I Think Alli Works!

I have noted already that this was going to be a pretty well documented diet. I'm keeping score pretty closely using those little index cards I keep in the bathroom drawer.

Today marks Day 50 of the Diet of 2008. So far I am down 21 pounds, and over half way to my goal of losing 40 before July 4! Being over the top in nerdness, I have graphed my 2008 data (cyan) with data from my diets of 2002 (dark blue), 2004 (magenta), and 2006 (yellow). The red line is the straight line goal from 0 to minus 40 in 180 days, so I am well on track there.

In general, this diet is not much different than previous diets, in that I can pretty easily eat well and exercise for 3-4 months, and knock off 20-30 pounds. I don't think I've eaten any better or exercised more on this diet than some of these previous ones.

What I have done differently is try a new product called Alli™. Alli (pronounced al-eye) is a GlaxoSmithKline product, and is the only FDA approved over the counter "weight loss aid." Alli prevents your body from absorbing about a quarter of the fat you eat. Supposedly, you can lose 50% more weight if you take Alli while on a diet. You have to be on a diet for this to work, as there are very nasty "treatement effects" if you aren't. I have been using this since about week 2 of this diet and have noticed NO side effects at all. So after 50 days, I think the data shows... this stuff must actually work!!! The bad thing about Alli is it is quite expensive - about $2 per day for the 3 pills required (one for each meal).

In the first 50 days of my previous 3 diets, I averaged 1.8 pounds lost per week in 2002, 1.7 in 2004, and 1.7 in 2006. Pretty consistent. For the Diet of 2008, I have averaged 3.0 pounds per week! Without doing the math behind it, I think that is statistically significant. Pretty cool, huh? So anyway, I'm about out of my most recent refill, so it's time to head to the drug store for a refill!