[Georgiana]

Originally Posted by Slidesdownmountains

I have realised that I was overeating fat, which is what I said (my calories were through the roof, too - 2500 or so, but as far as I recall we weren't supposed to be counting everything).

Counting is not necessary, but this does not mean calories are not important. Dr. Atkins repeats several times throughout DANDR 2002 that calories do matter and overeating will lead to a stall in weight loss or even to weight gain. As Dr. Atkins puts it, Atkins "does not give you a license to gorge". As long as you can make the difference between eating to satisfy your hunger and eating to stuff your belly just because a food is low in carbs, counting is not necessary. If you cannot make this difference, then you need to develop strategies to teach yourself healthy eating habits. Taking Alli is not one of them, imo.

So if the only thing I get from the Alli experience, is the knowledge that I will not get by hungry eating less, and I do not need to eat fats every time I get hungry, then I will of course lose weight, and be healthier in the process. Perhaps other posters may have fallen into this trap like me?

If you were overeating before, then eating less will not leave you hungry. So you can gain the same experience by just listening to your hunger, without taking Alli.

Yes, you may be losing fat because you are restricting calories. But read further...

I doubt very much that I would have lost water weight as I don't really retain it and drink over 10 glasses at least per day, and with regards to the vitamins concern, as with some of the other supplements recommended in Atkins, I take a multi-vit before bed, so that it can be absorbed. I was well-advised on these aspects from the pharmacist when I bought the 2-week pack, and so feel like I am making a somewhat well-informed choice. It's a medically tested drug, FDA approved, not Phen-Fen/Hydroxycut or anything!!

It's true that the side-effects have been well-documented and definitely stick in the mind more than the positive results. I can see why one of the listed side-effects may be 'anxiety'!

Did you check what diets the participants in these tests were following? Were they low carb, low fat diets? I can tell you they weren't. They were high carb, low fat diets. You cannot extrapolate the results and say Alli is safe (or at least, just as safe) to take on a low carb, low fat diet.

I do not have the page number but when I get home to my book , I will endeavour to find the information: it was an experiment regarding the usual 'recommended' high-carb, low-fat diet, a low carb, high fat diet and a low fat, low carb diet.

I believe the study you are talking about was comparing a high GL diet with a low GL one, but I'll wait for the page number.

Also, there's plenty of bad press about Atkins, too so I try to read both sides.

Press, yes. Research, not really.

This is how things often travel from the lab to the news:

I have previously been having good results with Atkins, but was disappointed to be stuck at a certain weight for over a month which has not happened before and I thought I was making a concerted effort to stick to plan (have moved on to OWL - Berries, fruits, just not updated profile). This could be down to several things: too much diet coke, building muscle with my exercise class, too much fat (though the amount I eat hasn't changed in recent months) etc etc.

Okay... so you were probably overeating fat, since only the other day you entered it in Sparkpeople. You were also drinking too much diet coke. And you've been doing Atkins on and off since New Year. Then why, instead of changing these bad dietary habits, do you prefer to take Alli? Dr. Atkins wanted us to change our eating habits and learn to eat nutritious, healthy, minimally processed foods, not to binge on fat, take Alli and wash it down with diet coke. It's just not Atkins, because Atkins is based on four principles---not only losing weight, but maintaining your goal, improving your health and preventing diseases. While you may lose weight, you will never learn how you need to eat to maintain goal, unless you plan on taking Alli forever, which I doubt.

Slapshot: my menu has been similar to below for the past 5 days (obviously not the same everyday)
Breakfast - 2 scrambled eggs with 1/2 tbsp cream, grated mushrooms, 20g grated cheddar cheese, sliced pork loin, and a cup of peppermint tea - 15g fat, 3 net carbs, 239kcal
Lunch: Tuna with teaspoon full-fat mayo, red peppers, red onions, cucumber, cherry toms - 373kcal, 14g fat, 12 net carbs
Snack: olives/silverkin mini pickled onions/celery sticks (sometimes with a little peanut butter - 4g fat)
Dinner: 150g lean sirloin steak rubbed with garlic and rosemary and pan griddled, 5 lg asparagus spears and a cup and a half of mixed salad leaves with a little olive oil and lemon juice - 16g fat, 7 carbs, 640kcals
Plus, tea and coffee with 2% milk, and around 10-12 glasses water, dependent on exercise, heat etc.

So your diet has about 1400 calories, with 55-60 g of fat... out of each 1/4 are blocked by Alli... so you have 1250-1300 calories left. This is probably less by a few hundred calories than your BMR. You should know that eating low calories & low carb will mess up your thyroid hormone levels (look for e.g. E. Danforth and A. Burger, Annu. Rev. Nutr., 1989, 9:201-27 if you're interested in a study).

Did you discuss your diet with your doctor? Does he agree with you taking Alli on a low carb, low fat, low calorie diet?