My Ephedrine Experience

I think I have fallen for every diet scheme on the market - past and present. Each one promising things 'they' know we want......and we never successfully accomplish any real lifestyle changes, we only get more desperate to lose weight.

The things we won't do......

I've tried the Atkins Diet. The creator of this world changing fad, Robert C. Atkins, died of his own diet so to speak.  Doctors claim he died of an infection unrelated to diet.....called a heart attack. In case you require more proof (and good for you) - you can start here.
I remember (as a child) watching an aquaintance of our family open up a little box of what looked like chocolate toffees. I remember thinking they looked delicious (I was already fully indoctrinated into the love of candy).....

....and then I found out it was a diet cube of some sort and it was supposed to help a person lose weight. I still find it both humorous and sad that they called this little square diet wonder 'AYDS.'

I remember looking at the woman who was using them every day and thinking, '....but there's nothing wrong with her....why is she talking like this?' This may have been the start of my confusion about the idea of weight but I can't be certain.

I remember feeling amazed that women were so concerned about this whole weight issue thing. They all looked so great in my book. I guess over time we learn what we believe we are supposed to do...and be...and say...and even think.....

When we fall for try the latest diets, we run the risk of harming ourselves in more ways than one. Our bodies suffer, but the constant 'failures' depress a spirit and slows real progress. Our minds learn to hate ourselves and we lose that va-va-va-voom because we are always seeking out that thing that is wrong with us.

I've also tried the cabbage soup diet and learned to loathe cabbage in a very short time. The 'don't eat anything' diet works for a few days until one is so light headed that standing becomes an issue. I don't recommend it.

The 'all liquid' diet would be great if we liquefied the right ingredients, but an all liquid diet of soda or beer or air doesn't do much but saturate us with yeasts and sugars....and the overall functions of our bodies begin to fail us.

The 'good morning cigarette and soda combo' diet was a bust for me too. I would be food and nutrition free all day long, and as soon as the moon came out - I ate every carb in sight. It was like being a werewolf who survived on bread products. As we know, the consequences of this are not good.

The powders, the liquid supplements bought from the bottom shelf of the health food store/gym down the street.......all helped me lose a very small amount of weight, but never enough to really matter (to me and my super high expectations that could probably never be met anyway). The weight always came back and always brought a friendly pound or two to stay awhile.

The worst diet I have ever tried had to be the ephedrine diet. I was in a desperate place when this gem came into my world. The things we won't do.....

I was working with a great group of people - and we decided to have a weight loss contest. There were some of us who had more weight to lose than others, so instead of making the contest about pounds lost, we made it percentage of weight lost. I was determined to win - and I always saw myself as having the most weight on my frame.

I silently congratulated myself on a soon to be win because I was certain I had discovered the real method to losing weight.

I had discovered EPHEDRINE.

This sh** is scary stuff! I was young, stupid ignorant (without knowledge or experience) and willing to try anything to ensure success this time. I was also only 24 years old.

The sad irony is that while I was about to attempt this new and dangerous diet, I never thought of consequences. Why? Well, I already mentioned my youth....my ignorance...I hadn't heard of this diet pill, and I was never comfortable enough to talk to anyone abut my weight or how to get rid of it. Everyone always said, 'Eat less.' No one ever told me that it wasn't about eating less, it is about eating better - and combining the foods that work for you (not soda, chips, etc).

The world lost the line of where real food ends and garbage begins. We seem to have it backwards.

No one ever told me I was in need of adjusting the 'balance' of my life - that it wasn't only about the weight I carried, that it  was also about fighting my inner demons and working through the things I had been trying to avoid my whole life.

So, at the age of 24 I entered this weight loss contest - another definite sign to me that I was in need of some fat loss. I was really ready this time! I had ordered 2 bottles of ephedrine online and anxiously awaited the first day.

We weighed in and although I gratefully can't recall my weight at the time, I remember being 'happy' that the number was higher, because ephedrine promised me amazing results.

Ephedrine delivered as promised! The weight started falling off of me. To ensure I lost even more weight, I stopped eating. I never admitted to being the smartest cookie in the jar, but I seem to be the bravest.

Weeks later, with the weigh in coming up - I was certain I would take home the cash prize and accolades for weight lost. I felt thinner! The scale was saying so too.

One night, about a week before the final weigh in - I was sitting at home watching TV when my heart starting pounding in a way I had never felt. I hadn't done anything different that day - and the feeling was enough to concern me immediately. Was I having a heart attack? It wasn't a panic attack (although I sort of felt like panicking at that point) - it was an irregular heartbeat and fear became a very real thing to me in that moment.

The feeling passed within half of a minute, but I was worried enough by now that I needed to
know what it was. A doctor's appointment, and my not disclosing the ephedrine use rendered me no answers from the medical community.

The feeling in my chest would return when I was asleep, waking me up. I would sleep with my phone close by in case I needed to call someone for help and couldn't get up. The next issue was I started to have trouble sleeping and I always seemed to have a headache. Migraines started and things became a haze of illnesses. I was losing weight rapidly - so for me at the time, it was sadly worth it.

Remember: I was 24 years old.

I often felt like I was dizzy....vertigo followed and I always wanted to puke. Still, being beautiful and skinny was more important. How sad is that? Somewhere along the way I took in the wrong information about how to go about things - and how I looked at the world.

When you walk down a hallway and you feel so jittery that you actually think to yourself that you won't make it to the end of that hallway - it's time for change.

The funniest thing about the situation? I never connected the health related issues I started having with the ephedrine at first. There was nothing on the subject at the time - so research wasn't something I was doing either. I wanted fast, effective weight loss like the advertisements told me I would get. I got that - at what long term cost I probably won't ever know.

The final weigh in day came, and I lost. The ladies who had been working out, eating right and not taking diet pills won by a landslide. They were already fatless creatures who were gorgeous and smiling all of the time - and I wondered how they could have won. Then I remembered - it was percentage of weight lost, not pounds. I had lost 15 pounds - a miracle in my world - but the percentages were on their side.

So I didn't win the challenge and I went on to quit the ephedrine and recover completely. All of the shakes, heart irregularities, headaches, nausea and dizziness went away after awhile.

I learned a valuable lesson - don't be a dumba** and not do your homework on things that could seriously do harm.

I was at the point in my life when I still believed in the wonders of that chocolatey little box of 'AYDS' - and I wanted my own weight loss successes. The ironic thing? The woman who I had seen with this diet supplement so many years before never went on to lose any significant amount of weight either. She continued to fluctuate her entire life as well - so perhaps, for me, she wasn't the best example of how to successfully lose weight - and that's OK. My fault for taking that route and buying the myths for so long - we all choose - perhaps I just wanted to be like her. There's always that.

So I was actually grateful when I heard that ephedrine is illegal;

From CBC News: Health Canada confirmed it's against the law to sell ephedrine products without proper labelling and without drug identification numbers. And when Marketplace contacted Health Canada, they said they were investigating several different ephedrine products. 
                  
They refused to talk to us on camera about those investigations. Still, it leaves people wondering why we were able to find so many violations.                    Health Canada's response? They just don't have the manpower to police the problem.

These days, I always follow the money. If it is too good to be true, it just might be. Who benefits financially? Do your homework, find those with experience. I never fully trust those selling the latest and greatest diet fad - the science behind each one matters more than the fancy colorful ads of veiny body builders and bikini clad stick insects.

Know what you are getting into - and the potential consequences of each.

Health is far more important.....and we're already beautiful.

Ephedrine. Now you know.

Rock your day!

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