With our fast pace economic growth, more and more people are putting on weight. This is not surprising given that our diets consist of more processed food that contain more fat and sugar and we are getting little or no regular exercise. Jobs that used to require physical movement are replaced with those that require only buttons to be pushed while watching television, playing video games and surfing the Internet are becoming our main past times.

Fortunately, this is balanced by people being more aware of their health. As a result, people are constantly looking out for quick and easy ways to lose weight. Marketers saw this as a great opportunity to launch weight loss products that promised a quick fix. One of such products is the weight loss patch. Sometimes they are also known as the diet patch.

Weight Loss Patch

You can say that the weight loss patch is a dream come true for people who are looking to lose weight or to go on a diet. Imagine all you need to do is to put on such a patch and you will be able to make your fats melt away.

Advertisers claimed that by using weight loss patches, you will experience lessened hunger pangs and other symptoms generally associated with weight reduction and this will help to jump-start your metabolism, dramatically increasing your body's ability to burn fat.

Sounds interesting, isn't it. But do these patches really work? And are they safe?

Do They Work?

Firstly, what is inside these weight loss patches? Looking at the main ingredients, you will find that they are not exactly anything special.

Some ingredients, like chromium and guarana have subtle effects and will not lead to much weight loss without accompanying changes to diet and lifestyle. Other ingredients like hydroxycitric acid and bladderwrack do not have much going for them in the way of proven results.

So, are weight loss patches worth experimenting with? To answer that question, let us examine what the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), the watch dog agency that ensures that false advertising is kept at bay, has done. Recently, the FTC launched a campaign to help consumers spot claims that almost always signal a diet rip-off.

Weighing the evidence in diet ads, the FTC warns consumers to steer clear of diet pills, patches, creams, or other products that offer quick weight loss without diet or exercise. Products that claim to block the absorption of fat, calories, or carbohydrates; or that promise that consumers can eat all they want of high-calorie foods and still lose weight are being targeted. Some advertisers had to pay claims as they were unable to provide scientifically supported evidence to support their claims.

So what is the bottom line?

The bottom line is that the only thing that is going to lose weight when you buy those magic patches is your wallet. You need to know that weight loss experts all agree on one thing- if you consume fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight and if you consume more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. It is that simple.

We all wish for a magic pill that will make losing weight a simple and painless task. However, until the arrival of such a miracle pill, a sensible, well-balanced diet coupled with a reasonable exercise program is, always has been and always will be the surest and safest way to lose weight permanently.