Hi Everyone,

I have been absent from the boards because of an extended vacation with family.
I didn't take the CLA regularly, and my eating went down the tubes. I'm not going to beat myself up over this; I'm simply going to attribute it to the human condition, and get back on track again.
I did put on a little over 2 lbs., and with the holidays here, I'm going to stop it in its tracks before it gets out of hand.

So, as of today, will have to re-measure and get my butt moving again.

Hope you are all doing well, and hope to report back with some positive news.

Take care, all!

I'm highly allergic to borage plants, I get covered in a raised, itchy red rash all over my body but no eye or tongue swelling, do you think I would get the same effect from the oil, I'm suspecting maybe I would but would like some input from someone who knows about these things, (my GP is NOT one of them).

HI Hon,

Usually people have an allergic reaction to the protein in a food. Oil has no protein. That being said, we don't recommend people who are allergic to fish to take fish oil or people allergic to Bee stings to take Bee supplements (propolis, royal jelly etc). I would stay away just to be safe.

Thanks for that, best to err on the side of caution. I'm about to add the CLA to my diet but it is quite expensive, the GLA was cheaper but not worth the risk eh? Thank you.

Have to agree with the above post about erring on the side of caution.

A lot of the supplements should be taken with care and some research, as I found out the hard way.

I also think it's ashame that most doctors don't believe in supplements, although that is changing. A homeopathic may have more information. I am changine physicians to a more holistic practioner just for that reason.

I am unable to take the Borage Oil for other reasons, but will continue with the CLA.
Should be interesting to see if I have good results not taking the full combo.

you can be allergic even to the tiniest trace amounts of something. People allergic to peanuts may sometimes not even eat food which has been prepared in a kitchen which uses peanut oil for other dishes, or enter an airplane where peanuts are served. So, yes, stay away from it by all means.

While protein-type allergies are well known, these are by far not the only ones, ou can be allergic to many substances, among them aromatics of any kind, metals, alcaloids, pigments, you name it...

dhania, multiple allergy sufferer

I'm hopping on the CLA bandwagon myself--got a long way to go!

Anywho, something I just read that you might want to note. Assuming the 3.4g/day listed on Wikipedia is the recommended effective dose, you might want to look carefully at the label on your bottle. Mine is 1000mg capsules, but on the ingredient list, it lists the actual CLA at 740mg per capsule. So use the actual CLA listed to determine your dose.

Hope this helps someone, since that's the stat I'm gong to be using to figure my dose (5/day should do it, though bottle says six).

sean

Ah, CLA Plus with Clarinol from Netrition - just got mine. Vile slime. Took it for two or three mornings running. I think it gave me loose stools, so I stopped taking it to see if things got firmer. Seems so. Just now reading this thread. Will measure - with dismay, I'm sure - and post any change in girth. Thanks, Flowersoul, for laying out the CLA/GLA info here: http://forum.lowcarber.org/showpost...1&postcount=273 and I'm digging into my supplements to find my borage oil even now. I lose track of what's in my Big Box of Supplements. Might as well work this in with the CLA. Aha, here 'tis: Borage Oil, 1050mg, 240mgGLA...horse pills!

I wanted to let you all know an interesting discovery I made. I started taking CLA 2 days ago, but didn't really get back on the LC bandwagon until today.

So on Tuesday I took my CLA and ate pizza. Wednesday I took my CLA and ordered Chinese. Ordinarily it would be 2.5 days for me to get into ketosis after eating as mentioned, but...

Today I took my CLA and had a LC day of chicken wings and celery for dinner. I was in ketosis, showing "trace" 5 minutes ago (tested just for the heck of it). Meaning that it has been LESS THAN 24 hours to get into ketosis, and the only thing I can attribute it to is the CLA.

So, if anyone wanted verification that CLA does in fact do SOMETHING with respect to fat metabolism, considering ketones are a byproduct of fat metabolism, I'd think my discovery suggests that at the very least something is happening, wouldn't it?

Interested in your thoughts.

Hello Everyone,
I bought 1000mg tonalin CLA capsules from Fred Meyer a couple days ago. A few of you have mentioned loose stool and upset stomach, so I'm holding off on taking it until my stomach is feeling normal again. I've been really pukey, so I don't think this is the time to start. Looking forward to joining you all soon!

Seanna, do you still have any questions after reading this?

You may be on to something here. I started taking my CLA again on January 1st. On January 2nd I had four HEAVILY bread shrimp (in some kind of sweet sauce) from the local Chinese restauarant, a cup of fried rice in the early afternoon and two almond cookies. For dinner on the 2nd I had a very high fat carbless dinner, to try an counteract the carbs I'd eaten earlier in the day. Well to my amazement when I tested the strips the morning of the 3rd I tested in the moderate range! Please no post the "dehydration theory". That is not the case. As I have been regularily drinking at least 64 ounces of water daily. So much so my urine is clear when I "go". It never occured to me the CLA may be a contributory factor, but it does help explain being in ketosis after deviating from plan on day two! Trust me I was truely amazed after eating so many carbs, and we all know how carby chinese food is that I can be in ketosis the next day. Definately food for thought JENN.

I'm interested to hear what others think.

I just started Atkins again on 1/1/07. So far, so good.

I spent most of the day and night yesterday reading here and read about the CLA and went and bought mine today...will start it tomorrow.

I will check in then.

Good luck to us all.

Hi Everyone,

sorry i havent posted for quite a while, anyway i have been taking the CLA for 8 weeks and instead of losing weight or gaining muscle i have had an increase in weight of 6lb and an increase in bodyfat percentage of 2%. As you can expect i'm not impressed! so i think i'll stick to the more traditional method of 'less calories in, more calories out' along with regular exercise. I dont understand it, i wasnt eating any more than i usually do and i was doing regular exercise too... i expect it just wont work for me.
Sorry if i'v put a dampener on the experiment.

Not at all. We wanted to hear the good, bad and ugly of it. I'm sorry it didn't work well for you, but you are doing what will work, eating right and exercising.

My update: I'm still taking it, since September I've been faithful in taking it. I'm still very pleased with the losses I have had.