Phentermine and lifting?
HappyBouncyJello
Posts: 14 Member
So I officially hit a 2 month stall of no weight loss yesterday. :brokenheart: My biceps are now detectable and I love my new delts, but I *need* to lose weight.
I was seeing my new doctor for something unrelated and she immediately said to try Phentermine. I said I'd think about it.
(Okay, first she offered gastric sleeve surgery, and I said no way! lol)
So any opinions? Has anyone taken it while lifting?
I was seeing my new doctor for something unrelated and she immediately said to try Phentermine. I said I'd think about it.
(Okay, first she offered gastric sleeve surgery, and I said no way! lol)
So any opinions? Has anyone taken it while lifting?
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Replies
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I haven't taken it myself, I only have theoretical knowledge
It's an appetite suppressant and it can also give a sense of "beast-mode", so make sure you're not overdoing it at the gym and you are properly fueling your workouts, both things are very important to avoid injury and maximize recovery.
As with every drug, experimenting a bit with timing can make a difference in managing side-effects, so definitely tell your doctor that you are lifting and try to stick to your routine.
Then, my personal 2 cents: if the doctor you mentioned is a GP I would ask for a second opinion. Sometimes GPs are not very experienced in nutrion and fitness matters.0 -
I think the prevailing recommendation on MFP related to all diet pills, prescribed or not, would be to consider the long term outlook with using them. The question to ask is what happens when I stop taking it and haven't learned how to deal with my appetite.
I think sbarella is right about timing issues and not overdoing it with the artificial push. You may want to talk with a nutritionist before making any decisions as well. Another thing you can do is solicit non-professional advise from the very smart SideSteel and Sara in the Eat, Train, Progress group. They have helped a lot of people get past stalls. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1040742-wanting-your-thoughts-vs-wanting-your-help
If you can't tell, I'm more of the opinion that you can do this without the aid of medication or surgery if you are willing to put in the time and really focus on what you are doing. It takes effort and isn't easy, but it can be done. And remember, what is right for one person is not necessarily right for you so take general advice with a grain of salt and follow up with more research when something just doesn't seem like it is correct.
Many of us in here have been working with the diet aspect as well and would be willing to help you review your plan and help if we can.
You will get past this.0 -
While I've never taken Phentermine, I did use OxyElite Pro for a few cycles some years back. It suppressed my appetite, gave me loads of energy (to the point where I was only sleeping 4 hours per night while working out 2+ hours a day, 6 to 7 days a week), made me jittery, unable to focus, sweat CONSTANTLY while feeling like I was freezing cold. Then when I came off of it, appetite returned with a vengeance. Energy disappeared. Wanted to sleep ALL the time. Gained back all the weight I lost. I don't recommend it. It doesn't help you sustain the weight loss, the lifestyle or an activity routine.0
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How much do you have "left" to lose. Say, how much loss are you aiming for until december? If you can somewhat notice the biceps and delts, it can't be that much that your doc would want you to jump on pills, can it?
I mean, I was 150lbs overweight and all I got from my GP was "Do you want me to schedule you a visit with a dietetist?" lol
As for opinions, I've taken fat burners in the past and aside from getting me addicted to caffeine (I can't blame coffee. I hate coffee with a passion. Maybe energy drinks. Not sure which one came first anymore lol) they didn't do much. Sure, the extra energy is awesome, but you can get that from any source of caffeine too with at least a lil less possible side effects.
My main issue has always been that I have a fairly large apetite. In the I'm never full, never satisfied sense. But I have found it's a lot easier to manage just by managing it than trying to suppress it, if that makes sense. I find i do really well on a 16/8 IF protocol because it limits the amount of time in a day where I do eat, so I get to eat bigger meals. I then get easier satisfaction from those bigger meals. And eating better makes me feel better and in turn makes me want to eat less junk. It's really a groove to get ino.
Now if you're at a stall and think you've been eating fairly well, depending again on how much you've got left to lose, maybe it's just a matter of changing up your routine a tad. Add some cardio or high intensity finishers to your workouts. SL will build muscle and burn some fat to an extent, but will not revv up your metabolism the way, say, a crossfit WOD would :P0 -
Wow, thanks everybody for all the great advice!
@sbarella: While "beast mode" does sound awfully tempting, I don't (think) I need the appetite suppressant, I've been struggling to get to 1650kCal/day with healthy food. Heh, I can eat a whole pizza, but healthy stuff is way more filling. My new Dr. is a GP/gyno so I'll ask her about a nutrition referral, I didn't know that doctors weren't all versed in nutrition! :noway:
@jstout: I'm definitely getting a nutritionist referral! (Now that I know to get one lol.) And as for that Eat, Train, Progress group, I guess I'll be buying a food scale, I've been using measuring cups so maybe that's the difference needed. I'm still new to this whole "fitness lifestyle" which is why I asked about the drug in the first place... I didn't know if I was the only one not taking it and I was supposed to... :laugh: I guess not, though!
@katro: Those are crazy side effects! I'm glad I asked, this is definitely not the drug for me. And I certainly don't want the rebound pounds. Blech. So sorry that happened to you. Guess I'll just keep trying!
