Anti histamines effects on losing weight

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Replies

  • dykask
    dykask Posts: 800 Member
    I don't do well with anti-histamines and try to use them only a few weeks out of the year. I don't know about weight gain as I hadn't notice that but anti-histamines directly impact my heartrate and workout performance. With an anti-histamine my heartrate will be 10 to 20 bpm higher when working out. While that does burn a few more calories during the working, it really limits how hard I can push. The muscles aren't stressed and little benefit is gained. Overall fewer calories end up being burned because there is less muscle repair going on.
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
    vingogly wrote: »
    Apparently some (but not all) antihistamines can in fact cause weight gain, which was a surprise to me:

    "It has long been known that the administration of antihistamines can cause weight gain. In fact, one antihistamine, cyproheptadine, has been used for this purpose."

    Source: http://www.aaaai.org/ask-the-expert/antihistamines-weight-gain

    Zyrtec! I tried it once and crashed out, slept for 16 hours, and when I finally woke, I felt like a zombie. It makes some people too lethargic to move/burn calories, for certain!
  • tomteboda
    tomteboda Posts: 2,171 Member
    Antihistamines mess with me too. The only one that didn't to a large degree was loratadine.

    Now I'm on corticosteroids. Amazingly I've managed to lose 60 lbs over the past year despite that, but it's taken some strict logging.
  • mjvdz
    mjvdz Posts: 12 Member
    gothchiq wrote: »
    vingogly wrote: »
    Apparently some (but not all) antihistamines can in fact cause weight gain, which was a surprise to me:

    "It has long been known that the administration of antihistamines can cause weight gain. In fact, one antihistamine, cyproheptadine, has been used for this purpose."

    Source: http://www.aaaai.org/ask-the-expert/antihistamines-weight-gain

    Zyrtec! I tried it once and crashed out, slept for 16 hours, and when I finally woke, I felt like a zombie. It makes some people too lethargic to move/burn calories, for certain!
    I used zyrtec too and i always sleep more than 15hrs with that..
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    edited June 2016
    mjvdz wrote: »
    Thank you all so much for all the responses. It's very nice to hear different opinions and all of you seems right about weighing the food rather than using a cup or a spoon.

    I have come to different conclusions that maybe hypothyroid and maybe anti histamines etc..
    I've probably under estimate the food that i'm taking
    I bought a food scale and will start to weigh my food intake and i've downloaded different calorie counter app to triple check the amount of calories i'm eating.
    I weigh a peeled banana and 100 grams is about 90-92 calories. I'll see for a week if this will work.

    Regarding the HRM i did some research on how it maybe over estimating my burns.. I'm still not sure about it.. But today i did a workout with a bpm 175-191 for 45 mins doing high intensity workout hrm says i burned about 600 kcals not so sure about it since i already think that the hrm over estimate my burns.

    I've doubled check the data i've input (weight, height age and max heart rate) it all seems correct.

    Thanks again for all the responses

    That's an insanely high burn for 45 minutes of work for a 150lb female. I'm 20lbs heavier than you and I only get 300 odd for intense work for that amount of time. Your burn will be lower because you're smaller. Are you sure you have your HRM set up correctly with your height and weight?

    I just checked my burn from two days ago as that was about 45 minutes. It was 389 and I leave a daily buffer of around 100 calories for burn and logging inaccuracies so in reality I don't eat all of those calories (well, that's the theory, damn EU referendum making me eat my feelings this week).
  • SallyKaPow
    SallyKaPow Posts: 61 Member
    Psychgrrl wrote: »
    sallykift wrote: »
    My suspicion is that your heart rate monitor is leading you to believe you're burning more calories than you actually are. If you're eating them back, that would explain why you're not losing.
    I appreciate that everyone is different but I really doubt that the workout you've described would burn 900 kcal. ... I'd guess at more like 350 tops. As a comparison, I burn about 6000 kcals doing an ironman which is a 2.4 mile swim, then 112 miles on the bike and then a marathon.

    Reading this made me want to have a snack and take a nap! Congrats on the Ironman--that's amazing!!!! :star:

    Haha. Thanks. Although you wouldn't say that if you saw how slow I am :)

    IT'S great for weight loss btw, you have to do so much training it's actually hard to eat enough to keep the weight on. I will certainly be going back to it once the baby is a bit older.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    I haven't been able to find any supporting evidence yet. So what I'm about to say is probably untrue. But still.

    I used to take hydroxyzine everyday for 5 years. I started losing 4 months ago and I was happy with my weight loss (as in it made sense, I was losing as expected). I stopped the hydroxyzine several weeks ago (for reasons having nothing to do with weight loss) and since then I've started losing much quicker and I'm a bit worried. It might not be related to it but still I'm losing as if I'm making more than twice the deficit I'm making. And I have all sorts of excel tables of my data for the four months so my calculations are correct.

