Putting on and losing the lbs.

Boredom and comfort eating is certainly a factor with me. I also think if you're on psych meds,especially antipsychotics,then it's easy to gain and hard to lose.

I cut out 2-3 takeaways a week (sometimes for 2 people) thinking i would lose weight.
I lost a mere 6lbs in 13 weeks although the calorific value of the takeaways had been very high.
In the end i got despondent and gave up. Due to problems identifying goals and future plans that was the only goal i could think of, and in the end the thought of dieting for nearly three years,at the rate i was losing,to get to a good weight , was just too daunting and too long a goal to conquer.

The only way i see to lose at a decent rate is to diet and come off meds and if i do that my emotional reactivity ,which has got me into trouble in the past,along with paranoia and weird thoughts,will increase.

Not cured,fat,but more stable on meds, or not cured,less stable, and eventually a good weight off meds ?

I don't know if this would be an option for you, but I had a lot of the same issues, boredom & comfort eating, and eating a lot of take out as well as just generally eating unhealthily. I wound up getting a referal to a dietician from my family Dr. who put together a proper meal plan for me. It was easy to follow and implement. The biggest change for me was portion control and cutting back on carbs. I wound up losing 30 lbs, over 3 months, and I'm on a ton of psych meds including a fairly high dose anti-psychotic. So it is possible to loose weight you just have to be really disciplined about it, and getting some exercise, even if it's just walking really helps too.

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please consider finding a new comfort activity be it reading or (even better) walking. Actually, losing 6 pounds in 13 weeks is pretty good! that's a half pound a week. some diets focus on losing as little as 1 pound a week. so, i encourage you to keep up whatever you're doing. takeaway meals can be very high in calories and if you're 1 person eating an entire meal designed for 2 - that's a big problem. put half of it away before you even start eating and then try eating slower so that you can recognize when you are feelling full. i try to satisfy my food cravings with a cup of tea and a few whole grain crackers (whole grain is more filling). is it perfect - no. is it better than stuffing my face with fast food - yes. hang in there! your results so far are good.

This is a question I have been wondering about myself. I remember when I was taken off of Geodon, I lost 30 pounds easily. Now, I am on two antipsychotics and I have gained back all that weight and then some. I recently cut out my favorite snack foods and replaced them with fruits and vegetables and began walking regularly again. I am prepared to have the weight come off a lot more slowly than I would like. I would be happy to lose even 6 pounds so my clothes fit me better. I understand your frustrations, though. The meds increase my appetite so it really is a struggle sometimes to eat healthy portions of healthy foods and not snack all day. But, if you think about it, the three years is going to pass by anyway and you can be a healthier weight at the end of it or not. I tell myself to take it one day at a time because I get discouraged otherwise.

Thanks for the advice.

I've put on more weight since being alone than i did the 22 years living with my wife. I used to have regular meals including lunches when married and managed to keep that up for a few years after she died.
Then i got into a state of mind that said 'why prepare a meal just for one and why have regular set meals?'
Since then it's been ready meals/takeaways/and grazing,as and when.
Motivation is hard and just organising myself to prepare a meal ,including making a shopping list and buying the ingredients,seems like a mountain to climb.
It never used to be this way. I wasn't an
expert cook but i could motivate and organise myself to cook basic stuff.
I'm ashamed to say that i've slid backwards in quite a few ways but because i function after a fashion, and have no one coming to see how things are domestically , it flies under the radar.

I got into that mindset when I had over 150lbs to lose (from anti-psych drugs) . . . it was very bad. [In the end I stopped taking the drugs and losing weight very easily, which I suppose is a different story.]

Prepare a meal for one, and have regular set meals - for yourself, because it makes you feel good! I'm sure you deserve it, even though I don't know you.

I dunno. I hate cooking and I'm not keen on food, but making sure I have regular and reasonably healthy meals makes me feel better physically and mentally. If you want advice/cookbooks I'm happy to help, or probably others have even more experience than me!

Some meds are just weird bordering the supernatural.

I was poor when I was put on Risperdal, so the first week I basically only had the med and no food. Yet I managed to gain 2 pounds a day without eating. Like... wow! Was that all water? IDK...

When I was on Geodon I felt hungry all the time, not like craving a snack type feeling, but roaring hunger like my body told me I was starving. I was disciplined. I didn't eat many calories. So I didn't gain. But the hunger was so bad, it never ever stopped. So I told me, just for one day, I'll eat until I'm full, just to satisfy me one single time.

After three huge dinners later, my stomach was still roaring with hunger, even if there was my physical space left in it....

Then, my med suddenly changed its effect without me doing anything, it started giving me such bad side effects I was in a constant state of panic. The hunger disappeared. I basically just sat and shook in panic for two months straight, I got off the med after a while realizing it was the med causing my panic. Now I had to force myself to eat. And drink. I drank way too little. I ate one cup of soup a day for two months, if I could stomach it that day. They were less than 300 calories.

When I finally felt better, I thought, I wonder if I at least lost some weight from that horrible experience. I had. 7 pounds. Oddly little! I guess being on the med made me not lose.