While exercising is a time-tested way to lose weight, sometimes you might desire an alternative method to lose the weight without having to spend months working out. There are several ways available, but before you decide to try any method to lose the weight, please consult with a doctor who should make sure that what you are doing is healthy for your situation.
Diet
Because eating can cause you to regain any weight you might have lost, the most important weight loss method is diet. In order to lose weight from dieting, you need to reduce your total calories for the day. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows a sedentary male age 19 to 30 uses between 2,400 daily calories; a female equivalent uses 2,000 calories. So if you are a 20-year-old sedentary male, you need to consume less than 2,400 calories a day to lose weight. An easy way to do this is to change the types of food you eat to lower-calorie alternatives -- a lot of sugary candy contains more calories and is less filling than fibrous vegetables.
Stimulants
You can take legal stimulants to lose weight. While many notorious drugs are considered stimulants like MDMA, nicotine, amphetamines and cocaine, the everyday, perfectly legal caffeine found in coffee is also in this group. Caffeine and other stimulants help you lose weight by speeding up your heart rate and metabolism, thus making you use more calories. Yohimbine is another legal stimulant you can take. Make sure your doctor checks your heart and it is in good shape before trying stimulants.
Supplements
Other pills to try don't increase your heart rate or make you sweat. Fish oil, promoted for many health benefits, can help you lose weight. A 2010 study published in the "Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition" showed results with fat after administering only 4 g of fish oily daily for six weeks. The people in the study had no other changes in diet or exercise. Another nonstimulant supplement is conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, which is a fatty acid normally found in dairy and meat. A 2007 study in "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" found that CLA will produce some fat loss in people at a dose of 3.2 g per day.
Surgery
If all the other methods have failed or your doctor says they are too dangerous for your situation, surgery is an option. A minimal surgery method introduced in 2001 called the LAP-BAND has become widely used. The LAP-BAND is an FDA-approved device resembling a rope or band that goes around your stomach restricting how much food you can eat. Liposuction is a faster method to lose weight, but it is more invasive and has longer recovery times. Liposuction physically removes the fat during the surgery and can be used for stomach, thigh and chin fat.
References
- LAP-BAND: How It Works
- British Journal of Sports Medicine: Central Nervous System Stimulants and Sport Practice
- MedlinePlus: Liposuction
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Where to Start
- The International Society of Sports Nutrition: Effects of Supplemental Fish Oil
- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: Conjugated Linoleic Acid for Reducing Fat Mass
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