No magic pill for weight loss

Staying thin should be as simple as eating right and exercising regularly. However, as we all know, keeping extra pounds off is not so easy. Whether you are overweight due to bad hand-me-down DNA, a time-consuming job that doesn't allow you the luxury of working out, or simply because you can't stand the thought of life without fudge, your battle of the bulge might be won in the future.

Doctors have been looking for a miracle weight-loss pill for decades, the quest picked up serious steam about 10 years ago, when a scientist discovered leptin, a hormone that controls the body's storage of fat. Combine that with more recent knowledge on how metabolism works and how fat cells get their nutrients, and it's no longer a matter of if a fat-fighting pill can be developed, but simply a matter of when it will be ready for the public.

The key to any weight loss pill that might come down the pike is its incorporation with a healthy diet and exercise. Eating less and working out more might help those who are overweight avoid the need for a pill in the first place.

Rimonabant is a drug under development in Paris that has a potentially wicked one-two punch. Unlike most weight-loss drugs under development (which tend to target either the brain or the gut), rimonabant performs its magic in both areas, helping to eliminate hunger and promote feelings of fullness at the same time. In its most recent trials, researchers found that overweight men and women who took rimonabant for a year dropped nearly 20 pounds. If clinical trials prove successful, this drug could be available in two years.

Another new drug, Axokine, also tries to fool the body this time into thinking that all the fat cells within the body are full and don't need any additional nutrients. Axokine does not work for everyone; 15 percent of individuals who took the medication for at least a year responded particularly well, losing an average of 34 pounds. These results lead researchers to believe that people with certain genes might be more receptive to the drug. The downside is that it will probably be 10 years before this drug is on the market.

People looking to fight the battle of the bulge have looked beyond drugs to help and have turned to drastic measures like gastric bypass surgery. The procedure has gained in popularity -- more than 100,000 obese people underwent gastric bypass last year -- it still carries serious risk of heart attack, respiratory failure and even death.

An alternative soon may arrive in the form of a gastric pacer. Designed by an Italian doctor in the 1990s, the pacer is a battery-powered device the size of a cigarette lighter that's surgically implanted under the skin of the abdomen. The pacer regularly sends a pulse to the stomach through two wires, giving people the sense that they are full sooner than usual. A 200-patient trial of the pacer is underway. FDA approval hinges on these results.

It was not that long ago, that thousands who needed to lose weight readily took PhenFen; shortly after, it was taken off the market as some users developed heart valve problems. Keep in mind that there is no magic pill in the foreseeable future, so for now you still need to rely on good old-fashioned willpower and motivation.