Anyone on xenical?

jesseecaden
jesseecaden Posts: 14 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Doctor prescribed it to me, even though most of my meals are already lower in fat, I don't use it as often as a "normal" person would.

Just looking to see if anyone else has been prescribed it and if they had positive or negative results?

Is this a waste of time and money?

Replies

  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
    I was on it a few years ago and lost maybe 5kg. It was a nightmare for me. I didn't learn anything about sustainable eating habits and gained the weight back very very quickly. For me, it was a wast of time and money. It's 6 months of my life I can't get back.

    Be extremely careful not to exceed the recommended amount of fat per meal. The results aren't pretty - to put it mildly.

    Honestly, the best results I've had come from tracking my intake and eating just a smidgen less than my body burns. I needed to learn appropriate portion sizes and a pill wasn't teaching me that. Didn't help that the nutritionist I ended up at was a complete quack...
  • jesseecaden
    jesseecaden Posts: 14 Member
    ladyreva78 wrote: »
    I was on it a few years ago and lost maybe 5kg. It was a nightmare for me. I didn't learn anything about sustainable eating habits and gained the weight back very very quickly. For me, it was a wast of time and money. It's 6 months of my life I can't get back.

    Be extremely careful not to exceed the recommended amount of fat per meal. The results aren't pretty - to put it mildly.

    Honestly, the best results I've had come from tracking my intake and eating just a smidgen less than my body burns. I needed to learn appropriate portion sizes and a pill wasn't teaching me that. Didn't help that the nutritionist I ended up at was a complete quack...


    I have a daily deficit of 1000 calories and I only use the pills when my meal goes above 10g of fat. I was already losing weight before I started taking them so maybe that's why I'm not really seeing a difference.

    I will say I had chinese as a special treat one night, followed by a pill and I don't think I'll be doing that again. I think it's a mental thing for me, almost like if I do eat something bad for my I won't feel *as* guilty...but I also work for my cheats, e.g. I walked to the corner store for a mars bar (and I live in the middle of no where, so it was burned off before I even ate it) but I still felt that guilt and shame until I took this "magical" little pill.

    I don't think I will refill the prescription.
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
    jesseecaden wrote: »
    ladyreva78 wrote: »
    I was on it a few years ago and lost maybe 5kg. It was a nightmare for me. I didn't learn anything about sustainable eating habits and gained the weight back very very quickly. For me, it was a wast of time and money. It's 6 months of my life I can't get back.

    Be extremely careful not to exceed the recommended amount of fat per meal. The results aren't pretty - to put it mildly.

    Honestly, the best results I've had come from tracking my intake and eating just a smidgen less than my body burns. I needed to learn appropriate portion sizes and a pill wasn't teaching me that. Didn't help that the nutritionist I ended up at was a complete quack...


    I have a daily deficit of 1000 calories and I only use the pills when my meal goes above 10g of fat. I was already losing weight before I started taking them so maybe that's why I'm not really seeing a difference.

    I will say I had chinese as a special treat one night, followed by a pill and I don't think I'll be doing that again. I think it's a mental thing for me, almost like if I do eat something bad for my I won't feel *as* guilty...but I also work for my cheats, e.g. I walked to the corner store for a mars bar (and I live in the middle of no where, so it was burned off before I even ate it) but I still felt that guilt and shame until I took this "magical" little pill.

    I don't think I will refill the prescription.

    Don't.

    After reading what you posted... whatever weight you lost was your hard word and not that pill. Considering you're reigning in your fat that tightly, it will have a minimal effect at best.

    Honestly, you don't need to feel guilty for any food you eat. Part of the process is learning to incorporate those things you love in appropriate serving sizes in your daily allowance and I think you're slowly gaining a handle on that. There's room for treats. Just make sure the majority of your diet is well balanced and provides you with the necessary macro and micro nutrients.

  • bizgirl26
    bizgirl26 Posts: 1,795 Member
    The other issue with this is that I think eventually you slip up and eat too much fat and then you have an oil spill in your pants . I knew someone that tried it and she had to carry underwear with her . Nasty . Don't trust a fart
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
    bizgirl26 wrote: »
    The other issue with this is that I think eventually you slip up and eat too much fat and then you have an oil spill in your pants . I knew someone that tried it and she had to carry underwear with her . Nasty . Don't trust a fart

    Yup. Been there, done that. There's not enough money in the world to compensate being in that situation. :dizzy:
  • jesseecaden
    jesseecaden Posts: 14 Member
    ladyreva78 wrote: »
    bizgirl26 wrote: »
    The other issue with this is that I think eventually you slip up and eat too much fat and then you have an oil spill in your pants . I knew someone that tried it and she had to carry underwear with her . Nasty . Don't trust a fart

    Yup. Been there, done that. There's not enough money in the world to compensate being in that situation. :dizzy:

    That's one of my fears, but luckily (for that reason only) I'm a stay at home mom so I would just fit in with my kids pooping their pants. But unluckily, I'm a stay at home mom, there's constant food around me and my son has the opposite problem as I do, he needs to gain weight so there are lots of high calorie, high fat and so delicious treats.
  • solieco1
    solieco1 Posts: 1,559 Member
    edited March 2017
    jesseecaden wrote: »
    ladyreva78 wrote: »
    I was on it a few years ago and lost maybe 5kg. It was a nightmare for me. I didn't learn anything about sustainable eating habits and gained the weight back very very quickly. For me, it was a wast of time and money. It's 6 months of my life I can't get back.

