Lose Weight By Using Laxatives

Laxatives are medications that help you have bowel movements and relieve constipation. It is not unusual to feel lighter after taking laxatives and having a bowel movement. This leads many people to believe that laxatives may help them with losing weight. However, using laxatives for weight loss is neither safe nor effective. There are other safer ways to achieve a healthy body weight.

In this article, we’ll look at whether laxatives help with weight loss. We’ll also discuss the risks of using laxatives for weight loss.

Laxatives have been in use for over 2, 000 years. Overusing laxatives is common because these medications are available over the counter without a doctor’s prescription.

The Lowdown On Laxatives

Research suggests that laxative abuse is indeed common. Many people start taking laxatives to treat constipation and develop laxative dependency due to long-term use.

Some people, commonly young women with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia nervosa, abuse laxatives under the mistaken belief that taking laxatives will cause their bodies to absorb fewer calories.

However, doctors say laxatives are not a healthy or safe way to lose weight . In fact, laxative use is an ineffective weight loss strategy. Some people do experience a temporary reduction in weight, but this is due to water loss. It is not the same as losing body fat. In the long run, you do not lose weight on laxatives. Also, laxative use does not prevent further weight gain.

The Truth Behind Using Laxatives For Weight Loss

It’s true that laxatives can temporarily lower body weight and cause you to weigh a few pounds less. This is because laxatives such as stool softeners help your gut absorb more water from nearby body tissue into the gut. This helps to soften the stool and make it easier to pass. The additional water that leaves the body with the stool can cause you to weigh less after laxative use. But this effect is temporary, and the small amount of weight loss you notice is from losing water, not fat. Losing water weight does not help with long-term weight control.

It’s also worth knowing that laxatives do not lower calorie absorption. Stimulant laxatives stimulate the intestinal wall muscles of the small intestine and large intestine. This encourages the movement of stool through the digestive tract and helps to stimulate bowel movements. Many people think that the faster movement of food through the gut reduces calorie absorption, but in reality, it does not happen to any significant degree. Therefore, stimulant laxatives reduce body fat or lead to long-term weight loss.

Many laxatives work by drawing water into the intestinal tract and stool to soften it. These are called osmotic laxatives. They help to reduce straining and relieve constipation. However, if you abuse these laxatives when you are not constipated or are using them frequently, you can develop diarrhea or alternating diarrhea and constipation.

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Bulk-forming laxatives work by drawing water into the stool. However, these bulking agents work only if you drink adequate amounts of water. If there isn’t enough water, bulk-forming laxatives can lead to dry, hard stool and bowel obstruction. Other side effects of bulking agents may include bloating, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea .

Stool softeners draw water from the body into the gut to make the stool softer and easier to pass. Taking these laxatives too frequently can lead to dehydration. Symptoms of dehydration may include thirst, dry mouth, lightheadedness, weakness, headache , dark urine, and decreased urination. Prolonged dehydration from laxative abuse can lead to kidney damage and kidney failure.

Certain types of laxatives can lead to the absorption of high amounts of common electrolytes from the gut. Abusing these laxatives can lead to low levels of essential electrolytes like sodium, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. An imbalance of these electrolytes can cause a range of health conditions, including serious and potentially life-threatening issues like abnormal heart rhythm (heart palpitations).

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As mentioned above, certain laxatives work by stimulating the intestinal wall muscles. Misusing laxatives can lead to laxative dependency, meaning the gut becomes dependent on the laxative and does not move the food along the intestinal tract on its own. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to have a bowel movement without a laxative. A “lazy colon” can also lead to problems like infections, irritable bowel syndrome, and liver damage.

The only safe, sustainable, and healthy way to lose weight is to eat a healthy diet , regulate food intake with portion control , and exercise regularly (at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day). Taking laxatives for weight loss is neither safe nor effective. If you weigh less after taking laxatives, this is likely due to losing water weight. The effect is temporary, and laxatives will not help with long-term weight loss. On the contrary, laxative abuse can put you at risk of serious health complications.

