With the full-on holidays happening (and the winter bulge looming), it could be tempting to add weight-loss pills to the cart along with the eggnog and Christmas cookies. But do they actually work? Are they safe? Here are four women’s real-life takes on what happened when they tried them.
*Important note: REDBOOK does not endorse diet pills or supplements in any way. They are not regulated by the FDA and could be harmful. As with any herbal supplement or weight-loss aid, you should check with your doctor before trying.
![image]( "Garcinia Cambogia")
Garcinia Cambogia
Tested by: Jessica and Michael Dewes, St. Louis
What is it? A small fruit grown in Southeast Asia and Africa, garcinia cambogia contains an enzyme called hydroxycitric acid, which marketers say slows the body’s ability to absorb fat.
Rank on Amazon: Number one for weight-loss supplements. After major celeb endorsements and a marketing push in the past few years, it’s become Amazon’s top seller.
Safety check: In 2009, the FDA issued a warning about links to liver toxicity in a Hydroxycut product line that contained garcinia. It wasn’t clear which ingredients could potentially lead to toxicity, but when they pulled the line and formulated a new one, garcinia wasn’t an ingredient. Its safety and weight-loss benefits haven’t been studied extensively, but one study did find that it could be toxic for people who take antidepressants.
What happened when I tried it for two months:
“My husband and I were on vacation in Michigan when we decided to buy a big bottle at the local grocery store. We were the typical parents. We needed to lose weight, but we worked long hours and didn’t have the best habits. A few celebrities had endorsed garcinia, and there are, like, a million other ads and testimonials for it. It was like any other vitamin. We didn’t notice any side effects… or any other effect, for that matter. Our weight stayed exactly the same, week after week. I was okay to stop after the first couple of weeks, but my husband kept it going until he finished the bottle—a few months or so. I wouldn’t recommend it—we didn’t really start losing weight until we aggressively changed our diet, which would have led to weight loss anyway. I don’t usually go for supplements, but when you’re overweight, tired, and have no time to exercise, it’s easy to be fooled.”
Bottom line:
“Now we’re doing the 5:2 fast, where you only eat about 500 calories a day for two days a week, and that’s worked a lot better for us.”
![image]( "Weight loss supplement Alli")
Alli
Tested by: Michelle Mulligan, New York City
What is it? A capsule you take three times a day, Orlistat (Alli), a reduced dose of a prescription drug, is said to work by blocking absorption of 25 percent of the fat you consume. Important note: The supplement is meant to work by decreasing the fat in low-calorie, healthy foods you consume, and can cause “gastrointestinal distress” if you eat fatty food while taking. (More on this later.)
Rank on Amazon: Number two for weight-loss supplements.
Safety check: FDA-approved, but has been linked in rare cases to liver toxicity.
What happened when I tried it for a week:
“I had just rejoined Weight Watchers around the time Alli was launching, and somehow I got a free week’s trial in the mail. (It felt like the universe was trying to tell me something.) I desperately wanted to lose the 15 pounds that had crept back on after my last Weight Watchers run. I got really excited and imagined it would work in two ways: First, it would block the effects of my inevitable midnight fried chicken and beer run, and second, it would force me to be mindful of everything I was eating because I had to take a pill with every meal. Not to mention the competition. I had an elaborate fantasy about a dramatic first weigh-in, involving a gold badge for the biggest one week weight loss of all time (I’ve since learned they don’t dole out awards for this). A friend of mine was also doing it and warned me not to eat any fatty food after you took the pill, as it could have some serious bathroom consequences. I heard her out, carefully choosing my meals as not to end up incontinent. The pill quickly became a routine before meals, and I seemed less hungry and kind of forgot about it. Plus, nothing bad happened when I finished my friend’s rice and beans…. All was fine, until on the third day, when I had a turkey burger. To me, a turkey burger was a healthy choice that should have earned me admiring stares from my coworkers, especially considering I didn’t order the fries! Apparently it contained too much fat for Alli, though. After feeling contractions resembling a sharp kick to the stomach, I ended up in the bathroom for most of a brutal afternoon.”
