The Different types of diet pills – What’s right for you?

While there are literally hundreds of different diet pills most of them fit into one of four different types of diet pills. Fat Blockers or Binders, Carb Blockers, Appetite Suppressants, and Fat burners.

Each type of diet pill addresses the issue of weight loss differently, and each one has different pros and cons. In this article we’re going to give you a short explanation of how each one of these types of diet pills work, the potential side effects, and why you might want to consider that type of diet pill to help you lose weight.

This is an excellent starting point for anyone thinking of trying a weight loss pill but aren’t sure what type of pill to try or what their options are.

Fat Blocker or Fat Binder

Have you heard of Alli? It was the first FDA approved over the counter diet pill, it’s also known as a fat binder or blocker. What exactly does that mean? Simply put when you take a fat blocker it binds with fat in your stomach after you eat. This binding stops the fat from being digested and absorbed by the body. Instead it passes through your body in your stool.

I know, doesn’t sound appealing, but if used properly fat blockers do work. How ever you must ensure you eat a well balanced diet that is low in fat to begin with. Taking fat blockers isn’t a free for all to eat all the fat you want, in fact the potential side effects if you do eat high fat content meals are not nice at all.

Side effects of Fat Blockers are gas, urgency of bowel movements, oil spotting and diarreha. Of course not everyone experiences these side effects, and if you use these types of diet pills as directed you should see great success.

Probably the most well known fat blocker is Alli. You can read more in our Alli review.

Carb Blockers

Like the name suggests Carbohydrate blockers are the type of diet pill that reduces the quantity of starch your body absorbs after eating. Like fat blockers this is accomplished in the stomach, although this time it’s not by binding to the starch molecules. Instead most carb blockers reduce the amount of the starch reducing enzyme alpha amylase.

With reduced levels of the enzyme less of the starch is converted to sugar and absorbed. Once it’s absorbed it is either used as energy or stored as excess body fat. Hence why eating to many carbs can cause us to gain weight, especially if your not active.

Carbohydrate blockers can be effective, although they are not a get out of jail free card to eat pounds and pounds of carbohydrates. Like all types of diet pills following a healthy eating plan and exercising regularly while using carb blockers to enhance your weight loss campaign will get you the best results.

There are fewer side effects to carb blockers then fat blockers. Most popular carbohydrate blockers contain a product derived from the white kidney bean that’s been shown in studies to reduce the amount of starch that can be digested.

A well known carb blocker is Dietrine, it contains a formulated version of the white kidney bean extract known as Phase 2 starch blocker. You can read more about Dietrine in our Dietrine review.

To learn more about carb blockers check out this article.

Appetite Suppressants

It makes sense that if you eat less you’ll lose weight right? Yes and no, if you eat less and still get the nutrients and calories you need you’ll lose weight. How ever if you still eat junk food, or worse don’t eat enough you won’t get the results you expect with Appetite suppressants.

Reducing your daily calorie intake to low can cause your metabolism to slow down, and there by store fat because your body doesn’t know when it’s going to be eating again.

There are two main types of diet pills which suppress your appetite. Herbal and scientifically formulated products. Herbal products such as Hoodia Gordonii and Caralluma Fimbriata have been over hyped. While they do suppress your appetite it takes more then just the pill for you to lose weight.

Formulated appetite suppressants like Phentramin-d work very well, how ever they often exhibit more extreme side effects.

If you’re going to use an appetite suppressant to lose weight be sure you have a plan in place to still get your proper daily calorie requirements, and exercise. If you can do that you’ll most likely have great success at losing weight.

Fat Burners

Last, but defiantly not least we have fat burners. The most well known brands of diet pills such as Hydroxycut and Nutrex Lipo 6 belong in this category. These types of diet pills generally increase your metabolism and push your body to burn more fat then normal by using stimulants such as caffeine.

The majority of these types of diet pills contain an array of ingredients that work together to produce maximum results. You generally do get good results from a fat burner when used in conjunction with a good exercise program and healthy eating routine.

Don’t plan on taking fat burners and just sticking to the same lifestyle that got you over weight in the first place. It won’t accomplish a single thing. Improving your diet, and integrating exercise into your weekly routine is a must.

The down side to fat burners is usually increased heart rate, sometimes insomnia (due to the stimulants used), and an over all un easiness usually attributed to the stimulants contained in these types of weight loss pills.

These diet pills are known to work well, but try to only take them for 8 week stints, most of the manufacturers recommend this as well. Also be sure to drink lots of water when taking them.

Popular fat burning weight loss pills to check out are Hydroxycut and Lipo 6.