Diet pills, whether prescription or over-the-counter, are similar to amphetamines. Amphetamines are drugs that affect the central nervous system, increase energy and decrease appetite. According to Wayne Andersen, M.D., a nutritional interventionist, the side effects of diet pills "range from bothersome to quite dangerous." Diet pills are known to increase heart rate and blood pressure. The best way to drop a few pounds in one week is to reduce your calorie intake, exercise and eliminate high calorie foods, snacks and drinks.
Step 1
Set your daily calorie goal. The American Academy of Family Physicians suggests creating a deficit of 500 calories in your daily diet. To set your calorie goal, go to the Mayo Clinic's Calorie Calculator (see Resources). Fill out the form by typing in your age, height and weight. Choose your gender and activity level. A calorie calculator will tell you how many calories you need to take in each day to maintain your current weight, also known as your basal metabolic rate, or BSM. By subtracting 500 calories from your diet each day, you can drop one pound in seven days. Depending on your BSM, you could lose as much as two pounds in one week.
Step 2
Exercise every day. The National Institutes of Health explains that in place of eating fewer calories, you can burn calories to achieve the same amount of weight loss. CalorieLab has a form you can fill out to determine how many calories you will burn while doing specific exercises based on your weight. Type in your weight and choose an exercise. For a person who weighs 185 pounds, riding a stationary bike for one hour could burn over 500 calories.
Step 3
Keep a food journal. Write down everything you eat. According to an article published by "Reader's Digest," when you record everything you consume, it helps you eat less. You should also record how many calories you're consuming. You can get calorie information on thousands of different foods, condiments and drinks at USDA's National Nutrient Database (see Resources).
Step 4
Eliminate high calorie beverages and condiments. You may be surprised by how many calories you can cut by eliminating soda, ketchup, mayonnaise, alcohol and other high-calorie foods from your diet. One can of soda can have 100 calories. If you drink two sodas a day, and cut them from your diet for one week, you will reduce your calorie intake by 1,400 calories. One can of beer is about 153 calories, 3 tablespoons of ketchup is 65 calories, and 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise is 103 calories.
Step 5
Sleep for at least seven hours each night. In a 2006 study from Case Western University in Ohio, researchers found that sleep participants who got a poor night's sleep--five or fewer hours--were significantly more at risk for becoming obese compared to those who got seven or more hours sleep. Arn Eliasson, M.D., explained at the 2009 American Thoracic Society conference that less sleep may disrupt hormonal balance and could trigger you to eat more. Getting a full night's sleep during the week you're trying to knock off a few pounds is also reliable insurance against late-night binge eating, and drinking high-calorie snacks and beverages.
Tips and Warnings
- If you're the type of person who eats when you're stressed or bored, Dr. Anderson, author of "Habits of Health," says that weight loss pills may not work for you since you're not eating to satiate hunger.
- While athletes in certain sports regularly lose a half dozen or so pounds in just a few hours, doing this without the right kind of supervision or proper training can have dangerous consequences.
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