Belviq or Wellbutrin for Weight Loss

I took phentermine a couple years ago and became such a raging psycho I had to stop taking it. I was on Wellbutrin for depression and it agitated my bipolar disorder so I had to stop taking it. But I didn't notice any weightloss on it. Like at all.

Many of the posters on MFP are avidly anti-prescription diet pill. This probably isn't the best site to mention that you're taking them because the critics will pile on claiming they are concerned for your health. If you want support, talk to your doctor about it and see what he/she says. Most doctors will not prescribe diet pills.

I've taken phentermine, Fen-phen and Belviq. I thought Fen-phen was the best stuff ever except for the heart valve damage issue. Truly, except for the death side effect, it was a miracle drug. They don't sell it anymore, obviously. Phentermine feels to me like I've drunk a lot of caffeinated coffee and it does help eliminate appetite so it's easier to eat less and lose weight. I don't like the feeling it gives me.

My doctor is a big fan of Belviq and tried to get me to take it from the time it first came on the market. He takes it himself. I started taking it a year or so ago. I take a half dose (10 mg once a day instead of twice) and have been on and off it a couple times. It's about $100 per month with the coupon from the manufacturer and is not covered by my insurance even if used for diabetics. In trials there were concerns about the possibility of heart valve damage because fenfluramine had that issue. There were no cases of heart valve damage reported in trials or since, just the concern that it might be a possibility in any diet drug.

Belviq works differently from other diet pills. It doesn't work for everyone. You are either a "responder" or not. You can tell after several weeks of use whether or not it is working for you. If it isn't, you're not a responder and it is useless to continue it. If you are a responder, it will make you become satiated faster with smaller amounts of food. Unlike phentermine, which makes you not hungry, with Belviq, you will still get hungry. You just get full with about half the amount of food and will likely have almost no food cravings. It's like a willpower booster. I believe I remember reading that about half of people are responders. The first couple days of use, you may get a headache and be VERY tired. I'd suggest starting it when you don't have to work and have no social commitments, such as a quiet weekend.

I started my journey right on the app, while under medical supervision. I need to lose about 60-70 lbs, I am also pre-diabetic and my cholesterol is a bit high. Doctor decided to put me on a low 1200 cal diet and also prescribed Belviq. I keep track of my calorie intake, I log in all my foods here and also take the Belviq XR which is once a day and Metformin twice a day for blood sugar. I started my diet on December 27, 2019 and a week later I started with Belviq. I have lost 15 lbs. No significant side effects. I got my heart tested before starting medication since this is important. Good luck

Hunger, craving, binging, etc., are things that are very context sensitive. If you've been overeating and have not been on a healthy track in general, cravings and poor food discipline can really make it hard to diet. But once you're rolling with a diet, a lot of that stuff miraculously goes away or goes so deep into the background that it isn't much of a problem, except for the occasional inexplicable binge, which is GOING TO HAPPEN whether you take a pill or not.

The problem with prescription diet pills is what the pharma companies always say at the bottom. And I'm paraphrasing Belvic here: IF you combine Belvic with diet and exercise, you may lose 5 % of your weight in 12 weeks.

Another way to lose 5 % of your body weight in 12 weeks is to just do the diet and exercise and skip the pill. In fact, any kind of reasonable diet and exercise program will easily take off that 5 % in 12 weeks - for a 200 lb person, that'd be well under a pound a week, and for a 300 pound person it's be slightly over a pound a week, but as a previous 300 pounder, I can tell you that weight drops very, very fast when you're 300 pounds, so that'd be easy.

Also, there's no telling whether the first week or two, when most people drop a bunch of water weight, is being included in Belviq's "5 %" claim. It probably is. That's the Nutrisystem trick - "lose 10 pounds in 30 days". Well, yeah, many people lose 5-6 pounds in the first week. Of which fat constitutes a pound of it. The rest is water and will come right back as soon as you stop dieting. Good for marketing purposes, though.

In truth, all Belvic (and the others) are saying is, if you diet, exercise and take this pill, you'll lose the weight you'd lose with diet and exercise. So ... why bother? We know these pills have side effects. Any time you flood your brain with chemicals, you're taking a risk. At least reserve that for risks that are necessary.

I know it's a little intimidating starting a diet and thinking you're going to be hungry and binge-y and all that, but those sensations can subside and/or disappear rather quickly once you get in gear - the right mindset, exercise, and the right amount of food.

In truth all you need is an MFP calorie goal, good calorie counting, hitting that target everyday, and some physical activity. You will lose the weight. And in a couple of weeks you will have much better control over your hunger and cravings, all by yourself, without the aid of a pill.

Wellbutrin is not a "diet pill." It is a drug designed to treat people with a medical condition--depression. Some patients do experience a side-effect of weight-loss while taking Wellbutrin. This can be helpful as many patients experience weight gain as a symptom of depression.


Taking medicine for which you do not have the condition which it is designed to treat is not a good idea. And it could be dangerous, akin to someone taking thyroid drugs who do not have hypothyroidism (which can slow metabolism a bit) so they can "speed up" their metabolism and lose weight. They could very well speed it up into a heart attack.