eDiets and Alli partnership program thoughts?
 

I currently started Alli and just saw they partnered up with eDiets to provide meals specifically designed for Alli users. Has anyone tried this yet? It sounds good to me in theory because I know with Alli you have to eat carefully to get the full effect and I've heard good things about eDiets from some people and websites like epicurious.com. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Hi WS,

I elaborated on my opinion on eDiets on the Deliciously Yours buddies thread, but I wanted to ask you how you like Alli! Have you experienced any of the negative side effects? Is it hard to eat food to stay within the right parameters so you don't experience those side effects?

Hi noodlebean,

So far Alli has been good, I've been on it for about 3 weeks and have lost 4 pounds without any exercising or any real change in my diet (though I plan to do both of these things). I did have some of the side effects you've read about (e.g. leakage!) after eating meals considerably high in fat. But they were very high in fat meals, for instance the first time it happened I had eaten prime rib with very fatty creamed spinach and mashed potatoes full of cream and butter, along with fatty appetizers and dessert - not what I typically eat. But there is an optimal amount of fat to eat to optimize the effects of Alli. A colleague of mine who is very careful with his foods since he started Alli has been losing a lot of weight, at least 10-15 pounds within a month. However I don't have the expertise in designing meals the way he does so I'm tempted to go with the ediets/Alli specifically designed meals. I was thinking of just going on it for about 4 months until the summer to accelerate weight loss for a while. Judging from the things I'm reading on eDiets blog it sounds like the delivery problems happened because of the site upgrade but are now fixed. I think I'll sign up for a trial at least and report back.

Are these actual meals provided by ediets, or is a meal plan? Ediets has it's own meal plan as one of the options for diets online. I used to do the GI impact diet (which I really liked, truthfully - but the menus had a lot of stuff I don't eat on them).

The Alli partnership is for actual meals from eDiets designed to work with Alli. I have had a hard time debating over whether meal delivery is worth the money but I have decided that it is given that I have spent so many years disturbed about my weight and I have spent money on tons of things that brought me no benefit. If plunking down some money gives me a good chance of losing a lot of weight before the summer I'm all for it. It'll also be nice not having to do much grocery shopping or cooking for a while.

I'm posting this reply mainly to subscribe to the thread because I do find it a topic of interest.

My biggest concern about something like Alli combined with a diet plan specifically designed to work *with* Alli is the "What happens when you're off Alli?" (or even just off the food plan) question.

I'm not anti-drug when it comes to dieting (I had my time with Phen-Fen and Redux back in the '90s, took Cortislim a few years back, Dexitrim god knows how many times), I just find ones along the line of Alli to be a little more disturbing, when it comes to thinking of how life is "after drug."

Heck, I guess that holds true no matter what the drug, really. *shrug*

Anyway, very interested to read follow-ups from those who do the combo plan. Very curious about what the menu differences are, for those on the Alli-tie-in diet plan.

WSNobody, I know you mentioned the financial concern, and I went through all of the debating before signing up for BistroMD last month, so I know where you're coming from, generally. But when I did the math on the non-"cost of food" elements (like someone being in charge of knowing how many servings of veggies I was getting, calorie counts on everything, portion sizes, glycemic index, carb control, basically "doing the shopping" for me, plus delivering it to my door) and then added in the cost of the food itself, compared that with my weekly food bills (grocery plus dining out plus booze) and added the bonus of: "EVERY BITE is a guarantee toward my weightloss goals" (and that is NOT true when I'm on my own), I realized that the financial investment is totally worth it (for me).

Honestly, if I could afford it, I would stay on BistroMD forever. But as long as I can afford it, I will. The benefits are worth it and it's actually not that much more per week than I would be spending anyway. :D

Just my perspective, anyway. ;)

Cheers,
full of grace

Can you imagine the calls to customer service at eDiets if the new alli users don't get their food? They'll be hopping mad and leaking in their pants. :)
(just kidding)
Tricia

fullofgrace thanks for the insightful post about costs. I know what you mean about concern with Alli but its not the same as drugs like Phen Phen. it doesn't speed up your metabolism or anything like that, it just blocks the digestion of some fat.

