In today’s world, fitness is associated not only with health, but also with beauty, happiness, and success. This is the reason why so many of us invest in things and techniques that promise to help us shed off the extra pounds. Women, in particular, are known for trying anything that we can in order to live healthier and happier. The sheer number of options available to us also makes the process even easier, so if you are hoping for a fitter you, all you need to do is choose what best suits you and get started.
One of the most popular of these things and techniques at present are diet pills. Available over-the-counter and with a prescription, these pills come in various forms and are suited for various purposes. Some of these pills, for instance, do not only burn fat but also help curb appetite, for a two-pronged approach to keeping the unwanted pounds off. And if you want ten of the best of them, they are as follows.
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Top 10 Best Diet Pills for Women
Evlution Nutrition Weight Loss Trans4orm Thermogenic Energizer
The Trans4orm diet pill from Evlution Nutrition nabs the top spot on our list because it does everything that it is supposed to for weight management and goes beyond that. This pill aids in fat burning, boost energy levels, suppress appetite, and increases metabolic rate. On top of these, it also improves mental focus to motivate you to perform at your best through a weight loss program. It should be taken once in the morning on an empty stomach and then once more, 4 to 6 hours later.
Pros
- Supports multiple areas of weight loss, such as fat burning, appetite suppression, and metabolism
- Provides natural and clean energy
- Gluten-free, non-GMO product
Cons
- Has ingredients that may not be listed
- Some users have said it can cause insomnia and anxiety
Zotrim
If you’re looking for an herbal diet pill, Zotrim is for you. This product has ten expert-approved papers and five clinical studies that back its effectiveness in helping bring about weight loss, even without a proper program or a specific diet plan. It is ideal for casual gym-goers. And its total weight is only 403 mg, so there is less potential of getting high doses of any of the ingredients.
Pros
- Backed by clinical studies and trials
- Effectively curbs appetite
- Reasonably-priced
Cons
- Contains a “proprietary blend” of ingredients
- Not as effective as similar products
- Does not work for more serious athletes
RSP QuadraLean
QuadraLean features four primary ingredients that help control four essential factors of weight loss: CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) for the breakdown of body fat, L-Carnitine for the conversion of fat into usable energy, raspberry ketones for the decrease in the absorption of fat in the body, and Garcinia Cambogia for appetite control and mood enhancement. These also all work together to enhance the body’s metabolic processes while boosting your energy levels.
Pros
- Supports critical phases of weight loss management
- Offers four active ingredients
Cons
- Comes with an elaborate dosage plan, so you will need to take plenty of capsules
- May also cause jitters, upset stomachs, diarrhea, vomiting, chest pains, and nausea
Nutratech Atrafen
Nutratech’s Atrafen is considered to be a powerful appetite suppressant, as well as fat burner. The pill also helps out with boosting your metabolism, increasing thermogenesis, enhancing your mental focus, boosting your energy levels, and improving mood. The manufacturer also asserts that the products are produced in a state-of-the-art facility that follows the standards of the FDA’s Good Manufacturing Practices. It contains a mix of ingredients, including raspberry ketones, African mango extract, caffeine anhydrous, green tea extract, and grapefruit.
Pros
- Delivers a multi-pronged and effective approach to weight loss management
- Offers a good mix of ingredients
Con
- Every bottle contains only 60 capsules, which are only good for 20 days
NLA for Her: Her Garcinia
NLA for Her’s Her Garcinia is specially formulated for women and uses only a few active components to deliver weight loss. Its main ingredients are Garcinia Cambogia and green coffee bean extract, the first of which contains hydroxycitric acid, a known weight loss ingredient. Together, the two ingredients boost metabolism, suppress appetite, and regulate cravings so that fewer calories are consumed on a daily basis. They also aim at fat stores and move them to be converted into energy.
Pros
- Has clinical trials and studies to back its effectiveness
- Comes from a very trusted manufacturer
- More affordable than similar products on the market
Cons
- Narrow ingredient panel
- Not as strong as similar products on the market
Evlution Nutrition Leanmode
Another one from Evlution Nutrition, Leanmode offers a gentler way to cash in on the advantages of caffeine for weight loss, without the upset stomach. Additionally, it offers three other active ingredients that support weight loss, such as green coffee, green tea, and Garcinia Cambogia.
