Posted by yxibow on February 11, 2006, at 7:18:19
In reply to Please help! Keep gaining weight from SSRI, posted by newstart on February 10, 2006, at 18:03:24
> My dr. put me on Prozac over 3 months ago to help my recovery from bulimia. I must say my appetite is less and I rarely binge now but I have gained 20 pounds!! 15 of these pounds have come on in the past 3 weeks. I am eating less than before I was on the drug and am working out 7 days a week....50 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of weights.
> Has this drug shut down my metabolism?Sometimes weight gain from medication will occur from patients who are overly or more likely underweight. That is a fair schedule of workout, it sounds almost close to my attempt to removal of Remeron weight from my system. Are you male or female -- it makes a difference sometimes in excercise and apparently the amount that one has to exert to lose a pound of fat. But generally the base is 3500 calories/lb. I excercise faithfully (my aching feet love my Brookstone iSqueez... they should make those mandatory in gyms....but I divert) around 75 minutes of cardio daily for 11,500 calories a week give or take. It can take a lot -- do you run on a steady grade or do you raise the treadmill ? Or walk at a high grade ? Also an average calorie sheet per day would help alot, what foods you're eating, and adding them up. You start to lose weight when you go below what is known as your maintenance weight, or the calories required to sustain your body weight, give or take. Food plans are just as important as counting calories in the gym. Eating below the maintenance weight + the weight loss in the gym should be no more than 1-2 (I tend to do 2-3) lbs a week to maintain a healthy system. It takes time to put it on and it will take time to put it off.
> I am worried and going to stop taking it. My dr. suggested Wellbutrin. Will I gain on that too?
Considering Wellbutrin's distant relation to Tenuate, a weight loss drug, I dont see a causality for weight gain -- if anything it should be a slight weight neutral to weight loss medication. It can cause annoying insomnia though.
> Does anybody know why these drugs cause weight gain when your habits become healthier -- does the weight come off after the drug leaves your system?
The first part -- when your habits become healthier, as you learn to deal with your disorder, those are the psychological parts of treatment and are independent of medication. Does the weight come off -- its hard to say.. with Remeron, I can tell you, no.
With SSRIs, I've heard various anecdotal reports that the pounds drop off. I think its a little bit of both if you average medications overall -- some overeating caused by increased appetite, but a lot of metabolism change especially in antipsychotics like Zyprexa.
poster:yxibow
thread:608436
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060205/msgs/608588.html