(As Transcribed From Mini-Med Minutes Podcast)

 

Welcome back to Mini Med Minutes

 

And today… we’re just gonna talk

 

This was bound to happen.

 

Talking about weight loss is an eventuality.

 

It was bound to come up.

 

When we talk about nutrition, supplements, fitness or diet, weight loss is eventually going to come up.

 

And I’m going to give some perspective as a pharmacist because I have a lot of patients come up and ask me “what supplements can I use to help with weight loss?” or “does this (then show me a product) help me lose weight?”

 

And also in the perspective as someone who used to engage at a high level (asterisk) of fitness.

 

And the goal here is to debunk some myths, some misconceptions, whatever.

 

There’s a lot of subcategories when we talk about weight loss so don’t be surprised if there’s other more nuanced content that we come out with too.

 

And this episode is a little different, I’m just going to talk so I apologize if this sounds a bit less structured. It might actually sound like a rant, but I promise you that’s not the intent.

 

Supplements

 

So first, let’s get the main question out of the way.

 

Are there any over the counter supplements that you can take to help you lose weight?

 

Not really.

 

There is a ludicrous number of products out there for weight loss.

 

An unfathomable amount. Saying things like “this stuff helps you melt away fat”, or simply “supports weight loss.”

 

They’re allowed to say some of that stuff even if they have no proof because our FDA doesn’t directly regulate dietary supplements in the US.

 

None of these supplements will automatically help you lose weight in the way most people expect them to.

 

You’re not going to pop a pill, dive onto the couch and start cookin’. Maybe one day, but we’ll get to that.

 

Some of the supplements might, and emphasis on the might, provide you with more energy or focus to do the activities that are associated with losing weight.

 

So they do exactly what it’s suppose to do which is supplement what you already need to do to achieve your goals. 

 

And while we’re on the topic, there is no supplement that’s going to make you a 2.0 version of yourself. Supplements are only meant to get you to your best baseline. 

 

The FDA will remove the product if started otherwise. Like they can’t say that their product will CURE a disease or over exaggerate being able to enhance something. 

 

And think about it, even if there was something that you could take, orally that stimulates the muscles in your body, stimulates your cardiovascular system and basically emulating exercise… to what degree would it do that?

 

Would it make you fatigued, out of breath, sore?

 

Most people would probably not enjoy that even if that product existed. And it probably wouldn’t be over the counter either.

 

And then you think about effectiveness.

 

If jogging a mile only burned a couple hundred calories, how much would you expect to burn from this imaginary pill? Like, fifty, a hundred?

 

Like half a candy bar and you’re already back to where you started. It couldn’t be much.

 

Though I would be excited if a proper pharmaceutical drug like this were to come out that eliminates exercise as a whole, and did all those things I described above in a controlled settings.

 

But It doesn’t sound safe. 

 

Actually sounds highly abusable. 

 

But the practical application is intriguing. Because there’s a lot of people out there who are physically constrained and can’t do the most commonly recommended exercise routines, like running or compound weight lifting exercises because they’re… confined to a wheelchair or they have skeletal muscular abnormalities, or spinal limitations.

 

Very interesting thought and I’m almost certain this is probably in a laboratory somewhere already.

 

But anyway, back to the topic, It’s a lot easier to create a calorie deficit by reducing junk food by even the smallest margins vs. attempting to create a deficit by… taking a supplement that increases calorie expenditure.

Astronomically easier, as it’s a matter of will power and not effort.

 

And then going back to the supplements that might give you the resources you need to succeed in the activities associated with weight loss, that’s possible.

 

Things like creatine and magnesium might help you generate ATP for energy and reduce muscle soreness and recovery time.

 

But that’s ultimately you doing the effort to…exercise or… increase your daily movement to create a calorie deficit..

 

Calories In vs. Calories Out

 

And on that note on Energy Expenditure and Caloric deficit. Which basically means burning more energy than you consume. There’s a lot of talk on the internet about “In vs. Out.” or calories In vs. Calories out and whether it works and if it’s the proper way to describe weight loss.

 

Scientifically okay, weight loss is a matter of physics.

 

You cannot deny physics.

 

It’s the basis of our entire world.

 

Weight loss is not magically excluded.

 

Calories in vs calories out is the ONLY thing that works. 

