Serotonin Diet? Losing weight on Ads

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  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
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    I'm on a fairly high dose of cymbalta (it might be the highest you should go) for migraine management and also a very high dose of Topomax for the same.

    I wouldn't come off any meds without my doctor's okay and don't think you should either cherys. One interesting thing about exercise besides regulating mood is that it can regulate appetite. If you are thinking that you want to wean off your anti because it will help you regulate your appetite, maybe wait to see if increasing your exercise has an appetite suppressing effect first.

    I used to take other antis for depression and different meds for anxiety and can be prone to bouts of both every now and then. Regular exercise is key to keeping my moods stable and my appetite in check!
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
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    Good point about the appetite suppressing aspect of exercise for some people. Not so much now but at my biggest it was hugely true for me. Couldn't even think about eating for a few hours after a good sweaty workout.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    If you have a 6' 2" husband and teen boys, you can designate a top shelf for their snacks. Easy for them to reach, not so much for you.
  • cherys
    cherys Posts: 387 Member
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    Thank you all. It's really heartening to read of all the people who have lost by counting calories, as I'd read a lot of stuff online (I know!) that suggested it's almost impossible and once you gain on anti-depressants, you can starve yourself and not lose. I need to lose 30lbs. I've gained about 3lb per year for 10 years.
  • LiveLoveFitFab
    LiveLoveFitFab Posts: 302 Member
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    I take 500 mg of seroquil, pretty much the highest dose you can take. 300 before bed, and 200 xr during the day. That's on top of the Lyrica and Valproate. All of them put weight on a person. Seroquil is absolutely horrible for this. Not only does it create a metabolic syndrome, it drops your blood sugar, which leads to carb cravings.

    If I can lose weight, and try and maintain a healthy weight on all these meds I really believe it can be done.

    Also, I take a tonne of fish oil and other supplements, those might help your brain function better. I don't eat animals, but I have given a pass to the fish oil since it's the only thing that works.

    Because even with all the meds, I'm not well, although most people can't tell. But I manage to function and although I sleep about 9 hours a night, I don't sleep for 20 hours out of the day. I have energy to work and exercise. If you are sleeping for 20 hours a day, your meds need to be looked at. Either they aren't working, or they are too high. Or the wrong med.

    So, if I can do it, I honestly can't help but believe others can lose weight.
  • EatingAndKnitting
    EatingAndKnitting Posts: 531 Member
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    cherys wrote: »
    Thank you all. It's really heartening to read of all the people who have lost by counting calories, as I'd read a lot of stuff online (I know!) that suggested it's almost impossible and once you gain on anti-depressants, you can starve yourself and not lose. I need to lose 30lbs. I've gained about 3lb per year for 10 years.

    It might be true for that person and that medication that you have to cut calories really low to lose. Calories in > Calories out is always true for weight loss. Always. But with the right meds you should have no more trouble losing weight than the average person.

    Long, personal theory with no science to back it up (if you know of any please let me know, or if you have science that says I'm full of *kitten* share that too), and ancedotes ahead. Ahoy!

    We can calculate calories in pretty accuratly. But we can't always calculate calories out as accurately. We're not machines and everyone is chemically different. We reaspond to the same drugs in different ways.

    It's very possible that these pysch drugs affect the calories out side of the equation, and that would make it harder to lose weight. But it's still not impossible.

    In other antidepressant weight loss threads people have said they gained a ton of weight on Cymbalta. I've lost 70 pounds on it once before, and 50 pounds in three times the dose of the time when I lost 70 pounds.

    I was on Abilify. I went back to Weight Watchers, because I lost 70 pounds on it when I was only on Cymbalta before being diagnosed with bipolar disorder instead of just depression. I stayed in my points, I tracked my food, I did everything right for two months.

    I lost and regained two pounds. Total loss before giving up? Nothing. If my flat is correct the Abilify affected how many calories I was burning, so when I was eating at what I though was a deficit, I was really eating at maintanence.

    If I'd been here and posted on the forums (aside from being asked if I was weighing my food, I wasn't, but I didn't weigh when I lost 70 pounds, and I haven't weighed food much this time either, I've got so much weight to lose right now that I don't need to be super accurate yet), I probably would have been told to cut my calories down another 250 or so since I was nowhere near 1200 and see what happened.

