ergo-log.com

Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "

23.11.2015

Lose 8 kg fat in three months with a gentle diet, orlistat and cardio fitness

If overweight people take a capsule containing 120 mg orlistat with each meal, they can lose about 7 kg weight in three months. About 4 kg of this will be fat. If the same fatties also train an hour a week in the gym they'll lose 10 kg. And about 8 kg of that is fat. Doctors at Firat University in Turkey write about it in Patient Preference and Adherence.

Orlistat
Orlistat [structural formula shown below] is a slimming aid that is already available over the counter in the US, and will also be soon in Europe. It inhibits the body's uptake of fat out of food and in this way ensures that the body gets fewer kilocalories.

The researchers gave 28 obese women – average age 40-120 mg orlistat at each meal for 12 weeks. At the same time they put the women on a not very strict weight loss diet which provided a daily 1200-1600 kilocalories.

Anaerobic threshold
Half of the women had to go to the gym three times a week too. They had to cycle at lactate threshold, aka the anaerobic threshold, for 45 minutes. That meant that the women cycled at an intensity whereby their body was just able to process the lactic acid molecules the cycling created.

If you're not trained, your anaerobic threshold is probably around 55 percent of your maximal oxygen uptake. That's a level at which it is just possible to keep up a conversation. Elite athletes have an anaerobic threshold of 85-90 percent of their maximal oxygen uptake.

Results
Both groups lost weight and lost fat, but the results were noticeably better in the group that did exercise as well as taking orlistat, as the figure below shows.

The loss of several kilograms of fat made the women in the orlistat group fitter, but of course the women who had trained as well were even fitter. The figure below shows how the maximal exercise capacity increased in both groups, and how the anabolic threshold increased too.

Conclusion
"A 12-week orlistat therapy period may provide weight reduction in medically accepted optimal ranges, and it may also improve aerobic fitness in obese patients", the researchers summarised.

"The addition of aerobic exercise training with orlistat and an energy-restricted diet program in obese patients has an advantage with respect to changes in body composition (ie, a greater reduction of fat mass and preservation of fat-free mass) and improved aerobic fitness, as indicated by a markedly increased anaerobic threshold and maximal exercise capacity."

"Aerobic exercise is important for obese patients' health, as well as for losing and maintaining weight and improving aerobic fitness. Considering the large reduction of fat mass and the marked improvement in aerobic fitness, one should consider pharmacotherapy combined with an aerobic exercise training program for sedentary obese patients."

Source:
Patient Prefer Adherence. 2015 Jul 13;9:999-1004.

More:
L-Carnitine makes orlistat weight loss even more effective 17.02.2011

Archives:
Weight Loss
Diet Drugs