Anyone else on Contrave?

Hi there,

I don’t know where your weight was when you started, but like losing 23 pounds is great! I just started on Contrave 6 days ago so I’m only at the 1 pill a day stage. Still, I have lost 2.5 lbs and feeling more in control of my eating. I hope I’ll be as successful as you.

Feel free to keep in touch to bounce ideas back and forth. Wonder if there’s others out there like us.

Grace

I have been on Contrave for over a year now. I lost about 20 lbs right away, but since then have been stuck. I'm afraid to go off of it, because it definitely helps me control my eating and mind-set. My doctor is okay with me being on it still, since I had such good success when I first started.

You sound exactly like me I quit smoking gained 50 lbs.Started Contrave today so far no problems .And I am not starving which is way different for me .

rjb6651 wrote: »

You sound exactly like me I quit smoking gained 50 lbs.Started Contrave today so far no problems .And I am not starving which is way different for me .

That's so good to hear that you aren't starving! Good luck and keep us posted how it goes.

I start mine Tomorrow. My Dr also has me on a 1000 calorie a day diet, plus 30 min of walking, weight lifting 3-4 days a week. Wish me luck lol

I will be starting this weekend. I really hope it works! A little worried about the side effects so I figure I would start on a Saturday

Does this pill still require you to eat in a calorie deficit?

lost 25 immediately /2 months,,, then plateau. just got off 2 weeks ago to see if i would weight rebound. no but i felt down and sluggish. Am thinking of going back on in a few weeks to help with my 50lb next goal. The prescriber said i could stay on long term. Iget mine via online and talk to doctor every 6 months

I started taking this 5 days ago and I'm really pleased with the way it's working and making me feel. It's doing exactly what I was hoping for; taking away cravings. I have a very stressful job and had a bad routine of coming home from work and opening a bottle of wine or cracking open a beer. I still do that, because it's a habit, but I have a few sips of wine, and I just have no desire to finish the glass. Before Contrave, I would usually finish the bottle. Wine alone was playing a huge role in my weight gain because it also made me want to eat more, not to mention the calories in a bottle of wine or a can of beer. I could go all day long at work and not think about food or eat much, mostly because I don't have time; but when I get home, then just eat and drink a million calories.

But with Contrave, I'm now not thinking about food at night either. I don't worry about what I'm going to have for dinner. I just pick up a salad or some soup because I know I need to eat something so I choose something that's good for me. I'm not thinking about what kind of cheese I will have with my bottle of wine. As for exercise, that wasn't my problem, I get a lot exercise at work; usually 20,000 plus steps a day. I do need to do cardio though, because I'm not usually sweating or raising my heart rate while I'm doing those steps. I just need to figure out how I'm going to work that in because my work days are never less than 10 hours and usually 12 to 14. That's why I'm so stressed out.

So in 5 days I've lost 5 pounds. I'm sure part of that is water weight and that's fine; at least I'm not gaining everyday. I recently had a pretty major life change that was causing me to be pretty sad and that was making me turn to food and wine and I was gaining weight daily. That's what prompted me to make the decision to try Contrave. I really needed something to stop the cycle or the path that I was on because for me, this is very much a mental issue. I did a lot research on this medication before starting it and I made my decision to use it because it helps with addictive behaviors, which I clearly have.

So far, thankfully, I haven't had any of the common side effects like nausea or constipation, but I did plan ahead for those. I agree that magnesium does help. I have it in supplement form but I also take baths in epsom salts and that's a great way to get magnesium directly into your body through your skin. Banana's and almonds also have magnesium in them and I always feel better after I eat a banana if my stomach is queasy. I'm also taking probiotics and they help with constipation and are in my opinion something you should do for your gut health anyway.

One last thing that I found in my research about this drug, is that for people who have hypothyroid, this medication helps convert T4 to T3 (I think that's the direction, might be T3 to T4) which is what synthetic thyroid medications are supposed to do, but often don't do well enough. I have had issues with my thyroid for many years and I've struggled with many different medications to try and get it balanced out. Nothing works really great, but supposedly this medication does a great job of helping with that issue. I will be excited to see if there is a difference on my next blood test that will indicate if this is true or not.

Good luck to everyone and I hope that people keep this thread going and keep updating your progress and sharing issues. It's very interesting to see how different people have such different experiences with this. It's also really helpful and encouraging to me to hear everyone's story and how you are doing. I truly hope that you all have great success and maybe we can help each other.