The Problem with Using Stimulant Laxatives to Lose Weight

The problem with using stimulant laxatives to lose weight is two-fold. One, stimulant laxatives work less and less effectively the more often they are used. Eventually the nerves that line the lower digestive tract just do not respond to herbal stimulation — or the sphincter muscles will stay open while the propulsive muscles rest. This is an extremely unpleasant side effect, as you can imagine.

Two, stimulant laxatives change electrolyte balance. Chronic users of these laxatives will lose potassium but retain sodium. What happens when the body retains sodium? The tissues accumulate water weight. Chronic use of stimulant laxatives will cause water weight gain that can exceed fecal weight loss. Laxatives just are not useful in long-term weight control.

That does not mean it is impossible to use regularity as part of a program for maintaining healthy weight. It is just necessary to avoid stimulant laxatives. Here is a more useful approach:

1. Getting your weight loss program started with a stimulant laxative you use for no more than two weeks is OK. Just don't expect the laxative to work if you haven't been using probiotics or eating probiotic yogurt (with live cultures) for a week or two before you start the laxative. "Cleaning out" the colon takes pressure off the lining of the gut and reduces the production of insulin. You will be less hungry when you are less constipated — just don't stop with this step.

2. Staying regular primarily depends on fluid consumption. It is absolutely beneficial to drink at least 5 glasses of water every day. (Research found that 5 is the "magic number," not 8. This does depend on the size of the glass, of course.) Drink before you feel thirsty, and don't dehydrate yourself so you will weigh less.

3. An osmotic laxative adds water to stool so it is easier to evacuate. The best osmotic laxative is Milk of Magnesia, which also provides the body with needed magnesium. Take Milk of Magnesia with water when you are able to stay at home for 12 to 18 hours so you can make extra trips to the bathroom, urgently, if needed. Don't use any osmotic laxative more than once a week.

4. Fiber also helps regularity, but not if you have not established the probiotic bacteria that eat the fiber for their food, and not if you take large amounts of fiber supplements. It is better to get your fiber from vegetables and fruit, real food, rather than fiber supplements. It is also important to build up your consumption of fiber slowly so it does not lodge in your lower digestive tract, causing the very weight gain you are trying to avoid.

5. Bran usually is not good source of fiber. Wheat bran can cause heartburn, and oat bran may lower cholesterol, but it will also enlarge fat cells. If you have to have bran, try to get rye bran. Rye crisps are an excellent source of rye bran and they are not as expensive as supplements.

The most important factor in any weight loss program, however, is always eating less. Changes in colon health may make a difference of four to ten pounds, up to twenty pounds in people who were extremely constipated, but fat loss always follows calorie reduction.