Final proof that we've lost our fucking minds
Diet pill flying off shelves
- Flint Journal. June 21, 2007
GENESEE COUNTY - Are you ready to lose weight?
Plenty of people are trying alli, a nonprescription fat-blocker that's selling out at Flint-area drugstores since it hit the market a week ago.
It's no magic pill, a dietitian said, but dieters are snatching up alli despite studies showing modest weight loss and warnings that excessive fat - say eating a bag of potato chips - can come out of the body in embarrassing ways.
Alli can cause loose stools, frequent bathroom visits and gas with oily discharge. Wearing dark clothes and carrying an extra pair of pants is a good idea, the drugmaker suggests.
But Rich Meyer, 34, of Burton has nothing but praise for alli, which he has taken for six days. So far, he's lost about 6 pounds, he said.
"I'm really excited about it," Meyer said. "I think it works two ways: blocking the fat, and you end up not wanting to eat fatty foods because you know what will happen."
So what about those so-called "treatment effects?" They weren't as bad as he thought they'd be, but he got a sense of them after eating french fries.
"The next morning it hit me," said Meyer, a cashier at Target in Fenton. "I was working on my line and just turned out my light and said I have to take a bathroom break. I wasn't asking. I was going."
The only downside, he said, is the price. He paid $69.99 for 100 capsules; a 60-capsule package is available for $49.99.
"I was already eating low-fat, so that wasn't a big change," said Meyer, who weighed 300 last winter and dropped 50 pounds in about six months. "But I plateaued at 250 pounds and could not break it."
Running helped get him down to 240 pounds, but his body stalled again. That's when he started taking alli before lunch and dinner. The recommended dosage is three capsules a day.
Area stores say sales are brisk - the Walgreens on S. Saginaw Street and Hill Road in Grand Blanc Township sold out the day alli went on sale, June 14.
"We got another shipment, but other stores are calling to ask if we can spare some for them," said a Walgreens sales associate.
Pop a blue alli pill before a meal, preferably a low-fat one with no more than 15 grams of fat, and it blocks 25 percent of the fat. The www.myalli.com Web site (dieters must register) offers meal plans, including plans customized for soul food recipes and Hispanic fare.
Because the undigested fat is not absorbed, it passes out of the body instead of turning into calories.
If a dieter would lose 10 pounds on a diet, he or she could drop 15 pounds with alli, whose active ingredient, orlistat, is available in 120 mg in the prescription drug Xenical, its maker says.
But studies have shown that like those who lost weight on other diets, alli dieters struggled to keep it off. After a year, those taking 60 mg alli gained 9.4 pounds and a placebo group gained 11.3 pounds.
"People want a quick fix," said Kathy Peshke, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator at Genesys Health System. "This is no magic pill. It will help if you change your diet and get exercise. That's the method that works."
So let me get this straight. People seeking weight loss would rather shit themselves in public than diet and exercise? Jogging is really that much of an inconvenience to you?
If any of you start using this product, we're no longer friends. And I mean that. I don't want to deal with your loose stools and oily discharges.
- Flint Journal. June 21, 2007
GENESEE COUNTY - Are you ready to lose weight?
Plenty of people are trying alli, a nonprescription fat-blocker that's selling out at Flint-area drugstores since it hit the market a week ago.
It's no magic pill, a dietitian said, but dieters are snatching up alli despite studies showing modest weight loss and warnings that excessive fat - say eating a bag of potato chips - can come out of the body in embarrassing ways.
Alli can cause loose stools, frequent bathroom visits and gas with oily discharge. Wearing dark clothes and carrying an extra pair of pants is a good idea, the drugmaker suggests.
But Rich Meyer, 34, of Burton has nothing but praise for alli, which he has taken for six days. So far, he's lost about 6 pounds, he said.
"I'm really excited about it," Meyer said. "I think it works two ways: blocking the fat, and you end up not wanting to eat fatty foods because you know what will happen."
So what about those so-called "treatment effects?" They weren't as bad as he thought they'd be, but he got a sense of them after eating french fries.
"The next morning it hit me," said Meyer, a cashier at Target in Fenton. "I was working on my line and just turned out my light and said I have to take a bathroom break. I wasn't asking. I was going."
The only downside, he said, is the price. He paid $69.99 for 100 capsules; a 60-capsule package is available for $49.99.
"I was already eating low-fat, so that wasn't a big change," said Meyer, who weighed 300 last winter and dropped 50 pounds in about six months. "But I plateaued at 250 pounds and could not break it."
Running helped get him down to 240 pounds, but his body stalled again. That's when he started taking alli before lunch and dinner. The recommended dosage is three capsules a day.
Area stores say sales are brisk - the Walgreens on S. Saginaw Street and Hill Road in Grand Blanc Township sold out the day alli went on sale, June 14.
"We got another shipment, but other stores are calling to ask if we can spare some for them," said a Walgreens sales associate.
Pop a blue alli pill before a meal, preferably a low-fat one with no more than 15 grams of fat, and it blocks 25 percent of the fat. The www.myalli.com Web site (dieters must register) offers meal plans, including plans customized for soul food recipes and Hispanic fare.
Because the undigested fat is not absorbed, it passes out of the body instead of turning into calories.
If a dieter would lose 10 pounds on a diet, he or she could drop 15 pounds with alli, whose active ingredient, orlistat, is available in 120 mg in the prescription drug Xenical, its maker says.
But studies have shown that like those who lost weight on other diets, alli dieters struggled to keep it off. After a year, those taking 60 mg alli gained 9.4 pounds and a placebo group gained 11.3 pounds.
"People want a quick fix," said Kathy Peshke, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator at Genesys Health System. "This is no magic pill. It will help if you change your diet and get exercise. That's the method that works."
So let me get this straight. People seeking weight loss would rather shit themselves in public than diet and exercise? Jogging is really that much of an inconvenience to you?
If any of you start using this product, we're no longer friends. And I mean that. I don't want to deal with your loose stools and oily discharges.