You should always take Xenical as instructed by your clinician, and check with them if you’re unsure. 

Take one capsule with each of your three main meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) every day. You can take it right before your meal, during your meal, or up to one hour after your meal. Swallow the capsule whole with water. 

Xenical is only effective when you eat dietary fat, so if you miss a main meal or if you have a meal that doesn’t contain any fat, you don’t need to take Xenical. 

If you haven’t lost at least 5% of your body weight (as measured at the start of your treatment course) after 12 weeks, the clinician might suggest trying a different medication. 

Xenical should be used alongside a well-balanced, calorie controlled diet that’s rich in fruit and vegetables, and contains an average of 30% of calories from fat sources. Your daily intake of carbohydrate, protein and fat should be spread over three meals. 

To get the most benefit from Xenical, avoid consuming foods that contain fat between meals, like chocolate, biscuits and savory snacks.

If you forget to Xenical at any point, take it as soon as you remember (so long as this is within one hour of your last meal) and then continue to take it as normally would. Don’t take twice the amount. 

If you miss several doses, speak to your clinician and follow their guidance. Don’t make any adjustments to your dose unless your clinician tells you too. 

Should you have any further questions, discuss them with your clinician. 

If you’ve lost 5% of your weight within a three month period, there’s no threshold for how long Xenical will be prescribed for. But in most cases, clinicians will assess how you’re getting on regularly and determine if it’s still appropriate for you to continue treatment. If you continue to lose weight beyond six months, your clinician may recommend that you keep taking Xenical until you reach your target weight. This may be for up to one or two years, or longer still if you have a significant amount of weight to lose. 

Headache, abdominal pain, oily discharge, an urgent or increased urge to open your bowels, flatulence with discharge, liquid stools, fatty or oily stools and low blood sugar levels (which may be experienced by people with type 2 diabetes) are the most common side effects, affecting more than 1 in 10 people. 

Usually, side effects with Xenical are mild, and occur at the start of your course of treatment. They normally disappear if you continue to take the treatment. Side effects also tend to be felt more following meals which are high in fat, so you can help to reduce them by sticking to your recommended diet. 

If you feel unwell whilst taking Xenical, you should let your clinician know as soon as you can. Your clinician can discuss any side effects with you, so if you’re experiencing discomfort and unsure of what action to take, let them know. 

If you experience symptoms of an allergic reaction (such as rash, itching, wheals (raised, itchy patches of skin that are paler or redder than surrounding skin), breathing difficulties, nausea and vomiting) stop using Xenical and contact your clinician immediately. 

You should also stop using Xenical and let your clinician know immediately if you get any skin blistering or rectal bleeding, and any yellowing of the whites of the eyes or skin, dark coloured urine, abdominal pain and pain under the rib cage on the right hand side (symptoms of hepatitis). 

With an EveAdam subscription, you can do this via your EveAdam account. Just drop our clinician a message and they’ll get back to you. 

They both contain the same active ingredient, orlistat, so both treatments work in the same way. Alli stops about one quarter of the fat that you consume from being digested, whereas Xenical prevents around one third of the fat from being absorbed by the body. Alli also contains half the dosage of Xenical (60mg, as opposed to 120mg), which is why it helps to remove less fat from the body. 

Because Alli isn’t as strong however, it’s available over the counter, so you don’t need a prescription for it. Xenical and Alli are both branded products, but Alli is slightly cheaper.

Given that both treatments work in the same way but are different doses, it’s really a matter of how much weight you’re looking to lose that decides which one you should take. Your clinician can advise you further on both options, and help you to make an informed decision. 

Phentermine is an appetite suppressant, so it doesn’t function in the same way as Xenical. Rather than preventing the body from absorbing fat, Phentermine interacts with the nervous system, and sends signals to the brain indicating that you’re full, to stop you from overeating. 

It’s important to note though that Phentermine isn’t available through our site.

Let our clinician know. They can advise you on alternative weight loss treatments if Xenical isn’t effective for you. 

It may be that making further changes to your diet and exercising on a regular basis may help. Your clinician may recommend that you keep a food diary, and an activity diary for exercise, to help them monitor your eating habits properly and assess how active you are day-to-day. Once your clinician has got this information to hand, they can help you to implement adjustments to your lifestyle, and create an action plan.