Pros
- Contains a good and straightforward mix of ingredients, with no proprietary blends
- Does not produce side effects
Cons
- Lacking in nutrient profile
- Comes with a poor dosage schedule
NLA For Her Shred Her
A thermogenic fat burning solution, Shred Her by NLA For Her is a well-known diet pill for women that is especially popular online. The pill features a blend of ingredients that are known to assist in weight loss, such as green tea, raspberry ketones, and caffeine.
Pros
- Manufactured by a trusted brand
- Offers a good mix of well-known weight loss ingredients
Cons
- Has a proprietary mix that hides the number of ingredients that you are getting
- Has a slim nutrient profile
FitMiss Burn
A fat burner, FiTMiss Burn features 15-plus ingredients to help deliver weight loss, including turmeric, cayenne pepper, and green tea. In addition, it contains diuretics and fat burners. However, like Shred Her, its proprietary blend gets in the way of knowing the dose of each ingredient.
Pros
- Combines mood enhancers with fat burning ingredients
- Uses established weight loss ingredients such as green tea
Cons
- Has a proprietary blend that does not disclose the dosage of each ingredient
- Also combines too many ingredients that may get in the way of optimal weight loss
Alli Orlistat
Alli is the only non-prescription diet pill that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration. When used alongside a proper diet, its manufacturers claim that it can help people lose more weight through inhibiting the absorption of fat from food and flushing it out of the body instead. Its main active ingredient is orlistat, which has been found in 11 studies to be effective in helping people lose more than 6 pounds, compared to those who took a placebo.
Pros
- The only FDA-approved product of its kind on the market
- Inhibits fat absorption by about 20-30%
Cons
- Not ideal for serious athletes and bodybuilders
- Very expensive
- May give rise to several side effects and has contraindications to certain drugs
Nutratech AtraFen PM
Another one from Nutratech, the AtraFen PM formulation is especially suited to improving sleep through its active ingredient melatonin. As a weight loss pill, it helps regulate blood sugar levels, increases metabolism, and promotes deep and restful sleep with 24-hour fat burning.
Pros
- Does more than the regular weight loss pill because of its ability to improve sleep
- Comes from a trusted brand
Cons
- Has a proprietary blend of ingredients that does not reveal all of the information that consumers need to know
- May cause drowsiness
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Who Needs Diet Pills for Women
Diet pills for women are best suited to those who qualify as obese or people with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. People who are overweight, with a BMI of 27 or higher, may also benefit from these pills, if their weight has led to a host of issues, such as high blood pressure or heart disease.
What Are The Benefits Of Diet Pills for Women
There are various benefits associated with diet pills for women, such as:
Curbing appetite. Diet pills can reduce your desire for food, which can have a direct effect on producing weight loss. After all, a reduction in weight happens when you consume fewer calories than you burn throughout the day, or you consume fewer calories than you normally do. Many of the ingredients found in over-the-counter diet pills for women such as green tea extract and chromium are identified as appetite suppressants.
Triggering fat loss. If you are severely overweight, you may find that working your way down to your ideal weight may take a while – and the best diet pills for women can help. Many of the formulations of these pills are especially suited to jumpstarting fat loss, so that meeting weight goals can happen more quickly and with more ease. Prescription medication such as orlistat, for instance, helps prevent fat from being absorbed and digested in the body; for over-the-counter pills, some can boost energy to help you power through fitness sessions, or otherwise motivate you to change to a healthier diet.
Some diet pills can also act as alternatives to exercise. According to a research review on “American Family Physician” in 2004, this is especially true in the case of young and obese women who may find exercise to not only be daunting but also potentially dangerous. The pills can serve as their way of cutting down on fat, until such time that they feel physically comfortable to undertake an exercise in place of the pills.
What Are Diet Pills for Women
Diet pills for women usually fall into three categories: prescription drugs, non-prescription drugs, and dietary supplements. The first is the safest of the lot, as they come with the approval of a doctor. Makers of the second class are required to furnish the Food and Drug Administration with results from human clinical studies that are meant to show the safety and effectiveness of their drugs. And manufacturers of dietary supplements are not regulated by the FDA when it comes to ensuring the safety of their products, but their claims are subject to FDA review.
