This new pill makes you feel fuller and want to eat less - a game changer for losing weight
In the struggle to lose weight, when it comes to taking prescription medication there's a new option on the market for people who only need to lose a few pounds.
The pill can make you feel fuller, eat less and perhaps lose weight.
There's no shortage of drugs or supplements that promise to help you lose weight, however, there's an issue.
"The problem with supplements to help you lose weight, they come with too many catches. Same thing with a lot of the drugs. So they haven't been what I call "heart-healthy" enough," says Dr. Mark Moyad, with U-M Preventative Alternative Medicine. "So they can boost your metabolism, stimulate things, increase your blood pressure and your heart rate, but you may lose a few pounds but it's not heart-healthy."
However, Dr. Moyad is pretty excited about something called Plenity.
Introducing Plenity, the medication that could make you lose weight
In the struggle to lose weight, when it comes to taking prescription medication there's a new option on the market for people who only need to lose a few pounds. A new pill labeled Plenity may be the medication to bring those people relief.
"There's a newer one on the block called Plenity. It's basically a fiber supplement that expands in your stomach and it goes out naturally," he says.
In a study of 400 people taking Plenity before lunch and dinner for six months, the average weight loss was 12 pounds.
You do have to pay attention to your hunger cues.
"It forms a hydrogel, so when you take it before a meal and you take water, this hydrogel expands in your stomach so it takes up space. And then over time it moves along your intestines and goes out. So by taking up space in your intestines and stomach, you feel more full so you eat less," he said.
There's another drug option that takes a completely different approach to weight loss.
"Patients are using it around the world to help them lose an extra 5 or 10 lbs., and it's also heart-healthy."
Doctors aren't exactly sure why but the type 2 diabetes drug Metformin, which works on lowering blood sugar, seems to help people lose weight.
"I would ask your doctor, what's a generic pill that helps prevent type 2 diabetes that I could take at virtually no cost to help me lost a few pounds."
Those are a couple of options, but there are more when it comes to prescription medications to help you lose weight. You just want to talk to your doctor because you want to make sure you're doing the safe thing.
