Researchers are working on an exercise pill, but will it be the best way to lose weight?

ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) â€" Researchers are working on an exercise pill.

Jennifer Matus struggled to lose weight for years and two years ago she decided to make a change.

“It was someone I was casually dating who said I need to be with someone who lives a healthy lifestyle and I don’t believe you’re that person,” she recalled. “It was hurtful.”

Matus then started getting more active and changing her diet. She documented her weight loss journey to her thousands of social media followers under the username “Losing the Jiggle with Jen.”

“I think I bring a sense of humor to it, because this stuff sucks. I’m not even gonna try to lie to you, working out is hard and when you are super heavy it’s difficult,” said Matus.

After two years and countless hours in the gym, she’s down 70 pounds.

But, what if instead of all that hard work there was an easier way?

“This pill has come under discussion at big scientific meetings, and there are advocates of the pill,” said Dr. Michael Joyner, a research physiologist at the Mayo Clinic. “Then there are people like me who are skeptics of the pill.”

The pill is currently in the trial stage, under development by a team of researchers in California. It works by essentially simulating exercise in the body by targeting a generic pathway typically triggered by exercise. The pill causes the body to target fat instead of carbohydrates or sugar as an energy source.

The result? Getting a few key benefits of exercise, including fat burning and endurance, without ever leaving the couch.

Although it sounds like a miracle drug for those who don’t want to exercise, researchers aren’t developing the pill for that express purpose.

“It may be important to people who can't exercise, like people with a spinal cord injury of something like that, but for the vast majority of people it's going to be very hard to make a pill that does them all,” said Dr. Joyner.

Turns out, diet and exercise is still the best way to lose weight and stay healthy. It’s a slow and steady approach to a better body and better physical health, a philosophy that continues to work for Matus.

“I look in the mirror and i do not even recognize myself in the best way possible. this is who I feel I have always been meant to be. I just needed the accountability and the help to get there and I feel more like myself and more confident than i have ever been in my life,” she said.

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