Using laxatives to lose weight?

Question

I have a friend that swears by taking laxatives to lose weight. She says it helped her to lose alot. Another friend is considering doing this. Does anyone have experience with this? I know it can't be good for your body. I just wanted to find out from everyone what are the pros and cons of this. Any input would be appreciated. I don't want my friend to harm herself. Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Laxatives cause chronic irritation of colon; these can lead to cancer.

Answer 2

Will laxatives make the number on the scale go down?  Yes.  Will laxatives help you lose fat?  NOOOOOOO.  Your friend is stupid.  Both of them, the one who swears by this and the one considering it.  Laxatives help your body get rid of waste in the form of poo.  There is no fat loss associated and there are health risks to those who become addicted to using laxative.  In fact, over using laxatives can cause the muscles in your r****m to seize up, causing them to no longer function and contract the way they were designed.  Tell your friend to leave the laxatives for when she's constipated.  Stick to exercise and healthy eating for fat and weight loss.

Answer 3

Tell her to stop it! It is so unhealthy, it will slow her metabolism and hurt her digestive track severely.

Many anorexics have used laxatives to lose weight, and it has lead to kidney and blatter infections.

Answer 4

This approach is similar to a mirror of bulimia.  With bulimia you eat as much as you want (often excessively) and gag yourself to induce vomiting so you will not retain the calories. With overuse of laxatives you are trying to push the food through your system real fast, hoping that it won't be absorbed enroute. Both have bad and differing side effects. The better choice is just to decrease the amount of food that you put in your mouth, and excercise more.

Answer 5

Well, the only weight that is lost is water weight.

I know because I tried it.

It works for while you use them, but once you stop the weight comes back.

If you use them for a long period of time, then you can severely damage your system, even impairing your colon's function to the point that you cannot eliminate without laxatives.

It is a bad way to lose weight that I am grateful I stopped before it was too late.

Answer 6

i wouldnt do it there is alot of healthier ways to loose wait using laxative is pretty much like blumia except your not throw up everythingy out eat this can be really bad for your body it can cause organ damage and even death sometimes your doing alot more harm to your body than good i say if u want to loose weight loss it the healthy way or just dont do it

Answer 7

Don't use laxatives. They're bad for you.

Even on the news, there were some people that died from taking too much.

It doesn't give your body a chance to absorb all the nutrients it needs from the food you eat because it's just taking it right out to the toilet.

Answer 8

"In answer to your question about laxatives...they do not help you to lose weight. Trust me! THey make you feel very sick, cause horrible stomach aches, and if you abuse them it can lead to very serious health problems. Eat lots of grain, fruits, and vegetables and keep exercising. Don't resort to things that could have life long health risks. It's not worth it just to look like Nicole Richie. As my mother once told me, "she is so skinny, she looks like an alien!" Who wants to look like an alien???! Trust me, I have done tried it all and at the end of the day, none of it has worked and it has only caused me to feel worse. At least exercise releases endorphins and puts you in a good mood!"

Okay, I had a really long reply typed but here's what I was going to say in a nutshell. I'm only 23 years old, and I have been dealing with this problem for 10 years already. And, don't do it, seriously, please read this and seriously consider the truth, and hopefully you will realize that it doesn't help you at all in the long run. Okay, yes taking laxatives or I should say abusing them will actually help you lose weight. But, the ways that they do it are as follows:

*You realize hey I weigh less today!

*Then, you convience yourself that you don't want to eat because you don't want to gain the weight back.

*You find yourself drinking less.

* You get nauseated when you attempt to eat.

* And, you constantly have diarhea, you can't control when where or who is in the public restroom at work/school when you have it.

"Look, it's not pretty, but it gets worse. If you still think it's worth it, listen to the rest. Picture yourself thinner, and then picture yourself smiling, and when you look at that smile, picture missing, broken and thin brittle teeth. Pretty huh? True though, because laxatives can remove the calcium from your body, (Because it won't let your body asborb the calcium), and it causes this to happen!!!!! Hardly no one seems to realize that this is a horrible side effect. Your teeth can practically crumble. And your bones...easily broken. Also, you can end up in the hospital for any of many many reasons, where they will pump you full of potassium (oh, and that reallllllly hurts!! It causes your arms to swell, and every vein they put the iv in with that c**p, collapsed). And, they will give you fluids. And, you can get Jaundice (where your skin turns yellow), from your liver enzymes being high because of organs failing, and end up with a not so pretty scar on your stomach for a while, or forever. depending on how fast your body will heal itself. And, think about your colon, no seriously think about it for a second, think about the alternatives to keeping it healthy. Okay, so those are the physical problems. Okay, the other side of the beautiful picture, is that you can picture yourself thin and popular all you want, but if you take this route...you'll probably be thin, and hanging out by yourself. Because, it tends to make you feel worse about yourself, go figure....and inferior for some reason. So, you walk around either shy and sad, or bitter and angry.So, as you can imagine, you'll be confused as will the people who love you. You'll end up pushing people away....so. I've tried to sum it up for ya, but it's not a short list. I hope that you realize that this is a baddddddd decision, and not one easily kicked, unless you can afford the treatment, I'd advise you to treat yourself to a fun night out. Because, unless you are already clinically depressed, why cause yourself to be by messing with your body and mind??? Consult your doctor, because some ppl have different reasons that diets fail, such as thyroid, hormones (my sister has this one, and they gave her medicine, and she's dropping pounds!!) all different types of causes. Don't hurt yourself! Heal yourself. But, I've told you everything that I can right now, trust me, it's embarrassing, and stupid. But who cares right, I mean to be young thin and beautiful, that's having it all right? I mean your organs can fail, your teeth can fall out, and your hair can look crappy and skin look horrible. You decide, but I hope you realize what decision you are making if you choose to try it."

The above are from the web....and another one was hospitalized.

Answer 9

You don't want to S**t yourself thin. That is bad for you.

Answer 10

There are more tips and info.

How to lose weight naturally has been in debate for years.

Some say low carb. Some say high carb. Some say it's how much food. Some say it's how much exercise. But none of these covers the whole picture.

How to lose weight naturally is not rocket science. It just takes accepting the facts of these seven natural laws of weight loss, plus good old-fashioned stick-to-itiveness.

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1. Make a commitment to whatever it takes.

2. Start from a foundation of happiness.

3. Design your own healthy diet plan.

4. Manage your emotions.

5. Find a way to exercise daily.

6. Keep a Journal.

7. Be persistent.

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Answer 11

yes, it helps you loose weight but MAKE SURE you don't take it too much (as in every day) this can permanently ruin your bowls, stomach and whatnot... but if you take it correctly it does work...

...but it's also addicting.

Answer 12

dont do it too much. eventually you'll start making the lining in your intestines thinner and thinner and you CAN die. so it would be a good on off kinda diet

Answer 13

Laxatives basically prevent the absorption of water so although you are likely to notice a flatter stomach after wardss, it is mainly due to water loss - you are not losing 'fat weight'. If you focus on the apparent 'weight loss' the after-effect may still be desirable but intense stomach cramps, dehydration, irritable bowel, bad skin etc etc is far from attractive - wouldn't you agree? I am an ex-laxative abuser now suffering with IBS, I never took lots of pills bregularlyse reguarly as a 'quick fix'. A long-term solution which will see the pounds drop off is to eat plenty of fibre, drink smoothies, eat fruit especially apples and oranges - the after-effect is less severe than laxatives of course but the results are more long-term. I hope this helps.

Answer 14

its a part of disordered eating and it DOESNT work. laxitives work in the intestines which come after the stomach which is where everything is absorbed from food.