Of these three, the most numerous in the market are dietary supplements. Many of them can help with weight loss, but not all of them will. They are mostly made of:
- Amino acids
- Botanical products or herbs
- Enzymes
- Glandular extracts
- Minerals; and
- Vitamins
Their claims also vary. but generally, these dietary pills purport to (1) curb cravings, (2) enhance the feeling of fullness even without finishing the meal, (3) boost your metabolism, (4) decrease your body’s rate of fat production, and (5) prohibit fat absorption. They are also available in various forms such as pill, capsules, and powders, and can be taken either with a meal or as a meal replacement.
What Safety Issues Should You Be Aware Of For Diet Pills for Women
For all their benefits, there are quite a lot of safety issues that are connected to diet pills for women. First off, there are specific ingredients in these pills that can pose risks to health. Fat-trapping products, for instance, typically contain chitosan, which effectively blocks fat absorption in the body. For weight loss, this is a good thing, but for everything else, not so much. Chitosan can also prohibit the body’s ability to absorb fat-soluble nutrients such as vitamins A and D, as well as the phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables. Many experts recommend not using chitosan for more than three months.
Fat burners, for their part, typically contain a combination of hydroxycitric acid, pyruvate, essential fatty acids, and herb-derived stimulants. The latter includes caffeine and ephedra, as well as herbs such as guarana. Two or three of these are stacked together in one pill, alongside willow bark or aspirin. And while they have been proven to work, especially when combined with exercise, they are not considered very safe. Ephedra, for instance, can raise blood pressure and even lead to arrhythmias, strokes, and fatal heart attacks.
Essential fatty acids, on the other hand, include conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and flaxseed oil, which are then combined with garlic to boost muscle mass and reduce fat. Research shows that this combination is helpful both in studies that involved animals and humans. CLA, in particular, has been found to be effective in fat control, as well as mitigating the effects of dieting such as dizziness and stomach issues. However, not all types of CLA are of quality; if you’re interested in products with CLA, look for Conalin and Clarinol.
There have also been tainted products that have been recalled, banned, or withdrawn from the market by the FDA because of the safety risks that they pose, such as the case of ephedra. One of the most well-known cases was that of Meridia, which had been found to contain sibutramine, which was found to increase the potential of heart attack or stroke.
Hydroxycut was also recalled and banned by the FDA because of serious side effects, including hepatitis and jaundice. In fact, the effects were so severe that one person who took the supplement died, and another required a liver transplant. And then there’s Fen-Phen, which was recalled in the late 1990s after one of its two active ingredients, fenfluramine, was found to be significant to heart damage and lung disease. Its other active ingredient, phentermine, is still used in weight loss products, but it is only available with a prescription.
Other ingredients that the FDA flagged include rimonabant, an appetite suppressant not approved in the US; phenolphthalein, an experimental drug that may cause cancer; and phenytoin, an anti-seizure drug. Many of the products that contain these ingredients are unregulated and are widely available online.
In addition, dietary supplements are not FDA-approved. Some of them have serious side effects, such as agitation, kidney problems, rectal bleeding, high blood pressure, liver damage, and sleeplessness.
Finally, diet pills can be abused. People with eating disorders, in particular, may be prone to mishandling the use of these pills, in an effort to keep cashing in on the benefits that they offer. Among the ways that these products can be abused are combining diet pills with laxatives, taking more than the recommended dose of a dietary supplement, combining many and varied weight loss stimulants, taking products that are not intended for people of normal weight or underweight. Side effects from abuse of diet pills can range from electrolyte imbalance to life-threatening organ failure.
A Brief History Of Diet Pills for Women
The use of diet pills over time started when the idea of beauty transitioned into that of a slimmer and more fit appearance, which offers a timeline mostly marked by failures and tragedies. The very first diet pills were introduced in the late 1800s, which were mainly fat reducers based on thyroid extract. They were thought to boost the metabolic rate of the body and they were considered effective, but they had serious side effects such as abnormal heartbeats, weakness, high blood pressure, and even death.
