

[pixiedingo]

This is a little off topic but still has to do with diet pills- basically, my dad is dating this woman who's a lot younger than he is- we're talking a 20 year age difference. She's 32 I believe. She's a nice person, but is so obviously disordered in her eating/ exercise patterns. I'm talking 20+ hours per week of vigorous exercise with a personal trainer, and going through cycles of eating nothing but a handful of cheerios in three days and then baking a massive cake and eating half of it herself. Overexercising and restrict/binge cycles galore. It's kinda hard to watch.
She's only 5'1'', and is pretty small- I've seen her as low as 90lbs perhaps, and currently, she confided in me that she broke 100 for the first time in her life and ballooned up to 104. She's extremely athletic from all the exercising she does, so she doesn't look big or anything, but she has gotten a bit thicker from when I first met her. 10 or so pounds on someone so short really shows.

But enough backstory. Basically she's started taking diet and caffeine pills (I don't know any brands), and I caught her doing it. And now she's bribing me so that I don't tell my dad.
Apparently she used to take diet pills, but she and my dad had a talk and she promised she wouldn't do it any more. But now that she's gained she's doing it again, behind his back.
She took me shopping the other day and bought me a cute summer dress from Zara, some gorgeous Lamb heels, and a RL bikini... so all that was great... but I just feel guilty.

Should I be worrier about her? Should I tell someone she's going back into her old, potentially harmful ways? Ugh. I hate this drama.

[Jasmine]

Originally Posted by pixiedingo

This is a little off topic but still has to do with diet pills- basically, my dad is dating this woman who's a lot younger than he is- we're talking a 20 year age difference. She's 32 I believe. She's a nice person, but is so obviously disordered in her eating/ exercise patterns. I'm talking 20+ hours per week of vigorous exercise with a personal trainer, and going through cycles of eating nothing but a handful of cheerios in three days and then baking a massive cake and eating half of it herself. Overexercising and restrict/binge cycles galore. It's kinda hard to watch.
She's only 5'1'', and is pretty small- I've seen her as low as 90lbs perhaps, and currently, she confided in me that she broke 100 for the first time in her life and ballooned up to 104. She's extremely athletic from all the exercising she does, so she doesn't look big or anything, but she has gotten a bit thicker from when I first met her. 10 or so pounds on someone so short really shows.

But enough backstory. Basically she's started taking diet and caffeine pills (I don't know any brands), and I caught her doing it. And now she's bribing me so that I don't tell my dad.
Apparently she used to take diet pills, but she and my dad had a talk and she promised she wouldn't do it any more. But now that she's gained she's doing it again, behind his back.
She took me shopping the other day and bought me a cute summer dress from Zara, some gorgeous Lamb heels, and a RL bikini... so all that was great... but I just feel guilty.

Should I be worrier about her? Should I tell someone she's going back into her old, potentially harmful ways? Ugh. I hate this drama.

It depends on her motivation behind the whole thing and her behaviour as a whole...Sounds like a case of EDNOS, but that could really be jumping to conclusions. Maybe it's best to stage a gentle intervention with her next time she takes you on one of your outings?

[Hopeful]

I think pills are good to give you motivation to start seeing results faster but any pill you take has to come with change in diet and way of life if not it will all come back fast. It is tricky cause you can definitely end up dependent on them and thats where it becomes scary. I think moderation is key