Marijuana and weight loss?

live2smyle

:laugh: So glad I joined MFP the people here are awesome!!! Maybe cause there stoned??? :smokin: I dunno there still awesome lol :drinker:

MeghanAM

It's great to read the success stories people here are posting about medical marijuana. I'm so glad for you guys that your states allow you to use it!

This has been an interesting thread to read.

DTetz

Chemicals.... its a herb, a plant, just as natural as an apple off a tree : / better then cigs or alc but its not going to help a person diet

DTetz

You can not be pyhsically addicted to pot, its not possible... if a person is addicted it is mentally, caffine is more addictive then pot

Im actaully an addictions counselor.... and I know a lot of my clients started doing various drugs and alcohol as a weight loss solution.
i do not recomend it at all.
any drug or alcohol can aid or hinder your weight loss... but its a quick fix, and after you become addicted its a harder battle and not worth it at all.
I do not recomend anyone take drugs as a means to lose weight.

In my working experience (and Ive never used drugs so I cant talk on a personal level)
Marijunia gives you the munchies and you eat and eat and eat when smoking
untill you become addicted.. and then marijunia stops giving you the effects you want, so you switch to a harder drug.. and thats when the weight loss comes in
but so does the decrease of health and motivation.. along with the loss of almost everything you have.

:huh:

I'm under the impression that you are telling us that marijuana is chemically addictive. y/n?

"the loss of almost everything you have"? That sounds awfully derogatory. I know plenty of pot smokers (myself included) who are extremely high functioning, very intelligent, and successful in their lives.

RIGHT!!?? Dont judge! From what I've seen, there are people including myself getting results!! And I've lowered my dependancy on prescription narcotics by over 50% and quite frankly I will take the side effect of marijuana all day every day compared to the never ending list of harmful potential side effects of every single prescription drug on the market!! Those side effects have included irreparable liver damage, constant digestive problems, and that's not even starting the warning labels printed on the bottle!

So, if you dont agree with medical marijuana treatment, thats fine, but do not assume because you only see the negative side of it that there isnt a positive. I have held my job for over 5 years, been a homeowner for almost 3, always enjoyed the finer things in life, and have always been the most responsible people I know.

LoseItCorinne

Actually, from my experience, heavy heavy pot smokers tend to lose weight after awhile.. At least at my high school they did. The guys who were really heavy pot smokers lost a lot of weight after a certain point. Even stepping outside of that group, one of my good friends (we don't really speak anymore) starting smoking weed heavily last year (and still does), and the last time I saw him I noticed he had majorly slimmed down much like the other guys at my school had.
I have no idea if there is any science to back that up, but that's just what I've seen. I've never smoked pot, so that's all I know lol.

I have to agree with her.. I was what you would call a pot head when i was in high school and i was rail thin.. I stopped about 8 years ago and thats when i started putting on my weight.. I also have friends who were the very same way. Its so weird how long ago that was. To think about how i was then and how i am not blows my mind.. :0)

DTetz

actually they use that for cures
Let's stop throwing around the term "natural". Snake venom is natural and you wouldn't put it in your body. It's a misnomer.

littlelioness

METH and weight loss not mj and weight loss lol. That's how it works.

I know skinny people that smoke, and fat people. I think it depends on how you live your life.

halobender

I know skinny people that smoke, and fat people. I think it depends on how you live your life.

Heh, go figure that whether you smoke pot or not wouldn't make a difference, but rather the calories that you intake vs the calories that you exert. eh? eh?

Marijuana makes it a lot easier to be lazy. And if one is pre-disposed to laziness then it's really not gonna help. People can make all sorts of excuses for things. A lot of it comes down to the person that you are, though; drugs don't typically ACTUALLY make you a different person.

runningneo122

I have heard that Marijuana raises your heart rate....

Since no one else said anything about this....

Being a recovering addict(clean date - 09/27/97) and a former daily pot smoker, the one thing that got me to quit was learning that regular use has a negative effect on your heart. A long-time friend (daily pot smoker) died of a heart attack at 47. I got clean shortly after and haven't looked back. Not judgin'... just sayin'. Food for thought.

JenniferAutumn

In my working experience (and Ive never used drugs so I cant talk on a personal level)
Marijunia gives you the munchies and you eat and eat and eat when smoking
untill you become addicted.. and then marijunia stops giving you the effects you want, so you switch to a harder drug.. and thats when the weight loss comes in
but so does the decrease of health and motivation.. along with the loss of almost everything you have.

