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

[amamaofmany]

Quote:
Oh, how I love to eat in winter time! And I do get heavy carb cravings every few weeks for a few days

. I just find new ways to quiet it!

One thing I have always enjoyed is raw carrots. I buy two huge bags of little finger-sized carrots each payday. I put about a half-dollar sized dollop of bleu cheese or ranch dressing in a bowl and eat a big handful of carrots when I'm feeling the need to eat something but know I shouldn't. The fat in the dressing makes the carrots 'feel' like they are huge calorie items, but they aren't really and the carrots are good and crunchy and have actual nutritional value (something I really do need more of!).

Since I had to give up so many of my favorite snack foods for the sake of my little guy, I've found new favorites to replace them and I don't miss them all that much now. I'm glad to do it too - his food allergies make him a raving maniac in some very unpleasant ways and once we started getting him off his allergy foods, his behavior got much better. (He's mildly autistic, too) I'm just glad milk isn't one of his allergy triggers! I'd really hate to have to give that up! (and being autistic, that was a huge concern since autism and milk allergies seem to be common)

I do feel better, too. Which is good. This kid is a bundle of perpetual motion - much like this

It helps to be able to keep up with him!

 

[Davaroo]

I make Alli. Everyday... I work for Glaxo SmithKline in Alli manufacturing. If you take it, think of me.

Does it work? Sure, if you follow the plan. It was prescription for years before it switched to over-the-counter. Many of my friends have done well with it.

But like all diets, YOU and your dedication are the key elements. Alli only accelerates your own good efforts.

 

[iread]

As a picky eater, I had a hard time dieting. I eat maybe 3 vegetables, no fish (unless it is fried with hushpuppies), and nothing close to healthy. I found that Weight Watchers was the thing that worked. I did it online for a few months. I bought a couple of books and the point calculator that tells you how many points food is worth. I was able to cancel my subscription and do it on my own. I lost 35 pounds over a year and kept it off until my last baby. I gained 42 with the pregnancy. I went back on weight watchers and have lost 50 pounds. I don't have to count points as often because I know what I can eat and what I can't. It sort of becomes a habit. The big thing with me was eating food that I like. I have to have french fries from time to time. Points allowed me to do that. I'm not saying that the weight just dropped off--it wasn't easy. It just suited me. Maybe it would be an option for you.

BTW...I also got a divorce and went on meds for high blood pressure. Maybe that was the cause of the 50 lb loss!

LOL!

 

[lorieMN]

Quote:
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."

the thing about studies is they can always do another study to disprove it..havent you heard the latest,eggs cause type 2 diabeties !!! but they dont know why...now how many people are going to believe that load of crap when they dont even have anything to back it up..all I am saying is people that are doing serious weight lifting will need carbs during the workout to feed the muscle as you are working..so I guess whatever works for people and as long as everyone is happy go for it..

 

[seminolewind]

There is only ONE way to lose weight. EAT LESS-MOVE MORE!!!!

 

[mom'sfolly]

Amen Seminole, all of us know this, but man is it hard to do.

Wifezilla, I would like to point out that while the journal article is real it is also 25 years old, had a small sample size and was very short term. Scientists disagree as much as everyone else.

 

[Wifezilla]

It is a platitude that sounds so simple. Too bad the science doesn't back it up.

"There was a time when virtually no one believed exercise would help a person lose weight. Until the sixties, clinicians who treated obese and overweight patients dismissed the notion as naïve. When Russell Wilder, an obesity and diabetes specialist at the Mayo Clinic, lectured on obesity in 1932, he said his fat patients tended to lose more weight with bed rest, “while unusually strenuous physical exercise slows the rate of loss.”"
http://nymag.com/news/sports/38001/index1.html

"1: Int J Sports Med. 1989 May;10 Suppl 1:S17-21.Links
Food intake and body composition in novice athletes during a training period to run a marathon.Janssen GM, Graef CJ, Saris WH.
Department of Human Biology, University of Limburg, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

The change in diet and body composition was studied in a group of 9 female and 18 male subjects, starting a training program for 18 months with the ultimate goal of running the marathon. Mean daily intakes from 7-day dietary records for macro- and micronutrients were calculated at the start, after 1 year of training, and just before running the marathon. Anthropometric measurements were taken on the same occasions. In males the body fat mass decreased 2.4 kg, while in females no change in body composition was observed over the 18-month training period. Energy intake increased significantly in males from 131 to 159 kJ/kg/day. In women no significant change was recorded (141 to 147 kJ/kg/day). However, in both sexes CHO intake was significantly higher after 18 months (males 63.7-81.7 kJ/kg, females 68.0-81.9 kJ/kg). Also En% CHO increased significantly in males from 48 to 52 EN% and in females from 47 to 55 En%. This extra energy intake of CHO in women was covered at the expense of dietary fat. These changes in food habits in both groups are favorable in relation to the nutritional guidelines for better cardiovascular health. Whether the sex difference found in economizing energy exchange as a response to an intensive training program is based on an increased food efficiency will require further investigation."

In my personal experience, I worked out 1 hour a day, 6 days a week for 2 years and NEVER LOST A POUND. According to my food tracker, I was eating well below what a person of my weight, height and activity level could have eaten. According to the math, I should have lost weight.

After I STOPPED exercising (other than my once a week dance class) and started low carbing, I dropped 42 lbs eating more calories.

People are not mathematical equations. Hormones play a much bigger role in weight loss and weight gain than most people believe. And a calorie is NOT a calorie. How your body uses carbs is much different than how it uses fat and protein.

 

[blueskylen]

Hi,

I'm a firm believer in self-hypnosis and "Mind over Matter". I think we can program ourselves to not want the sugary food, so that it is not a challenge to keep the fat off.

there are many programs out there that you can listen to once a day, the newest one advertised is Think and Lose - infommercial.

i'm not promoting any particular one, but have used one in the past and you can really reduce your cravings for fatty/sugary foods.
you could even record yourself reciting things that you particularly want to avoid and listen to it a couple of times a day for motivation.