    It might or it might not be the hydroxyzine. Just thought I would share.
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    I'm hypo and none of my endos have ever mentioned not taking antihistamines. It's not come up in my research, either (yet). However, my sister is hyper and the docs very clearly said only Benadryl and nothing else or it could send her thyroid into a tail spin.
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    dykask wrote: »
    I don't know about weight gain as I hadn't notice that but anti-histamines directly impact my heartrate and workout performance. With an anti-histamine my heartrate will be 10 to 20 bpm higher when working out. While that does burn a few more calories during the working, it really limits how hard I can push.

    Decongestants also do this, it's why they're not recommended for people with high blood pressure--it can elevate things to a dangerous level, even when not exercising. There is one decongestant being marketed to folks with hbp, my sister's doc put her on it. Allegedly it doesn't have the same side effects.
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    gebeziseva wrote: »
    I haven't been able to find any supporting evidence yet. So what I'm about to say is probably untrue. But still.

    I used to take hydroxyzine everyday for 5 years. I started losing 4 months ago and I was happy with my weight loss (as in it made sense, I was losing as expected). I stopped the hydroxyzine several weeks ago (for reasons having nothing to do with weight loss) and since then I've started losing much quicker and I'm a bit worried. It might not be related to it but still I'm losing as if I'm making more than twice the deficit I'm making. And I have all sorts of excel tables of my data for the four months so my calculations are correct.

    It might or it might not be the hydroxyzine. Just thought I would share.

    That is one powerful drug. I have a prescription for extreme reactions and take it very intermittently. It knocks me completely out. Benadryl has no sedative effects on me anymore, but the hydroxyzine--WOW!
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    @Psychgrrl
    I was taking it for insomnia.
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    gebeziseva wrote: »
    @Psychgrrl
    I was taking it for insomnia.

    That totally makes sense! That stuff works better than Ambien! Holy Lights Out, Batman!
  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
    Psychgrrl wrote: »
    gebeziseva wrote: »
    @Psychgrrl
    I was taking it for insomnia.

    That totally makes sense! That stuff works better than Ambien! Holy Lights Out, Batman!

    Really? I take 50mg twice a day and it doesn't make me sleepy at all.
  • mjvdz
    mjvdz Posts: 12 Member
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    mjvdz wrote: »
    Thank you all so much for all the responses. It's very nice to hear different opinions and all of you seems right about weighing the food rather than using a cup or a spoon.

    I have come to different conclusions that maybe hypothyroid and maybe anti histamines etc..
    I've probably under estimate the food that i'm taking
    I bought a food scale and will start to weigh my food intake and i've downloaded different calorie counter app to triple check the amount of calories i'm eating.
    I weigh a peeled banana and 100 grams is about 90-92 calories. I'll see for a week if this will work.

    Regarding the HRM i did some research on how it maybe over estimating my burns.. I'm still not sure about it.. But today i did a workout with a bpm 175-191 for 45 mins doing high intensity workout hrm says i burned about 600 kcals not so sure about it since i already think that the hrm over estimate my burns.

    I've doubled check the data i've input (weight, height age and max heart rate) it all seems correct.

    Thanks again for all the responses

    That's an insanely high burn for 45 minutes of work for a 150lb female. I'm 20lbs heavier than you and I only get 300 odd for intense work for that amount of time. Your burn will be lower because you're smaller. Are you sure you have your HRM set up correctly with your height and weight?

    I just checked my burn from two days ago as that was about 45 minutes. It was 389 and I leave a daily buffer of around 100 calories for burn and logging inaccuracies so in reality I don't eat all of those calories (well, that's the theory, damn EU referendum making me eat my feelings this week).

    Yes i'm sure it was set up correctly.. I always check before workouts to make sure the data is correct. I'm thinking maybe the fat burner i'm taking before workout it's stimulant and it makes my heart rate up a little more not to a point that i'm jittery and shaking. I don't know but that's the number it's given me. Now i deduct 50% of the calories i burned and log it to make sure i don't go overvoard with the food but it's a dillema to me.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,943 Member
    @mjvdz careful with those heartrate monitors. They only work for steady state cardio, and only work if you know your maximum heartrate. The fact that you could workout for up to 191bpm suggests that your maximum heart rate might be a lot higher than the equation 220-age (standard settings of that monitor) suggest. If your maximum HR is much higher than your monitor is giving you much higher calorie burns that you should have. Mind you, if I use my HR data without correcting it, my running calories are more than twice as high!

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