How To Lose Weight: The Best & Most Effective Diet Pills

Over-the-counter diet pills that claim to be the best and most effective compete for your attention --- and your pocketbook. However, of the numerous pills you can buy, only those approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are guaranteed to give you tangible results. According to the Weight Control Information Network, these drugs contain ingredients that suppress your appetite or reduce the amount of dietary fat you absorb. However, even FDA-approved medications come with unpleasant side effects. If you want to lose weight and save money, avoid diet pills that won't work --- and those that are dangerous.

Step 1

Determine if the pills are drugs or dietary supplements. There's a world of difference between the two. There are only a handful of weight loss drugs approved by the FDA, and almost all of them require a doctor's prescription. The only over-the-counter pill approved by the FDA for weight loss is orlistat, which goes by the trade name of Alli. This diet aid reduces the amount of dietary fat your body absorbs. Any other diet pill that piques your interest is classified by the FDA as a dietary supplement --- if you take these, you have no assurance that the supplement is either safe or effective.

Step 2

Sort through marketing claims. Disregard the impossible --- or the improbable. The makers of dietary supplements that purportedly help you burn fat cannot, by law, claim that the supplement prevents, treats or cures a disease --- including obesity. Steer clear of nonprescription weight loss pills that claim you'll lose a pound a day or more without the need to diet or exercise, advises the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC. Avoid diet pill manufacturers that use "miraculous breakthrough," "ancient remedy" and "scientific breakthrough" to market the product. And avoid diet pills that use hard-to-understand jargon such as "thermogenetic" to describe how the supplement works.

Step 3

Don't buy into a known scam. In August 2010, the FTC announced that it planned to take legal action against an acai berry weight loss supplement marketer for making fraudulent claims. Six years before that, the FTC took action against makers and sellers of transdermal "diet patches" --- also for making misleading weight loss claims. It might not be possible to spot the scam right off the bat, but if a diet pill marketer offers you a "30-day money-back guarantee," this is a big tip-off. So are advertisements that urge you, "Buy now --- this offer won't last."

Step 4

Read the ingredients label. Herbal weight loss supplements can contain a variety of ingredients, and some of them may be hazardous to your health. There's a question as to the safety of supplements that contain bitter orange, country mallow and ephedrine, and the FDA has banned use of the latter two, according to the Mayo Clinic. Other weight loss supplement ingredients such as chromium, chitosan and green tea may be safe to use, but neither is there conclusive evidence that these are effective against weight gain.

Step 5

Let your doctor help. If you're severely overweight, your treating physician may prescribe an FDA-approved prescription weight loss medication. However, an article published in the Cleveland Clinic's "Be Well Magazine" in 2008 points out that these are usually reserved for people who are extremely obese and who have a body mass index of more than 30. The best medicine for weight loss may not be found in a diet pill; eating a healthy diet --- with fewer calories --- and getting regular physical activity are essential to every weight loss plan.