7 Most Popular Diet Pills That Work Fast Without Exercise

Are you interested in knowing the 7 Most Popular Diet Pills That Work Fast Without Exercise? I mean what better way to lose weight than to simply pop some pills and let the fat melt away, right? Of course, you may be wondering, do diet pills actually work? I mean it does sound a little too good to be true doesn’t it? Why is obesity such a massive (no pun intended) problem if people could simply take some pills and reveal their true form hiding under the layers and layers of fat?

Well, diet pill studies have shown that many prescription diet pills do indeed work to promote increased weight loss when compared to maintaining a similar lifestyle without the pills. A 2014 meta-study of 21 long-term trials studying the effects of prescription drugs on people with obesity concluded that those drugs do increase the likelihood of someone attaining “clinically meaningful” weight loss in conjunction with other positive lifestyle changes.

So how do diet pills work to make people shed their excess baggage? Primarily through one or a combination of three mechanisms. One of the most prominent is by making you feel full, thereby making it less likely that you’ll be hungering for some hamburgers. When you do chow down on some burgers (or hopefully some healthier fare) is when some of these pills also kick into action. Take orlistat, which blocks lipase from being able to break down fat, meaning you absorb less of it. Thirdly, some diet pills will promote the burning of excess calories during physical activity.

However, over the counter diet pills did not fare nearly as well as prescription diet pills in a separate meta-study conducted in 2004. That study found that none of the reviewed dietary supplements, of which there were 11, delivered convincing evidence that they were effective at spurring weight loss and the study authors did not recommend any of them for use. Among the supplements studied were chitosan, hydroxy-methylbutyrate, Ephedra sinica, and Garcinia cambogia.

There’s also the notable issue of diet pill side effects. Even FDA-approved weight loss drugs often come with dangerous side effects, including liver damage, constipation, nausea, insomnia, and dependence. When you’re talking about so-called natural weight loss pills, or dietary supplements, you really don’t know what you might be putting into your body and what the side effects might be. That’s particularly concerning when some consumers are unaware of how unregulated dietary supplements are.

A 2015 Consumer Reports survey found that about 20% of respondents believed weight loss supplements are FDA approved (they aren’t, the FDA will only review supplements if there’s enough evidence that a safety concern exists, which means you’re effectively any supplement’s guinea pig) and that they were safer than prescription medications and contained less side effects. However, a 2014 study found that a majority of the dietary supplements that had been recalled by the FDA which were reviewed in the study still contained banned ingredients after the FDA recall, ingredients which the FDA considers have the potential to cause serious adverse health effects or even death, so there’s a serious potential risk when using unregulated supplements. Many of these will tout their natural ingredients, but it’s important to remember that natural in no way means safe.

In this article we’ll take a look at the 7 Most Popular Diet Pills That Work Fast Without Exercise, the majority of which are prescription medications. It should be noted that while there is little concrete evidence of these drugs helping to shed weight without exercise, due to drug trials almost unanimously involving diet and exercise changes so as to enhance their results, there’s no reason to suspect these treatments couldn’t be effective without exercise, though obviously to a lesser extent.

For further weight loss reading, don’t miss the 10 Best Performing Weight Loss Companies and Their Programs, which includes some of the companies mentioned in this article.

Now then, head to the next page to begin the countdown of the 7 Most Popular Diet Pills That Work Fast Without Exercise.

7. Hydroxycut

First on our list of most popular diet pills that work fast without exercise is Hydroxycut, which is the best-selling weight loss supplement in the U.S. Hydroxycut features a blend of several different ingredients that are believed to promote weight loss, including loads of caffeine, which has been shown to enhance fat burning in the short-term. However, the long-term weight loss benefits of caffeine are unclear, as there are no studies showing such, and caffeine tolerance quickly sets in. The other prime ingredient is weighlevel, a mixture of various plant extracts that has its roots in European and Middle Eastern medicine, and which studies have shown to be effective at reducing weight. It should be noted that Hydroxycut was implicated in one death and several cases of liver toxicity some years ago. The product has been reformulated since then.

