Hi, I'm melissa (mel) and I just received my letter from the Weight Management Service, I called to confirm that I still want to go ahead with this as I feel it will help me. I am 25 y/o, 15.6 st and 5'1, so not the healthiest I've ever been. The waiting list is 4-5 weeks, which is a bit annoying but what can you do!
I also started my GP prescribed Orlistat on Monday 24/6/13, I have had a few side effects since starting, but they aren't too bad as I have been watching what I eat and cutting down my portions (E.g Instead of a full tin of mac cheese, I have half and leave the other half for the next day) although I do have 2 slices of half and half toast with that. I only have one cup of tea a day which is only when I get home from work, no fizzy drinks etc.
If there is any other tips that anyone can give me It would be fab!
I am keeping an Orlistat blog to record my time on the medication and record what I have eaten each day. If you would like to read it I will give the link at the bottom.
You might also like to read the question about Orlistat that was posted in the Questions section.
Your tea intake shouldn't be too much of a problem, but the milk with it might be, so it's worth thinking about changing to skimmed milk which you'll find odd at first but will quite quickly adapt to.
The other thing about cutting back the tea might be if it impinges upon your hydration.
You might like to look at the NHS healthy eating pages about that and similar issues:
Personally I like and drink 'green' and/or 'white' teas which contain no calories and have lots of antioxidants in them. But, I guess they're no everyone's cup of tea.
I used orlistat and had no side effects........I cut my fat intake down completely, your recommended amount is 70grms a day, I cut mine to 50grms a day and I saw the results and remember if your thinking of having a cheat day or meal it stays in your system for a while so you will get side effects (trust me I found out the hard way) I also makes you windy but that soon goes away : )
Thanks for the help and advice everyone! Doikosp, I use the purple milk 1%fat, I can't have full fat milk anymore, it tastes too creamy. I do like green tea, but not when It is too strong.
Angels13 I found that it's making me quite bloated, but I hope that goes away too.
if you follow the right diet your symptoms should settle down in a couple of weeks............stick with it though it works, I heard all the horror stories about the drug but I realised that hose people thought it was a miracle cure so you can eat the same and take orlistat and the weight drops off, sadly you still have to put the work in but once you start seeing the results you will stick with it, once your settled on it do some exercise the weight drops off. Remember if you do get any side effects after a couple of weeks its your body and the drug working together and saying "I don't like what you just ate" it re-acts to fat so steer clear and you will be fine x
Hey can I ask what is the weight loss referral .. I enquired with ny gp a few months ago and she wasnt interested just told me to walk more .. could you tell me what it is as in thinking of going back .. therr has to be more help up here x
I'm not 100% sure yet as I haven't been, I need to wait a few weeks before I get an app for it. MY doc said they see you every few weeks to check you are sticking to the programme and to weight you.
I was referred to a weight management in Halton (Cheshire) called Fresh Start and Recipe for Health. It was a 10 week programme of education about food, they made different recipes to try and we took part in different types of exercise (suitable for all levels). It was really good, I lost 1 stone in the 10 weeks and didn't really feel I was on a diet, as it was just healthy eating. It educated you about the 'eat well plate' and portion control. You might be best to try and search for any programmes in your area or ask another GP.
I also see a dietician so if they have no programmes you could be asked to be referred to a dietician too and they may be able to suggest exercise programmes for you?
Hope you can find something. If not, I have had good success with rosemary conley in the past as it also combines exercise and healthy eating with weekly weight ins. If you want anymore info don't hesitate to ask. x
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