 

And specifically what we’re talking about here is the law of thermodynamics or even conservation of mass?

 

What goes into your body has to come out of your body in either excrement or energy, to stay the same weight.

 

That’s undeniable.

 

For anyone who says something like “In vs. Out didn’t work for me.” It’s literally impossible it didn’t work.

 

Something went wrong, and it seems to go wrong a lot, and I can tell you from personal experience.

 

And a lot of it has to do with how efficient people are at estimating caloric intake.

 

Most people don’t know how much of something looks like.

 

What 6oz of salmon looks like

 

LIke how many servings of potato chips did I just eat?

 

Like what a tablespoon of peanut butter looks like.

 

In your head right now, you’re probably imagining a literal tablespoon. But when we’re talking about a measured amount? Think about a measuring cup. Or measuring spoon in this case. 

 

How many people could you imagine picture the measuring cup instead of the spoon? And then, how accurately?

 

Most people are going to overestimate that tablespoon of peanut butter no matter what. 

 

So, the main issue, I guarantee, is the inability to accurately identify calorie intake.

 

If you don’t believe me. 

 

There’s actually metabolic wards out there that will strictly give you exactly what you should eat that day, like systematically calculated with your estimated basal metabolic rate in mind.

 

You’re not allowed outside food, no one is allowed to bring you anything and everything you do and eat is considered as accurately as possible with just a small degree of variance.

 

And you will lose exactly what they want you to lose.

 

It’s a very extreme and invasive way to lose weight, but it will work, 100%. Like it actually cannot fail in the perspective of creating a weight imbalance.

 

Now if we’re talking about how you want to lose weight as in, what you… want to look like after. That’s another thing. A calorie deficit is not going to be enough.

 

Like think about it in reverse, if you wanted to increase 20 lbs you’re probably not just going to be putting in 20 extra pounds of junk food or an extra meal of absolute nonsense.

 

You’re going to want to eat certain foods, and have a way to convert it into muscle, which is what a lot of people are going to want.

 

And I’d also like to point out that a lot of people are deterred by a caloric deficit because it’s.. Uncomfortable for them.

 

And there’s really 2 ways I see that you can do it… and one way is definitely more comfortable than the other but I think that the most uncomfortable way to do it is what most people imagine.

 

Now, I know this is a podcast so bare with me. 

 

You want to lose weight.

 

Imagine a graph where you have 2 horizontal lines, left and right. The top line being where you are and the bottom line is where you want to be.

For an explanatory purposes only let’s imagine the top line is 4000 calories per day and your bottom goal weight requires roughly 3000 calories per day.

 

You could make small changes in your dietary intake, a 100 to 200 calorie deficit for a few weeks, then another 100-200 calorie deficit for a few weeks and so on and so on. Think of it as an almost linear line down to your goal size.

 

Very manageable, less intimidating. A 100 calorie deficit could be just skipping out on or cutting back a snack at a certain time of day.

 

In contrast, I think it’s what a lot of people think is the calorie deficit, an extreme dip in calorie intake to fast track to their goal weight and you could imagine that to be an exponential decrease in weight that eventually levels off to your goal weight.

 

A lot less manageable for most people, and I would imagine a lot of people are going to give up and quit, because it’s too uncomfortable. But it is effective.

 

Say you had to do it this way. Either your doctor told you losing weight sooner rather than later could drastically prevent illness or immediately relieve you of pain due to weight bearing stress on your joints OR you just have ridiculous mental fortitude.

 

Know that the calorie deficit is temporary to get you to your goal weight.

 

After you’re near your goal weight, you can start adding back calories into a diet to maintain your new weight. Throw in a donut here and there again. 

 

So the weight deficit isn’t forever which I think a lot of people misunderstand.

 

Like “I can’t eat like this forever.” Well it’s not forever, it’s just until you are where you want to be.

 

Wrapping Up

 

Now, that did sound like a rant.

 

Actual word vomit. 

 

Again not my intent.

 

I have a lot more to say about this topic in terms of obesity and effective exercises to lose weight but the episode is going to be way too long for the intended purposes of this channel so we’re going to end it here.

 

I don’t know if anything I said is controversial, it really isn’t to me but if you have your own thoughts, do reach out at PharmacistNutrition.com

 

And Again, thanks for tuning in and I’ll see you next time.

 

Images by YuliiaKa from FreePik