During the early 20th century, dinitrophenol became popular. This medication was found to produce a thermogenic effect in the body, but like the earlier diet pills of an earlier century, the drug caused serious effects such as accidental deaths from hyperthermia, damage to the sense of taste, eye cataracts, and severe rashes. The Food and Drug Administration was given greater control over the management of the drug, and it was discontinued in the United States.
The mid-20th century was no reprieve. It started with the use of amphetamines because of its ability to suppress the appetite. But the neurological and psychological effects, as well as the risk of abuse, were too much for the industry to allow the medication to keep on being used. Another drug, aminorex fumarate, was developed to treat obesity in 1965, but it triggered pulmonary hypertension in several cases and had to be withdrawn three years later. It was also during this time that the thyroid hormone saw a resurgence for weight loss treatment, but it fell into disuse because of toxicity risks.
From there, a Danish physician discovered the use of ephedra alongside caffeine to treat asthma, which was later used for weight loss. The US classified ephedra as an herb that did not merit FDA approval in 1994, but multiple adverse effects (cardiovascular and neurological problems) forced the FDA to classify ephedra as an unsafe substance. Another chemical derived from ephedra, phenylpropanolamine, was discontinued when it was associated with hemorrhagic stroke and increased hypertension.
In 1973, fenfluramine was introduced as a weight loss treatment, and it reached maximum popularity around 1992 when it was used alongside another drug, phentermine. Over 18 million prescriptions were written for the drug in 1996 until cardiovascular abnormalities such as pulmonary hypertension and heart lesions started surfacing. Both drugs were voluntarily removed a year later from the market.
Now, the range of options that we have for the best diet pills for women is more varied and, arguably, safer. Orlistat, in particular, has been found to be beneficial in reducing the amount of dietary fat that is absorbed by the digestive tract, if it is combined with a low-calorie diet.
Important Factors to Keep in Mind
Product Use Limitations/Who Shouldn’t Use Diet Pills for Women
Certain diet pills are approved only for certain people, such as adults, or children aged 12 and above. In addition, pregnant women should avoid these pills at all costs, and those who are intending to get pregnant should avoid many of these pills, as some of them may harm a fetus.
Certain medications also come with specific product use limitations. Orlistat, for instance, should not be taken with cyclosporine to mitigate liver injury potential. Also, people taking this drug must take a multivitamin every day to make sure that the body still gets the vitamins that it may not be able to absorb because of the pill.
Phentermine-topiramate, for its part, should never be used by those who have hyperthyroidism or glaucoma. Additionally, it may cause birth defects, so it must never be used by pregnant women or those planning to be pregnant. Naltrexone-bupropion is also not recommended to those with uncontrolled high blood pressure or seizures or a history of anorexia or bulimia nervosa. If you are dependent on opioid pain medications, taking bupropion, or undergoing withdrawal from drugs or alcohol, do not take Naltrexone-bupropion. This drug may increase suicidal thoughts or actions.
Finally, people with severe anxiety or other mental health problems should also talk to their doctors first before taking diet pills.
How To Manage the Use of Diet Pills for Women
Two of the most challenging areas to navigate about the use of diet pills for women revolve around interpreting their claims and understanding safety concerns. To manage these, a good rule of thumb is to know what you should: about the claims made by the manufacturer, and the safety issues associated with a pill you’re interested in. From there, make sure that what you take away is supplemented by the advice of a doctor.
It is also important to research your options before you settle on any one product. Be on the lookout especially for banned or flagged ingredients, and make sure that the company is of good reputation before you invest your money in their products. Do not fall for vague claims such as “losing 10 pounds in one week”, or the liberal use of phrases like “scientific breakthrough”.
Finally, include your doctor in your weight loss plan. Do not take anything that your doctor has not cleared for you, and do not take more than what your doctor has advised.
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Conclusion
Diet pills for women can help many of us lose weight, as long as we use them according to their formulation. However, it is important to remember that there is no magic pill that can zap you into the body that you have always wanted to have, regardless of the number of active weight loss ingredients that it may have. At the very least, what these products can do is help supplement weight loss alongside a proper exercise program, a good diet, and a healthy lifestyle.
It should also be stressed that these pills have a very bad rep when it comes to safety issues and side effects. Never pop a pill unless you are sure of what it will do to you, and always talk to your doctor before attempting any pill routine.
