I know they say that 1000 mg of epilim is about where the weight gain starts but I was on 3000 mg and didn't really gain weight from it. I gained weight from the lithium and seroquel I took with it but depakote was pretty weight neutral for me. I was in a clinical trial when I went on it so it was easy to track weight gain and I only gained 8 lbs from it. Lithium was much worse for me. It was very hard to keep my level therapeutic and then it had to be quite high for it to actually work for me so my metabolism of it was probably part of the issue but especially if you aren't at a therapeutic level a little high dose might not be so bad.