I gained a ton of weight on olanzapine, but for me it was a conscious tradeoff at that time as I needed to be functioning and earning money and all other options hadn't worked. Several years later I found a way to be stable without olanzapine. I still use it occasionally as a PRN but not daily.

If you are still on olanzapine, find out if Lybalvi is available in Australia and if it is, ask to be switched. Lybalvi is olanzapine plus another ingredient that in clinical studies ameliorated some of the weight gain. People still gaind weight but less than on olanzapine alone.

I also developed non-alcoholic fatty liver disease on olanzapine and my liver enzymes were elevated. Now they are normal again. I lost some weight but also, and probably more importantly, I exercise.

Exercise alone, without weight loss, tends to normalize liver enzymes. Also, recent research demonstrated that people can lose up to 30% of liver fat without losing a gram of weight and a centimeter off the waist circumference.

In other words, you need to exercise and that will also boost your mood.

We have a thread in a subforum here called Exercise and Weight Loss. Everyone is in it for exercise and some but not all, for weight loss.

I invite you to join the thread and post about your challenges, misgivings, and hesitations. I am sure that soon you will be posting about your accomplishments.

I cannot tell you how many people have recently asked me if I have lost weight. I have not lost any weight. I must have become more muscular and nimble and my body looks and moves better than before, hence these compliments. I have not lost a gram since I intensified my exercise routine.

You can look and feel better, too, if you start regularly moving your body and looking for forms of movement that you enjoy.

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What you are asking from the dietitian is impossible to deliver. Dietitians who create meal plans are typically privately paid and not particularly concerned with limited finances of their clients. The clients of such dietitians typically can afford both the meals and the dietetics services. If you are on such a limited budget, the best the dietitian can do is to teach you general principles of nutrition, guide you towards inexpensive sources of protein and fiber, analyze what you report you are eating, and offer tweaks. But you still need to do the work. Plus, so what that your mum doesn't cook? You are a big girl and can learn to cook by yourself. My late mum never cooked and that actually prompted me to teach myself cooking at an early age. And that was before the advent of the Internet. Now, with free step-by-step cooking videos on YouTube, sky"s the limit to how far you can go teaching yourself how to prepare healthy and tasty food.

Do you eat beans? They are one of the cheapest sources of protein and at the same time a great source of soluble fiber. Beans and lentils and peas are your friends whether you are rich or poor.

I can teach you how to make great split pea soup.