Has anyone successfully lost weight while taking mirtazipine?

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BeGrandLike
BeGrandLike Posts: 184 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

Basically, it's what it says in the title- I was put on mirtazipine around a year and a half ago. Have gained A LOT since then. I didn't weigh myself for most of the year but I stepped on a scales at the start of the week and, well. I've gone from being maybe a kilo or two overweight to being... I'm just gonna say several kilos into the first 'obese' band (and I'm 5 foot 2 so like, that's A Lot), 'cause honestly while I've written down that number and put it into my calculations, I can't even bring myself to say it out loud. (Although I have to say- that number was a massive wake-up call. So there's that!)

I've been doing all the right stuff for the last 3 weeks or so- logging my exercise, weighing/logging my food and keeping myself on a deficit. It's a smaller deficit than I was able to maintain pre-mirtazipine- I'm managing about 350-400 cals under maintenance- but it's still a deficit. I'm also doing things to minimise the effect of the mirtazipine on my appetite, like reducing simple carbs & sugar, since I know that a lot of the mirtazipine ravenousness is due to sugar crashes.

I'm really worried, though, that the mirtazipine will prevent me from being able to lose and get back to a healthy weight? I'm okay with it taking longer than it otherwise would, as long as I'm moving in the right direction. I've always advocated the slow&steady approach to weight loss and that worked really well for me in the past, before everything leading up to being on these meds.

I'd hate to have to come off them for this reason- like, it's rare to find an antidepressant that has so few side effects and really the only ones I have at all on this are the weight gain and sleeping a bit more! I feel like if I can get control over my weight I could hit the jackpot here, y'know?

Anyhow- if anyone's actually successfully managed to lose while on mirtazipine I'd really appreciate hearing your stories and how you managed to make it easier. If you don't want to talk about headmeds in this space, please do feel free to message me! It's all good :)

Replies

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,425 Member
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    I’m so sorry. I thought it said marzipan and I got real excited. 😭

    I love that stuff.
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
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    I was starving on it. i couldn't do it. the hunger overtook my brain.
    after a couple of weeks, i asked to be changed.
    i've read that it has a couple of potential reasons to the insane hunger, but sugar crashes are not one of them.
    other people tolerate it better. i wanted to. other than wanting to eat everything in sight, it worked well
  • Go_Deskercise
    Go_Deskercise Posts: 1,630 Member
    edited January 2020
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    springlering62 wrote: »
    I’m so sorry. I thought it said marzipan and I got real excited. 😭

    I love that stuff.

    Soooo yummy :)
  • nfgchick1979
    nfgchick1979 Posts: 8 Member
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    I take it and I have for a couple of years now. I have lost 20 lbs (148-128). I'm only 5'0." I love it due to the lack of side effects. I know these medications effect everyone differently, but I just wanted to give you some hope that it is possible!
  • BeGrandLike
    BeGrandLike Posts: 184 Member
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    nfgchick1979 wrote: »
    I take it and I have for a couple of years now. I have lost 20 lbs (148-128). I'm only 5'0." I love it due to the lack of side effects. I know these medications effect everyone differently, but I just wanted to give you some hope that it is possible!

    Thank you for this!

    Yeah, I like it for the same reason- the initial weight gain and sleepiness were the only side effects I had, and after a year on it and some dosage adjustments those have reduced a lot. It's brilliant, in comparison to some other side effects I've had on other pills.

    I am actually really surprised by how well I seem to be tolerating eating at a deficit this past couple weeks, tbh. When I started on it I tried to keep myself at maintenance for the first while but.. I was so ravenous that I just couldn't, and tbh I had to focus more on mental health stuff so kinda just stopped putting the effort into managing my good intake. But this past couple weeks- very very slowly increasing the deficit- have been surprisingly easy. Especially in comparison to how it felt even attempting maintaining last year.

    I'm really hoping I can keep it up and get back to at least SOMEWHERE close to a healthy weight. It's really good to hear that it might be totally possible! If I could stay on these meds and maintain a healthy weight, that would be SO brilliant.
  • BeGrandLike
    BeGrandLike Posts: 184 Member
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    mbaker566 wrote: »
    I was starving on it. i couldn't do it. the hunger overtook my brain.
    after a couple of weeks, i asked to be changed.
    i've read that it has a couple of potential reasons to the insane hunger, but sugar crashes are not one of them.
    other people tolerate it better. i wanted to. other than wanting to eat everything in sight, it worked well

    Yeah, I think for me the hunger manifests most as sugar cravings? Which I've noticed a lot because before it I never really used to crave sugar at all. Maybe for a couple of days around my period but otherwise, I always craved salty/fatty snacks more than sugary. I enjoy sweet things but I would always be perfectly happy with a couple squares of chocolate and no need for more.

    For me (and of course this affects people so differently!) it was REALLY noticeable when as soon as I started on the meds, I'd just.. eat my way through an entire packet of chocolate chip cookies and still want more afterwards!

    I find that the less sugary stuff I have, the more manageable the cravings get. These days I have em under control most of the time, and can keep it limited to a wee bit after meals and all. Which is a relief, I gotta say.

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