Those who want to lose weight do not stop at nothing. They are ready to starve, diet, and exhaust themselves with training. Most often, all these measures give only a temporary result. For example, impaired metabolism suffers from severe diets. Then obese people rush to the other extreme - they start taking diet pills. The famous "Metformin" was invented for the treatment of diabetes. This is a serious drug with many side effects. Is the use of "Metformin" for weight loss justified?
Causes of diabetes
Due to improper nutrition, the balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates is disturbed. It does not matter if you overeat or starve - both of these conditions are harmful to your health. Proteins are necessary as a building material for all the cells of our body. Fats support the hormonal system (estrogen production is impossible without a sufficient amount of healthy fats in the diet). And carbohydrates are a source of energy. They are slow (buckwheat, whole grain flour, oatmeal, pasta) and fast (sugar, cookies, sweets, cakes, puff pastry).
Due to a violation of carbohydrate metabolism, the course of diabetes is complicated in patients. This disease is of the first (for patients characterized by a lack of body weight) and the second (patients are obese) types. Diabetes mellitus is a serious incurable disease. After diagnosing diabetes, the patient should once and for all change his lifestyle, review his diet and take special medications. Metformin has eased the existence of many people. They were able to eat normally and feel tolerably well. But is it advisable to take "Metformin" for weight loss?
How and when metformin was invented
In 1922, chemical scientists Werner and Bell discovered the substance metformin. Initially, in laboratory studies, its properties were noted that contribute to the processes of fat burning. Due to many side effects, the study of the substance has been postponed.
Already in 1950, pharmacist Eusebio Garcia continued to study metformin and noted its ability to reduce temperature and lower blood sugar in experimental animals. Metformin began to be actively used as an antibacterial and antiviral agent.
And only in 1957, the French scientist Jean Stern began treating patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with metformin. The results exceeded all his expectations! Since then, the new substance has officially become the name of the drug Metformin. WHO puts him on the list of essential medicines.
Basic principles of action of fat burning drugs
The fashion for a lean body has outgrown all reasonable boundaries. Hundreds of thousands of girls and women in our country alone are ready to take pills with any consequences, if only to achieve the cherished numbers on the weight display. There are several classes of pharmacological drugs that can directly affect fat burning:
- Anorectics (antidepressants and antipsychotics, as well as narcotic drugs of the amphetamine series). They are able to completely kill the feeling of hunger due to the action on some parts of the brain. Very toxic drugs that are highly addictive.
- Hormonal drugs - Thyroxin, Denitrophenol, Eutiroks. They accelerate metabolism to such an extent that the body begins to take energy from its own fat depots without any diets. The use of such drugs without indications is a direct path to a killed metabolism and subsequently gaining even more excess weight than the original one.
- Carbohydrate and fat blockers are tablets taken at the same time as food. Prevent the absorption of nutrients from food. Fat blockers - "Orsoten", "Xenical" - do not allow fatty foods to be absorbed.
Carbohydrate blockers, to which Metformin belongs, interfere with the absorption of carbohydrates. That is, you can eat a piece of cake or a kilogram of chocolates, then drink one small pill, and the calories simply will not be absorbed! This means that a person will stop getting fat and begin to lose weight without exhausting himself with sports and strict diets.
In recent years, the popularity of Metformin for weight loss has increased. Alas, everything is not so simple: eating everything and losing kilograms will not work.
Dosage and administration
You can never combine taking "Metformin" with fast carbohydrates. This is a blow to the gastrointestinal tract and guaranteed upset stomach. Persistent diarrhea is still a flower. There are more serious consequences of illiterate taking these pills. Instructions, reviews about Metformin and weight loss with its help are similar in one: you can not take uncontrollably large doses of this medicine.
If the patient does not have diabetes, the sugar level is normal, and he begins to take pills uncontrollably, a healthy metabolism and insulin dependence may be impaired. With their own hands, following the lead of their laziness and weak willpower, losing weight people spoil their health with pharmacy drugs. A big role in this is played by online reviews. "Metformin" for weight loss is recognized as a magic pill, so rarely anyone thinks about the consequences.
Dosage should be monitored by an endocrinologist. First try the minimum dose - 200 mg with each meal. If there are no side effects and the sugar level begins to return to normal, the dosage increases to 500 mg with one meal.
An overdose for men weighing more than 100 kg occurs with the use of 5000 mg per day. For women weighing 80 kg, a dose of 4000 mg per day is toxic.
