With so many plans and diet products in the market place, have you any idea where to start? From pills to laxatives, toning belts to patches, we've tried to give you some idea of what does what and why!
Let's quickly break out what's what on the diet products front. This isn't a definitive list but will cover most of the more common products you'll probably come across.
A quick rundown of a few of the more popular diet products you can get.
As well as bringing you success stories, recipes, motivation and of course diet plans, the magazines that accompany diet plans like Slimming World and WeightWatchers, provide support. They know when you find it most difficult to resist temptation, so provide useful tips and ideas on ways to prevent that happening to you.
There are a number of great magazines on the market, but they do tend to come and go as well. Combining diets and celebrity was never a good idea, as many of those diet plans were fad diets.
Why not flick through a few in a larger WHSmith brand to see what they have and whether it's right for you, or check out our slimming magazine reviews and if you like what you see, then buy online to get some great subscription discounts.
Another increasingly used route for dieting is to buy pre-prepared meals that provide you with the low calorie, low fat, low Carb or high protein targets you are looking to achieve from your diet. Are these the best way to get your food balance? Is it not healthier to prepare your own fresh food and drinks so you know exactly what's going into them?
There's obviously a market for these as WeightWatchers and Slim-Fast (to name but two) are in most supermarkets in the 'nutritionally balanced' meal section.
There's plenty of sites online offering you the chance to sign up and lose weight. Is it that simple? These sites are an extension of what you can do without the Internet.
Great for giving you the latest advice, new and alternative ideas and support in the form of stories and forums with others going through the same thing. Not so good maybe if you prefer talking to a real person in the flesh and getting support from others either at the gym or at a slimming club.
Most of us have heard about Slendertone, but have you ever considered buying one. Do you know what they do and how they work? Using electrical impulses to stimulate the muscles in key areas such as your stomach, they can work wonders on toning your muscles.
What a toning belt won't do is to shift fat that sits on top of the muscles making you look fat or slightly puffy. You need to look at changing your eating habits and exercising to see any benefit from the toning belt.
Body wraps are all about being wrapped up in a nappy like piece of cloth, lying still for an hour or so and allowing a combination of herbs and other products lie next to your skin for absorption.
The idea being that the ingredients used in the wrap remove toxins from your body and at the same time, provide stimulation for your metabolism.
Diet and slimming products include prescription pills, whether they be over the counter pills or ones off the shelf. The type of pills do vary from the fat burners, to fat inhibitors. So you do need to know what you're doing before you embark on swallowing everything you can find on the slimming shelf!
These pills contain ingredients such as; Ephedrine; Rimonabant; Chitosant; Chromium; Phendimetrazine; Phentermine; Diethylpropion; and Tetrahydrolipstatin.
** Another one that was key in a number of drugs, including Reductil, was Sibutramine. This has now been removed from the market completely due to links with strokes and heart attacks.
Brands you may see include : Adipex; Acomplia; Bontril; Ionamin; Meridia; Orlistat; Tenuate; Xenical; and Zotrim.
All of the above are available in the form either of prescription pills through your chemist or GP, or off the shelf and these are just the tip of the iceberg of available ones and the more well known names available at the moment.
Yep, exactly as it sounds. Pants/knickers that either just help you look slimmer. They are also called 'control pants' or 'secret slimming' underwear. These items are specially designed to remove the VPL, tuck in your waist by compressing it (up to 2 inches in some cases) and generally making your figure look more smooth and streamlined.
There are now new ones that also act in a similar way to a body wrap, by introducing active compounds like caffeine directly to the skin for you to absorb.
As well as prescription pills with specific drugs included, you can look at herbal options. Known to help some with their slimming goals, you can choose from a wide range of different forms and ingredients but you do need to do some research. Greet tea extract is great for boosting metabolism, whilst LIPOBond is a complex organic fibre that helps to bind fat to prevent absorption by the body. We would always recommend you talk to a professional before using these products.
As with smoking, there's now a patch form to help you achieve weight loss goals. They are in a way a form of medication in that they slow release nutrients through the skin. Usually the claim is for the patch to either suppress your appetite, increase your metabolism or burn fat! We think you should think about following a more involved form of diet which encourages you to change your eating and exercise habits.
There are literally hundreds of diet products you can choose from. No matter what your weight loss goals or objectives are, you can easily find options that could suit you.
Losing or gaining weight can be a very slow process. For example, a sudden decrease in weight can lead to the body over-compensating over a longer period of time which may actually result in a gain in weight.
Don't expect overnight changes or quick solutions as this can be unrealistic and can mean you'll become disheartened at the slow processes involved. By achieving your ideal weight, you'll not only look and feel better but you'll be healthier and have more energy for whatever life throws at you.