Loosing Weight post PTSD and strong medications

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Hey..
I gained over 35kgs within 2-3 months when i was on medication for PTSD, I've been trying to loose weight from a year now.. was not constant.. but Again started with consistency.. But it seems like my weight is in a loop and even if I'm deficiting calories and walking and all.. it is reducing but is stuck at the same weight from last 4-5 days..which i think if i loose, I'll break the loop as well.

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  • Corina1143
    Corina1143 Posts: 2,922 Member
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    I gained 60 pounds in 3 months after a trauma many years ago. My body wouldn't cooperate until my mind got better.
    I wish you the best!
  • franny906
    franny906 Posts: 1 Member
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    I also gained a lot of weight after a big trauma and the consequences of being on a high dose of antipsychotics and antidepressants. Now I am doing a lot better and am reducing my medications slowly. So hopefully my weight will start to decrease. I wish you all the best in your recovery and weight loss journey. <3
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,150 Member
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    Hey..
    I gained over 35kgs within 2-3 months when i was on medication for PTSD, I've been trying to loose weight from a year now.. was not constant.. but Again started with consistency.. But it seems like my weight is in a loop and even if I'm deficiting calories and walking and all.. it is reducing but is stuck at the same weight from last 4-5 days..which i think if i loose, I'll break the loop as well.

    Even when in a consistent calorie deficit, it's 100% normal to have periods of days when there's no loss on the scale.

    Our bodies can be up to 60%+ water, and part of how a healthy body stays healthy is rebalancing water retention for a variety of reasons.** Those shifts in water retention (plus changes in food residue in the digestive tract on its way to becoming waste) can be up to several pounds daily. Fat loss, even if losing aggressively fast (not a great plan!), will only be a fraction of a pound daily. That means that water/food fluctuations will mask fat loss on the scale for a surprisingly long time, sometimes. (I've had it happen for a month or more on rare occasions.)

    I see that your profile says you're female. If you're adult and not in menopause, hormonal water weight fluctuations will tend to add pounds at certain times of the month. When that occurs varies from one woman to the next, but if you track carefully for a while, you'll begin to understand your personal patterns. It's not the most common pattern, but a few women report only seeing a new low weight once a month, at a particular point in their monthly cycle.

    Weight gain from medications tends to be from some combination of appetite increase, fatigue (so moving less than before), or increased water retention. Conscientious and consistent calorie counting - which I know is hard! - will help manage the first two of those. Watching your personal random weight fluctuations for a month or two will help you understand and accept the third . . . which isn't fat gain, so not worth stressing over.

    ** This thread, especially the article linked in the first post, will give you more information about how and why that sort of thing occurs. I found it quite reassuring: I hope you will, too.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p1

    You will have some periods of time when the scale seems stuck - pretty much all of us do. If you stick with a sensible, sustainable routine, results will arrive eventually. Hang in there, you're doing fine!

    Best wishes!
  • roseym10
    roseym10 Posts: 104 Member
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    I take antipsychotics which I've been tapering off for the past couple of months. I already feel less ravenously hungry all the time and starting to lose weight again. I don't know if tapering off or lowering your dosages is an option for you, but I wanted to share my experience.