If you are unable to lose weight despite eating a healthy diet , avoiding sugary drinks, and exercising regularly, talk to your doctor about other healthy ways to lose weight. Your doctor may prescribe weight loss medications if appropriate. Laxatives for weight loss are not safe, and they do not lower body weight in the long term.One consequence of this can be weight loss – and a study last year of 13, 000 people by Pediatrics found that dieters are increasingly turning to these small pills. The study found that 10.5pc of males aged 23 to 25 and 5.5pc of females within the same age group have used laxatives to try to lose weight.

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They may be misguided in doing so. Using laxatives for weight loss is like playing with fire, according to Nigel Denby, a dietitian specialising in treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome. And The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) agrees,  calling the overuse of laxatives for weight loss the “The Laxative Myth” – because, quite simply, it doesn’t work.

The reason? Laxatives act on the large intestine, long after most food and calories have already been absorbed by the small intestine.

“The ‘weight-loss’ caused by a laxative-induced bowel movement contains little actual food, fat or calories, explains the association. Instead, laxatives encourage the loss of water, minerals, electrolytes and indigestible fiber and wastes from the colon.”

Things You Need To Know About Using Laxatives For Weight Loss

“There are three main types of laxatives, ” dietitian Nigel Denby explains. “Some help to soften the stools and make them easier to pass. Others bulk the stool up by adding fibre, which again makes waste easier to pass out of the body.

Then there are also laxatives which help to stimulate the gut muscles to do their job to move waste along the large intestine and out of the body.”

In a word? No. “Using laxatives to obtain a flat stomach is crazy, ” says Nigel. “Of course, if you’ve been constipated, you’re definitely going to feel more comfortable once you’ve been to the loo.

Laxatives For Weight Loss: Are They Safe?

You might also find that opening your bowels relieves trapped wind and bloating but it won’t aid weight loss and routinely taking them is very dangerous.”

You may have read reports of people feeling ‘skinnier’ or having a flatter stomach after taking laxatives but this is purely down to a loss of water weight, which will immediately return once the body is rehydrated.

“Laxatives can lead to the body losing a lot of fluid, and with it, a lot of important electrolytes, ” says Nigel Denby. These electrolytes control systems and functions in the body - including vital organs and your heart beat.  “When your electrolytes are out of balance, you can feel very ill and in extreme cases, it can be fatal.”

Addressing Laxative Abuse

Because laxatives encourage a loss of water, users are at risk of dehydration. Severe dehydration can cause tremors, feelings of weakness, blurry vision, fainting and in extreme cases, untimely death.

“The body can become resistant to laxatives so if you’re overusing them, you’ll have to increase the dosage, ” says Nigel. This can lead to laxative dependency. This is when the colon stops reacting to usual doses so larger amount are needed to produce bowel movements. In turn, this can lead to long lasting health problems, even after laxatives stop being used.

“We all have occasional periods when we struggle to maintain our natural digestive rhythm– this might be when we are travelling, unwell and not so active or if we are feeling particularly stressed.

The Truth About Laxatives For Weight Loss

For these odd occasions it’s fine to take a laxative. For some people who don’t or can't eat a lot fibre, regular use of fibre supplement laxatives can be helpful. It’s really important to drink plenty of fluid when using these sorts of products, as the fibre needs the fluid to make it swell, allow air into the stools thus making them soft and easier to pass. Taking additional fibre without extra fluid can make you feel even more constipated.”

Healthy, sustainable weight loss takes time. Drastic measures such as crash and fad diets or overuse of laxatives are unsafe and often unsustainable. Visit your GP if you’re struggling to lose weight and read up on professional tips on weight loss.Laxatives are a type of medication that people use to relieve constipation. Sometimes, people without constipation take laxatives in the belief that these drugs will help them lose weight.

Using laxatives for weight loss is not safe or effective.

Is It Safe To Take Laxatives For Weight Loss?