Thank you everyone for your kind replies and offers of support. I will def be asking loads of questions and asking for help.
The main reason I'm not taking the tablets just now is that the fridge is full of fatty food! Sausages, bacon, cheese, eggs, etc. I'm going to eat what’s in the fridge and do a low fat shopping at the weekend and start taking the tablets on Monday. I didn't want to start with a high fat diet and suffer the consequences - that would be a bad start!
I have looked at my diet and there are some foods I will have to avoid now, but I certainly don't have to restrict myself too much.
I plan on having a healthy cereal for breakfast (Special K or Kellogs Start) with semi skimmed milk, or a smoothie. I used to have an excellent breakfast smoothie recipe made with oats, milk, a banana, some peanut butter and a sachet of cadburys options. I Will check the fat content in it, but I suspect I might have to lose the peanut butter!
A tin of Heinz soup with 2 slice of WW bread, or a chicken/tuna salad for lunch.
Dinner will be meat (lean) and veg, pasta thing, curry and rice etc.. All with low fat ingredients and good portion control!
Dessert will be WW dessert or sugar free jelly with yoghurt.
I plan on snacking on Muller light, cereal bars or toast.
Plenty of food and calories but all low fat.
I already go to the gym 3 times a week and do high intensity weight training. It sounds very extreme, but it isn't and is an excellent way to speed up fat loss! It only takes about 10 mins, is suitable for anyone wanting to loose fat, and doesn't result in huge muscles! Basically for extra pound of muscle you have, you burn between an extra 40 and 50 calories a day. 4lbs extra is 200 calories a day! To burn 200 Extra calories on an exercise bike you would have to pedal at a moderate pace for about 30mins. Studies have also shown that weight training raises your basic metabolic rate by about 15%. It will also improve your basic body shape and fitness.
I plan on drinking 3-4 litres of ICE cold water a day as well. Ice cold water has a small thermogenic effect (it increases metabolic rate because the body has to warm the water before it can absorb it). It is a small effect but can result in an extra 500 calories burnt a week.
Being a scientist, I did some research into Orlistat (Xenical) and how it works and stuff. As well as preventing the body from absorbing fat, Xenical also encourages people to eat healthier. There are studies which show a marked change in eating behaviour when participants are on Xenical, or even just think they are taking Xenical but are actually taking a placebo. This results in people eating less fat, and therefore fewer calories and on top of this Xenical reduces the calories absorbed as well. The change in behaviour is linked to the desire to avoid the rather nasty side effects! So it’s all good!
Another recent study compared Xenical to a very low carb diet like Atkins and found that weight loss was the same in both groups. The difference is that the Atkins group didn't have to take tablets and could eat as much fat as they liked and not suffer any consequences! However I tried Atkins and got very bored of the food choices - you can only have so much cheese and meat and eggs and stuff and the foods I missed were all low fat or have low fat alternatives - like bread, pasta, rice, cereal etc. So it's Xenical for me!
Anyway....... I look forward to starting my diary on Monday and to getting help and support from people on the same journey as me, and especially from people who have succeeded!