How long does it take phentermine to work?

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  • Daisykyo
    Daisykyo Posts: 15
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    Firstly, I want to wish you success! Depo cause my niece to gain 100 pounds, once she stopped taking it she lost half. Birth control, no matter what the form, can cause weight gain in some women.

    However, diet pills do bother me a little. Any type of stimulant sends me off the edge. If it seems to be working for you stick with it. I am sure that if you notice problems, the doc can help.
  • daniellechumley
    daniellechumley Posts: 1
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  • catwestb
    catwestb Posts: 8 Member
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    My doctor recommended Phentermine for me as well as seeing a Nutritionist since my weight maintained at 257 for about 2-3 years. She placed me on 15mg 9/28/13 and I started at 257. Now at 12/22/13 I am at 220. I just got bumped up to 30mg since I did notice a slight plateau for about 2 weeks. I am on a 1200 calorie meal plan but it varies from day to day sometimes less sometimes more. The only thing Ive noticed is that I really have to start exercising now because I seriously need to tone up before its too late and Im flabby which is a lil scary. Good thing my Gym finally opened the other day :)
  • DGPebbles
    DGPebbles Posts: 22 Member
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    I just started on it today. I'm going to follow a low carb high fat diet and exercise. I was on it a few months back and was doing good but for some stupid reason stopped it till the holidays past. I soon as I stopped it I was extremely hungry all the time which caused to to gain the 5lbs I lost along with 5 extra. Going to give it another try.
  • TheGymGypsy
    TheGymGypsy Posts: 1,023 Member
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    Using birth control as an excuse for your own bad habits is not a good way to start your weight loss. Accept some responsibility. Birth control will not cause you to pile on fat. You maybe get a maximum of 3 pounds of water retention worst case scenario.
  • drinkdeathhatred
    drinkdeathhatred Posts: 18 Member
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    To be honest, when i was prescribed phentermine a couple years ago, it worked well for me for about three days. After that, it did nothing but give me a little extra energy but there was absolutely no more appetite suppression. I took it for about a month. In that month, I lost 1 pound and became so super constipated, even drinking massive amounts of water, that I had to take the colonoscopy dose of miralax to avoid having to go to the hospital for it. It did me no good. However, I also had (at the time undiagnosed) crohn's disease, so I am unsure if this affected it. Different things work for different people. I'd say give it a few days and see if it's right for you. One or two doses can't tell you too much. Good luck, OP!
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
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    Using birth control as an excuse for your own bad habits is not a good way to start your weight loss. Accept some responsibility. Birth control will not cause you to pile on fat. You maybe get a maximum of 3 pounds of water retention worst case scenario.

    Um, not always. I'm one of those people who can't take hormonal birth control because I react so horribly to the side effects. Some of us do put on significant weight thanks to the hormones, only to see the weight come off after we stop taking it with no changes to diet or exercise. I tried all different kinds of pills with different hormone levels, different types of hormones, etc, and had problems on all of them. There have been numerous studies on Depo-Provera specifically linking the shot to weight gain in some users. A quick google search can provide you with the information. It doesn't happen to everyone, but it does happen.
  • melkhamilton
    melkhamilton Posts: 22
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    I'm guessing if it's going to "work" it will do so immediately. The stimulation effects should begin as soon as you take the pill. And that's what's doing the "work," the stimulation (AFAIK).

    As far as how soon after that you lose weight, well, that's the million-dollar question because everyone loses weight at different weights...even given two people of the same height, weight, age and activity level and exactly the same restriction of calories, they'll lose differently.

    So what are your experiences so far?
  • TheGymGypsy
    TheGymGypsy Posts: 1,023 Member
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    Using birth control as an excuse for your own bad habits is not a good way to start your weight loss. Accept some responsibility. Birth control will not cause you to pile on fat. You maybe get a maximum of 3 pounds of water retention worst case scenario.

    Um, not always. I'm one of those people who can't take hormonal birth control because I react so horribly to the side effects. Some of us do put on significant weight thanks to the hormones, only to see the weight come off after we stop taking it with no changes to diet or exercise. I tried all different kinds of pills with different hormone levels, different types of hormones, etc, and had problems on all of them. There have been numerous studies on Depo-Provera specifically linking the shot to weight gain in some users. A quick google search can provide you with the information. It doesn't happen to everyone, but it does happen.

    Like I said, it is possible for b/c to cause you to gain weight. WATER WEIGHT. You can't gain fat without an excess in calories. It might very minimally affect your metabolism, but honestly it's so minuscule.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    Using birth control as an excuse for your own bad habits is not a good way to start your weight loss. Accept some responsibility. Birth control will not cause you to pile on fat. You maybe get a maximum of 3 pounds of water retention worst case scenario.

