My Decision to Try Alli to Lose Weight

Like so many I have battled weight all of my life. I have lost a substantial amount of weight on my own and using the Jenny Craig weight loss program in the past. But once again, I find that I am at my heaviest weight ever. After being pregnant 6 times in the past 8 years, I need help. I am embarrassed to admit how much weight I need to lose, but it is right around 100 pounds. I have not tried Hoodia or Phen-Phen or any of the other diet aides or pills. Frankly, they scare me. I don't want to lose weight using one of these to only find out later that there were side-effects that were not originally known about.

I heard about alli and did a little bit of research to see how it worked and whether it would be a good fit for me. In my case, I think that this may work. alli will help me in two ways - (1) there is the negative motivator factor and (2) there is the fat blocking effect. The key to your diet while taking alli is to maintain a low-fat diet (15 grams of fat or less per meal). If you exceed 15 grams, this is where the "negative motivator" factor comes in. From the alli website - "While no one likes experiencing treatment effects, they might help you think twice about eating questionable fat content. If you think of it like that, alli can act like a security guard for your late-night cravings." Followed by this - "You may feel an urgent need to go to the bathroom. Until you have a sense of any treatment effects, it's probably a smart idea to wear dark pants, and bring a change of clothes with you to work." alli blocks the absorption of a portion of the fat consumed in each meal; if you overdo it, you may be spending a bit more time than usual in your bathroom. The second part of alli that will help me is for the allowable fat that I do eat; alli will block the absorption of about 25% of that fat. The alli material states that alli will help you to lose about 50% more weight than you would than just following a low-fat diet. For example, if you followed a low-fat, you might lose 10 pounds, but if you add the fat blocking of alli those 10 pounds will become 15 pounds.

I purchased the alli starter kit this past Tuesday for $48. As part of that purchase, in addition to the 60 pills, you are given access to parts of the alli website that can help you track your meals or even give you a meal plan. They recommend that you take a pill with each meal that will contain fat. At this point, I have decided to take one with lunch and one with dinner. alli recommends starting your low-fat diet several days in advance of taking your first pill. I began my low-fat diet Wednesday, and took my first alli pill with lunch today (Saturday). It has been five hours since the first pill, and I am happy to report at this point that I have had no negative side effects.

One pill down, many more to go.