Are diet pills a good idea?

Maybe your beach vacation is coming up faster than you planned. You shudder as you think about what you look like in your bikini.

Your best friend is getting married, and you want to look great standing next to her. There hasn’t been a time where the two of you look equally good in pictures, but maybe this is the day!

As everyone else pounds a beer and takes their shirt off for a day of fun in the sun, you’re the guy sulking around with his shirt on. “I’m sensitive to the sun,” you say.

Many people are unhappy with their weight. Often, people turn to diet pills to change their outward appearance. These pills are pricey and don’t have any real guarantee. Most aren’t even regulated by the FDA. Why do people continue to consume these pills?

Rest assured, you won’t find real weight loss with these pills. Now, you may discover that you have dropped a few pounds, but it’s likely water weight that will come right back once you stop taking the pills. Maybe your weight loss occurs because these magical little capsules have totally flushed out your system. Congratulations! You spent three consecutive days on the toilet while simultaneously losing your ability to keep any food inside your body. I hope you plan to live off water and crackers for the rest of your life. Many diet pills suppress your appetite. I, for one, actually enjoy eating. I’m not too fond of a pill that takes away one of life’s greatest pleasures.

Reality is that diet pills are an easy fix for weight loss. Didn’t your parents ever teach you that anything worth having in life is worth working for? The best way to lose weight and keep it off is to simply exercise and eat right. Diet pills wreak havoc on your body. If I’m going to destroy my body, it’s at least going to take place in the form of delicious pizza or pasta. Or pizza topped with pasta. Sugary margaritas wouldn’t be a bad choice either. The point is, people take diet pills hoping for some miraculous weight loss that simply won’t sustain itself. Our bodies are pretty stubborn, so changing the mechanics takes some good old-fashioned hard work and effort.

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Crave Crap?

Do you dream of cheesy pizza, candy or fried anything? Did you skip your workout? If so, that explains the urge to eat the not so healthy foods. When you crave “comfort foods," aka fatty and carbohydrate filled, its a result of a lack of positive influence on mood, energy and stamina you get from exercise.

I know that this summer when I was injured I had to scale back my workouts but I kept my same nutritional routine so I could maintain the muscle I had built. I spent years working and sweating my a$$ off and I wasn't about to give it all up easily. I steered clear of anything fatty and greasy and stuck to my usual meals.
When you regularly exercise your metabolism increases. Yay! Since you’re burning more calories, you end up consuming more in order to maintain enough energy. Don't eat the same calorie-filled meals when you’re out of the gym for two weeks, your body won’t be burning the extra calories and you could potentially put on weight! No Bueno!

Is Your Gym Worth The Price?

I often wonder about all the fitness clubs popping up around me. Of course I go and check them out. The worst fitness facility of all time is....drum roll please...Planet Fitness. It's seriously the worst! I'm not talking about the equipment, the cleanliness, or the staff. I'm referring to the amount of junk food Planet Fitness feeds its members.

I have worked out at Planet Fitness gym a handful of times so I'm speaking the truth when I write about the suck factor.

Let's start at the beginning of the week. Monday. Who doesn't think of pizza when you think about the gym? PF has Pizza Monday on the first Monday night of each month.
There are literally stacks of greasy pizza boxes as soon as you walk in the door and as a member one gets an endless buffet of free pizza. That seems like a bad marketing ploy to lure new people to the gym to me. 

It  gets better, on the first Tuesday morning, it’s bagels. Ummmm what? Not exactly fitness friendly food at the GYM! You might actually gain the wrong kind of weight at PF. 

To make matters worse, when you walk in there is jar full of tootsie rolls.

I can't just bash on PF without telling you some of the things I do like about the joint:

1. It's $10 a month

2. This "gym" is a “judgement-free zone,” so they appeal to the “novice” gym-goer.

3. It offers a friendly environment for newbies to learn the ropes of exercise without being judged by others who are in better shape.

Ok, that's it. I honestly tried to think of 4 reasons why I support the gym but I could only come up with 3. That's how weird the place is. I do think PF has a good idea but I do think it’s just being horribly executed. Leaving a jar full of tootsie rolls on the front counter and giving members an endless buffet of free pizza once a month is nothing more than a sleazy marketing ploy used to lure new people to the gym so that PF makes more money. What gym encourages their members to eat junk food? Basically, Planet Fitness is letting their unhealthy clients know that eating junk food is fine IF you are working out. Sounds dangerous to me to be sending that message. It’s obvious that they’re more concerned with profit than actually helping over-weight people get in shape.