Alli - Has anyone used it? Have you been succesful?

[Smoky73]

Quote:
You should not tell people its one of the worst weight lost options out there if you have not tried it. I tried it and it worked, and so have many other people. I can think of much worse weight loss options out there. It may not be fat necessarily that does it, but, tripling your calories in one day as to what you are supposed to have which is what the general population consumes now a days does.
Granted its not for everyone, but for many, its the only thing that HAS worked.

 

[lockedhearts]

Quote:
You should not tell people its one of the worst weight lost options out there if you have not tried it. I tried it and it worked, and so have many other people. I can think of much worse weight loss options out there. It may not be fat necessarily that does it, but, tripling your calories in one day as to what you are supposed to have which is what the general population consumes now a days does.
Granted its not for everyone, but for many, its the only thing that HAS worked.

I did the low carb option and yes I lost a bunch of weight and pretty quickly, problem is, with Atkins, you end up eating a bunch of food that is not necessarily healthy for you .
I can see where Alli can be right for some people. I am trying hard to watch carbs, fat and eat healthy now, I have gained back about half of what I lost on Atkins.
It's just like anything, this may work for some and not others as Atkins, South Beach, WW, any of the others may work for some and not all.
I think some people have to find what works for them.

 

[Wifezilla]

You should not tell people its one of the worst weight lost options out there if you have not tried it.

I did the low carb option and yes I lost a bunch of weight and pretty quickly, problem is, with Atkins, you end up eating a bunch of food that is not necessarily healthy for you

I have spent the last 2 years researching this and there are very sound medical reasons I say this. If you are interested, check out "Good Calories Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes to start and then get back to me.

Here is one of the latest tidbit of information I gathered...
http://www.examiner.com/x-798-Denve...3-Current-medical-advice-a-real-heart-breaker

One of the most telling things about diet is researching diets of native populations that DO NOT suffer from obesity, heart disease or type 2 diabetes. I have looked in to the Tokelau Natives, the Pima Indians, the Inuit (and the writings and research of Vilhjalmur Stefansson) and the Maasia in Africa. Another interesting study is the Alert Bay experiment with a First Nations village and the work of Doctor Jay Wortman. (http://www.cbc.ca/thelens/bigfatdiet/)

So yeah...I kind of have an idea of what I am talking about...but I don't just expect people to take my word for it. All the information is out there and I am ecstatic when people take the initiative to read the studies, analyze the research and understand where all this stuff comes from.

I think Alli is terrible because the basic premise that fat makes you fat is wrong. Natural healthy fats contain ESSENTIAL fatty acids...the key word there being essential. Blocking something essential to your body (fatty acids from fats) is just plain unhealthy. Protein is needed by the body to rebuild cells and muscle tissue. There is, however, no such thing as an essential carbohydrate (as any glucose required by the body can be made in the liver if you have adequate protein). It's not my opinion, it's reality. The theory that fat makes you fat and causes heart disease was based on some very flawed research*. Recommendations based on that research have led to current dietary recommendations, drug therapies and fat-free foods. The result has been an obesity explosion.

*There was data on over 20 nations available at the time Ancel Keyes did his study. He picked 7 that fit his hypothesis that fat is unhealthy and gives you heart disease and ignored the data from all the other countries.​

 

[amamaofmany]

One of my sons, who is six, has a lot of food allergies. He is allergic to a lot of processed foods, so we've largely cut them out of our diets. No bags of cookies, (

no oreos!) No chips other than the most basic tortilla chips, no sodapop or fruitjuices (he's allergic to orange juice, and some food colorings deemed 'natural' in fruit juices) and he's also allergic to things we have yet to discover.

So, we bake from scratch. We cut out corn syrup except once a week we may have some on pancakes (but I made and canned a lot of fruit syrups and jams from fruit grown on our own property; mulberry, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, and I do buy maple syrup when I can afford it) We don't drink soda-pop except Hanson's natural sugar sodas if they have no cornsyrup or colors. Many other foods we once enjoyed we cut out or strictly limit.

No canned soups, no ordered-out pizza (we make our own, and with 8 kids that means making enough bread dough for 4 extra large pizzas - about 16 cups of flour) We make our own ice cream if we can't afford a very basic all natural ice cream. I make our own hot chocolate mix, pancake mix, biscuit mix etc Its more work, but actually less expensive to go back to basics anyway. I just have to plan better, which hasn't excited me, but hasn't killed me either.

Interestingly enough, my husband and I have both lost weight without doing anything else. None of us starve, none of us feel deprived (except where the oreos are concerned. I DO miss those)

And we have not cut out fats, really. We fry our own frenchfries, we make our own sauces and gravies since there is no more canned soup to hurry that along. We eat a LOT of peanutbutter. But cutting out a lot of the corn syrup and some, but not all, hydrogenated fats and baking from scratch (and with 8 kids, we make huge batches of cookies cakes and brownies!) we've lost weight. I now weight about 140 lbs, which is healthy for my size. My husband has lost about 25 lbs and has about another 50 to go, but he is making slow but sure progress.

It has been a blessing in disguise. What I thought was an awful thing to have to deal with has actually made us healthier and hasn't meant eating food that tastes like cardboard and woodshavings.

edited because my smilie wasn't smiling!

 

[mainchick]

wow! i want to weigh 140! that is pretty much my goal weight. I find that during the winter/ holidays i get indulgent and make excuses to PIG OUT. the best thing for me to lose weight is lower carb, but don't deprive myself of carbs. If I really reduce sugar intake I actually start feeling better in a short amount of time. i also find that I don't get hungry. Reducing the carb amounts really stops the hungry-snacking tummy thing I do. I just started my post winter weight loss program. I am following the low carb weight watchers schedule. It is awesome!!!!!

