[Beebizzy]

Hi Everyone,

I know this is a much-discussed topic but I don't understand. Is weight gain from medication due to an increase in appetite, or is it due to some property of the medication itself (metabolism change...?)?

And what can be done about it? Do the same weight-loss 'rules' apply to medication weight - even if it's not due to appetite increase? That is, use more calories than you consume (that's simplifying things, I know)? Does that work?

Trying to shift a few (ahem) extra kilos which I attribute partly to medication (and maybe also to quitting drinking (August) and quitting smoking (October)). They're a bit stubborn

Thanks for your thoughts.

Beebizzy

[moremi]

I believe that the weight with medications if a little of both. Just depending on what medication. Some of them you can gain because of your appetite increasing and some I believe just slow down our metabolism. I have 50lbs to lose. I have been off seroquel for months and not lost a single pound. I dont know if zoloft can be making me hold the weight, but I have been dieting and exercising and getting nowhere

Any ideas anyone??? Im now taking abilify 10 and zoloft 50mg once daily for both. Im considering dum ping the zoloft. I have to get this weight off because its causing more social anxiety than I already to have. I dont like to be looked at by anyone and certainly not by my friends and family who havent seen me since putting on 50lbs of medication weight. It does cause me major problems because I also fight with eating disorders and depression. I need to lose the weight. I wish the doctor understood this.

[moremi]

I believe that the weight with medications if a little of both. Just depending on what medication. Some of them you can gain because of your appetite increasing and some I believe just slow down our metabolism. I have 50lbs to lose. I have been off seroquel for months and not lost a single pound. I dont know if zoloft can be making me hold the weight, but I have been dieting and exercising and getting nowhere

Any ideas anyone??? Im now taking abilify 10 and zoloft 50mg once daily for both. Im considering dum ping the zoloft. I have to get this weight off because its causing more social anxiety than I already to have. I dont like to be looked at by anyone and certainly not by my friends and family who havent seen me since putting on 50lbs of medication weight. It does cause me major problems because I also fight with eating disorders and depression. I need to lose the weight. I wish the doctor understood this. He said it will come off naturally but its been months doc and NOTHING!!!!

For me it's metabolism problems. I was eating well under whats required for proper nutrition and still put on weight extremely fast. I don't know how you deal with it though. My way was to drop the med and use starvation. Obviously I'm not going to recommend that too anyone.

If you are eating healthy and proper portion sizes, getting in enough activity and still gaining I would seriously consider metabolism problems. I don't know how to correct that besides switching meds. There are foods you can eat and I'm sure other things to help speed up metabolism. I wish I knew them but I try not to engage in reading that kind of stuff for my own problems.

[BipolaRNurse]

With me, weight gain is a multifocal issue that has no neat solution, e.g. take in fewer calories than you burn, etc. Since I started Lamictal in early March, I've put on 20 lbs., even though it's not supposed to cause weight gain. My theory is, the Celexa that I started six weeks before the Lamictal gave me an appetite, but I was too keyed-up to eat until the latter went into effect. Then food became enjoyable again, and all I've been doing is making up for lost time (and the 30 lbs. I lost during the mixed episode). I can't blame that on the pills, much as I would like to.

[nacht]

Moremi- I really feel you here. I'm 120 pounds overweight and a good chunk of that is weight gain from medications I've taken in the past. My last visit to the pdoc showed that my blood pressure was on the high end, so I decided to do something about it.

Anyway, I have learned a few things since starting my own weight loss program, and one is that the scale can be your enemy. My first suggestion is to try another means of measuring your weight loss. I measure in inches around certain body parts - waist, thigh, neck, bicep, and calf - and while I've only netted a loss of 2 pounds so far, I've definitely lost inches - my thigh went from 30" to 28.5" in a week, definitely an improvement!

The other thing about measuring on a scale- try cutting back to weighing once a week, first thing in the morning before you do anything. And if you gain back some, don't sweat it. Most people fluctuate a few pounds, especially if you exercise regularly, because of water retention.

I really hope that helps!

[SeekerofLight]

I was told that it's metabolic. I never overate, exercised, took metabolism boosters, and couldn't lose a pound. Since I went off the Invega close to 2 months ago, I've dropped 10 pounds without trying. Since I never had weight issues before meds, I can only conclude that the medications caused the rapid weight gain. I wish there was a better solution, but the only thing that worked for me was stopping the medication.

[cocoabeans]

It depends on the medication but, I can't say more than that. I've never gained a pound on meds. I've lost weight and appetite and that has been frustrating.