Appetite suppresants-Which do you recommend?

onwarddownward

I am going to take some time, maybe waste some breath and tell my story.

I was 42 and 272 lbs. I went to my doctor and he handed me a 1200 calorie diet sheet. I knew that I couldn't do that. He also wrote me a prescription for Meridia, a diet pill. He told me it was like an anti-depressant, but that it boosted the metabolism.

I took it and soon afterward started losing weight. I was his star patient. I lost weight every week.

I went to him again because I was having a hard time sleeping and having panic attacks and he prescribed Xanax. I took Meridia first thing in the AM and Xanax at night.

Within 8 months I had lost a hundred pounds. The last twenty came off slower. Here are before and after photos.



Do I look healthy in the end? I was sick.

I was having heart palpitations from the Meridia (which is speed and is off the market), I was one day from having surgery to have my gallbladder removed. Four weeks after the gallbladder surgery, somehow, I became pregnant. It was not a normal pregnancy (at age 44!) and I lost it and nearly bled to death. Afterward, I developed a 10 cm ovarian cyst, which required 8 months of hormone therapy to remove.

I was addicted to xanax at that time. I was gaining back the weight at an average of ten pounds a month.

In February of this year, I was at 294.6 pounds. After a bitter fight with my husband over my weight, I decided to do three things:

1. Stop drinking calories (and no diet drinks)
2. Stop eating fast food
3. Get exercise EVERY day that I liked. I chose swimming

Now it is three months and I have been on MFP for seventy days today (happy 70th to me!). I have lost thirty pounds.

Let me say that again --- I HAVE LOST THIRTY POUNDS BY EATING RIGHT AND EXERCISING.

My diary is open and so is my blog. You can do this without suppressants. Exercise IS the best suppressant. Stop eating bread as a handle to your food. Stop drinking calories. Journal every bite.

Good luck!! Friend me if you like, you and anyone else who is here to work it and change your freaking life.

You can see some recent progress photos on my blog. I am only brave enough to post them from the back, but you can see the progress in three months.

Jan

Ready2Rock206

Water. :drinker:

TheCaren

I am going to take some time, maybe waste some breath and tell my story.

I was 42 and 272 lbs. I went to my doctor and he handed me a 1200 calorie diet sheet. I knew that I couldn't do that. He also wrote me a prescription for Meridia, a diet pill. He told me it was like an anti-depressant, but that it boosted the metabolism.

I took it and soon afterward started losing weight. I was his star patient. I lost weight every week.

I went to him again because I was having a hard time sleeping and having panic attacks and he prescribed Xanax. I took Meridia first thing in the AM and Xanax at night.

Within 8 months I had lost a hundred pounds. The last twenty came off slower. Here are before and after photos.



Do I look healthy in the end? I was sick.

I was having heart palpitations from the Meridia (which is speed and is off the market), I was one day from having surgery to have my gallbladder removed. Four weeks after the gallbladder surgery, somehow, I became pregnant. It was not a normal pregnancy (at age 44!) and I lost it and nearly bled to death. Afterward, I developed a 10 cm ovarian cyst, which required 8 months of hormone therapy to remove.

I was addicted to xanax at that time. I was gaining back the weight at an average of ten pounds a month.

In February of this year, I was at 294.6 pounds. After a bitter fight with my husband over my weight, I decided to do three things:

1. Stop drinking calories (and no diet drinks)
2. Stop eating fast food
3. Get exercise EVERY day that I liked. I chose swimming

Now it is three months and I have been on MFP for seventy days today (happy 70th to me!). I have lost thirty pounds.

Let me say that again --- I HAVE LOST THIRTY POUNDS BY EATING RIGHT AND EXERCISING.

My diary is open and so is my blog. You can do this without suppressants. Exercise IS the best suppressant. Stop eating bread as a handle to your food. Stop drinking calories. Journal every bite.

Good luck!! Friend me if you like, you and anyone else who is here to work it and change your freaking life.

You can see some recent progress photos on my blog. I am only brave enough to post them from the back, but you can see the progress in three months.

