Hello, so this is my first post on here...
I'm 34 and whilst I weighed between 9.5 and 11 stone most of my adult life, I put on a lot of weight after illness - I was severely anaemic for a long time before the drs realised what was wrong and my blood was bright orange due to barely any red blood cells in my body. I was at breaking point and they discovered the problem just in time and my red blood cell count was dangerously low. As a result of feeling so exhausted I was craving sugary food and drinks - I ate so many packs of mint imperials and drank a lot of fizzy drinks which I didn't before. I had no energy to go anywhere or do anything and the weight piled on (up to 17.5 stone). I am not happy being this heavy and I feel it restricts me from doing all the things I used to do. I also want a baby and want to be in better shape for that. Due to piling on so much weight I developed a fatty liver and it stopped functioning properly. It wasn't processing fats and nutrients so I still felt rubbish all the time and had no energy to exercise. Everytime I started a diet, I couldn't stick to it as I didn't have enough energy. Due to my liver not working properly I developed jaundice which is now being monitored by my GP who has now prescribed Orlistat to help me lose weight, improve the health of my liver and hopefully lead to me having children.
I have been taking Orlistat for nearly 3 weeks now and have lost 1 stone so far. Really pleased with how fast the weight has come off and had my first check up with the dr on Wednesday this week, at which point I had lost 11lbs and she was really pleased. I have since lost another 3lbs.
I did a bit of reading up about Orlistat before taking the tablets and some people suggested you shouldn't consume more than 5g of fat per meal. I have completely changed my eating habits - while I thought I wasn't over eating before, I was clearly eating the wrong types of foods and snacking in between meals. I've been making a conscious effort not to eat in between meals - sticking to breakfast, lunch and dinner at fairly regular times and have been reading a lot more of the nutritional content of what I'm buying. It's really surprising how some pre made salads and vegetable pots etc that I thought were quite healthy before, have actually got a high fat content due to the butter etc they add in.
I'm eating a lot more salad and veg than I was before, avoiding wheat and dairy as much as possible and only drinking water (I read that you should avoid drinking calories if you want to lose weight so I'm doing my best).
A typical day for me would be something like this...
Breakfast - fat free yoghurt and a piece of fruit (usually a banana).
Lunch - salad or a salad wrap (my favourite ingredients are mushrooms, avocado which is a good fat, beetroot and salad leaves. I sometimes add in raw cauliflower or carrots - it's not always the same but you get the idea)
Dinner: Vegatable / mushroom stir fry or a rice dish (not too much though), sometimes I will have a plate of vegeatables such as brocolli, cauliflower, asparagus and carrots, sometimes i might have a low fat, low calorie vegetarian burger such as a nut cutlet which is less than 5g fat.
I really think it's a lifestyle change, my husband works with someone who was on these tablets and while she lost weight, she didn't improve her eating habits and continued to eat 'unhealthy food' which meant she was constantly dashing to the toilet. Then when she stopped taking the tablets she put wreight back on becuase she hadn't changed her eating habits. I find that my bowel movements are far more regular than they were before but very rarely have diarrhoea. I do notice a yellow/orange greasy substance which I believe is the fat from the food I've eaten but beacuse of the foods I'm eating it's not a large amount so I haven't been caught off guard.
I just hope the weight loss continues at a good rate - although I know I need to add in exercise now. What were people's weight losses like in the second month? Did you have similar results to your first month or did it slow down?
You're doing great with your weight loss too! Just a thought - have you tried eating ground up linseeds? It's supposed to be great for your hair/nails and skin. They need to be ground up because the body doesn't absorb them otherwise and they come straight out the other end. I sometimes have mine mixed in with yoghurt - supposed to have about a teaspoon or two daily. Might be worth a try.