Can You Lose Weight With Senna

[newport1989wales]

I'm 230lbs and need to lose weight . last year I lost over 60lbs on orlistant and going to the gym everyday , but I got a new job with really long hours so I'm unable to go to the gym and I've stopped taking orlistant . my friend suggested taking senna or a laxative after I eat .Have any one lost weight this way ?? please no insults I'm just after some good advise

[ummmm]

Don't do it. It's very unhealthy. It won't make a difference to your weight as laxatives are to help move the bowels. By the time the food is in your bowels it's already been digested.

[gingejbee]

Terrible, terrible idea. It will ruin your ability to go to the loo naturally.

[Canary42]

No. Taking laxatives is one of the first steps towards bulimia.

[ummmm]

Really Canary?

[LazyGun]

It really is a bad idea.

You have to cut calories in ,and find some time in your schedule for some exercise. There really are no shortcuts, at least not if you want to arrive at a stable long term solution.

[Old_Geezer]

No offense but if you ask then you are encouraging non serious answers. Surely it is clear that laxatives are for solving a blockage issue not a 'get light quick' scheme ? Are you sure your "friend" wasn't having a laugh ?

Your solution is to learn to get satisfied eating less, but having food you failed to resist eating passing through you. Any attempt not to learn to eat sensibly will result in any "achievement" you make going into reverse the moment you stop trying to lose weight.

[Old_Geezer]

not having food ...

as I typed >:-(

[backtalk]

Laxatives are supposed to be as bad for you as causing yourself to vomit is. If you can't go to the gym, consider yoga. You will find that there are many yoga poses that you can do from the comfort of your own home.

[EvianBaby]

I've only ever taken a laxative once, for it's intended purpose. I got the required result but I can't say it was pleasant. I can't imagine why you'd chose to take them on a daily basis. It's definitely easier to just cut out eating crap.

[woofgang]

some friend, to suggest something that is both ineffective and bad for your health

[lilacben]

This subject is very close to home for me. My eldest daughter has always been a very fussy eater that grow into her not wanting to look fat.! she is now 40 but still dioesnt eat an awful lot and only 5ft 2in. is a mother of three.. after her last child she was suffering from depression and took laxatives all the time. she did see doctors ect and said she wasnt taking them anymore. But I know she was and still does. Now she has to take them because she cannot go to the toilet on her own without them. So please do not go that way.!!

[Canary42]

Sorry ummmm, I should have been more explicit. I meant taking laxatives as a means of losing weight, not per se.

[TopKat]

Taking a laxative to lose weight is a BAD idea - don't do it! You will deprive your body of vital nutrients and make yourself ill. Unfortunately, you won't lose weight "eating less and doing more" - as you will have found, this advice doesn't work either. I know because I've tried and a lot of my friends have and either you don't lose, or you quickly regain when you can't cope with starving any longer. You may blame yourself, I know I did, but you shouldn't. It's not your fault and you can lose weight and keep it off, but not by starving yourself or exercising madly or taking laxatives. Instead, you should change what you eat. Reduce the carbohydrates - that's the sugar, bread, pasta, potatoes, rice etc - to the smallest amount and instead eat protein (fish, meat, eggs, cheese etc) lots of healthy green veg and natural fats (like olive oil). It may sound hard to begin with because your body will crave the carbohydrates that are making and keeping you overweight, but once you start seeing those pound disappear, you'll have all the encouragement you need. You also won't be hungry all the time or feel weak and sick. I did this several years ago and lost 50 lb which I've kept off by keeping my carbohydrate intake low. Other friends have also shared this experience. Hope this helps and the best of luck.

[LazyGun]

@TK

If you reduce calorific intake and exercise more you will lose weight. This has been proven with study after study after study.
If it fails, it is mostly because people have not stuck closely to the plan.

The zero/low carbohydrate diet - thats the one that Paltrow is currently touting, isn't it? You sound like you enthusiastically endorse it, and appear to have had a good experience with it - but it is not one that is endorsed by the medical or nutritional community, mostly because it is faddy, and centred on a concept of weight and weight loss not well supported by evidence.

[EvianBaby]

TopKat, I've lost half a stone in just over a week just by reducing my calories and improving the quality of the ones I do eat. Of course I don't expect to lose that much every week but it clearly does work.

[pastafreak]

@LazyGun...a low carbohydrate diet is not faddy,and yes-there are both doctors and scientists who will support it as a healthy way of eating...not a diet per se. It has become quite popular in Sweden and Norway,and more Drs' are now recommending it to their diabetic patients.
This way of eating has been encouraged as healthy for almost 200 years (Google 'Banting")...it's also what our parents and grandparents would have done in the past to lose weight.
How can it be 'faddy' to eat wholesome,real food-as opposed to pre-packaged junk.
As for 'calories in/calories out'...not all calories are equal...carbs are not processed by the body in the same way as fats-nor are proteins.
And -think about this.....what are animals fed to fatten them up?
Hint-it's neither fat not protein.

[Old_Geezer]

They'd be fattened up on whatever's cheapest.

In fairness to target one food group for avoidance has to be suspect. We didn't evolve to avoid a particular group, regardless of how wholesome the rest is.

Anyway, how can a pasta freak be down on carbs :-)

[pastafreak]

I should change my name....I hardly ever eat pasta any more....

;-0

[LazyGun]

@Pasta . I meant faddy as in it requires more effort to follow it than just in reducing calories. rather than as in a passing fad. Perhaps fussy might have been a better word.

Sorry, but all calories are equal. The manner in which the body processes foodstuffs to arrive at the calories might differ though.

The majority and I believe consensus view on weight loss and food groups is that carbohydrates should form a staple part of your diet, but it should be in the right proportion.

It seems uncontroversial to prefer wholesome real food over pre-packaged junk, as you put it - I would agree - but how does that exclude carbohydrates?

And as for animal feed - to the best of my knowledge, most animal foods have a protein and carbohydrate and fat and mineral composition.

Eat less,mostly plants. Exercise more. Eat a balanced diet, ensure plenty of fruit and veg. This is the best advice for a healthy, sustainable weight loss and control programme.

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/loseweight/Pages/how-to-diet.aspx