Orlistat

[PaulReilly73]

Hello

I had weight loss of course at diagnosis and then a blanket insulin regime that on reflection wasnt matched really to carbs etc and so could have been on the generous side..

In the mean time weight piled back on and despite a 4/5 night a week exercise programme the wight crept back up. i was prescribed orlistat in Jan 10 and the reverse.. I lost 5 kilos in 3 weeks and happy days!

I am mindful of what I eat and stick to the 4/5 night a week exercise and now the orlistat seems ineffectual. its not like I am on lettuce and carrot sticks only and so wonder has anyone also taken orlistat and find that it plateaus (is that how you spell it :shock: )?

Regards
Paul

 

[leather_ferret]

Hi Paul,

Losing weight ain't easy.

The simple fact is in the equation

Energy in = Energy burnt off in exercise + body maintenance Energy + Energy stored as fat

It is the food type and total calories that you must change, while keeping up the good work with the exercise.

Orlistat works by stopping the pancreatic enzyme Lipase from digesting fats. On a standard 120mg dose of orlistat (Xenical), about 1/3rd of the fat you eat will pass straight through the system undigested.

If your weight loss of 5kg in 3 weeks were solely due to Orlistat, then that suggests you had a very high proportion of fat in your diet. If you were in fact on a low fat diet and the weight loss were due to reduced calories, then there is no point at all taking Orlistat - it will have no fat to 'work with' therefore no fat calories to 'prevent being taken up' by the body'

What orlistat will not do is limit the total number of calories you consume, nor will it make you change to a much lower fat, and far healthier, diet.
Repeated studies have shown that unless the diet is radically changed, those losing weight on Orlistat quickly regain any weight lost when they stop taking it.

I took Orlistat for about a year and, alongside a strict lowish fat, low calorie diet, lost three stone or so.
My GP stopped prescribing it because of news of an emerging 'connection' between this drug and acute pancreatitis attacks. I reverted to previous ways and all the weight I'd lost went back on over about a year.
In a supreme example of irony, and I might add, due to a totally different cause, I got severe acute pancreatitis, spent 4 months in Hospital, lost 9 1/2 stone in weight , and had a major OP !
5 1/2 Years on from that now, and I have not put one ounce back on.

I would scrub the Orlistat if I were you and try and summon the willpower to make radical changes to the make up of your diet and to the total amount of food you eat. Dieting is not made any easier by diabetes so perhaps you could get referral to a specialist diabetes dietician at a local hospital ??

Sorry if this is not quite what you wanted to hear, but, sadly, there is no escaping the truth of the equation at the head of this post

cheers

Dave