Orlistat (xenical) while doing Keto diet?

RitaRoo2010

I'm pescatarian so doing Keto is difficult for me as it seems like there is much more prep or planning (not keen on raw diets). I lost a good amount of weight with that in the past, like 15 lbs in a month. Once i ended it, I spiked right back up. I'm currently on orlistat (120 mg) and have lost about 8 lbs in the past 3 weeks. I recently started going to the gym twice a week (last week and this) so I'm hoping to be losing more soon. I drink north of 64 oz of water a day, typically around 90 oz or more so I'm not concerned about water weight.

Here's my question, has anyone tried doing Keto while taking orlistat? I've already read why this might be a bad idea but have also read someone saying it worked well for them. So I'm not looking for opinions like "That's a bad idea" but rather opinions from someone that may be an actual dietrician or health professional who can give an opinion but also from people that have tried this. Have you tried taking orlistat / alli/ xenical while doing the ketogenic diet? did it work? was it awful? What were the pros and cons.

Look forward to feedback,
-I'm trying!!

Replies

stanmann571

tennisdude2004 wrote: »

kshama2001 wrote: »

RitaRoo2010 wrote: »

I'm pescatarian so doing Keto is difficult for me as it seems like there is much more prep or planning (not keen on raw diets). I lost a good amount of weight with that in the past, like 15 lbs in a month. Once i ended it, I spiked right back up. I'm currently on orlistat (120 mg) and have lost about 8 lbs in the past 3 weeks. I recently started going to the gym twice a week (last week and this) so I'm hoping to be losing more soon. I drink north of 64 oz of water a day, typically around 90 oz or more so I'm not concerned about water weight.

Here's my question, has anyone tried doing Keto while taking orlistat? I've already read why this might be a bad idea but have also read someone saying it worked well for them. So I'm not looking for opinions like "That's a bad idea" but rather opinions from someone that may be an actual dietrician or health professional who can give an opinion but also from people that have tried this. Have you tried taking orlistat / alli/ xenical while doing the ketogenic diet? did it work? was it awful? What were the pros and cons.

Look forward to feedback,
-I'm trying!!

Hi Rita,

Well, now you know that combing Keto and Alli is a recipe for disaster. However, there's nothing magic about Keto and it sounds like it doesn't particularly suit you anyway. Seems like low fat pescatarian would be a better fit for you.

^^^ Agreed.

I would add calorie counting and eat what you like in moderation to that list too.

If you look carefully you’ll find that in column 3 of each row.

tennisdude2004

stanmann571 wrote: »

tennisdude2004 wrote: »

kshama2001 wrote: »

RitaRoo2010 wrote: »

I'm pescatarian so doing Keto is difficult for me as it seems like there is much more prep or planning (not keen on raw diets). I lost a good amount of weight with that in the past, like 15 lbs in a month. Once i ended it, I spiked right back up. I'm currently on orlistat (120 mg) and have lost about 8 lbs in the past 3 weeks. I recently started going to the gym twice a week (last week and this) so I'm hoping to be losing more soon. I drink north of 64 oz of water a day, typically around 90 oz or more so I'm not concerned about water weight.

Here's my question, has anyone tried doing Keto while taking orlistat? I've already read why this might be a bad idea but have also read someone saying it worked well for them. So I'm not looking for opinions like "That's a bad idea" but rather opinions from someone that may be an actual dietrician or health professional who can give an opinion but also from people that have tried this. Have you tried taking orlistat / alli/ xenical while doing the ketogenic diet? did it work? was it awful? What were the pros and cons.

Look forward to feedback,
-I'm trying!!

Hi Rita,

Well, now you know that combing Keto and Alli is a recipe for disaster. However, there's nothing magic about Keto and it sounds like it doesn't particularly suit you anyway. Seems like low fat pescatarian would be a better fit for you.

^^^ Agreed.

I would add calorie counting and eat what you like in moderation to that list too.

If you look carefully you’ll find that in column 3 of each row.

Ha, ha.

Column three is the result of calorie counting or eating what you like in moderation. As it is for all the other diet models already on column one.

