Xenical any good?

[Tinky]

My Doctor has prescribed Xenical to try and help me lose weight, it works by allowing about 30% of fat eaten in a meal, to pass through the gut undigested. Ergo, theoretically I should lose weight. It may be early days yet (one week) but despite cutting down + the Xenical, haven't lost a single ounce. My Doctor won't help anymore if I haven't lost 5 lbs in four weeks. Has it worked for anyone else?

omg dude this stuff is bad. Dont wander to far away from a toilet.
You have to be very careful what you eat.
I have lost 8 stone or thereabouts since feb and all ive done is adapted a low fat diet and exercise .Depending how large you are your basal metabolic usage will be quite high at 23 stone I was burning 2500 cals if i was asleep all day. So I aimed my diet around 1500 calories a day and the weight just dropped off. Buying healthy option treats (yogurts mouses etc) gives you the psychological idea that you have had your sweet rush.
Try monitoring your intake here www.fitday.com if nothing else it will give you an idea of your consumption

[Obese]

Originally Posted by Tinky

My Doctor has prescribed Xenical to try and help me lose weight, it works by allowing about 30% of fat eaten in a meal, to pass through the gut undigested. Ergo, theoretically I should lose weight. It may be early days yet (one week) but despite cutting down + the Xenical, haven't lost a single ounce. My Doctor won't help anymore if I haven't lost 5 lbs in four weeks. Has it worked for anyone else?

A friend of mine used xenical. It gave him diarhea. And it did not work

I would recommend a high protein diet: unlimited meat or fish +salad but trim down the fat. No cheese but 0% yogurt/fromage frais is ok. You will lose 2 pounds the first week if you do not eat any carbs. One pound per week after that. The key to this is no carbs (bread potato).

If you do not eat fat, there is no need for xenical.

I disagree carbs are an essential part of a balanced diet also to burn fat your body need energy its all in krebs cycle. Complex carbs can give your body enough energy to burn the fat. Atkins does work for some but once in ketosis your breath smells and a lot of people are constipated

[Tinky]

Yes Zing
I tried Atkins but it did not work for me, tried all sorts of diets even Cabbage soup but did not work. You are right about the toilet bit!

[Ramrod]

Taken from the BNF (british national formulary):

Indications
adjunct in obesity
Cautions
diabetes mellitus; may impair absorption of fat-soluble vitamins; pregnancy (Appendix 4); interactions: Appendix 1 (orlistat)
Multivitamins

If a multivitamin supplement is required, it should be taken at least 2 hours after orlistat dose or at bedtime

Contra-indications
chronic malabsorption syndrome; cholestasis; breast-feeding (Appendix 5)

Side-effects

oily leakage from rectum, flatulence, faecal urgency, liquid or oily stools, faecal incontinence, abdominal distension and pain (gastro-intestinal effects minimised by reduced fat intake), tooth and gingival disorders; respiratory infections; anxiety, headache; menstrual disturbances, urinary-tract infection; fatigue; very rarely diverticulitis, cholelithiasis, hepatitis, and bullous eruptions
Dose

120 mg taken immediately before, during, or up to 1 hour after each main meal (up to max. 360 mg daily); continue treatment beyond 12 weeks only if weight loss since start of treatment exceeds 5% (see also notes above); child not recommended
Note

If a meal is missed or contains no fat, the dose of orlistat should be omitted

NICE has approved it's use.....

More from Wikipedia

[Obese]

I do no recommend Atkins I recommend this one

http://www.csiro.au/csiro/content/standard/psk3,,.html

I recommend a low fat diet exercise and disapline

[TheNorm]

Originally Posted by Tinky

.... It may be early days yet (one week) but despite cutting down + the Xenical, haven't lost a single ounce. My Doctor won't help anymore if I haven't lost 5 lbs in four weeks. ...

One week is very early days for fat loss. Any weight decrease this soon would almost certainly be due to water loss.

Why not take your doctor's advice and try the stuff for a month? If it works for you (and you can tolerate the side-effects) then great!

Personally, I think Zinglebarb has the right idea - a lifestyle change that includes exercise and eating the "right" foods.

[Tinky]

Thanks all I knew I could rely on you for support and advice. Will bear everything you've said in mind.

What weight are you? Remember it is easy to eat a low fat diet
I buy campbells condensed soups (low fat varient) or asda healthy eating Thai chicken soup and these are my sauces so theres quite a variety of flavours. You can add mushrooms onion peppers whatever then add chicken or fish or prawns and serve with rice pasta or salad.Adapting that gives you all the main meals you need.
Breakfast can be a small bowl of healthy cerial or a couple of slices of toast with say philli extra light spread or a smoothie (I use just fruit melon strawberrys raspberries etc)mmmm
Lunch can be a salad or a sandwich again ensuring you only eat low fat.
Then keep fruit in the house if you crave eat some strawberries a whole punnet is only 100 cals or weightwatchers yogurts or similar they do loads all low fat and a treat.
So you dont have to be hungry if you want to eat eat somethin healthy and remember in just a few weeks of eating a diet like this even if you have not lost much weight you will feel so much better

[Tinky]

Zing
Won't even tell the Old Man what weight I am, too ashamed! I used to go to the gym twice a week and that definitely helped. But my Doctor does not advise me to go back. Will persevere with the diet, luckily I don't have a sweet tooth!

good luck mate ive battled my weight all my life im currently doing well but in the past ive slipped right back and undone all my good work (normally stress from women but im not letting em get to me this time lol )
I hope it all goes well for you mate

[Tinky]

Thanks Zing and everyone who has responded. I too lost a lot of weight around 4 stone, and I looked and felt really great, but alas I have foolishly put it all back on again, I don't know if I have the willpower to sustain yet another diet. I have had several people telling me that I have put on weight recently, like I haven't noticed! Makes me feel even more miserable, when I know the answer is in my own hands, I am the one who made me fat!

On a purely theoretical basis, protein & carbs have the same amount of calories, while fat has twice the amount of calories than protein or carbs. That is why reducing fat intake is usually the 'easiest' way to diet. The high protein diets are thought to work because it is assumed that protein makes you feel 'full' quicker, so you end up actually eating less.

The 'problem' is that, for a lot of people, reducing the amount of calories they eat tends to lower their metabolic rate. This is why, as Zingle says, exercise is important, as this helps to maintain your metabolic rate, so you continue to 'burn' what you eat, efficiently. This is, sometimes, the hardest thing for people to maintain, as it can take a while for any benefits to be felt & usually people just feel they don't have the energy - that is where you need the willpower to keep it up, it does get easier.

Other than that, it must be remembered that a healthy diet & regular excercise is to be thought of as a permanent lifestyle change, many of the 'faddy' diets are only short term solutions - the cabbage diet, a case in point, is devoid of almost all useful nutrition & is dangerous to continue long term.

The important thing is to eat sensibly, Zinglebarb has to be congratulated on his very sensible approach, where he is keeping it interesting, but still balanced. The 'Weightwatchers' recipe books are good, for this, with some very tasty meals in them, which are very easy & quick to prepare.