Well, er, I think that's what I meant to say. My girlfriends and I must have had the "wouldn't it be great if you could just take a pill and eat whatever you want to stay thin?" conversation about a hundred times when I was younger and consumed with being ultra fit and thin.This watered down version of Orlistat has been newly dubbed "alli" instead of it's current shelf moniker "Xenical", the manufacturing company says, to convey the idea that this pill is your weight loss buddy and you and the pill together can work to lose the weight you're looking to shed.

Orlistat and it's kid sister alli's function in the body is to flush about 25% of the dietary fat you consume from your body through your bowel movements by binding itself to the fat and carrying it out of the body when waste is eliminated. This has been estimated by the drug's maker to translate into roughly a 150-200 calorie savings at each meal.

Quite impressive, isn't it? However, any time you hear the word flush or expel through bowel movements, this makes most people think of one thing. How is taking this pill with your meals going to affect your bowel movements, and are you going to be in any discomfort or pain from the inevitably more frequent cleansing of the digestive tract?Well, alli must be taken with every meal in order to be effective and to ensure the proper absorption and subsequent expulsion of the excess dietary fat in the food consumed.

About one half of the patients who participated in the studies did experience gastrointestinal side effects - or discomfort, bloating, diarrhea and/or gas, in other words. And "alli" is not something to be taken if you don't plan on cutting down calories and fat in your diet either.

Apparently gastrointestinal side effects can be minimized by following a reduced calorie and reduced fat diet. Presumably this is because the less fat and calories you consume (fat is extremely calorie-dense), the less you will have to "flush" out of your system, and hence less gastrointestinal discomfort will be experienced.

Indications for alli are also that the diet pill is only intended for use by those eighteen and older, and it is not recommended for individuals who have had organ transplants, as the diet aid could potentially have harmful drug interactions. The estimated monthly cost for the alli diet pill is reportedly currently between sixty and one hundred dollars.