Weight loss/maintenance on antidepressanr

beautyforashes0890
beautyforashes0890 Posts: 35 Member
edited November 19 in Health and Weight Loss
I've been on citalopram 10 mg for almost a year. At first, I only noticed slight weight gain of about 3ish pounds. Since January I have gained about 5 pounds (altogether 8), which in itself isn't a big deal because I'm smaller to begin with. I've resolved that I am okay with my pants fitting a bit tighter if it means I'm okay mentally. (I struggled with severe anxiety before.) however, I'd prefer not to keep gaining and it's been coming on slowly but surely. Since I've felt better, I can confess that my appetite is better as well since I am not walking around with my stomach in knots all of the time. I can also say that while I eat well during the week, I STRUGGLE on the weekend. One bad food choice could send me into a spiral of days of bad choices which means - another pound. Part of the reason I was at a lower weight was because I was so stressed and couldn't eat as much. However, I need to get back on track with logging & exercise! Has anybody been able to maintain or even lose weight while on antidepressant? I've read so many horror stories that I'll just feel so discouraged. I've lost weight before and maintained weight so I know I can do this, I'm just looking for other stories of people who have done it while on medication like this. I'm hoping it's not the medication that's made me gain and that I've just been too overindulgent since I've begun to feel better. Or perhaps the medicine makes it harder to keep weight off, but not impossible. Let me know what your experience with it is! Feel free to add me as well.

Replies

  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    beautyforashes0890 wrote: »
    One bad food choice could send me into a spiral of days of bad choices which means - another pound.

    So you know the culprit there. Just eliminate it then.
    If you say this, you already realise it is the wrong thing to do. So just don't do it. Don't talk about it as if it is a third person over who you have zero control. You have 100% control.

    I've been losing weight since Feb 2016 and have on many occasions eaten over my allotted calories. But only that. The next day I wake up and go on as usual and don't think anything of it.

    It is not the single occasions that are important. It's the rest of the time that is.

  • melaniedscott
    melaniedscott Posts: 1,476 Member
    anti-depressants don't make you gain weight. They increase your appetite and you might think you're hungry. If you act on that increased appetite, you can gain weight. As you say...it is all about choices. When I'm stressed, I like to eat crunchy things, cuz I want to bite someone and something is better for keeping my job. I need to eat celery or apples but frequently end up with cheetos and chips. My choices...

    I don't have a lot of experience with anti-depressants and the experience I do have was 20 years ago (I have a lot of experience with prednisone, though, which has the same side effect--been on it twice since I started losing weight and have not gained. Yay!). I have a friend that is on them all the time and she doesn't seem to have the problem...she's skinny...but she runs, so that helps with any diet slips.
  • MilesAddie
    MilesAddie Posts: 166 Member
    After a particularly bad period about 16 months ago, I was put on a medication in the same family as yours and gained a great deal of weight. However, I eat when I'm low anyway so I can't only blame the meds. Added 40 lbs in 1 year.

    After a great deal of work with my team, I was put on the antidepressant Wellbutrin with great results, and which also has the bonus side effect of helping with emotional binge eating. I've noticed that now that my mental health is better my cravings are way down. New drugs like Contrave combine Wellbutrin with others for eating issues.

    You could ask your MD if Wellbutrin would be a fit for you.
  • slaite1
    slaite1 Posts: 1,307 Member
    If citalopram is helping your anxiety, i would stay on it, and not switch to another medication.

    You are talking a very small amount of weight. The antidepressant is in no way making you gain or making it harder for you to lose. You ar simply feeling better, and so eating more. Or perhaps not feeling better, and so overeating?

    Sounds like you're bingeing, which I do as a coping mechanism with my anxiety. Are you feeling more anxious? Is the medicine, indeed, helping? Your mental issue will make this harder. The antidepressant is not the culprit.

    I second the suggestion to look beyond medication (as an addition-not a replacement). Maybe look into therapy to help with the anxiety and/or the bingeing. Or yoga/mediatation/whatever. Anxiety is a *kitten*. 8 pounds is small-and you certainly CAN lose it. As you said, you've done it before and you have the skills to do it again!

    *sidenote-I have lost, and gained, on plenty of psychotropics, including antidepressants, and including citalopram specifically. For what it's worth.
  • kyramae67
    kyramae67 Posts: 7 Member
    I've lost weight off meds but what I can say is if it's working for you stay on it and get active while you have control over your weight. It's easy to fall off track but keep working at it. Get creative with your process and watch yourself progress. You can do it!
  • buggleuh749
    buggleuh749 Posts: 27 Member
    Since you mention citalopram, specifically, my brother takes it and he's super skinny. And it helps his mental health immensely.
  • ifeelvoxish
    ifeelvoxish Posts: 1 Member
    Hey. I've been on 10mg citalopram since April 2016. It's helped my anxiety so much! However I was always around 128lbs at 5'7 (I'm 28 and had been that weight since I was about eighteen), then slowly gained 12lbs over the past year - to the extent that I felt pretty unhappy. I know it's not super heavy, but it didn't feel like me! What made it frustrating was that nothing had changed in terms of my dietary and exercise levels: I've always eaten healthily (vegan whole foods, no junk, low alcohol consumption), so I was pretty stumped.

    Anyway, I spoke to a doctor friend who told me that SSRIs not only increase your appetite but can also slow down your metabolism slightly, which makes weight gain pretty common. I got fed up with it, so over the past month I've really stepped up my activity levels and reduced my calorie intake (tracking on MFP) and I'm finally seeing a decrease. I'm down to 135 now, so I'm getting there...
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
    I am (although a different medication) and go through a similar pattern, (I also have PCOS which can be an extra barrier to loss) I tend to go for a weekly deficit instead of a daily one (I wouldn't suggest restricting too much either) During the week I can usually have about a 500 cal deficit a day, during the weekend I go into maintenance or over, I aim for a 2000 cal deficit a week and 1/2 pound loss.

    It works for me and I've been losing consistently (I still have hiccups but I just log and move on), also I do 2 45-60min bootcamp classes a week (HIIT, circuit training type of deal) which have really helped me on the anxiety stress side of things as well as fitness /creating a calorific deficit, so I would definitely recommend trying to do some exercise you enjoy too if at all possible, I also try to hit at least 7000 steps a day and have my settings to "lightly active". x Good luck and feel free to add me as I'm also on my last 10 pounds. x
  • ZhivagosGirl
    ZhivagosGirl Posts: 161 Member
    I'm on an anti-depressant "cocktail" and have managed to lose 50 lbs this year (Jan thru May). I'm on wellburtrin, topamax and abilify. I have tried citalopram and could not tolerate it at all. Frankly I attribute the weight loss to the abilify. I started taking it last fall and had some "secondary" weight loss with it and decided to put some actual effort into it beginning with the first of the year. As someone else mentioned it doesn't make me lose weight per se - but it takes away my food cravings and makes me not hungry that eating is now a chore. I struggle to get into my MFP goal range.
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