Orlistat from the gp

[IncessantNameChanger]

Is anyone using orlistat? I did two weeks of slim fast and lost 10lbs as a kick start then asked my gp for orlistat as although i lost a good amount on my kick start i do eat some crap at weekends like a doughnut, two ice creams, roast dinner etc.

Anyway I've been good as usual in the week but shocked to see I have lost 6lbs this week. Is the normal? Its 120mg. I wasnt expecting this much. Will it settle down? It's good dont get wrong but I'm not sure I want to loose this much every week. My BMI was around 38

i've got the orlistat but have too scared to use it!
going to try now seeing what you've said. similar NMI to you
was going to order saxenda but maybe i'll try the orlistat first

I tried to order saxenda but had my order refused as couldn't take both at once. This is double strength from the gp. So far no really bad side effects but I had a croissant for breakfast as took my boys to a therapy appointment and that's all I could buy in the cafe. Not sure if I will pay for that later.

I lost 60lbs on Orlistat years ago. It worked really well for me.
Beware though as it leaches the fat soluble vitamins and I did notice being quite run down. Maybe take a vitamin supplement?

Genuinely curious, doesn't this just make you shit out any fat you've eaten? Does that mean you've got to anticipate toilet breaks when you go out in public?

i think you need to cut out fat as much as possible in your daily diet but I guess if you could do that without lots of other high calorie stuff ( white wine and chocolate I'm looking at you!!)
then I imagine you wouldn't need it!
i lost 2 stones two years ago with slimming world have regained every ounce just cannot motivate myself to re start it again

I use it in the lower strength over the counter brand Alli (I think it's half the strength of the prescription stuff).

My first week I lost 9lbs. It slowed after that, was more like 3-4lbs a week. Lost 4st over a few months it was great.

It does work but I warn you do not, I repeat DO NOT, eat loads of junk. If you do, you will shit yourself and it's not even normal poo which would be bad enough it's disgusting orange fat/slime, it stinks and it will stain everything it's bad enough getting it off the toilet bowl (sorry for the tmi!) . Some people are much more sensitive to it than others. I wouldn't want to take the prescription strength, the lower level stuff worked just fine for me.

It works by removing the fat from your food which you lose in the toilet. But it also works because you stop eating so much of the bad stuff because you can't.... or you'll suffer the side effects. I actually never had any actual accidents because I adjusted my diet but if I had healthy but high fat things like a salmon fillet with rice and veg, then I knew about it the next day because of the fat content of the salmon. I have read horror stories on here of people who thought they could break their diet like you do on normal ones and have a sneaky Chinese..... don't do that.

I have kept the weight off though. That's because of the long term diet adjustments rather than the tablets though. I haven't taken it for over two years and my weight only fluctuates by 2-3lbs, even with the occasional sneaky Chinese here and there now.

Yes it does. It removes the fat into the toilet (which obviously cuts your calorie intake dramatically) but it also means you have to change your diet properly because if you don't you will suffer for it. See my post above!

It does work though. You change your diet, lose the fat and hopefully the long term diet changes mean you keep it off.

I'm a GP. I've seen so many people lose loads of weight on orlistat. I can't think of a single person who has kept the weight off for any length of time. It's a pretty rubbish drug.

That's really encouraging . I need to have some surgery and have been warned about my weight so I really need to make the changes

Sorry didn't see this. Not so encouraging!,
It was the gp who suggested I use it

I would say, for your own good and being kind, you need to get to get really organised so you're not buying food on the hop (easier said than done when you've got young children, I know). Can you prepare something the night before, have a slice of toast or maybe grab an apple or banana on the way out instead? Be wary of things too that are known as 'healthy' but are fatty or oily - salmon, avocado, peanut butter etc. It's easy to forget. You can have a bit of these things but not much and not, for example all three in one day. Small portions.

But a croissant is by its nature even plain very high fat because of the butter content. I'd stick near a toilet later on.

I have! Two years later and 4st down.

You have to make the long term diet changes though. The drug is like the Kickstarter to this. You adopt healthier habits because if you don't, you'll poo your pants!

You shouldn't take it long term anyway, should you?

@passport123 sorry to just jump on the thread and bother you, but I’ve been considering going to my GP to ask for something to help me loose weight. My bmi is 37. I am desperate, would they give me anything other than orlistat? Thank you

Out of interest what do people tend to not regain from?

I lost quite a lot using slimming world and orlistat. I've kept it off for about 8 months so far, no orlistat.

@passport123 I've seen suggestions that it simply stops working after a while. Is that true? Or if I restarted, would it work effectively again?

I used Orlistat for years and years (maybe 3?) I lost a few pounds at the start but then nothing. I still don't know why I took it for SO long. One day I just decided to exercise and count calories and lost 4st that way. I've gained one of those 4 back, but I'm still smaller than when I took Orlistat.

I dont think it would work without calorie counting? A normal diet and orlistat are fairly incompatible I would imagine. Like anything if you go back to your old ways you will gain it back.

I had a protein shake and snack in the car and was planning on having that for breakfast but when I ordered the toastie for my boys I thought I would have one too, was expecting bread!

Just anything more fatty than margarine and mayo in a sandwich is going to have bad side effects. I think if I was going out for a special dinner I'd skip that dose. Having a fairly oil light roast dinner is just about ok. Anything fied like chips is impossible unless you want to sit on the loo every hour! I think that would old fairly quickly. I still cant figure why such a extreme loss this week? Maybe its partly a hangover from the low calorie I was on from the previous weeks?

The toastie was as expected a bad idea. Still no where near having any kind of accident but still. I think I might need to keep having breaks if I did this for any amount of time. I'm still losing an alarming amount of weight. Mostly because I'm not snacking at all and too scared to eat much as it seems EVERYTHING has fat in it.

I'm ticking along having a protein shake and a 95 calorie snack with no orlistat for my lunch. Easy and not hungry but I'm not sure its enjoyable. I do think if you kept up the portion size and avoiding fat it would be sustainable to keep the weight down.

The key to weight loss and maintenance is finding an eating pattern you can sustain.

I didn't find orlistat caused me problems. So give it a couple of weeks then relax a little.

Two weeks avoiding very high fat foods is manageable, then be gradually less strict over time.

Are you sure the diet is responsible for the weight loss?

It sounds quite extreme, should you ease off a bit and see what happens?

Yes I think it's the tablets causing the weight loss but your told you lose an extra 50% as per of a calorie controlled diet. So I wouldnt expect to loose 4lbs in a week. However a small disclaimer in that I have had unexplained odema for around 9 months now. No idea why it started or the cause so unless a bit of weight loss has started to shift that too? But I'm not convinced. I think if I loose more than 4lbs next week I will just cut back to a tablet with dinner. 4lbs a week would be a dream..6 is worrying but I am extremely overweight right now

Is that a water retention thing?

I'm convinced a better diet has reduced inflammation for me. Possibly because of severely reducing bread.

The bigger you are the greater the weight loss initially, no idea why but eventually you will plateau.

Trust me you won't.

How are you doing OP. I've just been prescribed Orlistat and I'm nervous starting it. I start it tomorrow.. wish me luck. I'm worried about the fat content now of every item! What's the maximum amount of fat you have in one meal?