The use of "Metformin" for weight loss: reviews
It is thanks to online advisers that the over-the-counter use of this medicine has so widespread. Once, a girl on a famous site boasted that she had lost 12 kilograms per month thanks to Metformin. And attached photos with a slender figure. Everyone immediately believed her and rushed to the pharmacy to buy anti-diabetic medicine.
Yes, "Metformin" for weight loss is really effective. But only if a person is ill with type 2 diabetes, which is why his obesity is caused. Many people gain extra weight due to spikes in sugar (pre-diabetes state). "Metformin" can also help them for weight loss. Instructions for use advise you to start taking it at the lowest dose, listening to your body.
Contraindications to taking carbohydrate blockers
If the patient has at least one of the following ailments, then taking Metformin is prohibited:
- Chronic liver diseases - cirrhosis at any stage, fatty hepatosis, hepatitis of various etiologies.
- Pyelonephritis and glomerulonephritis (it is undesirable to overload the kidneys with these diagnoses).
- Ketoacidosis condition caused by diabetes.
- Chronic alcoholism (it is forbidden to combine Metformin and alcohol drinks).
- Digestive disorders.
Reviews about "Metformin" for weight loss rarely provide data on taking the drug against a background of chronic diseases. In no case should you risk your health for a couple of lost kilograms.
Side effects of Metformin
The most common nuisance this medicine can cause is diarrhea. By adjusting the diet, you can establish the work of the gastrointestinal tract and continue taking pills.
The brain does not receive the usual portions of glucose in the course of carbohydrate blockers. Because of this, it is possible to slow down the reaction (relevant for those who are driving), headaches, and deterioration in cognitive functions. It will be more difficult to remember information, work with large amounts of data.
Against the background of a decrease in insulin resistance from Metformin, weakness, asthenic state, dizziness, and depression are possible. Are you still determined to try Metformin for weight loss? The instruction does not recommend self-administration of dosages without consulting a doctor. For the minimum manifestation of side effects, you need to start with the smallest dose and monitor the change in your condition.
Why do many girls prefer to drink pills for diabetics
There is no smoke without fire. "Metformin" (reviews for weight loss, instructions for use confirm this) is really effective for fat burning. To avoid metabolic problems, you need to constantly monitor your blood sugar. There should be no sharp jumps in indicators. Otherwise, you can disrupt the metabolism and become a patient of the endocrinologist for many years, gaining even more weight than it was originally.
How to take "Metformin" for weight loss? Start with minimal doses, monitor nutrition, consult a doctor. Do not think that magic pills will allow you to eat everything, and at the same time you will lose weight.
Reviews about "Metformin" for weight loss are diverse: he helped some to "finish off" the last two or three kilograms, someone gradually lost three or four kilos a month. But many people complain of adverse reactions, the most common of which is stool disorder.
If we compare carbohydrate blockers with other diet pills (the same anti-depressants as SSRIs, Reduxine, Goldline, Thai products and the like), then Metformin is relatively safe and cannot cause irreparable damage to the body.
How are obesity and diabetes related?
Type 2 diabetics are often overweight. This disease is characterized by visceral obesity: folds in the abdomen, the replacement of healthy tissue between organs with fat.
If the patient, despite all efforts and diets, cannot remove a significant fat layer in the waist area, then perhaps he has problems with insulin dependence. In this case, taking Metformin will not only not harm, but will also significantly help a losing weight person.
Metformin Diet
It is necessary to adhere to certain nutritional rules in order to avoid diarrhea at the beginning of taking Metformin. For weight loss, you need to start taking 300 mg per day (these are just three tablets, you need to take them one at a time, combining this with breakfast, lunch and dinner).
- Completely exclude fast carbohydrates from the diet - sweets, muffins, fatty sweet creams, white yeast bread. The combination of these products with Metformin will inevitably lead to diarrhea, since the gastrointestinal tract is not yet used to the action of carbohydrate blockers.
- The basis of the diet should be protein foods. Cottage cheese, kefir, fermented baked milk - include this in your daily menu. From meat, give preference to low-fat varieties of beef, turkey poultry, chicken fillet, rabbit meat.
- Minimize the use of fried foods - give preference to stewing and steaming.
- Boiled chicken eggs eat no more than two per day.
Preparations with a similar principle of action
The "Metformin" for weight loss has many analogues. Only the cost, the amount of active substance are different, the manufacturer.
The Glucophage analogue is very popular - a French drug to block the absorption of carbohydrates. "Siofor" has similar properties, but at a cost more expensive. "Metfogamma" is a German-made medicine that also contains vitamins. All of these drugs have one thing in common - they all have metformin is the main active ingredient.