Over fifty percent of America’s population now shares the task of trying to lose weight. Sadly, way too many of them want to achieve weight loss by taking shortcuts rather than actually changing their lifestyles and eating habits. Using laxatives to lose weight is one of the most common quick-fix methods. Using laxatives will not, cannot, help your efforts to lose weight.
The food a person consumes is completely unaffected by laxatives. What laxatives do is stimulate the bowel, which just puts you in some physical pain and gives the sensation of needing a restroom. Matter is often expelled under force because of these cramps. But most of what is expelled is water, not fat. It may seem as though you have lost two or three pounds, but it’s because of dehydration; as soon as you stop taking laxatives and your body rehydrates, the weight comes back.
Abuse of laxatives can bring about serious health difficulties. It can become impossible for a person to have a regular bowel movement without the aid of a laxative. Moreover, repeated forceful bowel movements and subsequent wiping can lead to tears in the rectum; by nature, tears or trauma in the rectal area is prone to infection. A person can become severely weak and dehydrated, which will inhibit their ability to function.
Many have claimed that laxatives not only speed up weight loss, but help people keep the weight off. Either they are lying, or they don’t know the facts. The cold hard truth is that using laxatives to lose weight quickly is really just another eating disorder that is very similar to bulimia. The main difference is that people who suffer from bulimia use purgatives in order to regurgitate their food, and any food that stays in their system is forced out by a laxative action; using laxatives, on the other hand, does not involve regurgitation and is a lot less violent.
Using a laxative for a prolonged time also can cause nausea and induce vomiting; your whole system will be unbalanced. Unfortunately, about the only way to get a person to kick his or her addiction to laxatives is by medical intervention.
Forget any falsehood you’ve heard about using laxatives to lose weight; it doesn’t work and the results could be profound. These people are perpetuating a myth that can actually harm the health of anyone who subscribes to the idea that abusing laxatives, or any other medication, is a good idea for reaching a goal.
Chris writes about subjects like using laxatives to lose weight and how to take laxatives to lose weight on his blog.




