Melatonin and Unwanted Weight Gain

BajaDreamin333
BajaDreamin333 Posts: 267 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Has anyone had experience with gaining (unwanted!) weight while taking melatonin for better sleep? I started taking it regularly in May and was thrilled - suddenly sleep is possible! I go right to sleep, stay asleep all night, and don't have a sleep aid "hangover" in the morning.

However, I've also been working incredibly hard, both with diet and exercises. I am eating between 1,250 and 1,800 cals per day, working out at least 45 minutes but some days for 2 hours, (with 1 rest day per week) and I am still gaining weight. I have had incredible success with MFP and the regimen described above in the past. Two years ago I lost 20 lbs, and it felt like the weight was just falling off. Not so this go around!

I had major shoulder surgery in October, so I lost a lot of strength and muscle, and gained the 20 lbs back. I stared exercising slowly, to avoid re-injury, and I am to the point I am doing most things normally.The only thing I'm doing differently is taking Melatonin. Is it possible this hormone is causing me to gain weigh, and preventing weight loss?

Has anyone had this experience?
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Replies

  • dcorcion
    dcorcion Posts: 5 Member
    I take melatonin. I've been losing weight very consistently. Question - do you weigh your food?
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    I stopped taking melatonin a few months ago because I was falling asleep on my own, but did start taking it again recently and did have a weight gain, but I was attributing that to ovulation and water weight. Will keep an eye on this. It's most likely not melatonin, but it's an interesting theory.
  • BrianaDuBois
    BrianaDuBois Posts: 48 Member
    edited August 2015
    I take melatonin, but I haven't experienced weight gain. I'm still losing regularly on it.
  • amb312
    amb312 Posts: 55 Member
    Never had that experience with melatonin. The only thing it consistently does is give me bizarre dreams!
  • Lizzles4Shizzles
    Lizzles4Shizzles Posts: 122 Member
    amb312 wrote: »
    Never had that experience with melatonin. The only thing it consistently does is give me bizarre dreams!

    +1 on the bizarre dreams! I take melatonin on occasion, not consistently, and for this very reason. If I take it 2-3 nights in a row, by the 3rd night, my dreams are just... INSAAAANE for some reason lol I've never noticed any weight gain, but again, I don't take it consistently.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    How much melatonin do you take?
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
    The only side effect I have from melatonin is bags under my eyes in the morning.
  • shrinkingletters
    shrinkingletters Posts: 1,008 Member
    edited August 2015
    I also take melatonin. I only get weird dreams sometimes. It has had zero effect on my weight.
  • kyrannosaurus
    kyrannosaurus Posts: 350 Member
    Research studies have actually found a link between melatonin supplementation and weight loss in laboratory animals. I have never heard of weight gain being associated with melatonin. I doubt it's the cause.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    edited August 2015
    BajaDreamin333 wrote: »
    Has anyone had experience with gaining (unwanted!) weight while taking melatonin for better sleep? I started taking it regularly in May and was thrilled - suddenly sleep is possible! I go right to sleep, stay asleep all night, and don't have a sleep aid "hangover" in the morning.

    However, I've also been working incredibly hard, both with diet and exercises. I am eating between 1,250 and 1,800 cals per day, working out at least 45 minutes but some days for 2 hours, (with 1 rest day per week) and I am still gaining weight. I have had incredible success with MFP and the regimen described above in the past. Two years ago I lost 20 lbs, and it felt like the weight was just falling off. Not so this go around!

    I had major shoulder surgery in October, so I lost a lot of strength and muscle, and gained the 20 lbs back. I stared exercising slowly, to avoid re-injury, and I am to the point I am doing most things normally.The only thing I'm doing differently is taking Melatonin. Is it possible this hormone is causing me to gain weigh, and preventing weight loss?

    Has anyone had this experience?

    Melatonin doesn't cause weight gain.

    Our weight is always supported by the calories in/calories out equation. In other words, you gain weight if you eat more calories than you burn, you lose weight if you eat less calories than you burn, and you maintain if you eat about the same amount of calories as you burn.

    How do you know how much you are eating?

    Do you count your exercise calories and do you eat those calories back?

    My guess is you are underestimating calorie intake and overestimating calorie burns, because this is the most common problem for not losing weight. :)
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    Oh, I tried melatonin a few nights--I feel asleep lickety split, then woke up every few hours thereafter. The next morning......

    03vitals.yawn.190.jpg


  • whitpauly
    whitpauly Posts: 1,483 Member
    I've been taking melatonin for years and never had any weight gain from it but everyone is different,seems like when I added in unisom tho I started retaining a bit of water
  • Keto_Vampire
    Keto_Vampire Posts: 1,670 Member
    edited October 2018
    Melatonin has no weight gain associations (unlike other sedatives, mostly with histamine-1 antagonism &/or Serotonin 2C antagonism...doxylamine, diphenhydramine, mirtazapine, trazodone, amitriptyline, doxepin, quetiapine, etc.). Not listed as an adverse drug reaction either. Anecdotally, nearing 2 decades of on-and-off use of melatonin, I have never had any strong causation of use of melatonin related to any significant weight increases.

