I have been taking Alli diligently for over 3 months now. I have lost 20lbs. I want to lose 30 more, but I have been stuck with NO weight loss for 4 weeks now. I have increased my activity levels from 1-2 times per week to every day. I NEVER go over my calories or fat. I ALWAYS take my pills. I have not ever had any treatment effects. What am I doing wrong? Why am I stuck at 20lbs? Why can't I lose more? I feel like I am trying really hard and sticking with it and nothing's happening. I'm starting to get frustrated and I wonder if this is the right plan for me. Please let me know if you have had similar struggles and how you got past them. Thanks in advance!

Hi Kamoon,

Congratulations on the 20 lb weight loss! When you lose weight your body will reach a point when it needs fewer calories. Check out my post about this http://community.myalli.com/forums/t/18013.aspx for more details.

Let me know if you have any other questions,

Betty Kovacs, MS, RD

 Hi Betty,

I didn't realize with a 20 pound loss that you would need to drop the calories that soon.  I gained 2 pounds this week for the first time.  Does that mean I need to drop my calories now? I didn't drink as much water as I had been but would that cause a 2 pound gain? 

Also, I thought that as we progressed the online program would tell us when to drop our calories.  This is the first gain I've had since I started the program I just need some guidance here.

Thank you for your great advice.

Hi SouthernSweet2008,

There are no clear guidelines for when each person needs to cut their calories after losing weight. When someone has been keeping track of everything that they are eating and drinking and have not seen any changes for weeks that is a sign that the calories are too high. As long as you are sure that there are no "hidden" calories anywhere I do recommend cutting back. You can increase your activity to burn some extra calories if you would like to. I usually recommend leaving the exercise calories as bonuses instead of relying on them for weight loss initially. It's easier to cut out 500 calories per day from food then to burn it through exercise and if you skip your exercise and don't cut back on your food you won't lose any weight. Use the calorie calculation in the link that I provided and see if what you come up with is less than what you have been consuming.

Let me know what you come up with,

Betty Kovacs, MS, RD

starting: 208    low: 185   now: 189   started 1/1/2008

 Me too. The low was -23 lbs. We just got back from vacation and now it is -19 lbs. I also forgot my blood pressure meds while on vac so I'm hoping most is just water weight, although I did eat lots of stuff I normally don't! (fried foods!!!).

Back at home now and NO more fried foods. If you're anything like me, the distractions of summer vacation or the kids being home or whatever has made it difficult to stick to it. I KNOW that with the kids going back to school and all my vac gone I'll get back on track. Back to work (in more ways than one) in the morning.

It took me 6 months to lose those 23 lbs, so 6 more months and maybe 15 lbs more???

Let's just stick to it and see what happens.