Just about to start

as a guideline we should eat no more than 15g of fat per meal which is easier to do than it sounds, as far as calories i'm not aware of a set amount, the 'average' non-dieting woman should have about 2000 cals a day so less for a dieting person makes sense, some people on here stick to about 1200-1400 daily.

good luck

Thanks Sparkles

Day one over. Three blueys in and no effect so far. Had no snacks but actually found it difficult to eat enough. Only had 1100 cals and 30 g fat. Find it difficult to balance the calories with the fat. To get more fat in will add lost more calories. Guess it'll be a bit of trial and error.

do you feel that you're actually not eating enough or just not enough to be full? obviously you can add things like fruit and veg to bulk your meals out or what i do to fill up, especially at when at work is i have a can of pepsi max with my lunch and it fills me up and i last easily 6-7 hours until dinner, i have water with my breakfast and dinner.

what's been your typical day's food intake so far? you may find you can substitute some things for lower fat versions and have more.

Hi Sparkles

I actually couldn't finish my dinner last night as I felt so full. Food yesterday was:

Milky coffee (150 cal 5g fat)

1 slice toast (100 cal 1g fat)

2 boiled eggs (150 cal 10g fat)

Pitta Bread (100 cal 1g fat)

wafer thin ham (50 cal 1g fat)

tomatoes and cucumber (0cal 0g fat)

tiny drop of light salad cream (15 cal 0.5g fat)

Home made potatoe and leek soup (100 cal 1g fat)

M&S Braised Steak and Potatoes (350 cal 7.7 g fat)

Satsuma (25 cal 0g fat)

Today so far I've had an onion bagel with cream cheese and a milky coffee which I reckon to add up to about 525 cals and 13g fat.

No snacks - on a normal work day I would add in snacks

How do I get more fat units but keep the calories low? Any suggestions welcome.

After I had my last mean my tummy did quite a lot of grumbling but I wasn't hungry. apart from that no side effects as yet.

based on the meal example you gave i worked it out to be about 1040cals which means you can stand to have some more so eating fruit, sweets (i eat marshmellows sometimes - no fat), also things like crispbreads and extra low fat cheese spread could be a good filler. if you want to bump your fat a little you could look at what you drink, i have cadburys highlights choc fudge hot choc which is about 40cals a mug and 1.3g fat

Thanks for the tips. I don't think I'm sure about the maximum number of fat grams I'm allowed per day. You mention in a previous post that we should stick to about 15g per meal - is that then 45g per day and if I don't eat that many will I not lose weight. Slightly confused?!

It's 25-30g a day with no more than 15g in any single meal.

Combine this with 1200-1400 calories a day, and 4-5 sweaty exercise sessions a week and it will work wonders I absolutely promise you.

RR ( long term failed dieter but on this regime nearly 6 stone down and still counting)

15 is the max per meal therefore 45 is max for the day (they are not transferable between meals)

Personally i have an intake of about 18g-22g a day and the weight has been coming off at a steady 1-2lbs a week now, i combine it with workouts (about 3 a week during term time, up to 6 a week in school hols)

Really sorry to sound argumentative, and of course you can do whatever you like, but the manufacturers of this drug (Roche) state strongly that you should have no more than 30g a day if you don't want nasty side effects. Until the middle of this year the manufacturers used to run a national programme called MAP where they would phone you up and offer monthly support when you were prescibed Orlistat. The MAP nutritionists who supported me when I started in March and phoned me every month for ages were very clear about the \"rules\" on fat intake. I've also just checked back in the various booklets they send me and these also say 30g a day max, but no more than 15g in any single meal. They also strongly pushed a minimum of 25g.

Thanks RR. What you say is what I thought I'd read in previous posts and for me is more do-able than 45. I struggled yesterday to up the fat and keep the calories down.

How long have you been on this drug?

Feeling I've done a bit better today. I've had about 1350 calories and 27g fat so that seems to be in the range of normality for this way of life.

since March and I am 2 pounds off a 6 stones loss. I would like to lose another 2 stones and I can't think of a single good reason why I can't do that too.

Do you see what I mean about the diet having to be sustainable for 6 months plus? Anyone can cut it to the bone for a few weeks, but a long term loss needs a long term approach.

Another question - it says that the drug gets rid of a third of the fat that's eaten. Does this mean if I eat 30g fat it gets rid of 10g does it only get rid of fat I eat over the 30g. I know this is probably a stupid question but there's probably many more of them to come in the following months.

Day three and still doing good. Still feel really motivated and managed to go out for lunch yesterday and stick to low fat by asking for the cheese to be omitted from my meal.

RR - you have had a fantastic result - you must feel very proud of yourself. Well done.

However much fat you eat, a third of the fat you put in in one end comes out of the other end without touching the sides! It turns out that for most people, 10g of fat scooting straight through is barely noticeable, but if you eat say 60g of fat, the 20g that would scoot through is what results in orangey oily poos and the much threatened accidents.

If you only eat say 9g of fat in a day, then only 3g scoots straight through which makes it hardly worth taking the bluey I always think. Additionally that would only leave 6g of fat for your body to work with and the fat absorbable vitamins you need to be healthy can't get into your body.

That makes sense and probably explains why I've had no accidents yet as I've been so strict.

Thanks RR