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What are Different Types of Weight Loss Products?

Lainie Petersen
Lainie Petersen

In a world where obesity is on the rise, weight loss products are big sellers. While selecting the best weight loss product is often a difficult and dubious enterprise, this hasn't stopped companies from continuing to invent and produce them. Weight loss products can perhaps best be classified into three categories: medicines and supplements, meal replacement products, and accountability tools.

There are a number of over-the-counter and prescription medications and pills designed to help people lose weight. Over-the-counter weight loss products often include various herbs and dietary supplements. While these products often make a lot of claims about their ability to help control appetite and stimulate weight loss, their efficacy is questionable. More promising are some of the prescription drugs on the market, which may provide more reliable, though often modest, weight loss. However, prescription medications for weight loss can have significant side effects that deter many people, even those who are severely obese, from taking them.

A pedometer.
A pedometer.

Meal replacement products are prepackaged foods that are typically high in nutrients but low in calories. A meal replacement can come in many forms, including shakes, bars, and cookies. The theory behind their use is that a person eats the meal replacement instead of a normal meal, thus reducing his or her calorie intake. Users often substitute a meal replacement item for one or two meals per day and enjoy one normal meal made up of regular foods. For those with significant self-discipline, this can be an effective way to lose weight, though it requires a fair amount of willpower. It also requires that the dieter have ongoing access to the meal replacement products.

Weighing yourself on a bathroom scale is helpful when trying to lose weight.
Weighing yourself on a bathroom scale is helpful when trying to lose weight.

Accountability tools, such as calorie counters and pedometers, aren't ingested by a dieters, but instead offer users the opportunity to track, and hopefully understand, their behavior. Calorie or nutrition counters come in several forms, including portable, hand-held calorie calculators and web-based services. Users can easily enter the foods they eat in order to get an idea of how many calories or grams of carbohydrates they eat in a day. Calorie counters often work well on their own or in conjunction with other weight loss products.

Weight loss calculators estimate the calorie intake a person should injest to lose weight.
Weight loss calculators estimate the calorie intake a person should injest to lose weight.

For those who employ walking or jogging in their slimming program, pedometers can measure the time and distanced walked, as well as give an estimate of calories burned. Finally, new high-tech bathroom scales can provide a wealth of information to those who are trying to shed pounds. These scales give users an accurate weight reading as well as an estimate of body fat percentage. Some even have a memory feature, which records and tracks a user's weight over time.

Discussion Comments

DarwinJ

There are many weight loss product available in the market. You can choose them according to your requirements. One of the best ways to lose weight is detoxification. To detoxify your body you can drink detox tea two times a day. They can cleanse your body, fortify your system against pollutants and can even prevent parasites.

Drentel

The trick to losing weight is finding the product that you are more likely to stick with. For the longest time I would hear about a new miracle weight loss pill or weight loss diet and I would get excited about it because I thought it would be an easy way to lose weight.

I didn't lose weight until I started exercising again, and keeping it off is an everyday battle. You have to take it one day at a time and put in the work. I liked playing sports when I was younger, so I have joined a couple adult sports leagues and I feel better.

Animandel

If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. How many times have you heard that? Well, that saying is definitely true when you are talking about weight loss products. Your primary way of losing weight should not be taking weight loss pills every day. Just think about it. If losing weight was that simple then everyone would be their ideal weight.

Laotionne

The problem I have with keeping my weight down is largely created because I don't make the time to eat healthy. Eating healthy means I have to plan meals ahead of time and then take the time to actually make the meals. Making healthy meals can be a strain on the pocket book, especially when you are on a budget.

I always say that if I could afford a private chef who cooked low calorie, nutritious and good tasting meals for me then I could lose weight with no problem. It's too tempting to just pick up fast food at a restaurant or get something from the frozen foods aisle at the grocery store.

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    • A pedometer.
      By: soundsnaps
      A pedometer.
    • Weighing yourself on a bathroom scale is helpful when trying to lose weight.
      By: Elenathewise
      Weighing yourself on a bathroom scale is helpful when trying to lose weight.
    • Weight loss calculators estimate the calorie intake a person should injest to lose weight.
      By: Mark Hayes
      Weight loss calculators estimate the calorie intake a person should injest to lose weight.
    • Spirulina is a highly nutritious herbal supplement that can be incorporated into a weight loss plan.
      By: monamakela.com
      Spirulina is a highly nutritious herbal supplement that can be incorporated into a weight loss plan.