To make this blog better, I’m packing up my junk and  migrating to slimfatbody.com. Please visit and follow my progress, my failures, my take on losing weight and feel free to flame me at will.
Thanks,

Slim

But she apparently has no problems taking chances with yours. “Biggest Loser” trainer and resident piece of ass, Jillian Michaels is currently being sued for her weight loss supplement’s ineffectiveness. A woman in California claims she took two pills with each meal as directed. And….gasp…didn’t notice any appetite control or weight loss. Is any one really surprised?

My experience with recently available appetite control supplements leads me to believe that they are nothing more than expensive piss. However, there used to be a few that worked. They all contained a drug called ephedrine or its natural counterpart, “Ma Huang.”

These were essentially low-grade speed, and actually did control your appetite. They also made you jittery and irritable — a small price to pay for results.  Used in moderation and by a healthy person, ephedrine actually worked. It made you less hungry. It also dialated your capillaries so when you worked out, more blood went to your muscles.

But a few years ago, “The Man” cracked down and took them off the market. It seem methamphetamine dealers were using the active ingredient to help make their dope.

So for today’s celebrity sell-outs wanting to make a buck by preying on the desperate and overweight–the legal, over the counter options they can slap their name on are pretty limited — and pretty worthless.

That doesn’t seem to stop Michaels from trying to turn a quick buck.
When you stop to consider the rumors surrounding the questionable methodologies used by the trainers on “The Biggest Loser,” I’d play it safe and steer clear of this product. Unless, of course, you just like to look at the overly airbrushed photo of Michaels on the box. But I digress.

There is one OTC option out that is scientifically proven to help you lose weight. But the side effects are potential social suicide. And the weight loss is pretty minimal. More on “Alli” in a future post.

I take a few supplements. Here I’ll discuss the good, the bad and the worse. From the favorites of yesteryear like ephedrine and st. john’s wort to the latest buzzworthiness in a bottle like NO2, we’ll be discussing them all.

It’s amazing what 10 years spent working in a cubicle and an abrupt end to your exercise regimen can do to your girlish figure.

Let this pic serve as a cautionary tale to others. The pic on my left is me at my most fit in 1999. The one on the right is two years ago at my heaviest. Today I am 30 lbs lighter and hope to be back at my drummin’ weight asap.

In 1999, I weighed in at a very trim 200 lbs (I’m a large framed guy). I had actually made it down to 180 in 1996 and built up another 20 lbs of muscle in two years. It just so happened that for various reasons, I began to suffer from anxiety and panic attacks.

After a few sleepless, miserable nights, I went to the doctor, who without delving too deep into the underlying causes or even mentioning psychotherapy sent me on my merry way with a Rx for a new antidepressant wonder drug – Paxil.

Thanks to modern pharmaceutical marketing (bribing of doctors with vacations, spiffs and other enticements), chances are that anyone who comes to a doctor complaining of mild depression or anxiety will probably be doled out a script for some SSRI, no questions asked. Likely because doctors have been lied to and told they are completely safe and non-addictive (most alternatives to SSRIs like benzodiazapines are addictive).

The only problem is, these drugs have side effects. In some cases, MAJOR side effects. In my case, I gained nearly 40 lbs in just one year (now that’s depressing). I also experienced withdrawal symptoms when I stopped taking it — a side effect that, at the time, wasn’t even acknowledged by the drug manufacturers or my doctor. They have been forced to acknowledge some of the nastier side effects in recent years.

So, if you’re depressed about being fat, I suggest you think twice before you turn an SSRI for relief. Try psychotherapy. Or even try getting into the gym on a regular basis. Exercise does amazing things to your mental state and has a side effect of helping you lose weight as well.

I’m not saying SSRIs don’t have their place, but for me, they were a horrible solution to a small, temporary problem.

Some fat Guy and Some Other Guy Pretending to Be That Fat Guy

I figure if I’m doing the whole weight loss thing, I probably need to post pics of just how friggin’ fat I am.

While I’m not thrilled about the idea, I hope that in a few months I can post a pic along side showing some progress. Coming as soon as I can get a minute to set up the camera. Get excited.

For every fat guy, there comes a day where you can’t deny it any longer, you are a fat ass. For me that day came when I went to my (then) favorite clothing store, (I won’t mention it by name but it’s two words. The first is a fruit and the second rhymes with “freepublic”).

I was checking out the season’s hot new looks and when I went to the back of the rack to grab a XXL, there were none. So I checked another color – again no dice.

Suspicions raised, I checked a few other shirts at random and the same story across the board. Then it hit me, “BANANA REPUBLIC HATES FAT PEOPLE!” (Whoops. I guess I gave it away.)

So I asked a clerk if they had any in the back. She politely told me that they only offered XXL online. So there it was: Banana Republic didn’t want fat guys like me wearing their clothes. Or at least they didn’t want me slumming around their retail locations.

That’s fine. I still had department stores. (More on that later.)

Okay, so I’ve been hitting the gym 2-3 (usually 2) times a week for the last 6 months. At first, I was eating low carb, and I was losing lbs – 30 lbs in two months to be exact.

For the last four months, I’ve been eating pretty sensibly, but have added carbs back into the diet. Most of those carbs have been relatively healthy complex carbohydrates, except that one diabolically delicious beverage – beer. Its yummy, frosty, grainy goodness has been my Achilles heel — and the most likely culprit for my stalling weight loss.

So today I take a solemn pledge. Beer…you have been kicked off the island. I’ll miss you. But my liver sure won’t. Back to low carb, whole foods and alcohol-free beverages. (Shedding a small tear)

I still need to give diet coke the boot too, but let’s take this one step at a time.

That said, it wasn’t until the tender age of 35 that my weight really became a serious health issue. And today, sporting an impressive 300 lbs,  I’m ready to do anything to rid myself of this disgusting extra appendage hanging between my chest and my waist.

Some call it a beer belly. My doctor calls it classic metabolic syndrome. I call it unacceptable.

This blog is an attempt to make myself accountable to more than just myself. So here I am. Ready to bare it all. And hopefully entertain and inform you guys along the way. Slim out.

A beer belly. Not mine.