Reading the fine print...

I think I must be the world's worst consumer. I hate reading the "fine print", especially when buying something online. You know those "user agreements" that pop up before you buy something? Who wants to waste their time reading those... it's just easier to click the "accept" button and move on to the adrenaline rush of actually purchasing something! And truthfully, they are usually so hard to understand with all the legal jargon that even if I did read it, I will admit to not really understanding it.

Well, this practice came back to bite me a few weeks ago. I had been hearing all about a great new weight loss product on one of the local radio stations. I'm sure that most of you have heard about it. Everyone who has ever taken it has lost tons of weight without even doing anything... the fat just "melts" off. I admit I was taken in by it. The rational side of me said that I should be careful... afterall these are really paid spokesmen that are trying to sell this product. But I argued with myself that there were other "listeners" who were calling in, singing the praises of the product, so it couldn't be all bad. I finally broke down and bought the stupid stuff one day, excited by all the thought of all these unwanted pounds I would soon be losing.

The product arrived, and I started taking it the next morning. The directions are pretty simple... take 2 in the morning; drink nothing but water (1-2 glasses) for 2-3 hours, then eat breakfast as you normally would. For best results, drink 8-10 more glasses of water throughout the day, and eat lunch and dinner as normal as well. I resolved to get up around 4:30 to take it, exercise for about an hour, then get on with getting ready for the day. I admit to being a bit nervous about taking the stuff  - my doctor had given me a prescription appetite suppressant several months ago, and that stuff made me so jumpy that I couldn't take it after the second day, and I didn't want to go through that again. Thankfully, I felt really good the first day I took it. I was also pretty proud of myself for sticking to my plan, and getting up and actually exercising that day, too.  I followed my routine for the whole week, then weighed again to check my results - 2 pounds lost in the first week. Not too bad, so onto the second week. I weighed in again after the second week... this time I had only lost one more pound. Hmmm... this wasn't the 10 pounds in 2 weeks that everyone had joyfully gushed about on the radio, but oh well, at least I had lost some, so I decided to keep it up. For the next 2 weeks, I yo-yo'ed around 4-4 1/2 pounds lost. I would weigh in almost daily, and obsess over every tenth of a pound gained or lost. I was really getting discouraged, and almost called the radio station to ask them why it wasn't working!

Well, during this same time frame I started to notice some things with my body that just weren't quite right. Some of these same things manifested themselves about 5 years ago when I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, so I decided to make an appointment to go see the doctor. I had the lab work done on the Thursday before Labor Day, and they rushed the results for me so that we could get them back before the holiday. They called on Friday to tell me that my thyroid levels were really messed up, and they were increasing my prescription by 50mcg's. That's a lot! I was really stunned. So, I grabbed my meds at the pharmacy that afternoon, and started taking them the next morning. I wondered about continuing to take the "miracle weight loss pills", but just really didn't feel that good about it, so I stopped taking them. It has taken me a couple of weeks, but I am finally starting to feel like my thyroid levels are getting back to normal... YAY!

I started doing some research, and guess what I found on the product website? There in the fine print was the following, "Not intended for use by persons under 18 years of age. Consult a physician before using this product if you have any medical condition including, but not limited to, strokes, high blood pressure, heart, liver, kidney or thyroid disease, diabetes, anemia, depression, anxiety, other psychiatric conditions, a family history of these or other medical conditions, or if taking any prescription, OTC and/or other herbal medications." 

I'm not sure if these pills just aggravated a problem that was about to rear it's head, or if they are the cause of the problem. I do know that I feel pretty dumb for falling for the gimmick, and the old saying is true... "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is".  I am happy to report, though, that even though I stopped taking the pills,  I still continue to get up early and work out (almost every morning!). I have lost more weight in the past 2 weeks than I did the 3 1/2 - 4 weeks that I took the stuff. So, I guess I have learned a lesson the hard way... if I want to be healthy and trim, I am going to have to do it the old fashion way... eat less and exercise more.

And, I guess that I had better start reading the fine print a little more closely, too!