The term Diet Pills has been used in the generic form to describe any form of dietary supplement (in pill form) that will aid in helping one lose weight.

Although all of hte different types of diet pills are grouped together under this one umbrella word, there are many many different types of diet pills and it is important to know which one is best for your needs.

Probably the most important thing you will do is to consult with your primary care doctor before using any diet pill or embarking on a diet and exercise regimen. Even if you consider yourself "healthy".

Once you have been cleared by your doctor to begin taking a specific diet pill or any diet pills in general, you must know this....there are no miracles out there. There is no diet pill on the market today that will enable you to continue to eat exactly as you always have and not do any additional exercise (above your normal daily activities), and lose weight. Unfortunately this just does not exist. Once you wrap your head around this and you are serious about changing your lifestyle, then you are ready to decide which diet pill will be best for you. As stated previously, not all diet pills are created equally. There are a few major "types" of diet pills and depending on your individual needs some may be better than others and you may even want to use more than 1 type at a time.

The first 2 catagories will be Prescription Diet Pills and Over The Counter (non prescription) diet pills.

Prescription diet pills will require that you are seen by a doctor and based on meeting various requirements they will write you a prescription just likeany other one that would be filled at a local pharmacy. Popular types of prescription diet pills are Phentermine or Adipex. Phentermine is the most well known of the prescription diet pills as it was half of the Fen-Phen diet pills that gained national attention after being taken off the market in 2004 after 50,000 product liability lawsuits that ran as high as $14 billion dollars in suits. Although this combination was taken off the market, you can still get Phentermine by itself. Phentermine falls under tha appetite suppressant category. What this means is that this drug works to increase the release for certain chemicals in the brain that regulates your hunger. This is a good product if you are the type of person who has a habit of snacking throughout the day or late at night. While taking phentermine diet pills, you will not have that urge to go have another snack before bedtime....you will simply not be hungry. It is important to know that the chemical makeup of phentermine is similar to amphetamines, and as such has the potential to create psychological dependence (addiction). Due to that, many doctors will be reluctant to prescribe this.

Another popular prescription diet pill that has gained renewed popularity is Orlistat, which is marketed under the brand name Xenical. The popularity for this drug is not really due to the prescription version (Xenical), but rather due to an over the counter version of this product marketed under the name Alli. The difference between Alli and Xenical is the dosage....Xenical is prescribed at 120mg 3 times per day and ALLI is prescribed at 60mg 3times per day. Although this is also a prescription diet pill, this falls into a totally different as this will not suppress appetite. The pharmacology behind Orlistat prevents the body from absorbing a % of fat that is ingested as part of ones meals. Orlistat prevents the body from breaking down the fats in the food that you eat and is passed through the body without absorption, thus lowering fat and calorie intake. The most pronounced side effects of this diet pill results from the fact that if it goes into the body and is not absorbed it needs to come out and it will come out in the form of oily or loose stools. Not the most comfortable side effect. However, if you are lowering your fat intake at the same time as taking these pills, as you should be anyway, you can minimize this side effect and it will naturally decrease with time. Although prescription diet pills are a good fit for certain people, the majority of people looking for a diet pill are not going to qualify for or get a doctor to prescribe one for them. For those people, an over the counter diet pill will be the best bet for them. When looking at over the counter diet pills, just like the prescription diet pills, there are multiple categories of products.

Like the above phentermine diet pills, you can get an over the counter appetite suppressant. There are a multitude of different ingredients that have suppressant properties. Some of the most recent to gain popularity are:

Hoodia Gardonii- which is a cactus like plant, that is found in the Southern Africa. This plant was used by the San Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert who would chew on the stem of the plant in order to stave off hunger on long hunting trips. There are a lot of new diet pills that have popped up over the past few years that use hoodia as the active ingredient.

Bitter Orange-is also a popular appetite suppressant that can be commonly found in many over the counter diet pills.
Kola Nut Extract-Kola nuts are used mainly for their stimulant qualities.
Different from appetite suppressants are diet pills that have Thermogenic properties, which act within the body to increase heart rate, constrict blood vessels (resulting in increased blood pressure), expanding bronchial tubes, and increasing body heat. This increased body heat is believed to aid the body to naturally burn more fat than under normal conditions.

Ephedra- also know as MA HUANG- has made news within the last few years due to US Government banning the substance in 2004 due to what they deemed adverse effects including death in a number of people. After numerous legal challenges, Ephedra remains illegal in the United States. Green Tea Extract- this is another ingredient commonly found in diet pills that has thermogenic properties.

Diuretics:
Yerba Mate-has been used as a stimulant, an antidepressant, and as a "water pill" (a diuretic to increase urination). The idea behind yerba mate is to increase urination and therefore prevent the body from retaining water and thus looking less bloated. Although this is not an ingredient that wold be beneficial by iteself in a diet pill, pairing it with an appetite suppressant may be beneficial.

The most important thing to keep in mind once you have chosen the type and brand of diet pills you are going to use, is that there is no such thing as a miracle weight loss pill. If you are not ready to change your lifestyle; including how much you eat, when you eat and what you eat and start an exercise program that will include a good mix of cardiovascular as well as weight lifting exercises, you will not get the desired effects that you are
looking for.