Anti-depressants and weight loss?

Weight loss and exercise are anti depressants! Get off the pills.

You are full of it. You also have no right to say that people should stop taking a medication they need.

I am so sick and tired of the ill informed BS from people like this. When you hear people constantly say "get off the pills" or "you don't need meds" or "meds are bad" it makes a person ashamed to be on them. Well guess what? Sometimes people need them. Yet they might not get the help they need because it is stigmatized so badly in society still. It is disgusting.

^^ This. Absolutely and completely this.

You need them because you've trained your brain to "need" them. Really, you just want them. You've decided life is easier with them. And that's true. Life is easier when you can take a pill to solve a problem. But it's not BS. I promise you. I was just like you, loaded up on AD's and I started exercising and got off them. I feel great now, mentally, and I will never go back. When I get down or upset, I go for a walk or a jog and it's amazing how the crap just floats away.

Your initial response telling the OP to get off the pills and your follow up response makes it clear that you do not understand all medications, nor do you understand mental health as a whole. While you may have found an approach that applies to you, it will not be applicable to others. I question who made the decision to discontinue meds, you or your doctor? I question this because based on your posting history, it appears you may self-medicate with other things. (and I do not mean weight loss and exercise as you so eloquently stated above)

Hi!

I'm a Masters level Social Work student going into my final semester of grad school and taking my licensing exam soon. Just want to preface what I say with that so you know I'm not a full fledge mental health professional yet but I do have a lot of education so take any of the pieces of my post you want that you feel are most realistic and beneficial for you!

- DO NOT go off your medication, if you want to go off it eventually you must work very closely with your psychiatrist to do so in the safest possible way! I am sure you know this but had to throw it out there!

- DO NOT feel ashamed for being on anti-depressants (I say this because some posts on here seemed to be a bit judgmental toward psychotropic meds), it is nothing to be ashamed of, be proud that you are aware of your self enough to be on medication because that means you are taking care of not just your mental health but your overall well being!

- In terms of weight loss, medications effect EVERYONE DIFFERENTLY although yes there are some very general side effects that can impact most people that are on them. That said, you may have to toy around with different healthy eating habits and try to find the ones that work best for you. If possible for you it may be beneficial to seek input from a nutritionist who has experience working with individuals on psychotropic medications.

- Here are some things you could do: drink a lot of water (a lot a lot, 2-3 liters a day), try to have healthy high protein foods (even a protein shake after your workouts would be great) such as Greek yogurt, and try not to eat foods with higher than 9 grams of sugar, keep within your calorie goal each day and if you workout try not to eat back all your cals burned (only half of them at most if your really hungry), tune into your body anytime you feel you need to eat more pause and ask yourself am I really hungry or it's there something else going on here?

Hope some of this helps! GOOD LUCK! YOU CAN DO IT!

Hey everyone,
I'm wondering if there are any woman out there who are on any type of anti depressant who has managed to lose a lot of weight. I'm on paxil, and I need to lose 120 lbs but I big side effect of the medication has been weight GAIN, and I can't switch meds. Just looking for support or success stories from people who have dealt with this.
Thanks!

I should really stay away from this forum as some people here drive me crazy:
There are cases where anti-depressants are prescribed far too fast and sports and proper nutrition, psychotherapy or changing things in one's life and environment work just as well or better. But to assume that this is the case everytime is just ignorant.
It is great that you don't stoned and wasted anymore (and I hope that this is not what you refered to when you talked about anti-depressants), but to tell somebody to just work out and lose weight and forget about the pills is irresponsible. Your second post is even worse implying that the OP is just to weak or lazy to confront her problems. You have no right to judge her and a real depression is for sure different that feeling a little bit down. It is a real disease that is mostly not something that you trained your brain to have. It is a damn disease like any other. So get yourself educated before posting accusing, irresponsible stuff like that. I think we as a society need to gain awareness what it means to be mentally ill. I think there are many things contributing to these diseases but as someone having people I love that need to take antidepressants in order to manage their life and feel remotely happy, I find it so terribly offensive hearing advices like "Go of the pills", "Solve your problems" "Lose weight and do sports" "Take a walk in the woods" or "Go out to meet friends".
Oh and by the way I had really bad issues with blood sugar, but since I changed my nutrition and started to work out it's all gone. So to all of you who take insulin or metformine or whatever: "Just drop it and start a healthy life" #ironyoff
Sorry, but the continous stigmatization of mental disorders and the great advices to stop taking meds really get to me.

And to the OP: I think you should talk about that issue with the doctor that prescribed the meds: Maybe you can indeed switch meds or he might explain why you gain weight on these meds. I think knowing the mechanism makes it easier to find a way to deal with it. Does it affect your metabolism or your appetite?