Losing weight when your medication wont allow you.

Some medications can make it more difficult but they ultimately can't stop you from losing weight.

I'm not sure the legitimacy of this, but my doctor told me when I was on both BC pills and anti-depressants and mood stabilizers that the medication can only be blamed for a loss/gain of 5lbs. Which whenever I stop my anti-depressants and start them again (not fun; do not recommend haha), I notice a drop in weight for a few days due to lack of appetite. Just make sure you're logging accurately, including weighing food with a scale, before chalking it up to meds. That mindset is self-defeating at the very least.

Being super accurate with your logging is an absolute must when on medication.

The medicines may require you to do a little more activity and adjust your macro balance to ensure that you are getting the best in terms of lasting fullness too. Many people have reported that anti-depressants cause them to desire carbohydrates more.....often the quick release ones ie. cakes, biscuits etc.....just check whether this is happening you to do, upping your protein may help with this.

I do agree with others posting here that medication can have a slight impact on weight but as you have pointed out till recently you have successfully dropped 20 pounds and are now wavering so it is probably more likely to do with logging errors rather than the meds themselves.

All the best.

It's my understanding that some of the meds decrease your metabolism so keep that in mind. You will have to work harder than others but life isn't always fair.

I've been on Lexapro, an SSRI for a few years now. I'm almost completely sure if isn't responsible for my 22lbs/10kg weight gain, as that happened while I was sick for months with a fibromyalgia flare up and could not exercise without becoming sicker.

Now the flare up is passed and I'm back to exercising. I have a calorie deficit going and I'm exercising daily. I don't seem to be losing any weight, which is infuriating as prior to Lexapro, a few tiny tweaks to my diet alone would see my drop weight with no effort.

My appetite is no different to what it was pre-Lexapro, but my ability to burn fat certainly seems to be. I guess I am just going to have to build up my exercise routine until I can really push myself and see where that gets me.

I take comfort in knowing that even if the scales aren't telling me what I want to hear, the diet and exercise changes will still be making me healthier.

I am on medication as well. It's true that they contribuite to weight gain. This past year I was taking a very high dosage and I gained 15 kg in just one year. BUT I wasn't using MFP (huge mistake).

Now I am back on MFP (50 days) and I have lost 4 kg.

You can lose weight, it's just going to be a little harder because the appetite is increased. But if the will is strong and if you set to lose no more than a pound a week, you can do it.

I had this issue with Seroquel. I asked to be taken off it once it started messing with my cycles. I gained 10 lbs of water weight in one month and no matter what, I couldn't stop eating. Even if I ate healthy, I'd continue to gain. Once I went off it, I started losing weight and everything evened out. For me, the low dosages of Seroquel were fine. The larger doses were not.

GaleHawkins wrote: »

After doing some reading it seems many causes of needing Rx Meds can be at least diet related in part. If we can find a way of eating that lessened our needs for Rx Meds. Google can help find the science behind how eating a different way may address the core health concerns needing to be medicated in the first place. I know my family is thankful I was able to improve my physical health and state of mind by diet and get Rx Med free. This may not work for everyone but I have found has my physical health improves so does my mental health.

Do you ever give good advice?

Op - it can be harder - but not impossible, you've had some great advice on this thread - please take that, do not go off your meds without chatting to your doctor first.

carr3107 wrote: »

GaleHawkins wrote: »

After doing some reading it seems many causes of needing Rx Meds can be at least diet related in part. If we can find a way of eating that lessened our needs for Rx Meds. Google can help find the science behind how eating a different way may address the core health concerns needing to be medicated in the first place. I know my family is thankful I was able to improve my physical health and state of mind by diet and get Rx Med free. This may not work for everyone but I have found has my physical health improves so does my mental health.

Untreated mental illness kills. No diet in the world is going to fix a mood disorder. If you're going to google, use Google Scholar to read actual scientific journals written by actual scientists.

Most of the antipsychotics are horrible when it comes to weight gain. No one has ever done good research to look at whether they're increasing appetite or decreasing metabolism or both. I gained 20 lbs on xyprexa years ago. I was much younger, but I dropped it in less than 3 months when changed meds. If you go off the meds, are you likely to slip into the kind of depression where you shove carbs in your face and don't want to get out of bed?

That makes me suspect it caused a reduced metabolism, which means you're going to have to keep cutting calories/increasing exercise until you see weight loss.

+1 to your first paragraph!

I still think any metabolic change would be negligible, but I sure know when my anxiety is bad, I can easily eat 3500 extra calories in a week.

GaleHawkins wrote: »

After doing some reading it seems many causes of needing Rx Meds can be at least diet related in part. If we can find a way of eating that lessened our needs for Rx Meds. Google can help find the science behind how eating a different way may address the core health concerns needing to be medicated in the first place. I know my family is thankful I was able to improve my physical health and state of mind by diet and get Rx Med free. This may not work for everyone but I have found has my physical health improves so does my mental health.

I know you didn't mean anything bad by your post, but some people do legitimately have mental illness and it can be downright dangerous to go off meds. Do you know why I'm on medication? I've had TEN traumatic brain injuries and it severely altered my personality. Thus the antipsychotics. If I go off my medication, I become downright scary. I have absolutely no control over myself and I'm truly a threat to everyone around me. I'm dangerous. I can guarantee you that no matter how good my diet is, I'll never be able to go off my meds. I'm one of those people who goes off their meds regularly because I occasionally think I'm "cured," but the personality swing is very severe each time. Even if I skip one single dose, my loved ones know it by the way my personality changes.