Ok, I read a lot of stuff from people who thought about trying Alli, but I'm on it right now.

I've been taking it for almost a week and I've had NO side effects at all. I've kept my fat intake down, though, so it's not for people who still want to eat big macs and fries. I can't have more than 40 grams of fat a day, that's less than one double Quarter Pounder with cheese--42 grams of fat, and a typical meal for my boyfriend.

Also, you take Alli with each meal, so if you wanted to go eat a double quarter pounder with cheese, you could, you just don't want to take your pill with it, because it has too much fat and it will cause side effects.

But, I just wanted to say, only people with no willpower, or maybe just sick people who have issues with food get side effects, because to get them you have to eat a lot of fat in one meal and take an Alli capsule with the meal. Why would you do that? The booklets that come with the starter kit explain it all very well...and I doubt I will have any side effects at all. I may come back in a month or so tho, just to let you guys know if I still feel the same about it.

I think that our need in society to get instant results; instant gratification; and everything we want WHEN we want it feeds this diet pill frenzy. It is sad, and I've seen Alli stands even at my grocery store in the impulse buying sections (right by the registers). It's hard to say no because you think, "It would be so much easier if I didn't have to work as hard" and "I want to be thinner NOW!". I recently posted about crash dieting and why we shouldn't do it, because I have unfortunately learned the hard way what happens to your body if you mess with it too much. In my post I mentioned a poster at my gym, which I think is pertinent here. The poster reads,

"If a great body came in a pill, then everyone would have one"

Soooooooo TRUE!!! Thanks for the post on Alli.

I've been thinking about trying Alli. I am a 38 year old man who is roughly 80 pounds overweight. I have high blood pressure, a heart condition, and a family history of heart disease. I had a "mild" heart attack at age 35. The bottom line is that this weight is not healthy at all. I am gaining weight steadily, and have been for over a year. At the rate I am going I estimate I will be over 300 lbs by this summer if I do not find some way to control it.

I will not make weak excuses about my weight gain. I have no self control. I eat what I want whenever I feel an impulse and I feel guilty about it later. I also have a real problem with portion sizes. When I eat something really good, I just keep eating it regardless of how much. And I eat incredibly fast - the military taught me to eat quickly and I have never broken the habit.

I am a pretty avtive person, but it's not enough. I have a job which requires a great deal of mobility, and I swim four-nights per week. My swimming routine is fairly rigorous. My program consists of more than 2,000 yards of near-constant laps (80+) in an Olympic sized pool. This workout takes me nearly one hour to complete. Even with this program and my daily work routine I am gaining weight at around 2 lbs per month.

It's easy for someone else to say "get some self control", but I have none. It's taken me a long time to admit that, but it's true. So that's where Alli comes in for me. You see, I can't just talk myself into eating poorly by telling myself that one cheat meal wont hurt me - not if I'm using Alli anyway. If I do, then I could have a very embarrassing problem. A problem I am not willing to endure. The bottom line is that the idea of discharging oil all over myself, staining my business suit, and being embarrassed in front of my peers is a huge motivator.

Alli sounds exactly like what I need. I need something that forces me not to cheat "or else". I need something to teach me some self control. I am headed to see my doctor tomorrow, and, unless he says Alli could be dangerous with my heart condition, I am going to try it.

I'd be willing to post again later and give you the results of the trial if you'd like to read them.

I dont see anything in your blog about your medical credentials. In my experience in the health care field, those who complain about the drug Alli, are those with no self will. Eat alot of fat, you bet diarrhea will occur, it clearly states that will happen. If you have a weak will? Don't take the pill. It's as simple as that. Don't complain about it.

As for me, I don`t trust pills. I am overweight but nothing will make me use some pills to lose weight. I am convinced that it `s just the waste of money and time.  

The best way to use healthy organic food and physical trainigs, of course. Personally I follow Moderate Diet http://flydone.com/?p=38  and adore water aerobics. I have already achived some results and try to enjoy life without pills.  

I stood at the pharmacist's counter yesterday getting a prescription and just stared with disgust and sadness at the large, confident Alli display between me and the pharmacist.