 

[lorieMN]

Quote:
It isn't the fat that makes you fat...it is the bun, the french fries and the high fructose corn syrup in the drinks.

There is a man who did a documentary called "Fat Head" which is a response to "Super Size Me". He ate only at fast food restaurants and just avoided the carbs and sugar but still ate meat and fat. He LOST WEIGHT

If you already cut the carbs and are still stuck, have you had your thyroid tested? Not just TSH, but free t3 and free t4?

You may also be one of those unlucky few (like me) that converts even the tiniest extra bit of protein in to glucose. A blood glucose monitor can give you the answer on that one.

agree with you to a point...natural fats are not bad for you,,its the junk fat science has munipulated that is bad for you..the more natural diet the better your health,simple..leafy greens are actually neg calorie because it takes more energy to process them then calorie they contain.Now if a person only wants to be skinny and dont care about strenght,go for the no carb diet,,but I want to be healthy and strong,I dont care what I weigh as long as I look good and FEEL good..I need to be strong because I do TONS of manual labor..and I need some good carbs to feed my muscles,I personally dont think a pill is the way to go,not for me..I find it funny lots of people on here worry about useing medicated feed for chicks but dont think twice about swallowing pills yourself..it takes hard work and dedication to make a lifestyle change,but in the end it is well worth it.One tip,lots of water,,if you dont have to pee every half hour in the beginning you arent drinking enough,I drink one cup of coffee in the AM,then water the rest of the day,most days about 2 gallons,I havent had a soda in almost 3 years.

 

[Lunachick]

For all you people doing the low/lower carb thing, it might be a good idea to take chromium picolinate, it helps with the carb/sugar craving, especially if you're trying to ween yourselves off of the carbohydrates. I take it daily. I noticed it keeps me out of the pantry at night.

 

[Wifezilla]

While I agree with you Lori about natural foods, stating that low carb will just make you skinny but not healthy or strong is incorrect. A low carbohydrate diet builds muscle because of the protein level. No, fast food is NOT the basis of a good low carb diet, but it wont hurt every once in a while and you can low carb at a regular restaurant.

And it is low carb...not no carb because healthy greens do contain carbohydrates and so does meat, dairy and berries...all staples on a low carb diet.

It is the protein that builds muscles and keeps you strong. Carbs actually make you weaker, compete with vitamins in your metabolic pathways (vitamin C being a prime example of one that gets crowded out by sugar) and weakens your immune system.

As for pills, yup...they are bad news...unless it is an Omega 3 fish pill

 

[lorieMN]

Quote:
yes,protien builds muscle..but I meant and should have said if you are doing weight lifting you will need good carbs to burn during the workout,or you will crash and wont be able to finish the workout or your form will be poor increasing chance of injury.By good carbs I mean greens and berries and nuts..not processed chips, breads and processed sugars..sorry,I didnt clarify earlier,I do believe tho that if all a person does is arobic and low carb they will lose weight,but they will also lose muscle,..and thats great if people are happy with that,,just saying I am not,so I do the weight lifting.

 

[Wifezilla]

I do believe tho that if all a person does is arobic and low carb they will lose weight,but they will also lose muscle

That's where I disagree. The belief that a low carb diet causes muscle loss is rampant in the body-building community. Science does not show that to be the case.
"The human metabolic response to chronic ketosis without caloric restriction: physical and biochemical adaptation.

Phinney SD, Bistrian BR, Wolfe RR, Blackburn GL
Metabolism 1983 Aug;32(8):757-768

To study the metabolic effects of ketosis without weight loss, nine lean men were fed a eucaloric balanced diet (EBD) for one week providing 35-50 kcal/kg/d, 1.75 g of protein per kilogram per day and the remaining kilocalories as two-thirds carbohydrate (CHO) and one-third fat. This was followed by four weeks of a eucaloric ketogenic diet (EKD)--isocaloric and isonitrogenous with the EBD but providing less than 20 g CHO daily. Both diets were appropriately supplemented with minerals and vitamins. Weight and whole-body potassium estimated by potassium-40 counting (40K) did not vary significantly during the five-week study. Nitrogen balance (N-Bal) was regained after one week of the EKD. The fasting blood glucose remained lower during the EKD than during the control diet (4.4 mmol/L at EBD, 4.1 mmol/L at EKD-4, P less than 0.01). The fasting whole-body glucose oxidation rate determined by a 13C-glucose primed constant infusion technique fell from 0.71 mg/kg/min during the control diet to 0.50 mg/kg/min (P less than 0.01) during the fourth week of the EKD. The mean serum cholesterol level rose (from 159 to 208 mg/dL) during the EKD, while triglycerides fell from 107 to 79 mg/dL. No disturbance of hepatic or renal function was noted at EKD-4. These findings indicate that the ketotic state induced by the EKD was well tolerated in lean subjects; nitrogen balance was regained after brief adaptation, serum lipids were not pathologically elevated, and blood glucose oxidation at rest was measurably reduced while the subjects remained euglycemic.
Comments: They gave some men a low-carb diet. They were allowed to eat as much as they wanted, but it had to be low-carb. So this is the Atkins diet. These men were already thin, as it turns out, they didn't lose weight. They measured the amount of protein they were losing by urine testing. They discovered that they weren't losing any."​