Jan

Bless you for sharing your story. At first I thought it was going to be telling about how great appetite suppressants are and I was worried. I'm so sorry for the difficulties, and for the loss you experienced.

I really believe the best appetite suppressant is food and water. It's just how much and what kind of food that's the issue. If you want to eat like garbage and take pills (not that you did this, but many who take appetite suppressants still eat like crap) all you're learning how to do is eat like garbage and take pills. I worked Weight Watchers nine years ago and found every loophole there was. Lost 30 pounds eating at my proper "points" level. Except all I did was eat low cal garbage food. I learned nothing about nutrition, so it was completely unsustainable, FOR ME. I gained it all back, plus more. I know others with a different experience from Weight Watchers, so I'm not bad mouthing that eating style. I just knew for me the only way it was going to work and stick was to learn how to eat in a way I could envision eating for the rest of my life. And I really do believe I've found it.

I wish you nothing but the best as you move toward the healthier you!

ncbeachprincess

Good food and water suppress my appetite just fine. And maybe a cup of black coffee.

coffee defiantly! but only for a short time but yummy foods a few times a day does the trick.

I have to have my coffee every morning and it is definitely an appetite suppressant. The downfall for me is that I go hours without any food and then starvation (what feels like it), hits me and I try to eat whatever food I can find, and sometimes too much of it. So drink coffee in moderation, just as a filler, not as a replacement, like I do.

3foldchord

I have to have my coffee every morning and it is definitely an appetite suppressant. The downfall for me is that I go hours without any food and then starvation (what feels like it), hits me and I try to eat whatever food I can find, and sometimes too much of it. So drink coffee in moderation, just as a filler, not as a replacement, like I do.

Maybe you should eat a protein bar with your morning coffee. Maybe it'd help balance put that suppressed appetite VS ravenous feelings.

rachseby

I've heard that peanut butter suppresses the appetite. Drink a lot of water, and my grandmother used to tell me to eat something salty like pickles. Maybe the vinegar help to suppress appetite?

Elsie_Brownraisin

Food.

lilcassers

Just eat real food, you don't need appetite suppressants. I like to eat foods with a good amount of fat and protein, as they keep me full longer. Don't be afraid to eat!

Check this out to help determine how much you can really eat
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet?hl=short+and+sweet

THIS.

Any "pill" that seems like it will make your progress better or easier is not going to work in the long run. They are not healthy. Don't focus on a "diet" but a permanent lifestyle change.

I have 5 small meals per day. Tons of fruits and veggies, lean meats, protein shakes, shakeology, quest bars, almonds, and 1/2 my body weight in water, per day. There is not pill that will do for you what healthy eating and exercise will..

When you begin to rev up your workouts, focus on interval training and constantly changing your routine. Your body responds best to muscle confusion.

NonnyMary

What works for me - eating an apple, because it has fiber i think. also someone said eggs help suppress your appetite (if you eat a couple of them it could make you feel full). Also water. Also, allowing yourself to feel hunger pangs and in about 10 minutes they pass. I've only been doing this a month so I dont know it all yet.

If Im hungry at work, at 3:00 as usual, I get hungry and i have granola bars in my desk drawer to eat so that im not starving when i get home. it does take the edge off.

is coffee REALLY an appetite suppressant? how does that work? and is it true?

KoRnKraZy

Green tea and water

ramonafrincu

coffee
diet coke

littlepinkhearts

meet and exceed your Protein requirement every single day. After a couple days, if it works, you won't feel so hungry overall....(unless you're starving yourself, then it probably won't work)

katejkelley

I spent some time the other day researching natural appetite suppression. I didn't want to take some pill - trying to keep eating clean. Some of the recommendations included: almonds, avacados, green tea, water, and apples. I have found almonds really work for me. I take 1/4 cup of roasted almonds to work and eat them in the afternoon when my willpower is the lowest (probably insulin levels are low). They really do help! Instead of coming home and eating junk, I get out and do my walk, then workout. By then it's dinner time and I've made it without blowing my calorie intake beforehand.

