Alli, Friend or Foe

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My mother just announced to me that she is now taking Alli. The question tonight is whether to convince her that is bad or to support her efforts to recover a healthy weight and disregard the chemical side of her plan. What to do?

I think the answer has to be to support her no matter what. For one, she is my mother. Secondly, she is doing this with the blessing of her doctor. Thirdly, I did the workup of her daily calorie usage... it's not pretty. Due to her age and short stature, she only burns 1800 calories in a day. She has to work 14% harder than I do to burn the same amount of calories that I do in a day. This is rough because she is 22 years older than me and is 3 3/4 inches shorter than I am.
Just by coincidence, I discovered that we are now the same weight. I am attempting to get her to wager with me as to who can loose the most weight and keep it off. But, then I realize that I truly have the advantage. While I'm talking about money.... I would MUCH rather her pay me the $45 - $80 monthly that she will spend on Alli.
I can do the same thing for her. I can "block" the fat from her diet by guilting her into not eating junk, but then, I realize that as much as I want her to succeed, I can't do it for her. She has to want to be healthy for herself. She has to want it so badly that she will do whatever it takes to get there. I guess this is my biggest concern with her choice of Alli. It seems like she wants an easy way out.
Now I will say that the "Alli-Oops" or treatment effects (oily and gassy discharges, sometimes uncontrollable) seem to be a struggle to put up with in and of themselves. And according to the Alli diet plan, calories and grams of fat must be counted to make Alli a success and make the Alli-Oops minimal. So they are striving for personal accountability. But I just don't know. It seems terribly unhealthy to chemically alter your digestion in this way. At the same time, doing nothing at all is ultimately just as unhealthy.
All in all, I will support her efforts whatever they may be and continue to offer what I believe to be more healthy tips and information. Got any better advice?
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