6. Alli/Xenical (orlistat) – GlaxoSmithKline PLC (ADR) (NYSE:GSK)

Despite several new weight loss prescription medications being approved in recent years, Alli, the number 6 in our list of most popular diet pills that work fast without exercise remains one of the most popular weight loss treatments. Also a prescription medication called Xenical, GlaxoSmithKline PLC (ADR) (NYSE:GSK) paid Roche $100 million to take the treatment OTC as Alli, and the drug promptly pulled in $155 million for GlaxoSmithKline plc (ADR) (NYSE:GSK) in the following quarter. However, the drug’s reputation was shaken by the recent revelation that clinical trials in the 1990’s may have understated how prevalent side effects like diarrhea and incontinence were while taking the drug, and it has indeed gained a reputation for causing gastrointestinal issues. Nonetheless, its effectiveness at reducing weight remains strong. A meta-study of 11 studies of the drug showed that it reduced weight by about 6 pounds on average compared to placebo. As the drug limits the amount of fat you absorb, it can also lead to a deficiency in fat-soluble vitamins like A and D, which is why supplementation while on diet pills like Alli that trigger fat absorption is recommended (if not necessary).

5. BYETTA (exenatide) – AstraZeneca PLC (ADR) (NYSE:AZN)

While approved as a Type-2 diabetes drug, AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN)’s BYETTA that ranks 5th in our list of most popular diet pills that work fast without exercise, has also been proven effective at treating obesity in non-diabetic subjects. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study showed that after 35 weeks, the study participants taking exenatide lost nearly 3kg (6 pounds) more weight on average than those taking the placebo (who actually gained weight during the study). Exenatide is an injectable GLP-1 receptor agonist (triggers receptors to take action) which can help delay gastric emptying and regulate blood sugar levels, making it easier for patients to eat less. The drug is manufactured by Amylin Pharmaceuticals LLC (NASDAQ:AMLN), which was acquired by AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN) in 2013.

4. Belviq (lorcaserin) – Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARNA)

Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARNA)’s Belviq is another treatment on our list of most popular diet pills that work fast without exercise that targets the brain in an effort to control appetite. Though the mechanism of how Belviq works in not fully understood, the drug works to control satiety through the targeting of hunger receptors. The prescription drug, which is taken either once- or twice-daily, was shown in one trial to be effective at keeping weight off for as much as two years. Overall, studies showed that the average weight loss on Belviq after one year of use was about 7 pounds, while about half of trial participants successfully lost at least 5% of their body weight.

3. Meratrim

We are continuing our list of most popular diet pills that work fast without exercise with Meratrim that gained a good amount of fame recently after it was featured on the Dr. Oz show. Meratrim is a combination of two herbs, Sphaeranthus indicus and Garcinia mangostana, which were shown in laboratory tests to have the capability to change the metabolism of fat cells. A study of Meratrim versus a placebo showed outstanding results after 8 weeks, with the Meratrim group losing nearly 8 pounds more than the placebo group on average. In total, those taking Meratrim lost over 11 pounds on average in just two months while consuming 2,000 Kcal daily and walking for 2 1/2 hours each week. It was also found that the treatment was well tolerated. However, it should be noted that the study was funded by InterHealth, which sells the patented Meratrim formulation.

2. Contrave (bupropion and naltrexone) – Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OREX)

Contrave’s two ingredients are both effective at decreasing appetite and/or food cravings, making the combination ideal for people who struggle with controlling their caloric intake. Three studies showed that Contrave helped reduce weight by as much as four-times more than without the drug, in combination with diet and exercise changes. Given that Contrave’s ingredients are also used in anti-depressants and smoking cessation aids, taking it could even help you overcome those issues, though it is not approved for the treatment of them. It should be noted that Contrave cannot be used in combination with a high-fat diet (Atkins, ketogenic), or taken with any high-fat meal, as the odds of having a seizure are greatly increased. Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OREX) bought the U.S rights to Contrave back from Japanese partner Takeda Pharmaceuticals in mid-2016.

1. Qsymia (phentermine and topiramate) – VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS)

VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS)’s Qsymia is a combination of two treatments, an anti-convulsant (topiramate) and an appetite suppressant (phentermine). The prescription medication, which is approved for the treatment of obesity, was highly successful in two large-scale clinical trials, with patients with a BMI of 30 or greater losing an impressive 24 pounds on average after one year. In a meta-analysis of studies that was published in the journal JAMA last year, Qsymia ranked as the most effective weight loss treatment for delivering weight losses of 5% of participants’ body weight, with 75% of study participants achieving that mark.

That wraps up the list of the 7 Most Popular Diet Pills That Work Fast Without Exercise. Have you used any of these or other weight loss products? What were the results? Let our readers know in the comments below.

Disclosure: None