Taking Rexulti, Gained 22lbs, How can I stop being Hungry??

I am hungry all the time. I think about food all the time. I have no boundaries..I eat whatever, whenever.

I have gained so much weight. I feel awful. I look awful.

I know how to diet, and want to start, but how do you diet when your medicine makes you hungry ALL THE TIME???

Any tips??

Thank you so much!

I gained 50 on my old meds. It sucks. Fibre helps. You can get the stuff you mix into drinks. It helps fill you up. I consumed it before dinner.

I am going to pick up some fiber today! Thanks!

Find other things to do. Allow yourself to feel hungry for a while. It's ok to feel hungry. Eat several much smaller meals.
My thoughts

I gained 60 pounds from meds. I had no self control. My pdoc finally put me on weight neutral meds 4 months ago and I've lost 45 pounds. You could maybe ask for meds that don't make you hungry all the time. Worth a shot?

Also try getting healthy snacks you can eat when you've reached that hunger limit. I find nuts and fruit help.

Water water water , 8-10 ounces 20 mins before each meal will decrease the hunger.

Also talk to your Pdoc about more weight neutral meds , there are quite a few.

Honestly the only thing I could do was lower my meds. I know exactly what you’re talking about, just OBSESSING about food constantly and having no self control. It’s not about allowing yourself to be hungry. I turned into a maniac when I was hungry, the very definition of hangry. I felt like it I didn’t get food in me that instant I would pass out. And at that point I did. Not. Care. Whether it was healthy or not. Keeping healthy snacks around helped but only a little. I would make it all day eating healthy and then binge at night, or make it all week and binge all weekend. When I stopped invega (after gaining 70lb) all that went away. I lost about fifteen pounds over the summer only to be put on high amounts of depakote and zyprexa and gain twenty back. I demanded to be taken off zyprexa and asked to have depakote lowered again and add trileptal. I finally eat like a normal person again.

For me changing meds was the only option. Yes it was hell finding another med that worked as well as invega but I was prediabetic with a fatty liver. I couldn’t risk my physical health anymore. I hope you can find something that works for you that does not cause as much weight gain.

There might be a need to check other levels in your blood. Keep an eye on thyroid hormones which a lot of meds play with but lithium especially does. It can damage a thyroid gland and does. It did mine and I gained 90 pounds in a couple months. I'm finally, 13 years later, into a size of pants that I haven't worn in over 30 years and still need a belt.
The thing people smoke that makes them hungry only did that to me a few times but always revved me up.
Every med I take for MI has that hunger factor. For some reason, that part stopped. I still have times where I'll eat enough junk food to fill a shopping buggy, but I do try to limit those. I also use exercise. Although I sometimes do, it's a lot harder to eat while working out. Just the looks I get in the gym are enough usually to stop me from doing it. I did recently eat a soft pretzel while jogging. I heard growling, so I asked if they were hungry or wanted a bite. She accepted. I'm weird and don't worry about those things. Coffee helps too, but I try, though poorly, to limit that intake. I'm actually having a coffee now.
Water does help a little.
Whole grains and absorbent foods help tremendously, especially when eaten slowly. A granola bar is a minimum of 5 minutes meal with me usually, because I make it take that long. I like to slowly enjoy foods that I like. I eat much less and feel much more full. Mastication in general is the supposedly first indicator to the body that you're getting full.
It can be done. I do things in spite of them being the opposite of what I should do, or something like that. Find what works for you.

I'm having a similar problem with my clozapain. I've been drinking lots of water and when I can't handle the hunger I have something very strong, like a spoonful of hot sauce or a slice of lemon. Also eating things high in protein helps.
That being said I still overeat like crazy.

Eat a good breakfast if you can.

I read a study that divided people into 2 groups. Group A ate 600 cal breakfast, 400 lunch and 200 dinner and group B
at 200 cal breakfast, 400 lunch and 600 dinner. Both groups lost weight but Group A lost a bunch more compared to B even though they ate the same number of calories. It was a significant difference.

My problem is that after decades as a smoker (ex-smoker now) I never ate breakfast so it is hard to get anything down, and

I am also on 2 mg rexulti and 1.25 to 2.5 mg zyprexa and putting on a little (not a lot) weight too.

Get used to the hungry feeling like I have. But if hunger gets strong enough, I eat something filling. I think oatmeal may work, or a banana. Something healthy. Stay away from the junk food. Other more nutritious food. I am hungry now after eating a turkey burger. I have that tastey banana bread that I made yesterday. I need to forget this until the evening where I will have it as dessert to my dinner. I may just eat a banana. That is about 100 calories.

Lithium made me hungry for peanut butter. I was always hungry for peanut butter. Always. I empathize.