I think I am going to try the eDiets/Alli meal plan and see how it works. I've had relatively decent results just using Alli and not changing my diet so hopefully adding this will increase my weight loss much more. Who knows...we'll see.

I think we're talking about the new meal delivery plan by eDiets designed for use with Alli: http://ediets.com/eDiets/jsps/diet/a...aldelivery.jsp

It's delivered meals just like Deliciously Yours, Diet to Go, BistroMD, etc.

Also...
I have to say, I totally agree that it is completely worth it, especially if you have a significant amount of weight to lose. I can't speak to how much of a boost Alli gives you, but I love the way meal delivery works and I think it's completely worth the money if you can find a service that has food you like and that is functioning correctly (which right now, eDiets is not -- BUT it's possible they are more on top of the Alli plan since it's so new).

Please let us know what you decide, WS, and how you like the plan if you do try it!

Best,

You're welcome! My hubby (who does the food shopping) said, "We're actually saving a lot on food," because he's so motivated to save money now that he's even shopping more frugally for his foods--and NOT hitting the drive-thru. So, it's win-win and he's getting good results almost by association! :)

Right. That's precisely my concern.

I understand how the other drugs work (first hand). It's exactly because of the "digestion blocking" action of Alli that it concerns me. It's mainly a concern about users' ability to adjust when the drug is no longer helping them and they haven't really changed how they approach food choices.

(Like, if you're thinking, "The fat is blocked anyway," do you learn to avoid fats? And then when you're no longer taking Alli, does the weight just pack back on?)

That was my point.

But again, all drugs = concerns of different kinds, so that's why I'm so eager to learn more.

Thanks again!!

Cheers,
full of grace

I think in the case of Alli, you're kind of forced to learn how to eat low fat, because if you don't, there are... "consequences" (in the form of leakage, digestive distress, etc.). So in most cases, you would probably lose weight just doing the diet they recommend alone, but if you use the drug, that blocks even more fat absorption, which (the theory goes) allows you to lose more weight faster.

But I should let WS answer you -- I'm not on Alli; the only reason I know anything about it is because they had a huge promotional event last summer and I happened to walk past it, so I went inside and talked to one of their dietitians about the product. My point was just that from what I do know, you have to eat low fat for Alli not to make you ill, so you at least learn that habit while using Alli (not that low fat necessarily = weight loss for everyone).

A-ha!!!!!!

That makes perfect sense and now I get it. Thank you.

I wasn't aware of the "aversion therapy" kind of element, there. Just thinking it packaged the non-absorbed fat for ya, not that it made you sick. That would do it, huh?!?

Thanks! Got it. :p

Cheers,
full of grace

I used alli for a few weeks back in the summer. Had no "treatment effects" and used it completely as a deterrent. They seriously advise you to bring a change of clothes to work for the first couple of weeks. :o That was enough to scare me into a very low fat diet. However, I think I ate so low fat that I didn't really notice a bigger weightloss than normal first few weeks. But, it doesn't mess with your heart or nervous system and that is something. I am trying to change how I look at food and my portion size rather than cutting out all fat etc. so I don't think I will go back on alli any time soon. But, for those who might need that remember or incentive, I think it's fine.
Tricia

That is the EXACT right "smilie" for that statement! :o :o :o :o :o

Yikes!

And yeah, that would probably do it for me too!!!!!!! ;) :cool:

Yeah, i would totally agree about the "aversion therapy" aspect of Alli. I had that side effect once during my first week after eating a very high fat meal and that was enough to scare me to not eat very high fat again. However I have found that it truly does have to be VERY high fat, I have eaten other fatty meals like fast food, pizza, chips, etc. and have not had those problems. There is a certain optimal diet plan that Alli recommends and given the success I have had with Alli alone I figure if I can stick to their diet plan it should work much better. That is why I'll give the eDiets/Alli meal plans a try. Worst case scenario, I go on it for a few months and don't lose as much weight as I liked but I'm pretty sure I'll lose some decent weight. And the fact that I won't have to worry about side effects, shopping, or cooking will be nice. This weekend I've been clearing out my fridge by just eating what I have and not eating out, by the end of the week I will probably put the order in.