hi.  I, too, am in Texas.  where are you?

I started today at lunch, also.  Good Luck!

I was going to start myself today but I found the book at my CVS Drug Store and I will start reading it tonight. I am scared too but I am also scared of what can happen to me if I don't pull some of this weight off!!! I want and need to be here for my children. I'm not ready to give up yet!! Hats off to you for taking your life back!!! Good Luck!!!

All I can offer is, "you never know until you try". In the clinical trials with alli, less than 5% of the people dropped out of the trials due to treatment effects. And keeping to your low-fat, reduced calorie should keep the treatment effects at bay. And I don't like people to think that alli "works or doesn't work". It is you that has to work for yourself to lose weight. alli will HELP. Having realistic expectations should increase your satisfaction with the process.

And remember, there are hundreds if not thousands of people on these message boards to offer support, encouragement, and advice. You are not alone!

 Good luck and good health! We are here for you!

Maria Marzella Sulli, Pharm.D.

I have been following this for a total of 3 days now -- 9 pills.  The first day I had some gas, some rectal bleeding (anal fissure) from wiping too much because of frequent BMs the first day (but not runny, promise), some gurgling in the stomach but not painful, feeling bloated.  Day 2 I has some gas and no BM.  Today, day 3, I'm treatment effect free. I am eating healthy, taking my vitamin, keeping each meal near or at 15g without going over, taking my pills consistently as directed, AND EXERCISING.  I don't hop on the scale every chance I get, not every day and probably not every week.  I think it's a destructive pattern since inches matter more than pounds IMO.  But when I do hop on the scale, I'll report on the board somewhere how I'm doing.  Right now, I am pleased with Alli.  The treatment effects I've experienced are mild at best.

Last but not least, I WANT TO THANK SYLVIA AND MARIA for trying to respond to as many comments and questions as you can.  Moderating and running bulletin boards is a tough business and you have done it with well. 

The thing that I'm wondering about is all of the people on the message boards who have written about how great the drug is and how they've taken the prescription version before but now they've gained the weight back and they can't wait to start again. That's a little discouraging.

I'm also curious about all of the people who are writing that they eat low-fat diets and are still overweight.  Can someone be overweight from only carbs or could they be underestimating how much fat they really eat? If they truly don't eat much fat then it seems that the pill wouldn't really do them much good, would it?

Wow, I wasn't looking for an insult.  Yes, I take decisions in life very seriously.  There isn't an apathetic or non-chalant bone in my body.  I'm a new mom and don't have money to throw away.  True...maybe I should've thought about that before I bought them. 

And as for taking them back, I'm not sure how you know that no one else will have the opportunity to buy the returned product.  But you can't honestly expect that I (or the majority of the public) would know that.

My statement was basically to see if anyone else was shaving the same feelings that I was.  Maybe YOU took my post too seriously.