    Um, not always. I'm one of those people who can't take hormonal birth control because I react so horribly to the side effects. Some of us do put on significant weight thanks to the hormones, only to see the weight come off after we stop taking it with no changes to diet or exercise. I tried all different kinds of pills with different hormone levels, different types of hormones, etc, and had problems on all of them. There have been numerous studies on Depo-Provera specifically linking the shot to weight gain in some users. A quick google search can provide you with the information. It doesn't happen to everyone, but it does happen.

    Like I said, it is possible for b/c to cause you to gain weight. WATER WEIGHT. You can't gain fat without an excess in calories. It might very minimally affect your metabolism, but honestly it's so minuscule.

    some medications can cause an increase in appetite, and for someone who previously maintained a healthy weight by eating when they're hungry, stopping eating when they're full and not eating when they're not hungry, it can cause weight gain because they are more hungry than they should be and so eat to much without realising that's what's happening, because they're just doing exactly what they did before and exactly what's always worked for them in terms of maintaining a healthy weight. Yes counting calories would prevent this, but people who are not obese (prior to taking the medication) and have always maintained a healthy weight without counting calories, aren't going to realise that they've suddenly got to start counting calories because the medication they've just been put on is going to increase their appetite. Increased appetite generally isn't what's listed on the side effects, weight gain is, and there's never any explanation as to why people gain weight on the medication. Obviously someone in that situation is going to blame the medication for their weight gain.

    And as for bad habits, it's actually people's good habits that cause them to gain weight on this kind of medication, i.e. the same habits that helped them to maintain a healthy weight before being on the medication, i.e. eating when they're hungry, stopping eating when they're full and not eating when they're not hungry. That good habit doesn't work if medication is screwing up your appetite signals.

    People in this situation probably just need someone to explain why the weight gain occurred and suggest that calorie counting while on medication that increases appetite is a really good idea. (i.e. same advice you gave, but without the assumption that it's due to bad eating habits, because that may not be the case)

    re the OP - this is a necropost so the OP isn't there, but re phentermine and weight loss pills, for anyone reading this for info about phentermine, if you haven't tried logging food accurately and calculating your daily energy needs (whether through the MFP method or TDEE - x% method) and sticking to your calorie goals, then try that before taking pills etc. Most diets don't work, and even calorie counting will fail if you do the maths wrong, so even if other diets have failed in the past it doesn't mean accurate calorie counting isn't going to work.
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
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    Using birth control as an excuse for your own bad habits is not a good way to start your weight loss. Accept some responsibility. Birth control will not cause you to pile on fat. You maybe get a maximum of 3 pounds of water retention worst case scenario.

    Um, not always. I'm one of those people who can't take hormonal birth control because I react so horribly to the side effects. Some of us do put on significant weight thanks to the hormones, only to see the weight come off after we stop taking it with no changes to diet or exercise. I tried all different kinds of pills with different hormone levels, different types of hormones, etc, and had problems on all of them. There have been numerous studies on Depo-Provera specifically linking the shot to weight gain in some users. A quick google search can provide you with the information. It doesn't happen to everyone, but it does happen.

    Like I said, it is possible for b/c to cause you to gain weight. WATER WEIGHT. You can't gain fat without an excess in calories. It might very minimally affect your metabolism, but honestly it's so minuscule.

    some medications can cause an increase in appetite, and for someone who previously maintained a healthy weight by eating when they're hungry, stopping eating when they're full and not eating when they're not hungry, it can cause weight gain because they are more hungry than they should be and so eat to much without realising that's what's happening, because they're just doing exactly what they did before and exactly what's always worked for them in terms of maintaining a healthy weight. Yes counting calories would prevent this, but people who are not obese (prior to taking the medication) and have always maintained a healthy weight without counting calories, aren't going to realise that they've suddenly got to start counting calories because the medication they've just been put on is going to increase their appetite. Increased appetite generally isn't what's listed on the side effects, weight gain is, and there's never any explanation as to why people gain weight on the medication. Obviously someone in that situation is going to blame the medication for their weight gain. And as for bad habits, it's actually people's good habits that cause them to gain weight on this kind of medication, i.e. the same habits that helped them to maintain a healthy weight before being on the medication, i.e. eating when they're hungry, stopping eating when they're full and not eating when they're not hungry. That good habit doesn't work if medication is screwing up your appetite signals.

