christmas weigh-in.

Hi I'm 52 years old with an underactive thyriod gland and had a hip replacement 31/2 years ago. My weight slowly went up from 1983 but despite struggling with my weight for years the Dr's were unsympathetic and said my thyroid was in the 'normal' bracket (just like the woman on tv early this week).My Dr said you'll just have to eat apples and drink water so I never went back for years. I had a particularly horrible time when I couldn't hardly walk, was in pain everytime moved. My mum persuaded me to see a female Dr (I hardly slept but still struggled to work everyday.) She said I couldn't walk because I was fat SHE WAS FATTER THAN ME! It wasn't until my husband came in the Dr's with me & suggested I had an xray (I had been told I had a trapped nerve in my back) that it was discovered I had a bad arthritic hip. I was finally put on thyroxine about 4 years ago,but didn't lose any weight and had my hip replacement.

I saw a male Dr who I made a great show of myself :oops: by blubbering on about my inability to lose weight. He referred me to a Nurse practitioner to discuss HRT. After a discussion with her which again I again made a real show of myself :oops: but resulting in her offering me Orlistat. That was mid April 2010 . It took me a year to lose 4 1/2 stone. I was a size 22. I'm now between a 14 & 16 and weigh 12 1/2 stone. My nurse cut my orlistat down gradually from 3 a day to 1. I hardly remembered to take them once I was on 1 a day and have not taken any for about 5-6 weeks. I've not lost any more weight but think I have lost inches instead as people still think I'm losing weight and have bought several items of clothing in a size 14! I'm still 2 stone over weight but agree with some my colleagues and friends that I don't 2 stone over weight- One friend/colleague said it's your breast bet they weigh a stone each - I'm lucky to still have decent sized breast :D I still stick to a low fat diet most of the time as I don't want to undo all my hard work. So that's my story I am much happier and healthier :D :D

P.S. sorry it is so long but hope this will help some of you newbies :D

What a fantastic story of your long journey and great to hear that the weight has stayed off. How long do the docs allow you to stay on the pills? I have my 2nd weigh in next Thursday and tend to get really anxious on the lead up to it. X

hi everyone, hope your all getting on well with your healthy eating and orlistat tabs. iv missed chatting on the forum for a few days as i was on family break in london seen all the sights and lego land realy enjoyed it but trying to find something to eat thats healthy and low fat is nearly impossible. hotdogs burgers pancakes and doughnut stands are EVERYWHERE :!: :!: if your anything like me you have got to eat as soon as your hungry or temptation takes you straight to the nearest greasy spoon. i managed to stay on track tho hopefully havnt put any weight back on. love to hear how any of you cope with eating healthy while on holiday? :idea:

Thanks Rockey :D

Regarding how long you're allowedon the tablets differs from one practise to another. I was allowed to stay on them for a year while I was still losing and then the nurse I see got me to drop down to two tablets a day then one tablet. She was very supportive and said that maybe I wouldn't lose any more but I might start losing again but I don't get how when she cut down my tablets. I said I'd go back once a month for a weigh but I couldn't make the next appointment because of a meeting at work and I decided there wasn't much point going back as she wasn't going to prescribe any more of the tablets so I weigh myself approx once a month and am trying to be good.

I think the book the dr's and nurses look at says you can stay on them up to 2 years as long as you are losing- sorry I don't know what the book is called but I know it is updated regularly. I do know that it used to state that people can stay on them til their bmi is 30 or 28 if there are other health issues such as diabetes, high cholestral or something else - think it can't remember what it was(as long as you are losing weight).

Hope every body is having a good week- I'm missing the light mornings and evenings