Hi I started using Alli last week, and so far I love it.  There's nothing like dieting and actually eating. 

 I just wanted to know if a meal  contains no fat grams but has 150 calories do you still take Alli?

For example: a bowl of special K cereal with non-fat lactaid milk.

Also what do you look at, the calories or the calories from fat? 

What does 3 grams of fat per 100 calories mean?  What if it's less than 100 calories?

 I asked a similar question a week or two ago. If your meal has less than 5 g of fat (regardless of calories) you don't need to take an alli. With alli you can eat meals up to 15 g or so of fat.

E

 What will happen if you take alli when you eat a meal with about 5 grams?  I been doing that because I didn't know.

J-PHELPS:

 What will happen if you take alli when you eat a meal with about 5 grams?  I been doing that because I didn't know.

 Not much! It won't hurt you. I think some people don't bother just because alli binds to 1/4 of the fat you take in and with only 5 g of fat that is only 1.25 g so it doesn't help as much as if you were eating more fat with the meal. With your 3 g fat meal it only would bind to 3/4 of a gram. But hey every little bit counts so maybe it does make a small difference.

E

 Okay, so what calories do I look at? The regular calories or the calories from fat?

Hi Phelps,

Let me clarify your questions.

Orlistat, the active ingredient in alli works by inhibiting the fat digesting enzyme lipase. One 60mg dose of alli will block about 25% of the fat consumed. For optimal results you should be eating well balanced, reduced calorie meals where 30% of the calories come from fat (about 15 grams of fat per meal).

Depending on what your current weight is, you will find what your total daily caloric intake should be. Bottom line the to lose weight you need to create a caloric deficit with a combination of consuming less and burning more.  You will be looking at both the calories and fat grams.

The difference:  300 calorie meal where 27 calories come from fat (3 grams) about 10% of the total. You will block less than 1 gram of the fat or less than 9 calories in that meal.

                          300 calorie meal where 90 calories come from fat (10 grams) about 25% of the total. You will block 2.5 grams of fat or 22.5 calories.

Most people choose to skip a dose if the meal contains less than 5 grams of fat just to save the cost of a dose, but alli can be taken even if there is no fat in the meal with no ill effect.  It is important though not to be going over the fat limits, since the more fat that is blocked the more that needs to be eliminated (treatment effects).

Hope this helps.

Sophia De Monte RPh

 Hi, I just started last week, and have lost a few pounds  but I have almost the same questions and problems.

I have not been eating near the amount of calories and fat that it is recommended for me.  Of the six days that I have kept track the most I have eaten is 1590 calories and 18 grms of fat all day. And that is a night that we went out to dinner.  I did not take a pill that evening, not knowing what I woud eat and how it would effect  me.'

Most days my intake  is around 1000-1300 calories and 18 to 25 grams of fat for the  entire day.  I have only been taking  alli at lunch and dinner, since my breakfast  rarely has more than 2 or 3 grams for fat.

This may work for me, but do you think that I would do bettter eating more?  Seems sily but whatever works.

 Like the moderator said, the only thing Alli does is eliminate 25% of the fat you eat.  So if you are not eating much fat, Alli is not going to do much for you.  (If you only eat 24 grams of fat, the Alli would eliminate 6 grams, or 54 calories- so it would hardly matter.)  If you eat the reccomended amount of fat, you'll cut more calories.  It is hard to get your head around, but you should eat more fat so you can lose  more!   

 I don't understand how some people can keep their fat intake so low.....my problem is eating too much fat!  The past week has been very hard (eating too much fat and having te's) and I'm so depressed.  I have weighted the same for the past three weigh ins. 

Not a happy camper today but this too shall pass.  I am thankful for the 11 pounds lost - hopefully forever.  Fortunately I did not gain any of them back this week as bad as it was for me.

I do like the alli plan and will continue to try.  Just had to vent.

 I feel your pain!! This week was rough, but I did manage to stay below my fat grams...a lot of sacrific. No fried foods and limited dairy. I am really checking out labels and trying fat free foods to see what I like and what I don't. But even with the fat free we still have to watch the calorie intake. It has only been one week since I started. I did experience one treatment effect from eating butter popcorn for my snack...and I didn't even take a pill with it...and it was only 15 grams, but I think that since I had taken the three pills for the day that the Alli was still active when I ate the popcorn. I decided it was better to buy te 94% less fat popcorn than what I ate as to not go through that again.

 Thank you for your response and sharing.  I have also found that the alli pills stay in your system and can affect your snacks.  I have read on the posts that alli is effective on anything you eat within two hours and TEs can occur for 24 to 72 hours based on your digestive system.

The "butter" was probably the reason for your TEs.  The fat from snacks should be really low - 15 grams is what you should have for a meal. 

Good luck and keep up the good work.  It does take some time to get used to counting calories and fats.

 I failed to mentioned that after no weight loss for a few weeks, I lost 3 pounds this week!  It pays to stick with it.  I also just updated my signature to reflect my current weight....

Hi Bobbi,

Alli only blocks calories from FAT.  So it's critical that you meet (not exceed) your recommended fat grams per meal.  Otherwise, you will not lose weight on this program.  With Alli, less does not mean more, as it does with lowfat diets alone.  Good luck!  Tampabayb