Hi Guys,

Im new on here

I was wondering if anyone is taking Xenical? If so could you give me any advice please?

My doctor has started me on these as im over 5 stone over weight.

Ive been on them just over a week now, in my first week I lost 6lb.

But at the weekend I got major munchies!! I knew what would happen if I ate anything naughty so just ate anything healthy that I could get my hands on!!

Im feeling really fat and guilty now after doing so well last week.

Has this happened to you? Do any of you still get major munchies? Is Xenical worth sticking to? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Diane xx

My advice would be changing your doctor.

Any doc that gives you weight loss pills should have his practice closed down immediately.

Try a sensible diet and exercise instead, you'll be surprised at the results. And it's a lot healthier as well.

I agree with San. Switch doctors and start eating healthy, whole foods/ exercising.

I have a friend who was prescribed Adipex? by his doctor for nothing other than weight loss. Why he didn't prescribe a healthier diet I'll never know.
Anyways, it has a million side effects like pulmonary hypertension, depression and withdrawal symptoms. Not to mention it was nothing but speed.

With any of those pills, you'll lose a lot of "weight" (fat/water/muscle mass) and as soon as you stop taking them, it'll sneak back on.

I've only messed around with diet pills in high school and I was having what felt like cramps in my chest all the time. About 1 year later, the product was recalled because a significant amount of people had heart attacks while taking it.

Those pills aren't worth jeopardizing your health for a temporary weight loss.
Just my opinion.

I was on Xenical for quote a while and it did help keep me accountable to myself for a while. If you cheat you do pay the consequences and they are quite nasty.

I was looking for help to get me on the right path when I tried Xenical and it did work while I was motivated. When I got bored it was the same story, I took less of the Xenical and was able to cheat on myself.

Guilt is a wasted emotion, Only Me. Try to learn from the process and keep focused on the good days and choices. When you like feeling good it helps when you feel like giving up. Just remember how good it made you feel to make the right choices for your body and how proud and in control you were. That feeling can fill you more than crappy food :-)

Dear all,
why would the topic starter ("Only Me") switch his/her doctor? Xenical is a good medicine. It acts almost elusively inside the intestine (i.e. no systemic effects), it has pretty safe profile and manageable side effects

You can take high fiber supplements (such as psyllium husk) to reduce most of Xenical effects.

Best regards,
Jos

P.S. Although I am a pharmacist, this message is not a substitute for a real consultation

Any doctor that suggestes taking diet pills should have the license revoked and their practice closed down. Just my opinion of course.

'Managable' side effects? How about proper nutrition, exercise and no side effects? Much cheaper, safer, and of course you can save yourself the disappointment of having to realise that diet pills just don't work.

Of course they work for pharmacists. They are extremely expensive, thus making them a good penny (or cent, or other currency of choice). For people who want to lose weight....not so much. Unless they want to lose the weight from their wallet.

All Xenical (or Alli or any of those other "fat blocking" medications do) is force you to eat less fat, by creating an environment where, if you don't eat properly, you suffer some really hideous side effects. The pills themselves don't have any magic properties to help you lose weight. And eating less fat is useless by itself - and in some cases is bad for you, since your body needs a reasonable amount of healthy fats to process other nutrients properly.

My question to the OP is, did your doctor give you ANY guidance on proper diet and exercise ... or did he/she just prescribe the pills and tell you they would fix your weight issues?

Xenical isn't going to help you with munchies or with any kind of binge eating. The only thing that will help is learning to eat properly balanced meals in reasonable amounts so that you can help curb cravings. I found when I started eating healthy filling foods, more protein, more veg and fruit, and cutting out things like simple carbs and sugar and processed foods - I had a LOT fewer cravings and "munchie" fits.

Do you know how many calories you're eating daily? What percentage of that is carbs/protein/fat? Do you know how much you should be eating? And are you exercising - if so how much and what kind?

Knowing stuff like that can help us giv eyou better advice.

Hi "only me"...I started taking Xenical 3 weeks ago. Before I started my doc made me lose half a stone to show that I was on a low fat diet, and she also monitored the exercise I was doing. I lost 7 lb in the month before taking the tablets and so far have lost the same again since taking them. Funny enough I'm in Derbyshire too near Belper :-)

So far I've been trying to stick to the same diet I did before I got the pills and its going ok. I have a slimfast shake for brekky (don't all jump on me, I can't eat much in the morning and I'm only having that because my amazing doctor told me off for not having anything!) something like a bowl of soup or some noodles for lunch and a normal low fat (ish) tea, although I think this is the bit thats causing me the most issue! During the day I'm fine but I get the crazy munchies at night, especially since my OH started working nights and my daily routine is all out of sorts! I've had the side effects everyone talks about, although nothing too major (I can go out etc and not worry about accidents lol) I have been keeping a diary to see what foods work well for me and what don't...so far pasta and pork are my avoid foods as these seem to have had the worst effects on me! Fish in sauce and cous cous is my "get back on track" meal when I'm really feeling the effects :-)

Im doing alright, but I know I can do better than I am doing. I think more sleep and exercise will be the key for me!

