Weight Loss - Holiday Fat Gain

Hratch Karamanoukian, MD answers: Will diet pills or supplements help me lose weight?

I want to lose some weight (about 10-20 lbs) and I am wondering if any diet pills or supplements will help me.  The only ones I've heard of are Alli and Hydroxycut-- do those work?  Are there better weight loss pills out there?  I would like to use something that won't cause any gross side effects. Any suggestions would be appreciated.


Hratch Karamanoukian, MD
10 months ago

Research data shows that the average American gains 8 pounds during the holidays. The latest scientific data shows that in cardiovascular medicine, it is not necessarily body weight that is important to health but your cardiovascular fitness. That is to say, you will probably live longer if you target your HDL to be 100 or 80 or 70 as opposed to 40 or less.

So, weight is important to your look but not so important for your longevity. It has been shown that morbid obesity surgery reduces the risk of death from obesity with body mass index being an important stratificator of mortality, but try to lose weight with your focus being:

  • Improving your HDL
  • Lowering your LDL
  • Lowering your total cholesterol
  • Lowering your triglycerides
  • Normalizing your glucose level and HbA1c if you are a diabetic
  • Increasing your exercise capacity, etc.
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