    Now I'm on Geodon. Not only does it work better for my mood swings, but I've dropped 50 pounds in less than a year, and MFP UNDERestimates how many calories I can eat a day by a couple hundred. If I don't eat back every one of my exercise calories i lose two quickly right now.
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
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    cherys wrote: »
    Thank you all. It's really heartening to read of all the people who have lost by counting calories, as I'd read a lot of stuff online (I know!) that suggested it's almost impossible and once you gain on anti-depressants, you can starve yourself and not lose. I need to lose 30lbs. I've gained about 3lb per year for 10 years.

    Well the good news there is that you're only eating just over maintenance - ie, it's not going to take much of a calorie reduction for you to start losing weight. Even if you kept your calorie intake the same for now, and increased your exercise, you would create enough of a deficit to lose. An increase in exercise and a small reduction in calories and you're golden!

    Last time I was on meds I packed on around 9-10 kg in a matter of months. I flat out did not care enough to even try not to, until I saw some photos and went 'omg, enough!'. Just checked my health records, and I started tapering off the meds about a week after I started working on my weight. I tapered really slowly, so my first month at least I still had meds in the mix, didn't have any issues once I'd made that decision to kick my butt into gear.
  • YvetteK2015
    YvetteK2015 Posts: 653 Member
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    I get how you feel. I was put on an extremely high dose of one of the old tricyclic anti depressants to help my migraines, and to help me sleep, because I have horrible insomnia. I was probably on that for 7 years, and I gained almost 90 lbs. Before that, I was between a size 0-2.

    It was not as easy for me as it has been for other people. I did the calorie counting on here while I was on it. I'm not sure if I was so hungry I was eating more than I thought, but no matter what I did, it just wasn't working. I had to come off that medication. The good news is that I'm now losing weight since being off the med.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
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    cherys wrote: »
    Thank you all. It's really heartening to read of all the people who have lost by counting calories, as I'd read a lot of stuff online (I know!) that suggested it's almost impossible and once you gain on anti-depressants, you can starve yourself and not lose. I need to lose 30lbs. I've gained about 3lb per year for 10 years.

    That 3lbs per year is actually a pretty normal weight creep among the general population. We tend to not down regulate our intake in line with a natural reduction in activity and lean mass or never lose the holiday weight and so put on another couple of pounds the following festive season etc. As Nony says, that's a teeny tiny daily surplus and probably entirely unrelated to the ADs. So take that for empowerment that this is all totally within your control.
  • DanishFeta
    DanishFeta Posts: 61 Member
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    I gained a good 60lbs in a few months on anti depressant meds and I know it's 100% because I was sleeping all day and when I wasn't sleeping I would binge. I was so upset I blamed the meds and my GP and went off them and continued to have more issue and gain more weight. I even started drinking again, getting down a bottle every 1-2 days and landed over 250lbs before i realised how bad i had gotten.

    Thanks to the help of a new GP and MFP I'm back on my medication but I'm counting calories and forcing myself to move. I make sure I go for a 30min walk every day or I try to reach 8000steps. So far so good. I've stopped gaining and I'm slowly losing again =)

    Hang in there. I would definitely talk to your doctor about your medications and you now counting calories. I'm sure they'll support you and you've got the forums here when you're feeling lost or need a little encouragement.

    Don't give up!
  • cherys
    cherys Posts: 387 Member
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    DanishFeta wrote: »
    I gained a good 60lbs in a few months on anti depressant meds and I know it's 100% because I was sleeping all day and when I wasn't sleeping I would binge. I was so upset I blamed the meds and my GP and went off them and continued to have more issue and gain more weight.

    Yep. I'm sure the sleeping all day is what has made me gain. I never had any weight creep before taking meds. I was a stable weight for 25 years of adult life. I know as you get older you put on, but I never expected to put on quite so much. 7lb of middle-aged spread maybe, but 30!

    Nony, I had that moment of 'enough!' the other day. Bumped into someone I was at college with and she was really slim and looked gorgeous. Then I caught sight of my reflection in the glass beside her, and I wasn't just 'plump' I looked like I'd wrapped a duvet round my waist before getting dressed. I weigh more now than I did when pregnant with twins. I just got very down about it yesterday. But everyone says that have that 'Enough!' low point and I think yesterday was mine.

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