Hello...

This may be lengthy, so I apologize in advance for the tedious details. I will try to be as brief as possible.

I am in the Army (National Guard) and have been deemed by regulations that I am "overfat". I am very strong...I constantly exceed the standards in the Army Physical Fitness Test (244 out of 300 last time)...but none of that matters.

I am also on depoprovera in order to control excruciating cramps. I know that this can cause some weight gain due to the hormone. I won't go off of it though because I am unable to function for about a week out of the month if I'm not on it. I literally want to die, it hurts so much.

So, in order to reduce my waist and hip circumferences, I am considering taking Alli (or Xenical...my doctor will write a prescription for it if I want to try it).

I have read the information about the side-effects of Alli. My question is this: Does Alli work *because* of the side-effects? It seems to me that if you're petrified of having uncontrolled, unexpected bowel movements that that alone would force you (in fear of that happening) to eat a low-fat diet. Is that how it works?

Another thing I don't understand (and I'm probably just stupid...seriously, I'll admit that if that's what the problem is) is if you already are eating a low-fat diet as you should, how would the product work? I thought it was supposed to block absorption of fat from the food that you eat. If you eat very little fat as it is, it seems like it wouldn't really help you lose that much since you're not taking in much fat anyway.

I don't get it...I really want to understand because I need help with this dropping bodyfat. I started eating salads for lunch (healthy ones -- spinach instead of lettuce with tomotoes, cucumbers, and a light dressing) and lost about 20 pounds on it and then stopped losing at that point. After I stopped seeing progress, I got sick of eating that all the time and started eating a little more variety (a little lean turkey meat, etc.) and gained a little back.

For now, I'm going to start drinking a lot more water and cut out caffiene altogether. (I only drink tea and water as it is, but will cut out the tea...)

If someone could explain the answers to my questions above, I'd really appreciate it. I'm sorry if they are stupid questions...I have read a couple of websites with information about Ally and those questions keep bugging me.

Thanks for any help on this...I really want to believe it will help. Thanks also for reading all of this, if you've made it that far.

BTW, I'm 5'1", 168# and very muscular...16" neck. I just have abdominal fat. My gluts are big because I used to bicycle all the time while I was in college and they got pretty muscular. I need to reduce both -- waist and hips -- in order to past the (flawed, inaccurate) bodyfat "tape" test the Army has adopted recently.

Looks like this is the answer to my question:
You must eat fat with alli!

So yeah...it works by making people fearful of consequences of eating too much fat. Or -- allows people to not watch their fat intake carefully because most of it won't be absorbed.

Great.

Looks like I'll just stick to the salads and skip this stuff.

Hi there, I have been reading up about this as I wondered the same as you. I believe that although it does work (Im sure)by making us far more aware of the fat content of food because we're scared to death of the side effects, it works in another way too. Because it blocks fat from entering our system, the small amount of fat which does get in may not be enough as we do need a certain amount in the diet, so the body gets the rest that it needs from the fat we already have stored which is the very fat we all want to get rid of so badly.So in theory it should work. I hope this all makes sense and wish you lots of luck and hope you do really well in your next tests! Jx

I think you've figured out half the reason why orlistat works - the fear factor is certainly true.

The other is the reduction in absorption of fat. If you eat 45g of fat a day and orlistat blocks 15g (about a third) and the calories in a gram of fat is 9, then simple maths will mean that 135 calories are not digest. Might not seem much per day but on top of the reduction in calories from changes in diet another nearly 1000 calories a week can only aid the weightloss process.

Kitty

What Im not sure of, is how many grammes of fat our bodies actually need in a day, I keep reading different things, do you know Kitty? The other thing is, if Orlistat blocks the fat, how come I'm not seeing any signs of this when I go to the loo? Sorry if Im being graphic.

I was wondering the same thing jennywxy. I haven't had any of the so called "side effects", but I have been eating rather healthy out fear.

Well I just had cottage pie, a few baked beans and a few chips for lunch! Its the highest fat meal I've had since I started. Kitty said her side effects started 24 hours later so we'll see! mind you, it does say on the Alli site that 50% of people have side effects, so maybe we're the other half. I just hope it means that the tablets are still working, as very little else does for me

to, notsosureaboutthis, I had the exact same problem, excruciating menstral cramps, and i would have to call out of work every time i got my period, I went on depo and gained 40 pounds the first 6 months and stopped taking it. I lost the weight by taking hydroxycut the one with ephedra. This was about6 years ago before the big ephedra scare... Now i cant even drink coffee or soda with caffeine or i get really bad heart palptations. Any way i had 3 kids in the meantime. got my tubes tied and i am on the pill for the cramps and i am trying to lose the weight with alli and a low fat diet. i also excersize about 4 times a week at the gym. I started alli 4 days ago with no side effects. blah blah theres my story

I've found I do best on about 30-40g of fat a day. I have periods when I eat much less but find I do get constipated and weightloss slows down. Its all about getting the balance right I believe.

After 7 months on Xenical I've not seen any 'orange pizza grease' in my toilet bowl that I've seen reported but then I've never consciously gone over the recommended fat grams and I really don't want to test it out either.

Kitty