Bottom line:
“I stopped using Alli after the turkey incident, so I’m not sure if it really helped me or not. I’ll admit I didn’t know how much fat was in the burger, and I imagine for some very careful food-monitoring people, it could work. In my case, I did at least earn a big Weight Watchers clap for the two pounds I lost that week.”
![image]( "white kidney bean")
Carb Inhibitors With White Kidney Bean Extract
Tested by: Danielle Sampson, St. Louis
What is it? Supplements that contain “carb inhibitors,” like white kidney bean extract, are said to block the absorption of fat and carbs after every meal. One popular brand called It Works! combines kidney bean extract, prickly pear extract, garcinia cambogia, chromium, and other herbs, and it’s supposed to pack a super-carb-blocking punch. Like Alli, you take one with or just after every meal.
Rank on Amazon: Number five through number 16 in carb blockers.
Safety check: The FDA has sent warnings to It Works! marketers about its weight-loss claims because they haven’t been significantly studied.
What happened when I tried it for a year:
“As a professional dancer and instructor, I was sick of being the biggest girl in the group. I didn’t want to look sloppy, and I hoped to tighten and tone my curves. Weight loss has always been hard for me because I come from a family of thick girls. We’re just bigger naturally. Then I went to a a doctor who said that I was obese. I weighed 220 pounds, and I really wanted to make a change. I went on a strict diet plan, and started working out intensely. I lost about 15 pounds the first month, then felt like I might plateau, so I took Hydroxycut to speed things up. It made me jittery and I couldn’t sleep; I just stayed up at night staring at the walls. I feel like it slowed down my weight loss; I only lost about 7 to 10 pounds the month I was on it. After that, I decided to do a 90-day challenge. A friend from my Zumba class recommended It Works!; I liked it because it would be safe and all-natural, and I felt like my metabolism still needed a boost. The challenge involved five two-hour bikini body workouts a week, eating healthy meals every two hours, the supplements, and body wraps. By the end, I weighed 170 pounds.”
Bottom line:
“I finished that challenge a year ago, and I’m still taking the pills. I don’t work out as much, so I haven’t lost more weight. But I feel like the supplements do keep my energy up, curb my appetite, and keep my metabolism moving. I weigh 172 pounds now.”
![image]( "image")
Hydroxycut
Tested by: Caz McKinnon, Brooklyn, New York
What is it? A combo of herbs ranging from wild olive extract to raspberry ketones and sometimes caffeine, it’s supposed to work by speeding fat metabolism and stopping cravings.
Rank on Amazon: Number eight in weight-loss supplements.
Safety check: The FDA recalled a previous version in 2009 due to a link to liver toxicity. Its original formula, which contained the stimulant Ephedra, was also banned in 2004. No recent research has been published on new formulations.
What happened when I took it for two weeks:
“I had just moved to the United States from England, and the shift in lifestyle made me gain just under 30 pounds in about six months. I needed to lose weight fast. I saw Hydroxycut pretty much everywhere on the shelves, so I thought it was probably just a normal supplement that everybody took to help lose weight. I figured it wouldn’t be like the prescription-strength, speedy, scary stuff you hear about, because it was legal and available, so I grabbed a bottle at a drugstore. Within 24 hours, I had a reaction. It started to feel like my mouth was full of glass splinters. I couldn’t swallow anything because I had so many canker sores. My mouth got to the point where it was so swollen, I had to live off liquids and smoothies. I felt like I had protracted a terrible illness, and I didn’t tell anyone about it. I was nauseous all the time, so I couldn’t hold much down. It got so bad that one day I would have a spoonful of ice cream for lunch, followed by whatever I had in the fridge mixed in the blender for dinner. I was living in a haze, but for some reason I stuck with it, probably because the scale showed me I had lost five pounds. One night my roommate was over the weirdness and asked me what was happening. I told him about the pills, and he went to find them and threw them out immediately, saying the whole thing was ‘effing ridiculous.’ I was fine with it. It was one of those things where you just need someone to say it.”
Bottom Line:
“I had tried Slim Fast and other fads before, but this is pretty much the end of my supplement career.”