@krokador: I have 120 pounds until I hit "healthy" weight. My goal for this year is 36 pounds down (1 pound/week) stretch goal is 72 pounds (2 pounds/week). I carry my weight in my belly and chest, but all my limbs are leaning out first. Yay, less bat wings! :drinker:
Since I started lifting I don't really feel the need for more energy, I want to lift on my rest days sometimes, which is an ultra-weird feeling for me. I've been off caffeine for a year+, I didn't need the calories from Pepsi (my drug of choice). I'm also not really interested in eating as much, I've been struggling to get to 1650kCal on healthy food, and just this year added eating breakfast.
As for cardio, I just got a bike, and haven't ridden it much. I shall try going out after my lifting days! Hopefully that will help.
**I really REALLY appreciate all your replies! :flowerforyou: I learned some new things today, which is awesome. I hope that just these few changes will get me back on the losing path... without those silly drugs/surgery!
:drinker: May all your lifts be PR's and all your muscles as swole as you want! :drinker:0 -
Weighing your food might be just what you need to break the plateau. There's always some margin of error (i.e. eating out, minor inaccuracies) but it will make a difference.
Eyeballing and cups have a big margin of error, they are good for people that have a lot to lose and/or only eat calorie dense food or huge portions: in that case, even switching to "approximately reasonable" will make a difference because there is a huge gap between what they are used to eat and what they should eat to lose weight.
When you lose weight, however, that gap becomes smaller because your body needs less energy to carry the weight, so it's easy to eat more than you think without realizing it.
Weighing your food most of the time will most definitely help. :flowerforyou:0 -
Totally agree with the food scale. Everything dry on the scale and liquids in the measuring cups and spoons. It can take some time to get used to seeing what 100 g of something is or seeing that a serving of cereal isn't just that cup when you measure with grams.
This is usually the easiest thing people who are not losing can fix. Accurate logging of food plays a big part in making sure you really are eating at a deficit. The other thing to watch is the entries you use from the MFP database. All asterisk * entries as user entered. Entries that have no asterisk are MFP entries and have a higher accuracy rate as they pulled in the USDA nutritional database for the information.
Feel free to continue to ask questions as you come up on them. The more information and knowledge you have, the more likely you will be to get to goal and not have to stress about things that are easy fixes or just out of your control.0 -
Ah, I totally get you on having most of the weight in that belly/hip/thigh area. Same thing here. I always had teeny tiny hands and feet compared to the rest of my body when I was overweight and even my face didn't show it *that* much. It does go down a bit eventually though, don't lose hope!
A word of advice about weighting foods: I decided to do it when I was doing that challenge this winter and it was a pain. To me that was just TOO tedious and it ended up burning me out (aside form the pressure to lose more weight by a coach that had me on a 1200 cals a day diet... erm, yeah so...).
So if you don't mind doing it, go right ahead. If it gets obsessive or makes you hate having to log something because you have to weight it first, maybe it's not the right way for you. You should definitely do it for a little while and learn what 100g or whatever of the foods looks like, but don't stick to it if it makes you dread preparing food, is all i'm saying
I've been a lot looser with my logging since I got back to it in that I allowed myself more wiggle room and stopped logging most vegetables and that greens drink I have every day. Encourages me to get more veggies in because I don't have to go through the hassle of logging them and weighing them. And for the rest I just tend to eyeball and pad a bit. I figure if I don't lose the stuff I don't log will remain similar so the process remains the same. Seems to be working so far0 -
I never used that or any other weight loss aids, but I am also stalling for a long long time. My baby is 16 months old and aside from the first montth huge weight drop , I lost maybe 20 lb since she was born, and I am 50 lb away from healthy weight. I weaned her at the beginning of February and I still have my breastfeeding appetite without expending the Brestfeeding calories. Not a good combination for weight loss . Easter time with a. Sick baby and chocolate in the house was a huge setback
I am trying to cut my carbs under 100 g again, because it have work for me in the past. I can not do ketosis ( under 50 g) because it cause me terrible headache, but 50-100 g carb seem to be the key for weight loss for me.
Especially avoiding carb at the morning helps me keep appetite under control.
I think food scale is important for somebody who starting weight loss journey to learn portion sizes. However I doubt it will be magic potion for somebody who have been losing before , but started to stall.
Is your weight loss stall coincide with the strength training? I the first month of stronglift I did not lose any weight by scale, but my butt/ thigh / waistline shrink eat considerebly. Weight loss is not linear an sometimes we lose weight by scale , but sometimes only measurements ar moving and that actually even better.0 -
I tried this yesterday, and it might be the key to handle my huge appetite. Thanks for the tip!
My main issue has always been that I have a fairly large apetite. In the I'm never full, never satisfied sense. But I have found it's a lot easier to manage just by managing it than trying to suppress it, if that makes sense. I find i do really well on a 16/8 IF protocol because it limits the amount of time in a day where I do eat, so I get to eat bigger meals. I then get easier satisfaction from those bigger meals. And eating better makes me feel better and in turn makes me want to eat less junk. It's really a groove to get ino.0 -
I used to take phentermine but after awhile it made me angry and short fused. A woman in another group actually had a stroke while taking it. I'm sure that is the rare side effect but still. Someone mentioned cutting carbs and fasting. Both have been paramount in controlling food cravings/hunger for me. I am doing the ketogenic diet and after three months of strictly eating I can now fast easily for long periods of time. I also find lifting fasted while in ketosis is a great combo. Good luck with whatever avenue you choose 0