It occured to me that the pharmacist probably thought I was just one more woman standing there hating myself and thinking this was the cure for all my ills. I left feeling sad that this type of thing is considered normal in a medical establishment - and that I hadn't had the gumption to just say what I was thinking: "This offends me. I wish you would take it down."

Last week, I drove past a huge, scrolling red sign outside of a rural Walgreens. Disgusting!

I've struggled with weight all of my life, but I'm not desperate enough to purchase a product that says you will have the runs, and should consider wearing dark pants. All for the pleasure of losing a *few* extra pounds *while* dieting.

And really 15 grams of fat per day is really, really low. Even when you're carefully watching calories. Many very healthy lowcal foods have a gram or two of fat per serving. Hell, even many vegetables have some amount of fat. No thank you.

This year I've dedicated myself to losing weight and getting in shape the "old fashioned" way: through diet and exercise. In my case, I'm not eating fewer calories/day, I am eating the same calories spread out more over the day (250-300/calories 5-6x/day). And heading to the gym 5 days a week.

I'm almost to my goal: right in the middle of the healthy BMI. I've lost over 30# since January. Remarkably, I've found so many side benefits to the exercise that I think it will become fairly easy for me to stick to a similar plan for life.

Why take a pill that makes me feel bad, when I can exercise and feel fabulous?

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Deb's Daily Distractions

Let's see -- I can be skinny but I will soil myself in public and fart uncontrollably? Oh that'll make me a regular Sex Magnet!!!!

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs relentlessly at Time's Fool

As someone with a notoriously slow metabolism (I'm on my feet eight hours a day, slinging cases of goods that weigh anywhere from 15-60 lbs each and STILL have not lost weight), I was considering Alli *until* I realized that it was basically an orlistat capsule.

Orlistat didn't fly as a fast-food additive (olestra) because who wanted to eat snacks that would make you poop yourself? I don't know what Big Pharma was thinking when they decided to insult the collective intelligence of America and repackage this into, as Catherine so wittily put it, "The Diarrhea Diet."

I hope that Alli blows up in GlaxoSmithKline's face. Or maybe in their ass. That would be more appropriate.

Amanda Shaffer, Blogher Health and Wellness Contributing Editor

The Adventures of Cat Lady.

Alli is a ridiculous and disgusting idea for a drug. That part is certainly true. But we Americans have GOT to stop looking to our government to protect us from ourselves! It is the FDA's job to evaluate a drug for its safety and risk/benefit to the public. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they get it wrong. And guess what, they get "money from the pharmaceutical companies," AKA "paid for the service they are performing," whether they approve the drug or not.

Hey, newsflash, not every country in the world is lucky enough to even have a government body even close to the FDA. In some countries, you have no idea if the medication you're purchasing is tylenol or cyanide.

I don't work for the FDA and I despise the pharmaceutical companies, but I also appreciate what we have here. And we need to stop asking the government to hold our hands at every turn. In fact, I'd say the FDA is doing a damn good job of informing you about the drug. You've been informed of the diarrhea...do you actually now need it to be made unavailable to you to keep you from purchasing it? Use your head people.

See more of my astonishingly brilliant prose at A Great Day For Willowfish.

Once upon at time there was the liquid protein diet. I inherited my grandma's hips and thighs. I bought a quart bottle for $12.50.

To be precise it was boiled cow hoofs liquefied in a cherry base. I had two tablespoons for breakfast, two for lunch and a chicken and salad dinner. I was faithful. I lost a bunch of weight.

I also gained a lovely case of hepatitis. Shortly after it was discovered that entrepreneurs were cashing in by creating their own crappy formula while women were getting sick all over the place. The fad eventually died out, along with a few women.

Alli has a marketing brochure that is used to sell the product asks for a commitment to follow the plan. Probably the same one for a number of diet pills and my boiled cow hoofs.

I haven't gone near a diet product since.

Gena - Out On The Stoop

Please continue sharing your opinions with us! And I love that you started a post about diet pills with the phrase "I'm not going to sugar coat it..." Brilliant.

Suzanne, BlogHer Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

I agree with you and wonder why anyone would want to go on a diarrhea diet, however I see these pills as being a good ole case of classical conditioning. You want to lose weight, so you take this pill...you eat something with too much fat, you have diarrhea...you want to avoid that so next time you eat something with less fat. Over time you have trained yourself to eat low fat foods to avoid having diarrhea and thus you have lost weight.

