Can I take alli for a while, stop, then start again later? And do you think the side effects will be as bad the second time?

I think you can do that, but I bet it wouldn't be as effective. I think your body would be more used to the drug and the side effects the second time, so the side effects wouldn't be as bad.

Although, I'm not a doctor.

I'm sure you could. Do you think you might want to take a break from it for a few months and then come back, or what? Surely if you stopped taking it and started eventually to gain weight again, you could go on it again. It's not as if it is your one and only chance.

You can stop and start as many times as you want. The question is why? Why would you want to stop only to restart later?

I'd stop if the side effects were really bothering me. But then if I wasn't losing weight, I might start again later. Or I might reach my target weight, see it start creeping back up again, and want a little help.

I was thinking that I don't like taking anything over a long period of time, so I'd take it for a while, stop for a while but continue my meal and exercise program, and then start up again when my weight loss stalled.

Sometimes you do more damage to your body by stoping and starting a medication than by taking it straight through. I had a friend who felt that way about birth control pills and would go off them once in a while. Her doctor realized what she was doing and told her it was really bad to jerk her body around like that, especially with hormones. But for anything, your body likes consistency.