[Anxiousvalkyrie]

So I've been on a 1200 calorie (per day) diet and going to the gym 6 days a week doing both cardio and weight training in an attempt to lose weight. I should be losing weight but I'm not. It appears I've actually gained some weight. Could this be because of medications? I'm on both Lithium and Zyprexa.

It's so incredibly frustrating and it's making my anxiety and body issues even worse than they already were. I can't figure out why I'm not losing weight. In the past with diet and exercise I've been successful in losing weight. I'm just wondering if my medications could be causing such a huge issue in my efforts.

Ohhh, I mean no offense, but Zyprexa is the biggest weight gainer of all BP meds. It's the worst one you can take if you want to lose weight. Some people gain 5-10 lbs in one week on that stuff.

Can you ask your pdoc for a different med?

[Anxiousvalkyrie]

Originally Posted by bluebicycle

Ohhh, I mean no offense, but Zyprexa is the biggest weight gainer of all BP meds. It's the worst one you can take if you want to lose weight. Some people gain 5-10 lbs in one week on that stuff.

Can you ask your pdoc for a different med?

That is really good to know. I meet with my pdoc in a week and a half and will definitely bring that up with him.

[zijax]

I know that weight training will cause weight gain because muscle weighs more than fat.

[raspberrytorte]

I'm suffering a similar situation right now.

I can't figure out why I'm gaining so much! I'm averaging a pound a day or every other day!

It has to be because of meds in our situations.

Don't let your pdoc dismiss you either. Mine was just like: Oh, you're on all weight neutral meds...

[Anxiousvalkyrie]

Originally Posted by raspberrytorte

I'm suffering a similar situation right now.

I can't figure out why I'm gaining so much! I'm averaging a pound a day or every other day!

It has to be because of meds in our situations.

Don't let your pdoc dismiss you either. Mine was just like: Oh, you're on all weight neutral meds...

I can tell figure out what it could be besides meds. I've lost weight before and I'm doing 45 mins of strenuous cardio and some basic weight training six days a week plus going on long hikes in the woods three times a week. With as few calories as I'm eating the only think that makes sense is meds. I've always had great success with the current plan I'm on. Last time I did this I lost over 30lbs in 4 months so something's definitely up.

[gina_re]

I've heard this is hard to do on this med..

[LucyG]

As others have mentioned, your problem is the meds.

The thing you need to understand about meds is that they go in and reset the weight set-point in the brain telling it to either gain or lose a certain amount of weight. It's similar to turning up the heat in your home--your furnace runs longer until the room is at the new temperature if you raised it, and shuts off sooner if you turned it down. Same with your weight set-point--you'll be hungrier and want to eat if the med raises your set-point until you gain up to the new weight. If it lowers your set-point, you won't be hungry and will drop weight until you're down to the new set-point. It's virtually impossible to lose the weight when the med has overridden you old weight set-point which is why you're dieting and exercising to no avail.

This is also one reason so many people are morbidly obese in our society today--they're on psych med that have made them gain a ton of weight.

[Anxiousvalkyrie]

Originally Posted by LucyG

As others have mentioned, your problem is the meds.

The thing you need to understand about meds is that they go in and reset the weight set-point in the brain telling it to either gain or lose a certain amount of weight. It's similar to turning up the heat in your home--your furnace runs longer until the room is at the new temperature if you raised it, and shuts off sooner if you turned it down. Same with your weight set-point--you'll be hungrier and want to eat if the med raises your set-point until you gain up to the new weight. If it lowers your set-point, you won't be hungry and will drop weight until you're down to the new set-point. It's virtually impossible to lose the weight when the med has overridden you old weight set-point which is why you're dieting and exercising to no avail.

This is also one reason so many people are morbidly obese in our society today--they're on psych med that have made them gain a ton of weight.

Thanks for this explanation. I really appreciate it. It helps to know the mechanism of action that's causing the problem.

I spoke to my psych nurse and I'm going to start tapering down my dose of Zyprexa and when I see him in a week and a half we are going to discuss a different antipsychotic. Are there any I should ask about that are more weight neutral?

[LucyG]

I really don't know. You might google the different ones, especially looking for discussions on forums and see what people post. Everyone's body responds differently, but there are some that are notorious for weight gain, and others that aren't quite so bad.

Askapatient.com is a good site to check out as it's patients posting their experiences from wonderful to horrible. I suspect that if weight gain is extremely common with a certain med, it will be noted on that site. I haven't checked it since I was put on a hormone replacement that made me sicker than a dog years ago.

[Anxiousvalkyrie]

Originally Posted by LucyG

I really don't know. You might google the different ones, especially looking for discussions on forums and see what people post. Everyone's body responds differently, but there are some that are notorious for weight gain, and others that aren't quite so bad.

Askapatient.com is a good site to check out as it's patients posting their experiences from wonderful to horrible. I suspect that if weight gain is extremely common with a certain med, it will be noted on that site. I haven't checked it since I was put on a hormone replacement that made me sicker than a dog years ago.

Thanks for the tip.

I totally feel you on the hormone therapy issue. I started on it 7 years ago after my hysterectomy / bilateral oopherectomy and it made me really sick at first too. Took me forever to finally find the right HRT for me.

[bioChE]

Zyprexa is a notorious weight gainer. It messes with your metabolism, exactly as you've described.

There are other atypical antipsychotics that don't; risperdal and Latuda are a couple. There are also options for the normal class of APs, such as Haldol (haloperidol).