After reading posts, I'm confused. I realize that in my situation I'm allowed 60 fat grams per day. According to my journal, I'm averaging about 40 per day for my first week. Am I defeating the purpose of the program to be eating less fat than recommended? If I have less than 15 grams per meal, does the Alli work? Being only a week into the program, I want to maximize my success.

I went to the dietician message board and got the answer I was looking for and had an "AHA" moment! Here is what it said:

The alli plan requires that 30% of your calories come from fat. Out of those calories, 25% are going to be excreted. This mean that your diet is actually 22.5% fat, which is close to the minimal amount recommended. For anyone who consumes less than 30% and takes alli, you are going under the recommendations for fat. That means that you are also going over the recommendations for carbs and/or protein. Too much and too little of any nutrient is a problem.

Specific to my situation, 1800 calories and 60 fat grams translates to:

1800 x 30% fat=540 fat calories x 25%=135 calories less calories obsorbed a day.

 I spent 20 minutes on the treadmill yesterday at speed 3 and used 100 calories so 135 is pretty significant. Combining the reduced calories per day, the 30% fat, and the exercise-I can see where the weight loss would be significant. Good luck to all :)

Okay, forgive me for sounding ignorant but I still don't follow. Is this what your are saying? If I go under my fat grams for the day, (which I do alot!) I will lose more weight faster but be missing out on some of the important nutrients that I need? Hope that makes sense.

getting down to the plain and simple, because thats really the only thing I know with alli...the way I follow it is that you need to take in enough fat to get the nutrients you need AND to make sure that your body doesnt go into "starvation mode"

What starvation mode is, is your body thinking it isn't getting enough food so it wants to save up all the food it gets in case it doesnt get more for a while.

Think of it back when we were cave people hunting for our food.  If the hunt goes bad for a few days in a row, we might not eat.  "starvation mode" is a survival mechanism that allows us to store what food we do get when we are going through these bad times.  So basically by eating less fat you are going to store more, your metabolism is going to slow down, and you can gain weight, because you arent actually starving like back then.

I hope that helps. and good luck with your weight loss.  If any of this doesnt make sense, or you still dont understand, dont be afraid to ask, I'll come up with a better answer

~Star

I know it's confusing. I was in the same boat.

If you have your allotted calories a day but you are low on the fat grams, you will not lose as much weight. Why? Because the product only works on the fat grams we consume. 25% of the fat calories are expelled from the body. So, the less fat grams you consume, the less weight you lose,whereas, using all your fat grams maximizes your weight loss. Hope this helps :)

Hmmmmmm, I wonder if that works the other way around too? I have had NO problem with lowering the fat but lowering the calories is another story. i.e SUGAR!!!(i.e in my coffee,tea, juice and well sugar flavoring in my WATER too! I know its bad!) I'm addicted to the stuff and absolutely hate all the artificial sweeteners out there.  So far my weight loss has been steady so I am crossing my fingers. I guess that would work since cal. do eventually equal to fat.  Thank you both for the info.

it just seems to me that you have to be extra careful, almost be a math genius, to get this stuff to work right??? I am already on a very low fat diet so I guess this won't work for me. from what I gather, if you eat too much fat, you are in 'trouble' .....I don't know, I would like to add alli to my diet, but it doesn't seem worth it since I have no problem eating an already lowfat diet...

Believe you me, I'm no mathmatician and I still have seen results.I will count my fat grams no problem but I really don't pay much attention to the cal.  The only time I had bad effects was when I grabbed a couple of french fries from off of my kids plate on one of their once a wk. junk food nights. That's when I learned my limits.

try steviaits natural and its from sugar but it has no calories and its not deadly in any way. my dad's doc put him on that for his diabetes.

there is plain, cinnamon (coffee) mint, chocolate, lemon, berry... all kinds. i lost weight from 260 down to 193 w that idea. now on alli to get me the rest of the way there

i am also somewhat confused. i am on the 1200 calorie a day/12 g fat per meal plan. i usually only get to about 1000 calories and maybe 18 g fat per day. i am starting to think this is bad?

i've lost 7 pounds in the 4 weeks i've been taking alli and while i'm okay with the slow progress, seeing other poster's results i'm thinking maybe i need to have more fat (this seems almost obscene!); others are losing like crazy.

i understand 'starvation mode' and i hesitate to sound like a moron, but can someone put it into plain words whether or not i should definitely be consuming the full 12 g fat per meal? i know nothing about nutrition and this is my first 'diet.'

thank you in advance, and great job everyone!

Where can I buy steviaits?

Hi, I am a newcomer/. I know about the starvation mode! I was watching my calorie and fat intake a few days before the alli pill. Two days into my diet I gained 14lbs and ended up in the E.R. with what everyone thought was congestive heart failure. When my labs came back, I was protein malnurished. Imagine that! 383 after 2 days dieting and the doctor tells me I am malnurished.But since then I have been watching calories, fat and protein! And lost 22lbs in six days before starting the pill, most of which was fluid.

Still all of this fat percentage confuses me. I hope to learn alot as I go along.

Most all health food stores carry Stevia, it is very good.  You can also purchase it on-line.  I order mine from Netrition.  They are very reputable and ship extremely fast.

I am in the same situation.  I am a newcomer taking Alli for 2 1/2 weeks now.  I am supposed to have 19g fat/meal and 1800 calories, but I am closer to 19g fat/day!  Do I need to be consuming more fat grams? 

I have been eating Weight Watchers Smart Ones meals for lunch with a fat free pudding cup...usually fruit for breakfast.....and a lean meat, veggie and rice for dinner.  I don't feel hungry at all, but I have noticed that I am not really in the bathroom at all....not necessarily constipated, but not going everyday either. 

 I have heard horror stories about the "treatment effects" so I am afraid to eat too much fat especially because two of my meals are eaten at work. 

 Any help and recommendations will be greatly appreciated!  I have lost 8lbs already, but I still have a LONG way to go.

Your situation sounds almost exactly like mine when I first started out about 6 months ago. I too eat the smart ones meals for lunch or dinner and I also eat lots of those pudding cups. Have you tried the dark chocolate raspberry? They are awesome.

I don't really think you have to reach your limits because I never came close to my fat limits and I lost weight just as well if I would have. I, too, at first had the bathroom issues with not going as much as I probly should have been. I started taking a couple fiber pills a day along with my multi-vitamin and everything was soon back to normal.

Even when I did reach my fat intake limit, I have never had any kind of those bad side effects (thank goodness).I guess everyone is different in how Alli will affect your body because I had no side effects at all where as I've read other post about people having side effects even staying within the recommended limits.

Congradulations on your first 8 pounds and good luck.

My SW:197

      CW:142

      NewGW:130