The Alli pill...

A friend of mine has been taking the Alli pill for almost 2 months now and says she is def. seeing more weight loss than when she was counting cal. & working out (just light walking) alone...

I've always been VERY skeptical and nervous about diet pills. I'd like to hear some feed back about your thoughts on the pill and if you know of anyone (maybe even yourself) that has or is taking the Alli pill. Thanks~:)

It's a pill that prevents the absorption of some of the fat (typically 20%) from your diet.  There are some nasty side-effects such as oily stools if the person taking them carries on eating a diet with a lot of fat.  So they are incentivised not to do so!  This brings down the calorie content of what they eat and they should find it easier to lose weight as a result.   It used to be prescribed by doctors under its clinical name to people with a BMI over 27.  If your BMI is under 27 (and therefore your energy needs are less) you'll probably see just as good results with a better diet, portion/calorie control and more exercise.

The caveats are...   Don't eat fatty foods when taking these pills.  Think about what happens when you stop taking them.... will you have developed better habits?  Don't expect a quick fix.

Like gi-jane said, the pills end up being like a quick fix.  The key to long term health is education and knowledge on nutrition. 

Without doubt, the pills do work, but those side effects are very unpleasant! 

Oh nooo!! My gf did NOTTT tell me that!! :S I think I'm gonna just stick to counting cals. & my cardio...lol But thanks 4 the replies!!

My mum works in a pharmacy and has been trained on offering the Alli pill - you won't be sold it if you have a bmi under 27, if you are diabetic/borderline diabetic, if you have high blood pressure, or if you are on certain other medications.

Lots and lots of people have bought it since it came out so they should be coming back around about now for refills so my mum will get some feedback on how it has worked.

It all sounds quiet complicated diet wise though - you have to eat 15g of fat with each meal which, i would think, is quite hard to work out unless it is a pure fat your adding, like butter. if you have less than 15g the pill won't work and if you have more than 15g you get those nasty side effects (you wouldn't want to break wind in public, is all i'll say! lol).

You are supposed to have started your 'diet' a week or two before you go on the pill and then for every 2lbs lost through conventional diet and exercise the pill should help you lose an extra pound. to be honest, i would prefer to just lose the weight conventionally - it might take a little bit longer but you will save yourself a considerable amount of money (it is very expensive!) and have the satisfaction of knowing it was all your own hard work that got you to your goal weight.

They have a website with lots of info on it, so i'm told..

bebe_66, I think you might be confusing Alli with Xenical.  Alli is the over-the-counter version of Xenical.

Alli can be purchased from the shelf at just about any drug store in the U.S.

Yes, second kaufmkk's response - anyone can buy alli, it's sold at target on the shelves for goodness sake!

I took alli for a few months about 2 years ago, soon after it came out.  It helped somewhat with choosing healthier options since I didn't want the side effects, but I began to "skip" pills when I knew I would be eating more fat...the skipping became more and more frequent and since I am now starting CC nearly 2 years later, it obviously was not a life changer for me.  Honestly, the side effects weren't a huge deal - at my weight, I could eat up to 19g of fat with each meal, which isn't hard to stay under.  You don't have to eat that much fat, but if you are eating a low fat meal, alli isn't going to have much fat to block in the first place, so you aren't getting much bang for your buck. 

It can certainly be helpful if you need that extra incentive to eat better, but for the price...and the option to "cheat" and not take pills...it wasn't worth it for me.

no - i am talking about Alli - it is now over the counter in the UK but you have to have a consultation with the pharmacist/pharmacy staff and those restrictions apply.

if u want rapid-onset diahhroea and to learn no long term nutritional knowledge to keep ur weight off for good

then u cud try alli i guess

it is exactly that, a quick fix

all it duz is Force u to have low fat food...but wat a nasty side effect shud u slip up!

It's very $$ and you have to take 2 pills three times a day if I remember correctly.  It's something that will aid weight loss by forcing you to not eat high fat foods.  I took it; and did lose some weight on it; but then I finished the bottle and just did't feel like paying all that $$ to get another bottle.  I didn't experience the awful side affects b/c I stuck to the low fat diet; but if I had slipped up; I know I wouldn't be very happy....

My friend recently lost 100 pounds (without Alli) and is in Pharmacy school. She said that the average person that is taking Alli is only really losing 4 lbs a year with regular dosage. It is around $60 for a 30-60 day supply and that is a little much for 4 pounds. A personal training session at my gym is $30 per hour.

I never ok the use of pills..unless approved by a Doctor or Health Practitioner.

The body was made to eat food and drink water.

...well balanced low calorie high nutrient foods are in my opinion the only way to go.  You are less likely to gain weight back too.

With pills you have the expense and the dependency on these pills.  

But to me the not knowing what exactly it is doing to your body would be a worry.

Many pills are more of laxative or a heart stimulant to increase the blood flow...and Gawd knows what else it will do.

Research it for sure but if you can not lose weight eating healthy foods your doing something wrong.

I bought some Alli last year. It was so expensive I felt guilty using it for any meal that wasn't very high-fat. Therefore, I still have 95% of a full bottle left all this time later.

I have taken a pill or two when I know I'm about to eat something highly fattening that I don't have room in my diet for. I have to say, I never experienced any of the side effects. Ever. I once took my Alli with a plate of Claim Jumper Nachos with extra extra extra guacamole and full fat cheddar cheese and sour cream and a side of fries smothered in full fat ranch dressing. That's something like 5000 calories with hundreds of grams of fat.

... I wonder if my lack of any side effects are proof that the Alli didn't work at all for me. I never take it unless I'm eating over 100 grams of fat in a sitting. If only 15 grams can trigger oily poops, then something must be wrong if 100 grams of fat doesn't even have an effect on me.

Anybody else have the problem of too FEW side effects?

I would suspect that by taking one or two pills every so often in isolation it simply wasn't effective.   Like taking one antibiotic isn't going to be effective.... you need the full course.

And how you were using it, if you don't mind the observation, was a mistake a lot of people make.   If you treat the pills as a sticking plaster - a way to offset very poor food choices you don't learn anything about healthy eating  or portion control and so, even if they had helped you lose weight, you'd have been right back where you started within a few weeks of not taking them.

Thanks for the input gi-jane! I know my binges are bad. I'm a recovering binge eater who has a lapse about once a month. Not enough to make me gain any weight (I'm still consistently losing), but definitely enough to set me back 3 or 4 days at a time. I used to binge on tens of thousands of calories in a day, so I'm actually happy with my current "tiny" binges.

I'd like to say that learning portion control would fix the situation long-term, but the reality is it doesn't help. My rational thinking skills and ability to self-moderate go right out the window when I experience those compulsions.

I can be good most days. But sometimes something triggers me to over-eat. I noticed in the past that my OCD medication stopped most of the binges, but I can't get a prescription for that anymore. It had worse side effects than the binges ever did anyway.

Long story short, the best I can do is make good food choices 95% of the time when I AM rational, so that my COE disorder doesn't cause a permanent weight gain.