Now it is a question of whether you can continue that new learned behavior once off Alli or if you will return to your old behaviors.

If people want the same effects of drugs like Alli to lose weight, they should just get their gall bladder out. Its covered by insurance and will replicate what Alli does.

I'm kidding of course--I had emergency gall bladder surgery 4 weeks ago and I have learned quickly that I cannot eat high fat foods anymore or else...well you know.

~Shannon

A Girl's Gotta Spa!
Makeup Minute
Beauty Pro

I just saw an online ad for this stuff this morning, and I was just thinking, "How long until they find out it gives you gills or something?" Good lord.

Americans (warning: broad generalization alert) love a quick fix and I'm one of them. It's a scientific fact that eating fewer calories and moving more leads to weight loss. I know this, I really do. But, I'm fat and change is hard. Exercise is hard; I would actually have to get out of my computer chair and move somewhere other than to the fridge. Wouldn't it be so much easier to just take a pill?
I've thought about taking Alli. Even the name seduced me. Who doesn't want an "Alli" in weight loss? With their aggressive marketing campaign, I can't help but see it everywhere I go. Even if I stay at home, it's on TV. Their tagline:

You don’t just try alli to see what happens. You have to commit to a plan.

makes it seem like a real commitment (a commitment to the toilet, maybe?). But one thing that also struck me about that tagline is a sense of impending failure. If you don't commit to it 100% then you're a looser. Trust me, fat chicks don't need another reason to feel like losers.
I think that the Alli hoopla really shows what a sad state we've gotten ourselves into. People are so desperate to fit into a culturally accepted norm that they will take a pill that will most likely cause fecal incontinence.
So, I've decided to NOT take Alli. Instead of spending $70 on a poop producing pill, I think I'll spend that money on a pair of athletic shoes and go walking with my daughter.
http://TastesLikeCrazy.blogspot.com

Ok, after reading all the blogs from you "smart girls" here is a true story regarding my experience with Alli this week.

I was on honeymoon in Aruba when I read all the positive feedback and articles about Alli and how it was the true (and "harmless" fat blocker that won't affect your heart and head) since I eat pretty healthy & exercise but just can't get that last 10 lbs off, I have been frustrated and ran to the nearest WalMart on return anxious (after reasearching fully and carefully regarding the drug didn't think the high fat intake would be a problem so didn't think I would have side effects.

I took the first pill on Monday. Within a few moments, I began to feel faint, my head was swimming and my legs shaking...I felt like I was smothering and weak...

Soon I called the # given for questions and the girl that answered said "yes we have had women report they have dizziness after taking this drug" then she told me there was no money back guarantee.

Soon I received a call wanting more information on my "occurence" and an email from the drug company both offering to refund my money as well as saying the girl I spoke to "spoke out of turn" as I wanted to know why they report no "nervous system effects" if in fact, it has happened to others?

Stupid me. All I can say is you people are smart and I have learned a difficult lesson.
Since the pill, (only one) I have had ongoing occurence of violent diahreah when I eat. If this continues, I will see my doctor but am wondering if it is in fact related to the pill. I am young, in excellent health, and don't take other drugs.

I needed to warn people that you are right-- they can lie as much as they want, legally. Very sad.

I don't have a problem with the agency per se, except that it has become political and corporate. There needs to be some kind of reform and the FDA needs to implement two things immediately:

1) Post-market surveillance (force drug companies to document side effects more strenuously than they do now)

2) In order for a new drug to be approved, they need to require that all drug companies submit data comparing the new drug to other already approved drugs that are currently on the market. Right now they only have to demonstrate effectiveness compared to placebo. These new drugs are expensive and often they don't work as well as older generation drugs (see some psych medications, for instance)

This was like the time I was watching a drug rep's presentation and noticed in their lecture and glossy brochures that they compared their new pill, (which was a combination of two of their older and off patent drugs) to no drug at all. Not one or the other drug alone that was inside this new one. Just nothing at all. That is deceptive marketing.

I looked Alli up and saw that it was olestra all over again. No, thanks. It'll take me longer to lose weight but at least I won't poop my pants.

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