Ok- This post kind of bothered me. You said you are a addiction counselor- where did you get your facts? In countries where marijuana is actually legal has less of a drug rate and crime rate than in the United States!!
And Marijuana leads to a harder drug?? No, I don't thinks so. The first drug that most people try is ALCOHOL!
- and most people try harder drugs because they are drunk as **** and @ssholes talked them into it!
Unlike you- I have smoked pot and I have done more stupid things drinking than I ever would partaking in a little smoke! (Which is calorie free and comes from a plant and not mixed in a lab)
Statistically please tell me how many drunk driving incidents there are nightly compared to marijuana incidents?
How about domestic abuse incidents? ALCOHOL!

Another point I want to make about alcohol and marijuana vs the munchies.
How many of you have gone out with a friend to have a few beers after work and they place down some nachos and wings, how many of you are going to resist with having alcohol in your system?? hmmm, then your having so much fun- you end up closing the bar... your not going to hit a drive thru on your way home?? Oh not to mention all the calories in alcohol you just consumed!!

Trust me- I love to have a few drinks... but alcohol is the more evil of the two

JenniferAutumn

It's now 4:20 p.m. Just in case anyone is interested.

LOL

mcarpe52797

Funny that now that you mention it, all of the people I know that smoke it all of the time are skinny. I never even thought of it until now. Of course, one of the reasons I gained a bunch of weight back the first time was not being able to control the munchies lol. Now, I just stay away from it. I wish I knew I could control the crazy hunger enough not to consume everything that's not nailed down in the house though...

xMissy6x

Marijuana kills your memory that alone would surely convert to calorie amnesia to. LOL

ouryear002

I don't smoke and I almost never drink, so I have no basis to form an opinion. But I bet you could make a ton of money writing the mj brownie diet book based on the number of views this post received! :laugh:

kidtechnical

John - I live in toronto, it's not uncommon to find all kinds of crap added to it, unfortunately. :frown:

Hash has all sorts of rubbish added to it, including plastics to bulk it up and get more money... of course if you can only take it in a joint then you're adding cigarettes to the mix. Weed's different, it's pretty much straight from the plant.

I remember a boyfriend who smoked it telling me that he'd read that although pot smokers consume more calories, it doesn't affect their weight because of the affect it has on the metabolism, however, I can't point you in the direction of the source of this knowledge, so it's anecdotal.

Something to consider is the affect it will have on you physically - as I go about my day I see a lot of people out jogging and running and I have a hunch that they didn't do a bong before they set out.:laugh:

The BBC are doing a series on drugs being aired in the UK right now, it's really good and one programme was all Cannibis, it was really funny and informative. If you put the following into google you'll find it if you're interested. "how drugs work cannabis bbc youtube"

kidtechnical

In my working experience (and Ive never used drugs so I cant talk on a personal level)
Marijunia gives you the munchies and you eat and eat and eat when smoking
untill you become addicted.. and then marijunia stops giving you the effects you want, so you switch to a harder drug.. and thats when the weight loss comes in
but so does the decrease of health and motivation.. along with the loss of almost everything you have.

Wow, how do I word this without upsetting you? You seem extremely ill informed about the affects of marijuana and I worry that your clients will see you are ill informed/misinformed and dismiss and your advice/information as a result. And I say that as a health professional. If you say to someone who smokes pot "you will get addicted and move onto harder drugs and lose everything" they will shake their head at you. If you say "it can make you feel nervous and anxious, it can make you avoid social situations, it can make you paranoid" they will respect that because they will be able to identify with it.

I can think of at least 7 people in my life who have smoked it for 10 - 15 years. They're not overweight, they don't seem addicted, they can go weeks/months without, they've never moved on to harder drugs (in fact you could say that tobacco and alcohol were their 'gateway' drugs) and they've not lost anything, in fact they keep growing & gaining, they have jobs, promotions, pay rises, families, mortgages and other responsibilities.

Admittedly, you see the absolute extreme, you see people with serious debilitating addictions on a day to day basis. If you take 100 of them and ask about cannabis, there's a good chance 100 of them will have tried cannabis. However, if take 100 people who are capable of functioning on a daily basis who use cannabis regularly, it doesn't follow that they use other 'harder' drugs or have any plans too.

Just want to add that I in no way advocate using drugs, but I am a huge and passionate advocate of accurate information and informed decision making :flowerforyou:

runningneo122

Let's stop throwing around the term "natural". Snake venom is natural and you wouldn't put it in your body. It's a misnomer.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

halobender

Hash has all sorts of rubbish added to it, including plastics to bulk it up and get more money... of course if you can only take it in a joint then you're adding cigarettes to the mix. Weed's different, it's pretty much straight from the plant.

That's only on a "commercial" scale. I only buy hash from the people people who made it, folks that I know. And not all joints have tobacco in the mixture. (A "marijuana cigarette" containing tobacco is called a spliff ... at least in most places.) I'm sorry, I didn't really follow the auto-line from joint -> cigarettes.

helloiloveukitty

this is a really interesting thread. lots of info and opinions here.