Turnaround2012

Here is what works for me:

3-4 egg whites

or

2 tablespoons natural peanut butter - no sugar added

or

1 apple - Very very underrated!

or

2-3 oz of fish or chicken

and... the "TOP" exercise suppresant...

Eating Enough Calories

I am reducing my bodyfat by eating 2000 calories per day (TDEE method) - which means I have energy to work out!

My goal is to be fit with a great bodyfat % - I am not going for some random number on the scale!

LearnFromTheRed

I am going to take some time, maybe waste some breath and tell my story.

I had a bet with myself before I scrolled the page that you would end up back at 300lbs having had a heart attack or something similar...

goombasmom

Vegetables and water....the all natural ones.

^what she said. I eat a ton of steamed broccolli with some olive oil. Cheap, and fills the void. Or raw cucumber slices.

Green tea (unsweetened) also helps.

SteveJWatson

Food.

Beat me to it!

KathleenMurry

Pills don't work. Drink lots of water and eat nutrient rich food. If you eat empty calories, your body will keep on begging for food because it's not getting all the nutrients it needs. If you do that already but have a real appetite problem, then I suggest eating more protein because it takes more work to digest and coffee - caffeine is a natural appetite suppressant.

TheCaren

Legit question: what does an appetite suppressant teach you about eating?

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I couldn't agree more with this question. This is why I lost 30 pounds on weight watchers and promptly found it again. Because I learned nothing about eating right. So I just went right back to where I started, and added some more pounds for good measure. I know so much more about food now than ever. I make informed choices (and they aren't always the best choices but I know what I'm doing and not just flying blind). When I know what I should be eating, it's a lot easier to pass on something I know is outside what's in my best interest.

For me, I have figured out that I crave what I eat. Eating junk begats a desire to eat more junk. Now, that doesn't mean I've gone on some deprivation diet that's unsusatainable. It just means that I eat properly on more days than not, and occasionally enjoy foods that are outside my general eating plan. If I want it, I eat it. Since I know I can have it any time I want, it's easy to avoid it most of the time. Because it's a choice. Not being deprived.

There is no shortcut to weight loss. I've tried them all, short of surgery (which I don't actually see as a shortcut because the basic premise I operate under of "eating less and moving more" still applies even with surgery). Nothing has been sustainable until I changed my lifestyle and quit calling it a "diet".

If you do decide to go the prescription route, might I suggest you do it for 30 days at most as a kick start while you start figuring out a healthier eating lifestyle. Just know that when you quit, it's all you. Your choices. Your lifestyle.

CysterWigs

Back in the 1990's, when I was a teenager, my family doctor put me on fen-phen. I lost 90 lbs in about 6 months. Losing weight that quickly is pretty bad for your body, which I had to find out the hard way. I, like another poster on this thread with a similar story, ended up with gall bladder disease that wouldn't be diagnosed for another decade. My hormones became all screwed up. My period stopped now that I was at a "normal weight". They took me off the pill when my weight plateaued. (I am 5'8" and started the journey as a 220 lbs fifteen year old. I was now a 130 lbs sixteen year old.) They took me off the pills and my weight slowly began to creep back. I began obsessively counting calories, only consuming about 1200 a day while exercising for hours on end. I got a job at a local gym just so I could work out for free. I rode my bike everywhere until I was 22, averaging about 5 -10 miles of biking up and down hills every day. I was still gaining weight. Some people make fun of me on MFP when I retell this story and relate the fact that the weight started to come back on even though I was meticulously tracking calories and working out compulsively. (Others of you will know the issue right away. I was basically starving myself under the guise of healthy habits.) I believe whole heartedly that those pills do more than suppress appetite. They do a real number on your metabolism and without them your body starts crying out for food. The specter of food haunts your every thought, waking and asleep. I tried to fill that void with exercise and ended up giving myself a weird eating disorder. I thought I was being healthy, but, quite frankly, I wasn't eating enough to sustain all the exercise I was doing and ended up losing that battle in the end. Within seven years I had found that lost 90 lbs and 30 more to go with it. I think that the rapid, artificial weight loss from those damned pills laid the foundations for the metabolic syndrome that made the weight pour back on once I stopped working out 3+ hours a day. Now I have that to deal with, too. I am 100% convinced that I would not be in this boat if someone in my family would have just made the decision to make healthier food and walk with us as kids once in a while. Instead, the SAD made me a chubby little kid in a chubby little family and then some dipsh*t doctor put my mother and I on a deadly f'ing diet pill combo. So, buyer beware. These drugs are almost all stimulants and they are all bad for your heart. (That includes megadoses of caffeine.)

