To an extent they do. But you need to be working out and eating right, too. The appetite suppressing effects kind of go away after a while. I'll put it this way: I'll find myself hungrier if I don't take my Adderall, but can still overeat when I do take it. I've been on it for years. But there may be different stims that work better for weight control, but you build up a tolerance.

Make sure to tell your pdoc your concerns about meds that may cause weight gain if he does dx you with bipolar ii, because there are a lot of meds used for bipolar that can cause weight gain. For every single "other" med my pdoc has put me on, weight gain is the first side effect I ask about before I walk out of the office with the script. I started that after effortlessly gaining 10 pounds on Abilify.