Diet supplements are a multi-billion dollar industry, but taking a daily appetite suppressant could derail your weight loss efforts. The basic premise behind taking a diet pill is to kill a ferocious appetite. Our brains are trained to think more calories in, weight gain follows. So it would make sense to take an appetite suppressant to keep those hunger gremlins in check.

But here's the skinny on how your body responds. You take a diet pill, which kills your appetite and you eat less food. Eating less calories jump starts the weight loss process, but only temporarily. When you start eating fewer calories, your body compensates by slowing down your metabolism so that it saves what energy, in the form of food, it takes in. It is kind of like a computer that goes into sleep mode to save on energy.

You have unwittingly conditioned your body to slow your metabolism, and it has adapted to survive on fewer calories. Since it doesn't know if or when it is going to get any food, the body will hold on to every morsel of food as future fuel, storing it as fat rather than burning it to provide immediate energy.

If you stop taking the diet pills, your appetite will return and you will most likely gain more weight than what you lost initially because it no longer needs as much to run efficiently. It is a vicious cycle. Another problem faced are the negative side effects that many of these diet pills have. You may experience jitteriness, nervousness, insomnia, rapid heart rate or increased blood pressure. What are these pills doing to your body? These reactions are your body's defense system to remain in homeostasis, or balanced. The side effects are not comfortable, not normal, and certainly not safe.

The diet industry isn't going to tell you this. They want you to believe that you don't have a chance at winning the battle of the bulge without an appetite suppressant. The bottom line is their bottom line. They have a business to run and profits to make, and it is a lucrative one! Save your money and your disappointment and dump the diet pills. Your body will thank you.

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Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and the articles I write are intended to increase your knowledge about the subject. It’s always a good idea to check with your personal doctor before adding supplements into your daily diet.