    If anything, melatonin can slightly lower cortisol production in some individuals (not significant enough to be a drug monitoring parameter though). Typical dose range (Adult) being 3-5mg/night...in practice, 1-10mg/night is pretty safe, anything above 10mg can interfere with endogenous production of melatonin and is generally not anymore beneficial either (not worth pushing the dose higher).
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    I've been prescribed Melatonin (You need a doctor to prescribe it to get the real stuff in Australia and not that ridiculous homeopathic rubbish you get in the chemist) and it's been a godsend. I've had insomnia my entire life and usual sleeping solutions turned me into a complete zombie the following day. With the Circadin I've been prescribed I get to sleep easily, sleep well and (most importantly) wake up refreshed!! I generally take it for a short period to get me into a good sleep cycle then stop until I need it again.

    That said I've not seen any correlation between the periods I'm taking the pills and differences in weight fluctuations.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    dinnerscramble wrote: »
    I know this is an old thread, but just wanted to chime in that melatonin also makes me gain weight. A Google search showed me that it seems to affect different people differently.

    I've been taking 10mg melatonin for 3 years while successfully losing weight (exactly as much as my calorie deficit created). I've read a lot of research papers on melatonin and I'm pretty sure it has no effect on your weight.

    Use scholar.google.com if you're looking for scientific information, not google.com
  • jacquiaehall
    jacquiaehall Posts: 7 Member
    Danp wrote: »
    I've been prescribed Melatonin (You need a doctor to prescribe it to get the real stuff in Australia and not that ridiculous homeopathic rubbish you get in the chemist) and it's been a godsend. I've had insomnia my entire life and usual sleeping solutions turned me into a complete zombie the following day. With the Circadin I've been prescribed I get to sleep easily, sleep well and (most importantly) wake up refreshed!! I generally take it for a short period to get me into a good sleep cycle then stop until I need it again.

    That said I've not seen any correlation between the periods I'm taking the pills and differences in weight fluctuations.

    Hi, I'm from Australia too and find it hard to get my doctor to prescribe it. Is the chemist stuff really not the same? I thought it had been legalised and I didn't hear about it because these pills weren't always available.
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    edited October 2018
    The chemist over-the-counter stuff is 'homeopathic dose' so yeah. It's just water.

    Coincidentally, the topic of melatonin happened to come up at work today.

    I haven't had a chance to verify what I was told but someone mentioned that while it requires a prescription in Australia it's not a prohibited substance so can be legally imported. The person who told me this regularly just buys her tablets online (which apparently is also cheaper than buying locally with a prescription) so I'll definitely be looking into that as an option when my current stash runs out.
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    My daughter's psychiatrist recommended this site to get melatonin in Australia. Either that or go to a chemist that will compound it for you but that is a much more expensive way of going about it.

    https://www.biovea.net/au/results.aspx?AG=melatonin&FiltersObject={"SortValue":{},"PageSize":"12","CompareProducts":[],"Brands":{},"FormValues":{},"PriceRanges":{},"Categories":[],"objects":[]}
  • mrslynda
    mrslynda Posts: 50 Member
    My 12 year old is on 2mg Circadin . So far the only issue has been weird dreams, but she said she gets those anyway. She does sometimes still wake up early, but isn't taking 3-4 hours to get to sleep. We are in Australia and can get it free if we go to the local kids hospital, but with parking or catching public transport it's not really worth it.

    The psychiatrist also mentioned that over the counter homeopathic versions are in such a small does, or not the best quality. We haven't looked at buying it online, but since she is on a plan , we prefer to keep working with her care team.
  • jesireg
    jesireg Posts: 1 Member
    I know this is an old thread but wanted to comment that I have experienced a significant and stubborn weight gain since taking melatonin regularly. I couldn’t figure it out, why was I gaining weight with no changes to diet and exercise, no new meds, no thyroid problems, no pregnancy...so I carefully researched EVERYTHING I was taking including OC meds and supplements. Discovered that melatonin DOES cause some people to gain weight, not all, but some. So yes, your unexplained weight gain IS likely the melatonin. Also, Benedryl for sleep causes weight gain over time. For us poor sleepers, this is a very frustrating conundrum! I don’t want to take a prescription sleep med because they are addictive...I also HATE this extra weight!
  • Anabirgite
    Anabirgite Posts: 537 Member
    I see a pharmacist who specializes in menopause, I was taking benadryl every night to help me with my insomnia, she said the benadryl could affect weight gain and recommended I take melatonin.
  • icemom011
    icemom011 Posts: 999 Member
    I took melatonin for a period of time, no weight gain issue. Fwiw in this zombie thread...

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