I am a daily smoker and I've lost a little over 70lbs in the past year. I don't think it helps or hurts me. I do have to step back sometimes and say don't eat that, you just have the munchies but honestly any time I drink alcohol I have to do the same thing, oh don't eat that crap you're just tipsy hungry. I think it depends on the other choices you make, what you eat, how active you are and if pot saps your motivation and you let it.

Suzy_B

If you google marijuana and weight loss you'll find that medical marijuana is perscribed as a treatment of weight loss in patients with AIDS. So I'm guessing it wouldn't help with weight loss.

Very interesting topic btw

believetoachieve

Good heavens, I decide to take a party weekend and my thread explodes! Haha :laugh:

Juuuust to clarify a couple things...
- I AM productive. I'm in university, have extra-curricular activities, friends, a job, etc etc, lol.
- I am a runner. I LOVE to run, and almost everytime I smoke, I make it a point to spend at least 30 mins on the treadmill apologizing to my lungs
- I do NOT do ANY other drugs. Marijuana is not a "gateway" drug
- I haven't "lost everything and anything", and plan to keep it that way :laugh:
- "munchies" rarely ever affect me - willpower wins usually
- I did NOT mean for this thread to come off as a "start-smoking-to-lose-weight" post!!
- by "smoking" I mean an average of about once a month, tops.

I was just curious about how it might alter metabolism in someone who ALREADY smokes, and is recently trying to lose weight. That's all!! I definitely don't suggest anyone take up smoking/drinking to lose weight.

I also wanted to add a HUGE thank you to all the lovely responses I got, both here and in my inbox. A couple people added me as friends and I'm so happy that this is (for the most part) such a loving and tolerant community! Feel free to add away! (Just add a msg to the request!).

To all the nay-sayers... just shush. See my above mentioned points please. Alcoholism runs in my family AND is unhealthy - I was merely pondering which of my vices is more unhealthy, with the intent of dropping it from my life.

believetoachieve

I do not recomend anyone take drugs as a means to lose weight.


Marijunia gives you the munchies and you eat and eat and eat when smoking untill you become addicted.. and then marijunia stops giving you the effects you want, so you switch to a harder drug.. and thats when the weight loss comes in
but so does the decrease of health and motivation.. along with the loss of almost everything you have.

Just wanted to respond to your post... I did NOT say I wanted to take drugs to attempt to lose weight. You've completely mis-read the thread :frown:

Secondly, I'm not trying to insult/bash/belittle you, but you've spelled marijuana wrong several times, and your "knowledge" on the topic is pretty incorrect.... for an addictions counselor, anyways! :indifferent:

halobender

Secondly, I'm not trying to insult/bash/belittle you, but you've spelled marijuana wrong several times, and your "knowledge" on the topic is pretty incorrect.... for an addictions counselor, anyways! :indifferent:

As I do with most people who throw out a professional title to act as an authority on a subject, you might want to try putting the position in quotation marks. "Addictions counselor," like. And they're probably a volunteer, at that.

kidtechnical

Hash has all sorts of rubbish added to it, including plastics to bulk it up and get more money... of course if you can only take it in a joint then you're adding cigarettes to the mix. Weed's different, it's pretty much straight from the plant.

That's only on a "commercial" scale. I only buy hash from the people people who made it, folks that I know. And not all joints have tobacco in the mixture. (A "marijuana cigarette" containing tobacco is called a spliff ... at least in most places.) I'm sorry, I didn't really follow the auto-line from joint -> cigarettes.

When I say 'hash' I mean cannabis resin, rather than grass. In the UK is generically called 'hash' (or it is by anyone I know)... that particular cannabis family includes soap bar, which I think is the one that has all the yuck added to it. You're lucky to know who grows it and have guarantees about quality, I'd suggest that's unusual and not the norm for the majority of smokers. The people I know who smoke it get it from a dealer they've used for over 10 years, but they have no guarantees about the quality of the product or what's been added to it, he's just the guy who buys it. Here a joint is a cigarette rolled with only weed or with cigarettes + resin/hash (in which case you have the crap in cigarettes to worry about as well as what may or may not be in the hash) ... I can't see how a 'joint' can be rolled using only hash/resin with no tobacco, while obviously I can see how a joint can be rolled with grass alone. Either would be called a joint or spliff here (UK).

