Medication Weight Gain

kimbles0104
kimbles0104 Posts: 1 Member
edited November 16 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello, everyone, I am dealing with weight gain due to medications I am taking. How do I overcome this? I have not changed my eating or fitness habits at all, but the weight keeps coming.

Thank you for any insight!

Replies

  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    How much weight are we talking? What medication are you taking and for how long? Are you tracking your calorie intake?

    Usually weight gain from medication is a result of water retention or an increase in appetite leading to eating more, if you're not tracking your calories you may not even realise you're eating too much due to calorie creep. An extra bite here, a larger serving there. It all adds up.
  • crazychic_1133
    crazychic_1133 Posts: 10 Member
    It might be worth talking to your doctor, as sometimes there is a similar medication that can do the same job but without the weight gain side effect.

    Also, keep an eye on your calories because, as the poster about says, a lot of weight gain from meds is from an increase in appetite. I have the same from taking amitriptyline.
  • RUNucbar
    RUNucbar Posts: 160 Member
    Can you open your food diary. There may be an issue in there somewhere a fresh pair of eyes can spot and recommend a way to fix?

    I had this issue on an antidepressant a month ago or so. Once I had a closer look, it turned out my logging had been less strict since I started the medication so once I tightened things up, the weight started coming off again. I didn't realize the logging was inaccurate until I asked someone else to have a look and he spotted the errors I had missed, it happens a lot, especially with some poor entries on the database!

    But as has been mentioned, it depends what the medication is, the dose and how long you have been on it. If it is something you are expected to be on for a long time, it may be worth speaking to the doctor to get a handle on things (either working out what is going one or changing the meds) and having this chat before things spiral out of control and you suddenly find yourself with an extra 50lbs+ to shift.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    If you don't mind, what type of medication? I'm asking because from those which can increase your weight, some (very few) medications decrease your metabolism (example is non selective beta blocker) and others (the majority of weight increasing) increase your appetite (example - some antidepressants, some contraception pills).
    So our advice depends on which type.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories