1. A specific number of pounds in a specific number of days
This is the most reliable signal there is. Weight loss varies enormously between individuals based on starting weight, adherence, metabolic factors and a dozen things nobody can predict. Any product confident enough to name a figure and a deadline is making a claim it cannot substantiate.
The Federal Trade Commission has published guidance to media outlets identifying claims of exactly this shape as ones that are never plausible for over-the-counter products. When you see the number, you are done evaluating.
2. 'Proprietary blend' on the label
A proprietary blend discloses the combined weight of a group of ingredients without saying how much of each is in there. Ingredients appear in descending order by weight and that is all you learn.
The practical effect is that the ingredient in the advertising can be present in trace amounts while cheap bulk filler makes up the rest. There is no benefit to you in this structure. It exists so you cannot check the dose against the research.
3. Before-and-after photos
Lighting, posture, tan, hydration, clothing fit and the time of day account for a startling amount of the difference in a typical before-and-after pair. Even when the transformation is real, it is one person's outcome presented as a typical one.
Look for the disclaimer. It is usually there, in grey, at four points, saying results are not typical. That sentence is the honest part of the advertisement.
4. A countdown timer
Refresh the page. If the timer resets, the scarcity is fabricated, and a company willing to fabricate scarcity is telling you how it thinks about you.
Real limited availability exists. It does not usually need a JavaScript countdown to communicate itself.
5. Auto-shipping you did not clearly agree to
Check whether the default option at checkout is a recurring subscription, and how prominently that is disclosed. A pre-ticked subscription box with the disclosure in small grey type below the fold is a deliberate design.
Negative-option billing is regulated, and there are real requirements around clear disclosure and simple cancellation. Plenty of operators comply with the letter and not the spirit.
6. You have to phone someone to cancel
If signing up takes thirty seconds online and cancelling requires a phone call during business hours in one time zone, that asymmetry is the product strategy.
We score this directly in our reviews because it predicts a lot about how a company will treat you when something goes wrong.
7. 'Clinically proven' without a citation
The phrase has no fixed legal meaning attached to it. Ask what study, in whom, how many people, for how long, compared to what, and published where.
A company with real evidence will link to it, because it is the best asset they have. A company that will not link to it does not have it.
8. The study was funded by the company and never replicated
Industry funding does not automatically invalidate research, but a single manufacturer-funded trial with no independent replication is weak ground for a purchase decision.
Check whether anyone unconnected to the company has reproduced the finding. Usually nobody has tried.
9. Testimonials without disclosure
Under the FTC's endorsement rules, a material connection between an endorser and a brand has to be disclosed clearly. Paid testimonials presented as spontaneous customer enthusiasm are a compliance problem and a character reference.
The same applies to the affiliate site reviewing the product. Including this one — which is why our disclosure sits at the top of every review rather than in the footer.
10. A brand-new mechanism nobody else has noticed
Ceramides, a newly discovered hormone, an ancient ingredient rediscovered, a metabolic switch. If a genuinely novel mechanism for fat loss had been identified, it would not be debuting in a sponsored video with a checkout link.
Real discoveries move through publication, replication and regulatory review before they reach retail. They do not arrive as a marketing angle.
11. It works without diet or exercise
There is a narrow set of prescription medications with genuine evidence for meaningful weight loss, and even those were studied alongside lifestyle intervention and carry real side effects and medical supervision requirements.
Anything sold over the counter promising results with no behavioural change is promising something that has never been demonstrated.