I hope the above helps.  Remember to give the program time!  You didn’t put the weight in overnight and it won’t go away overnight.  A couple of weeks on the program are not enough to tell if it is going to work for you.  If you have been losing and stall, cut calories and fat grams accordingly.  Change up your exercise. I got all this information from reading the responses Betty gives everyone.  Don't cut calories to drastically. You could through your body into starvation mode and not lose anything.  Ask Betty how much to cut when you start stalling.  I think she usually mentions cutting 300 calories, but if you are only taking in 1200 you wouldn't want to cut that much...so ask the professional:  Betty.

If anyone else has any other information to help newbies, please interject.   Just thought it would be nice to have one place with the standard questions and answers.

Hi Ibtrue,

That is a great summary! I will add a couple of things:

• Looking for posts - use the search command on the upper right corner of this page to search by subject and/or author
• Too little fat - the goal is to learn to eat the recommended amounts of carbs, protein and fat. If you stick with the 30% of your calories from fat, and take alli at each meal, you will then be absorbing about 22.5% fat which IS low fat.
• Fat grams allowance of 15 grams - Your plan is set to have 30% of your calories come from fat. If you are allowed 1800 calories that would be 60 grams of fat and you could end up being allowed to consume 19 grams per meal. Fifteen grams is set to avoid treatment effects, but that does not mean that you will experience them at 19 grams. You have the choice to work up to 19 grams to see how you tolerate it or just stick with the 15 grams.

I think that covers the most common questions.

Feel free to add on everyone,

Betty Kovacs, MS, RD

Betty,

Just a few questions, can you eat in a meal less than the 15 grams of fat for this program to work? I eat very low fat, and hardly ever eat more than 20 grams of fat the whole day. Is that acceptable? I am also making sure I am getting all my calories.

Thanks,

Amy

ibtrue,

AWESOME SUMMARY!  Great job and thank you for taking the time to write it out.  I get frustrated sometimes when people post a concern and repeatedly demand instant answers from Betty and it is such a shame when all they have to do is read earlier posts or do a simple search.  I rather read Betty's feedback on new questions and not the same ones over and over again.  I have learned so much from her and people such as yourself, keep up the great work and support is priceless and good luck on your weight loss goals :)

Thanks again!

Lisa 

Hi Amy,

The goal of this program is to get you into the habit of eating a balanced diet. For some people that means cutting back on their fat, and for others it means adding fat. Our diets have become so unbalanced from all of the fad diets making unsupported claims that one thing is bad of us and other thing is good. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Reference Dietary Intakes clearly state that our calories need to come from fat, protein and cabohydrates.Here is how they should be divided:

• 45 percent to 65 percent from carbohydrates
• 20 percent to 35 percent from fat
• 10 percent to 35 percent from protein

You will get the optimal benefit from taking alli with a diet that has 30% of the calories from fat. Once 25% of that fat is excreted, that means that you will actually be absorbing 22.5% of your calories from fat. This is the bottom of the recommendations so you don't want to go any lower than that.

 Why not take a look at how your current diet measures up to this? You can go to www.fitday.com and type in a couple of typical days for your. You will get the percent of calories from each of these nutrients. Once you know what you have been doing it will help you figure out what you need to do. 

Good luck,

Betty Kovacs, MS, RD

  I have found if you use the Nut. log it will help keep you on track. After reading these post I know I am doing just find. The Nut. log really helps by telling if your eatting enough of everything. I really like how it is color coded. Very Helpful !!!!   

  Julie in CA

ibtrue,

AWESOME SUMMARY!  Great job and thank you for taking the time to write it out.  I get frustrated sometimes when people post a concern and repeatedly demand instant answers from Betty and it is such a shame when all they have to do is read earlier posts or do a simple search.  I rather read Betty's feedback on new questions and not the same ones over and over again.  I have learned so much from her and people such as yourself, keep up the great work and support is priceless and good luck on your weight loss goals :)

Thanks again!

*****************************************************

You are very welcome. Just thought it would be nice to have a place to go for those same questions that are asked over and over.  The only correct I see in my post is treatment effects. Betty had said it takes 24 - 48 hours because it take that long to go through your system.  I know others have said they got it a few hours later, but I also read from Betty that it had to be caused by a previous meal with too much fat that you took in within the last 48 hours.

Good luck to everyone.  I work on a computer all day long so it is easy for me to post when there are no computer troubleshooting calls.  It has been slow lately. 

Betty:  Is there a way to make this post come up on top each time, so people (especially newbees) can find it easily.  I know from other message boards that moderators have a standard post that is always first and then new ones coming after it. 

Bump to keep it up top for new members with questions.

Bump to keep it up top for new members with questions.

Hey I also liked your FAQ's.  Sometimes I think to myself when I read a post "Geez, didn't you read the myriad of booklets you got with your starter pack" or "Haven't you read the 10,000 posts with the same question as yours".  I have only been on Alli for two days so I may just be full of hot air, but I wonder if some people even read the stuff? 

Also, because I am in a bitching type of mood. It bugs me when people write loosing when the correct spelling is losing.  Or if they say they want to loose X amount of pounds.  I want to turn loose X amount of pounds but I want to LOSE 40 of them.  There I said it and I'm glad. Thanks for the vent.

Thanks, glad you like the FAQ's. If anyone can think of any to add, feel free.  Bumping for new users.

Bumping for new users.

Bumping again for newbies.

bump.  this helps new users.  I often thought there should be a post like this, always at the top.