    ^^^ This is what many of the studies on Depo have found, the change in appetite. So it's not a matter of using the birth control as an excuse, because the hormones are what is causing the problem. It's much like how some women experience increased appetite and binge right before their period starts from the hormone fluctuation.
  • Asha390
    Asha390 Posts: 1
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    Hey I just started the pills today, im kinda confused on when to take them, I worked out today about 45 mins cardio and about 30 mins cardio, what time of day should I take them, how do you guys take them, thanks
  • ckspores1018
    ckspores1018 Posts: 168 Member
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    When I took Depo years and years ago it did increase my appetite and caused some weight gain. I've held onto those pounds over the years plus added some of my own.

    I understand the desire to jump start a weight loss program but I fail to understand how taking one drug to "fix" what another did can do anything but cause more damage and further screw things up.

    So, I never recommend anyone take any sort of pill to help them lose weight.
  • BadMabiz
    BadMabiz Posts: 6 Member
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    After having 5 kids, and being a stay-home mom with a pretty sedentary lifestyle, I put on a lot of weight. Taking it off was next to impossible because the more weight I put on, the harder it was to get up and move. Add to that the fact that I LOVE food! I'm not only an emotional eater, I'm also a stress eater, a bored eater... you get the idea. I'd eat when I wasn't even hungry just because it was there and tasted good. I'd eat well beyond the point of being full because I couldn't seem to push away my plate until it was empty. Over the years, I've tried many many diet and exercise plans, and was never successful because I felt hungry. I felt deprived because I couldn't have the foods I loved. The exercise felt brutal because of the strain it put on my body, and I saw very little results, so I got discouraged and quit.

    I went to my doctor about 7 weeks ago weighing 224 pounds, feeling desperate! At 5ft 2in, that puts me well into the obese category, and I was feeling it! I'd get winded just walking from my car to the front doors of the grocery store! I wanted to talk to my doctor about having some kind of weight loss surgery. Something that would take off enough weight that I could once again get off the couch to be active without feeling like my heart and lungs were going to explode, or my knees were going to give out. She recommended we try 30mg of Phentermine once a day, two hours after breakfast. It has been a life saver!! In 7 weeks I've lost 25 pounds, and I finally feel good enough to start doing simple cardio workouts!!

    For me, the Phentermine has controlled my appetite to the point that I didn't even WANT to eat until later in the day around dinner time. If I did start to feel hungry in the afternoon, a banana was all it took to satisfy me. And if I slipped back into old patterns of eating too much in one sitting, my stomach got nauseous. I still eat all the foods I love so I don't feel deprived, but now I've learned to be very careful about portion control, and exactly how much 1 serving actually is! I had no idea 1 package of top ramen noodles was actually 2 servings! I'd been eating 2 packages at a time! Oy!!

    I have finally found something that has helped me get over the hump, to a point where my body no longer feels like it's fighting against me. Just losing those first 15-20 pounds made a huge difference in how I feel physically. I'm now able to resist that second helping of lasagna, I'm able to get up and exercise, and I can begin to develop those habits that will lead to an overall healthy lifestyle long after I've stopped taking the Phentermine.

    I've got another 40 pounds to go in order to reach the goals my doctor and I have set, and pretty soon she will be taking me off of the pill to see if I can continue my success without it. For the first time in over a decade, I'm confident I can.
  • stephaniecaine82
    stephaniecaine82 Posts: 117 Member
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    I started taking this medicine last week. I have lost about a pound. I got on them because I was stuck. I lost 40 lbs, gained 15 back and could not get them back off. I count calories, I exercise 60 minutes a day...5-6 days a week. So I have not seen the dramatic loss like some folks on here have.... but I hope it comes soon. I will continue to try and work on my calories as well.
  • firepxy
    firepxy Posts: 13
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    I've been taking Phentermine for the last 4 months. I started seeing weight loss withing 2 weeks I'd say. I started it back in Sept 2013, and I've now lost like 35, and I hate to admit, I haven't exercised a lick, just my normal running around doing this and that.

    Just make sure that you actually change up your diet, and watch to make sure you eat enough. I've never be a big over eater, and pretty much just made it with calorie intake. Now being on Phentermine, it suppresses appetite, and I have to force myself to eat and make it to at least 1200 cal.

    Just remember that all diet pills have a 95% failure rate.
  • stephaniecaine82
    stephaniecaine82 Posts: 117 Member
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    bump
  • amandahowze1
    amandahowze1 Posts: 38 Member
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    Please be careful when taking phentermine. It's great that you are being monitored by a dr. I used to take them maybe 15 years ago...without a Drs. prescription. I was maybe 135 lbs at the time. I was just looking for a quick fix. I experienced heart palpitations..dry mouth etc. As long as you are under a Drs care... You should be fine. ")
  • Slasher09
    Slasher09 Posts: 316 Member
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    Most of our patients noticed a bigger change the second month they were on it, if it worked for them at all

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