The "weird side effects" part will exclude the supplement I took. GNC offered Xenadrine with ephedra some years back (before it was banned). The GNC store rep pretty much told me that it has no side effects and it is completely safe. He even showed me the testimonials from such celebs as Sylvester Stallone and said it was legitimate. (I should have known then and there that if Sly’s stamp of quality is on a product, something must be wrong)

While I did lose weight because it completely suppressed my appetite (to the point where in the first couple days I barely ate anything), but my heart beat almost twice as fast at rest and when I tried to exercise I was winded within 10 minutes. I wasn’t really extremely overweight, just maybe 5-10 pounds over my normal weight. Plus I did exercise before I took the ephedra. Xenadrine later went on to claim that the reports of deaths from their supplement were erroneous because the people who had been taking ephedra were so overweight and out of shape that they would have had heart attacks anyway. I think that’s complete nonsense. I could run several miles before taking that drug and I wasn’t more that a few pounds over my normal weight. After taking it I could barely run half a mile before getting totally winded and flushed. The drug is dangerous, period.

The one thing I hope you can take away from this anecdote is that you should never take a supplement’s testimonials at face value. For one, they have a conflict of interest: they must claim their product is both safe and effective or else they run out of business. Secondly, GNC and its store reps are often as much to blame as the companies, because they may gloss over evidence that shows that the supplement is not safe in order to make a sale. I have often wondered how GNC can claim it is about health and well-being when practically half of their products have no scientific evidence behind them. Frankly, a lot of the stuff GNC offers is borderline "speed" or anabolic steroids- albeit made in such a way to appear it is "natural" or "herbal". Cyanide is also natural.

Xenadrine now has a supplement that no longer contains ephedra (aka ma juang). But it still contains a lot of stimulants. Anna Nicole Smith lost a ton of weight because they basically drugged her up with stimulants (I mean seriously, you think she actually worked out to get that way?).

Caffeine is a common ingredient in weight loss and energy supplements. Caffeine suppresses your appetite while also increasing your metabolism. I guess it’s good, to a point. But the levels of caffeine in some of these supplements makes them equivalent to 5 or more cups of coffee. Try drinking that amount of coffee and see what results you get. You will get all jittery, nervous, and easily peeved.

These supplements will work initially since they suppress appetite. But you don’t really want to take them in the long run. They won’t change your lifestyle. If anything, they will make you more dependent on them. Once you go off the supplements, your metabolism will be so out of whack that you’ll start to pack on the pounds again. Weight bearing exercise to build muscle mass and aerobic exercise, along with a reduction in caloric intake, are the only effective, long-term ways to lose weight. Supplements aren’t for the long term, even if they do work initially.

[...] Has Anyone Out There Actually Used Any Weight Loss Supplements … [...]