Tips from a newbie for other newbies!

I'm only on day 4 but have learned so much in the last few days, thought I'd list a few tips that have helped me in the hope that they'll be of use to other newbies.

I asked my Doc for Xenical and he said fine but you need to see the dietician too, he handed me the prescription and I went to reception to make the appointment - the next appointment was mid July so I had no advice on what to eat/what not to eat on Xenical.

As a result I found it quite hard at first to get my head round what I could and couldn't have. Basically, look at the packaging - if it's less than 5g of fat per 100g then it's OK to eat, the next step is to make sure that no meal exceeds 15g in fat in total - simple!

I have a food diary, I write absolutely everything that I eat and list the fat content and the calorie content, I try not to exceed 1500 calories per day. It's suprising how all the foods you nibble on add up so by keeping a diary it means I don't go over my daily allowances. It also will help me to see where I've gone wrong if I have any 'Xenical special effects' which, touch wood, I haven't had so far.

In my food diary I have a section where I list all the foods I've bought (and will buy again). I include fat grams per portion and calories per portion. That way I can look down the chart and pick something that ties in with my fat/calorific needs depending on what I've already eaten. It also helps me to keep the food diary itself as I have the fat/calorie values of pretty much everthing I eat to hand.

My top tip would be.... Pink 'n' Whites - marshmallow between wafers, they're only 50 cals and 0.1g of fat so ideal when you wan't to 'cheat' but daren't for the fear of the Xenical special effects!

I know I shouldn't have weighed myself so early but I did and I've lost 5lbs in 4 days so am over the moon with that

woo check you with your loss! i have been paying more attention to fat content than calories (i've never monitored food intake with any determination so keeping an eye on fat content is hard enough just now!!) i have gone over my calorie allowance (yesterday.. 1776 instead of 1572 - on foodfocus.co.uk) but i'm sure i'll get the hang of it eventually lol

From what I gather, the 5g per 100g rule is very important so if its more than 5g per 100g you really shouldnt have it, regardless of how small a portion it is!!

Yep, you're absolutely right. You shouldn't have any food which is over 5g fat per 100g, regardless of how little of it you actually eat.

Goodluck everyone.

Lins

florabell - I was the same with Walkers Sunbites, the fat content is 21/100 but each bag only has 5.4g of fat so I was thinking why couldn't I just factor that into my max of 15g per meal? I just have to accept that I can't have them.

I found it quite hard to find 'crisps' that are below 5% fat - even baked ones or weightwatchers ones. Sainsburys do a potato puff type thing that is less than 3% fat. They're OK, not a patch on my usual favourites but a good substitute when you fancy crisps.

Sainsbury's online groceries - link to them

Each bag has 0.5g of fat, strangely the Sainsburys website lists kilojoules instead of calories but each bag only has 70 odd calories.

Another fan here of the Pink And White they are my life savers at the moment! .. (Also yummy zapped in the micro for a few secs)

My top tip would be (and im a newbie to) .. Definatly write everything down! ...
and ASK .. no question is silly or daft! its only that if you dont ask it! .. The people on here are wonderful and somone is always bound to know.