Here are some things I learned on my journey and some things I still struggle with:

- Quick fixes can be REALLY bad for you and potentially screw up your body in ways you never knew possible.

- Doctors work for pharmaceutical companies and insurers. They are quick to adopt solutions that may not be vetted very well. This experience taught me the importance of asking a lot of really annoying - but important - questions about any medication suggested before I take it now. Don't let the authority of the doctor replace your common sense. Look up the research for said treatments on Google Scholar. Advocate for your own health because, unfortunately, doctors don't always know what the hell they're talking about (important lesson!)

- Water is a terrible appetite suppressant, IMHO. I mean, by all means give it a go. If it works for you - awesome. There is not one-size-fits-all when it comes to this stuff. Here's my reasoning: I eat more when I drink with my meals. I think part of this is because I struggle with eating too quickly.When you drink with your meals you don't have to slow down and chew as much. It's the same reason speed eaters dunk their hot dogs in the stuff before sliding it down their gullets. It should come as no surprise that a lot of chronically overweight people (like myself) drink a LOT of water. I'm a singer, so I drink almost a gallon a day! It doesn't have any effect on my appetite. (And, FTR: I don't drink soda very often at all and when I do, it's diet. When I say water - I mean WATER.) In fact, people who've had gastric bypass and other WLS are instructed not to drink fluids with their meals. The reason isn't just a matter of room in their new pouches. Your stomach turns things into a fluid-like slurry that it then empties into your intestines. It won't do this until everything is liquified. So, liquids spend much less time in the stomach than food. Drinking too much water may cause your stomach to empty itself too early in the process, resulting in partially digested food, and enhanced hunger for some people due to vitamin malabsorption. (But this, like all areas of metabolic science, are woefully under-researched, which is why I figure you might as well try it and see if it works for you.)

- Protein is your friend, especially if you plan to exercise.

- FAT is your friend. Delicious, healthy fats will keep you full as long as you pair it up with some veggies or protein source. My fav is coconut oil. It's great for your skin and hair, too.

- Exercise is actually a pretty bad appetite suppressant, IMHO. I am usually MORE hungry when I work out regularly. The research backs this up, as well. (For any one who cries out for sources, this one springs to mind but there are many others: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1914974,00.html) This is why it is so important to make sure your macros are right for your body and what you want to do. Make sure you are getting enough protein for the kind of exercise you're doing to avoid hunger pangs.

- Fiber is great, but try to get it from vegetables and not grains. Avoid carbs when you can, especially if you have any type of insulin resistance. I still eat beans, but bread is a treat to me, not a staple of my diet. You will be full much, much longer going this route because you will have to eat a lot more veg to get the same amount of fiber found in fiber-fortified bread products. Stuff like Fiber One bars, for example, have 9 grams of fiber but are full of sugar. You would have to eat about 2.5 servings of broccoli for the same amount of fiber, which as you can see, is much more food by volume.

- More vegetable matter, in general, will be super helpful in suppressing appetite. I am an ex-vegetarian, so I do eat animal proteins now. That doesn't mean that I don't love veggies. In fact, I've never met a veg I didn't like.

- If you do decide to use caffeine as an appetite suppressant, make sure you drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration. Caffeine is a diuretic.

- Most importantly: Make sure whatever you do is something you can stick to. The reason why a lot of diet plans fail is because people only do them for a short period of time, either because they're wacky and unsustainable or because the person didn't intend to make a lasting habitual change. This is the one I struggle with the most.

Ok. Well, I hope that's been helpful to you. Good luck to you on your journey and welcome to FMP.