I don't understand what you mean by "I didn't really follow the auto-line from joint>cigarettes"... I wasn't saying that joints lead to cigarettes (or vice versa), I just said "if you can only take it [hash/resin] in a joint then you're adding cigarettes to the mix" but as I started that paragraph with the word 'hash' I thought it would be understood I was still talking about 'hash' rather than weed. IYSWIM. Hope that clears the issues you had with my post up :flowerforyou:

kidtechnical

For info :flowerforyou: This is an A-Z drug guide, just the facts, no myths, the link is to the Cannabis page.
http://www.talktofrank.com/drugs.aspx?id=172

chiliflea

Fab question! This is going to run and run! I must admit when I smoked back in the day I was lighter... But i was also 10 years younger and hadn't had my 2 kids! Not that I've EVER been a skinny minny!

mirahonthawall

in the defense of the addictions counselor (from the perspective of myself -- a social worker who specializes in mental health and addictions)....

we cannot dismiss marijuana as a gateway drug. ANY drug can be a gateway drug, it depends on the person really and the choices they make. they might start off with marijuana, or alcohol, or even cocaine for that matter, and decide they want to try other drugs. but to say that marijuana is NOT a gateway drug is false because it CAN be. a lot of factors need to be considered when addiction is in question -- the environment, one's lifestyle, predisposition to addiction, and so on.

an addictions counselor rarely comes into contact with recreational or occasional users -- which is most if not all of us who indicated they use(d) marijuana. the majority of their clients have serious addictions issues who may or may not have hit rock bottom or may be mandated by courts to attend counseling, so i can see where she is coming from because of her experiences with client contact. who's not to say that all of her clients started with marijuana and "graduated" to other harder drugs, and we have to be empathetic here -- marijuana may have ruined some of her client's lives because of the toll it has taken on every aspect of their lives -- that's why they're seeking help in the first place. we have to put ourselves in their shoes to begin to understand what it is they go through.

but i digress...back to the topic at hand

what it really comes down to is harm reduction. if you're going to smoke marijuana as a means of weight loss, you might not be successful. that being said, everyone is different. some have experienced weight loss while using marijuana and some have not. just keep it clean and make sure you're not endangering your health while doing so!

jenna_watsonator

it's so odd. one of my friends was a little thick for her height, but once she got with her boyfriend and started smoking weed all the time, the pounds just flew off. then she said she had to smoke to be able to eat? weirdest thing ever, and she swears by weed...the skinny *****....lol

halobender

but to say that marijuana is NOT a gateway drug is false because it CAN be. a lot of factors need to be considered when addiction is in question -- the environment, one's lifestyle, predisposition to addiction, and so on.

Then by this statement life itself is a gateway drug. Which I actually entirely agree with; there are lots of things that lead someone to trying drugs. I first tried marijuana after going through all of the standard arguments against it with a friend.

We were 15 and we rode the bus together every day. He often talked about how he felt everyone should at least try it. My first argument was "it's a gateway drug" to which he replied "I've never tried anything harder and have no desire to"—11 years later he still hasn't, though I've tried many things. The only other arguments that I had were things that, now, I think were fabrications. Whether they were by the government or by stoners themselves—I think the line that it lowers your sperm count may have been started by potheads who didn't like condoms.

The only thing about marijuana that made it a gateway drug to me was the fact that, all of my life, people had lied to me and told me how horrible it was and how it was going to ruin you if you used it ... which is why I'm far more inclined to list "life" as a gateway drug than weed.

who's not to say that all of her clients started with marijuana and "graduated" to other harder drugs, and we have to be empathetic here -- marijuana may have ruined some of her client's lives because of the toll it has taken on every aspect of their lives

Empathetic toward her for what her clients have gone through? That's a little backwards. But even if it weren't, for someone to say, just because they're involved with hardcore drug addicts, that any use of weed is going to ruin you and cause you to lose everything you have ... well ... that's pretty ignorant.

but i digress...back to the topic at hand

what it really comes down to is harm reduction. if you're going to smoke marijuana as a means of weight loss, you might not be successful.

No offense here, honestly, but I always find it humorous when someone provides an in depth response to an aside that has come up within a thread—such as the status of some green as a gateway drug—and then attempts to stay on topic ... but completely misses it, haha. She clarified a few posts above that she wasn't intending to use weed as a weight loss supplement, but rather to decide between that or alcohol in terms of the effects on losing weight. (Metabolic rate vs. caloric intake.)

mirahonthawall

life as a gateway drug -- never thought of it that way but i also think it's true! anything can lead to drugs -- again depends on the situation. i think what it comes down to is how people cope with various stressors.

and i was talking about empathy for drug addicts, not the counselor. i'm not sure you can have empathy for her unless you spent a day meeting and talking with her clients.

and as for my track to being on topic -- none taken...everyone seemed to be attacking the addictions counselor and that was my weak attempt to stay on track afterwards -- yet i have no scientific evidence to explain the effects of marijuana on weight loss so i guess that was a fail lol