I totally don't agree with the whole "shut them down" sentiment. My doctor took a lot of time discussing the pros and cons as well as what I had already tried and my lifestyle with me. She is keeping a close eye with regular weigh ins and check ups, and constantly reinforces the need for a healthy diet and exercise along with the tablets. They are not a substitute for these things, in fact those who are on it (as pickles said) will know that if you don't follow a healthier diet there are some considerable and inconvenient side effects!
Thanks Joseph for the advice, I shall certainly try that to reduce the side effects!!

Tig x

If you can stick to a healthy diet and exercise with the pills, why not without them? You're nullifying any positive side effects from a healthier diet by taking those pills. Yeah, you lose weight, but you're screwing up your digestive system, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

When I talked to my GP, she told me outright that she wouldn't prescribe me any kind of pills for weight loss, because she had become a doctor to make people healthier, not to ruin their health, and because she said that what some of this stuff is doing to your system is a lot worse than being overweight. I told her I was glad because I didn't want any of this crap.

Guess it's up to the individual, but I honestly don't see the point. If you can stick to the diet you need to stick to with the pills, then you would be able to do without them as well. As it is, you're filling the pockets of the manufacturer of those pills, and most likely your doc as well, since she probably gets commission from them.

I am following a low fat healthy lifestyle and I exercise regularly. The tablets aren't my only attempt at weightloss but they significantly increase the amount of weight that I lose, and at 10.5 stone overweight I need all the help I can get. I resent the fact that you are implying people who take these tablets are doing it for an easy fix and not following the healthy lifestyle as well. That would jsut be stupid.

I did a lot of research before starting the tablets, both literature by the drug company and independent sources and the decision wasn't taken lightly. It is still hard work and it will be a long road, but the tablets help me to see a bigger effect for my efforts and that is really helping me to stay on track.

To each their own. I'm not going to argue with you, it's your money that's being wasted and your health that's at risk. Please yourself!

Exactly how do they do that? I'm interested to know ... because as of right now there is no product on the market that has been scientifically proven to do what you're describing. If they do work the way you describe them, then how come it hasn't been all over the news?

Ok...I don't know how scientific or mdeical you lot are, so appologies if this is something you know already. Any large molecule that you ingest needs to be broken down into molecules that are small enough to diffuse through tiny holes in your small intestine. Unless this happens these molecules can neither be used or stored by your body. Fat is one of these large molecules and is broken down by an enzyme called lipase so that it can leave the digestive system and enter the blood stream. Xenical (and other drugs in the orlistat group) blocks some of the lipases so they cannot break down the fat and it cannot be absorbed.

Below I have included just 3 of the many articles in scientific journals I found that say orlistat works (incidentally I have found none of the other opinion). Unfortunately these are not the best ones, the ones in the brittish medical journal and the american medical association are the most comprehensive but I can only get access to them through an account at work. I don't know what your background is Kara, but I am a research microbiologist with the NHS, and my sister writes advise for the EU on new medicines and substances on the market, so between us we have access to pretty much any research paper on the subject. Do either of you have any medical or scientific background?

Oh, and it was all over the news. A search of any papers archives on the website comes up with dozens of results, specifically the BBC, sky news, the times, the gaurdian and the independent.

Expert evaluates orlistat (Xenical)
Obesity management: Update on orlistat - Dove Medical Press
ScienceDirect - Current Therapeutic Research : Effects of orlistat plus diet on postprandial lipemia and brachial artery reactivity in normolipidemic, obese women with normal glucose tolerance: A prospective, randomized, controlled Study

You do not need to have a medical background to know that if you eat a balanced diet with the right amount of fats, you will actually deprive your body of necessary fats by taking Xenical or anything that works in a similar fashion.

If you do not eat a healthy, balanced diet, these 'fatblockers' are going to do nothing for you because while you might avoid fatty foods, you'll just compensate with something else that is just as unhealthy.

But apparently you're the medical expert, so....again, please yourself. Do whatever you want to. *shrug*

You see, the thing is that the tablets don't have anything to do with the amount of weight you're losing. All they do is FORCE you to eat a reasonably healthy diet or you'll suffer the consequences.

Your description of how they work doesn't say that they increase weight loss inherently - but that they force you to lose weight. Much in the same way that weight loss surgery works.