The only thing that worked for me is changing my overall calorie consumption. I don't really limit what I eat, wether or not I succumb to cravings, just how much cal I take in. And its significantly lower as opposed to how much I needed before, to stay the same weight. I've lost 17lb in the past few months, and find myself in the opposite situation - where my "med-weight" pants embarrassingly don't fit me anymore (which I suppose is good).

I've read studies about bipolar meds lowering basal metabolic rate (which is how many calories you need to consume to remain at the same weight (physical activity not included) as well as resting energy expenditure, which is how many calories a person's body requires to function.

I've tried looking them up again, but it seems I can't find the ones I read, but here are some new ones that may be relevant (which suggest that most equations - which u can find online - used to calculate the two, are inaccurate, when meds that induce weight gain are in the picture):

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17988371

Measured and expected resting energy expenditure in patients with bipolar disorder on maintenance treatment.

Conclusion:
These results suggest that patients with severe mental illness on long-term psychopharmacologic treatment may have reduced basal energy expenditure that may be a cause of weight gain.

Prediction of resting energy requirements in people taking weight-inducing antipsychotic medications - SHARPE - 2010 - Nutrition & Dietetics - Wiley Online Library

Prediction of resting energy requirements in people taking weight-inducing antipsychotic medications

Conclusion:  The present study does not support the recent suggestion that the Mifflin equation is the most suitable prediction equation to determine resting metabolic rate in people taking antipsychotic medications. In men, it may be advisable to reduce the estimate provided using the Harris-Benedict or Schofield equations by 840 kJ/day. The Harris-Benedict equation provided the ‘best estimate’ of resting energy requirements in women taking antipsychotic medications.

Theres another one (cant find it) which showed a subtracted difference of 200-something calories needed per day, in men of a cetain height and weight, on antipsychotics, and those not on them with the same height and weight.

Hope this helps, can't find anything specific to Depakote, but I think you get the picture. That you If you eat the same as you did, prior to these meds, you will unfortunately gain.