Phentermine?

leanjogreen18 wrote: »

Just be prepared for when the phentermine quits working or you stop taking it. Your appetite will return in full force.

I'd be interested in reading stories from people who have lost using these meds and have maintained the weight loss. Most of the stories shared here involve partial, if not total and then some, regain. Having an exit plan seems to be important. I would suspect addressing underlying issues would also be valuable.

I did a doc supervised crash diet a few years ago and was prescribed that drug. My understanding was it was purely for appetite control, it doesn't actually facilitate weight loss, only suppresses cravings. The doc was pretty upfront that he did not want me to be on it long because of long term effects. I ended up taking it for one week and between the doc's warnings and it making me feel a bit off I decided to ditch it and just mentally deal with cravings. My opinion is that if you need it to get through your diet then that diet is not sustainable. Yeah you'll lose weight if you don't feel hungry and therefore don't eat but it's not as efficient as logging calories accurately against a tailored deficit. And there are real concerns about long term effects.

kiaramonroe772 wrote: »

I have been trying to lose weight for like forever now and nothing seems to work. I heard about phentermine as a jump start and I was wondering what you guys thought or if any of you have tried it. Thanks in advance

I have tried phentermine in the past and I would not recommend to anyone. It's just another quick fix that doesn't fix anything. Yeah I lost 20lbs in a month but I literally ate nothing and never slept. It's like prescription speed. I'd sleep maybe 3 hours a night and could go all day. Sounds great but your body eventually can't handle it. I did it for 2months under supervision of my doctor and had to go in for blood pressure checks every week as it can cause increase in blood pressure. I didn't fix why I ate, my emotional attachment to food or the fact that I wasn't exercising. So here we are a few years later and I'm doing it the right way, working out with a trainer and on my own and eating the right foods. I also started seeing a therapist to work on the emotional eating and it's been an amazing journey so far.

I've used it off and on, best when cycled because you build a tolerance and also ot is habit forming

It can work but isn't a miracle pill, i was taking 37.5 mg at first, appetite was nearly non existent for about 10 hours which kinda sucked cause i had to force myself to get all my cals, but it did put my cravings in check and that was my biggest issue

After the first 2 weeks though the affects kinda wore off, i started taking half in the am and another half at around noon... eh didn't really do much ... started taking a full pill on an empty stomach in the am again then a half in the afternoon (asked my doctor before, he said it was ok) this worked but was short lived..

As i said you build a tolerance so i learned cycling it every 2 weeks worked best for me 2 weeks on one week off, if you start getting food cravings after a few days off just start the pills again, make sure you eat though and that first day is gonna feel crazy... most important thing is if you decide to take them is DRINK WATER, lots and lots of water all day long

They will definitely help you get your eating habits in check, you burn more calories and will drop some weight... but it also can harm you and is a powerful drug

kiaramonroe wrote:

I have been trying to lose weight for like forever now and nothing seems to work. I heard about phentermine as a jump start and I was wondering what you guys thought or if any of you have tried it.

It's not a "weight loss" drug, it's an appetite suppressant.
It's for short-term use (a few months) by very overweight people, or by somewhat overweight people with other health complications (so the benefits of the help in losing weight outweigh the risks from the potential side effects of the medicine).
.
If your major problem is that you're constantly, uncontrollably hungry, phentermine could help.
It helped me in that situation.
It immediately suppressed my hunger to what my doctor assured me was a normal level, so I only felt hungry if I hadn't eaten for 5 or 6 hours. Once I was not using phentermine, that "normalcy" persisted.
And it reset my hunger sensing mechanism, whatever you want to call it, let me learn to eat normal-sized portions & be satisfied with them.
.
Potential side effects include increased blood pressure, which is nothing to mess around with & can lead or contribute to other health problems. So that needs to be monitored.
Some people feel jittery. I didn't.

No one is saying that phentermine alone is the answer, its used as an adjunct to lifestyle modification. Its not a quick fix but rather a starting off point, it helps you train your body when you are hungry. The rest is up to you, people are doing paleo diets and ketogenesis diets which are certainly not sustainable long term and mostly cause them to have high cholesterol. If you are morbidly obese you do need some help in beginning to get you into it and help you break unhealthy habits and this drug does help with it. Stop judging and let's encourage and motivate each other....

Foundsheepkatie wrote: »

I was on it last year and lost 20 pounds and have kept it off. Still have to lose a bunch more but it was a great jump start under my doctor's supervision:)

Did your appetite come back when you stopped taking it?