    Be extremely careful not to exceed the recommended amount of fat per meal. The results aren't pretty - to put it mildly.

    Honestly, the best results I've had come from tracking my intake and eating just a smidgen less than my body burns. I needed to learn appropriate portion sizes and a pill wasn't teaching me that. Didn't help that the nutritionist I ended up at was a complete quack...


    I have a daily deficit of 1000 calories and I only use the pills when my meal goes above 10g of fat. I was already losing weight before I started taking them so maybe that's why I'm not really seeing a difference.

    I will say I had chinese as a special treat one night, followed by a pill and I don't think I'll be doing that again. I think it's a mental thing for me, almost like if I do eat something bad for my I won't feel *as* guilty...but I also work for my cheats, e.g. I walked to the corner store for a mars bar (and I live in the middle of no where, so it was burned off before I even ate it) but I still felt that guilt and shame until I took this "magical" little pill.

    I don't think I will refill the prescription.


    You can do this and rely on yourself - You are strong enough. The mentality this creates to somehow have a secret trick and to demonize certain foods is probably not going to support your long term goals. Fat is not the enemy. Just eat; stay in your calories; take a breath, enjoy your success that WILL come :)

    You may also find you'll be more successful with a smaller daily deficit. The time is going to pass anyway. If you went to a 500 cal daily deficit you could enjoy the process and stay with it for the long haul. I'd also get a new Doctor.

    There. A whole lot of my unsolicited opinion - all the best to you <3
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
    jesseecaden wrote: »
    ladyreva78 wrote: »
    bizgirl26 wrote: »
    The other issue with this is that I think eventually you slip up and eat too much fat and then you have an oil spill in your pants . I knew someone that tried it and she had to carry underwear with her . Nasty . Don't trust a fart

    Yup. Been there, done that. There's not enough money in the world to compensate being in that situation. :dizzy:

    That's one of my fears, but luckily (for that reason only) I'm a stay at home mom so I would just fit in with my kids pooping their pants. But unluckily, I'm a stay at home mom, there's constant food around me and my son has the opposite problem as I do, he needs to gain weight so there are lots of high calorie, high fat and so delicious treats.

    May I ask how old your son is?

    As for those delicious treats. Are any of those 'trigger foods' for you? If yes, could you perhaps replace those with something (yummy for your son) but not nearly as appealing to you? If it's simply seriously delicious food that you're fine with eating one, maybe find a way to make one fit into your daily goal (worst case lower your deficit from 1000 to 500, you'll still lose weight, just a bit slower), which you can then eat during a set snack time at the same time as your son (something like a role model, as in 'look... mommy's eating that yummy treat, are you going to let her eat alone?').

    Alternatively, maybe keep less of those yummy treats around? Shop just enough to last for a few days and tell yourself that those are your son's and he needs those, that you have only one planned for yourself and not enough for more and, as such, you eating more than that planned one will cause your son harm harm (yeah, that's called talking yourself out of something by giving yourself a bad conscience... so maybe not so smart after all...)

    Since your son needs to gain weight, it might do him good to see you eat 'normally'? Not sure if I'm formulating this correctly, but children often copy the patterns set by their parents. So if you show a healthy attitude towards food (restricting how much you eat without making it look like your restricting by making sure its varied and does include treats), maybe it'll be easier for him to start eating enough to support his growing body.

    Which is probably asking to you to try to square a circle :tongue:

    (Disclaimer: I don't have children and can't really begin to understand what the situation would be like in reality. I'm like a general making battle plans without ever having been on the battle field... here's to hoping that my theories aren't too far from the reality :wink: )

    And lastly... you're doing awesome! In case no one ever told you that :smile:
    (enough of the blathering and opinions now)
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    In studies by the manufacturer, people who took it daily and not just "as needed" as you're doing only lost about 5 pounds more than the control group of people who didn't take it at all. Paying good money for something that only produces minimal additional losses AND makes you poop your pants doesn't really seem like a rational move for anyone -- and especially not for you, since you've got your intake figured out, it sounds like.
  • LessCookiess
    LessCookiess Posts: 538 Member
    Omg the side effects sound so cringy!! Good luck op on your weight loss journey!!

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