Keto_Vampire

Well, you are just setting yourself up for disaster if you attempt this with traditional Keto (steatorrhea/fecal oil spotting nastiness). Would be more plausible with a targeted approach, say aim for a MAX of less than 100g/fat per day, Orlistat(XENICAL) gives you a rough 30% reduction in fat absorption (-~270kcal/day), which is good enough for complementing a slight kcal deficit diet to begin with

Would highly recommend experimenting on an off/rest day @ home for practical reasons if inclined to do so to see how it agrees with your "constitution". I have personally found setting a restriction on fat a good way around dreaded keto (HFLC) plateaus (without using drugs that is)

nutmegoreo

kshama2001 wrote: »

L1zardQueen wrote: »

Best thread ever!

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10290083/alli-xenical-does-it-work-please-only-answer-if-you-have-actually-taken-it/p1

My favorite post from that thread:

Ninkyou wrote: »

I've never taken Alli, BUT, I do have a real world story to share.

I used to work at a furniture store... about 3 years ago. We once had a a female customer come into the store. Well, she had to make a break for the bathroom quite suddenly. After some time the salesperson who had been working with her complained (I was in customer service) that the lady never came back and that he'd wasted time with her. A handful of minutes passed and I went to the bathroom. What I saw I can never ever unsee.

Without going into too much gruesome detail, there was orange poo everywhere. The lady's clothes were in the trash, soiled. The lady was in one of the stalls hysterically crying. I left and told the manager about it. She went to help out the lady and basically gave her a sheet from one of the floor model beds to cover herself so she could leave the bathroom. The manager later told us the lady said she was taking Alli and she'd basically exploded everywhere. She apologized over and over. I felt bad for the lady. How embarassing and humiliating for her that must have been. Then the other customer service girl I worked with volunteered to clean the bathroom (we didn't have a cleaning service at the time, it was a brand new store). I didn't envy her position. It was the single most grossest thing I've ever seen (and I have 2 kids...so...).

So yeah... word of caution there....

My favorite post as well. That poor woman. I can't even imagine.

Hopefully, OP finds a different way. Or returns to let us know how it goes.

ljashley1952

Taking a fat blocker while on a high-fat diet would completely defeat the purpose. I think you will need to do one thing or the other. We were all trained to think fats are bad for you. Some research is suggesting that this is not the case. I do not know the correct answer because I think it depends on who is doing the research. I would be suspicious of fat research done by the dairy industry or the beef industry. On the other hand, you can always try something for a month and see what works for you and stick with it.

RitaRoo2010

I promise I wasn't purposefully ignoring the thread. I have the memory of a drunken goldfish and merely forgot I posted anything lol. I had only used the app since and not the website so I didn't get any notifications (and my email for this site is frankly my 'junk' email.)
So, I did not do it. haha
I guess my thought process was if you ate all fat and went into ketosis + you 'lose' upwards of 30% of the fat from that nasty side effects = it would equal even more fat loss.
THAT was the thought process but without ever seeing the responses, I still chose not to do it for the reasons listed above!

As for the question about "why?" My doctor wouldn't send me to a nutritionist and just said to eat better (which I was already doing..I'm a pescatarian for pete's sake) and I mentioned having been on adipex in the past and how it helped a lot but she said 'absolutely not' as she is not a fan of it. I said that was fine (and it was going to be combined with exercise) and then she came back at me with "bariatric surgery." Having watched both my mom and grandma lose the ability to eat certain foods, constantly throwing up (at the beginning before they figured it out) and having gained back all their weight, I certainly did not want to go that route. So the compromise was a prescribed form of orlistat.

It has been working...yes, with some of the not so lovely side effects on occasion (which is great inspiration for eating way less fat.) I don't take it every day and sometimes go a week without it to make sure I'm not relying solely upon it and make sure I get into the habit of walking the dogs or going to the gym.

With orlistat and light exercise, I had gone down about 25 lbs in 3-4 months. I stopped going to the gym during summer and started eating pretty crappy (yay, depression) and gained 5 pounds back and the orlistat stabilized it and I didn't gain any more back than that. So it has positives and negatives for sure. Had I not taken it up to this point, I certainly would've gained ALL that weight back.

So basically I'm heading back to the gym, I'm still 20 lbs down from when I started the orlistat in May-ish, and I'm going to focus strictly on weight training for the next couple weeks before introducing any cardio outside of yoga and walking. (I think a zumba class done me in and I died and fell into bad habits.)

Anyhow, thanks for all the responses!!! I appreciate them and given my own experience, decided not to go through with my idea hahahaha.

TLDR: I wasn't ignoring y'all, I just forgot I posted. I didn't go ahead and combine them based on my own experience and quickly realized it would be an awful idea. Orlistat does work and has helped me maintain while I'm not working out (which i'm starting up again.) And I'll try to remember to use myfitnesspal site more ha!

arobey11

RitaRoo2010 wrote: »

I promise I wasn't purposefully ignoring the thread. I have the memory of a drunken goldfish and merely forgot I posted anything lol. I had only used the app since and not the website so I didn't get any notifications (and my email for this site is frankly my 'junk' email.)
So, I did not do it. haha
I guess my thought process was if you ate all fat and went into ketosis + you 'lose' upwards of 30% of the fat from that nasty side effects = it would equal even more fat loss.
THAT was the thought process but without ever seeing the responses, I still chose not to do it for the reasons listed above!

As for the question about "why?" My doctor wouldn't send me to a nutritionist and just said to eat better (which I was already doing..I'm a pescatarian for pete's sake) and I mentioned having been on adipex in the past and how it helped a lot but she said 'absolutely not' as she is not a fan of it. I said that was fine (and it was going to be combined with exercise) and then she came back at me with "bariatric surgery." Having watched both my mom and grandma lose the ability to eat certain foods, constantly throwing up (at the beginning before they figured it out) and having gained back all their weight, I certainly did not want to go that route. So the compromise was a prescribed form of orlistat.

It has been working...yes, with some of the not so lovely side effects on occasion (which is great inspiration for eating way less fat.) I don't take it every day and sometimes go a week without it to make sure I'm not relying solely upon it and make sure I get into the habit of walking the dogs or going to the gym.

With orlistat and light exercise, I had gone down about 25 lbs in 3-4 months. I stopped going to the gym during summer and started eating pretty crappy (yay, depression) and gained 5 pounds back and the orlistat stabilized it and I didn't gain any more back than that. So it has positives and negatives for sure. Had I not taken it up to this point, I certainly would've gained ALL that weight back.

So basically I'm heading back to the gym, I'm still 20 lbs down from when I started the orlistat in May-ish, and I'm going to focus strictly on weight training for the next couple weeks before introducing any cardio outside of yoga and walking. (I think a zumba class done me in and I died and fell into bad habits.)

Anyhow, thanks for all the responses!!! I appreciate them and given my own experience, decided not to go through with my idea hahahaha.

TLDR: I wasn't ignoring y'all, I just forgot I posted. I didn't go ahead and combine them based on my own experience and quickly realized it would be an awful idea. Orlistat does work and has helped me maintain while I'm not working out (which i'm starting up again.) And I'll try to remember to use myfitnesspal site more ha!

Glad to see you back! I'm just curious - do you plan to take Orlistat for the rest of your life?

cerise_noir

Sounds.....messy. Glad you didn’t go with that combination!

jjgigem1839

I am commenting on an old post to help others who may google using Orlistat on a Keto diet. I was successful with incorporating Orlistat with Keto but you have to be careful. You never want to take more than 60mg of Orlistat before a meal when on Keto and you want to keep the meal to under 45 grams of fat. People get into trouble with they take the 120mg dose and consume more than 45 grams of fat. The usual limit with Orlistat is to not consume more than 30 grams of fat in a meal but with Keto you will be burning fat (instead of carbs) for energy. Hence, you have some leeway on grams of fat. You also want to be on Keto for a number of months before introducing Orlistat. Start with only taking Orlistat for one meal and then see how your body responds. The most important thing is to be prepared for accidents.

paperpudding

I would rather not do a diet plan that has the proviso "The most important thing is to be prepared for accidents."

Especially when accidents is a euphemism for uncontrolled faecal incontinence.

sollyn23l2

paperpudding wrote: »

I would rather not do a diet plan that has the proviso "The most important thing is to be prepared for accidents."

Especially when accidents is a euphemism for uncontrolled faecal incontinence.

Yeah... having experienced this due to illness, I can't even conceive why someone would willingly put themselves through this when there are other options.