Ssri's And Weight Gain

[Guest Angelgrlsue]

Hi everyone. Long time since I have been on here I know. For those of you that do know me I am on an SSRI (anti-depressant)and noticed since I have been on them since December I have gained quite a bit of unwanted weight. They have also increased my appetite. I do not eat junk food except for the occasional dark chocolate and recently soem pastries. Wanted to know if anyone else that might be on an SSRI or knows about these if there is a way to curb my appetite so I am not eating so much. I basically eat a lot of fruit, peanut butter sandwiches, veggies, lean meat such as chicken, water and have noticed I have eating a lot of cereal as well, it is basically raisin bran or shredded wheat. I use olive oil when I cook. Breakfast consists of two eggs, plain oatmeal with raisins, multigrain wheat toast with peanut butter, fruit and water. Lunch is either a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or turkey breast sandwich, fruit, maybe some veggies if I am home and water. Snacks I tend to eat a lot of raw peanuts in the shell unsalted. Dinner is usally light, scrambed eggs or cereal and a veggie and fruit, water again. As of last week I weighed at 174lbs, I am 6 feet tall. I want to get back down to 160lbs, felt so much better physically. I will admit I am not exercising much and that leads to weight gain as well. It is the lack of motivation that stops me from getting out there and walking along with having phobic attacks at times, they are better than they use to be though.

Can use some feedback on this. Thanks

Hugs,

Susan

[JJ]

Susan-I have missed you! So good to have you back.

My main recommendation would be to substitute something for the peanut butter and the peanuts. both have very high amounts of fat and salt, which in addition to weight gain can cause other health problems with blood pressure and water retention.

The food industry did a good job of convincing us peanut butter was good -and it can be for children who need a significantly higher fat content than adults and it has a relatively high protein content. But last I read it is now being seen as not good for children either.

I use a lot of spices in my cooking -it seems to help kill hunger to have varied and unusual spices. I've managed to lose over 80 lbs this year -I also eat probably 6 meals a day. But struggle now to eat enough each day to be safe.

What works for me won't necessarily work for you as far as satisfying hunger. Especially with the anti-depressants.

The basic cardinal rule is to be sure you are meeting your nutritional needs and look for ways to do that which are also healthy and low fat and low calorie. For instance I gradually weaned from whole milk to 2%, then 1% and now skim tastes good. That was a long process because I am a cold milk fanatic.

One other thing I do and would recommend trying is giving yourself one day a week to eat whatever you want. It doesn't always have to be the same day either. No guilt and no counting. There is a program on livestrong.com where I track what I eat each day except the "eating" days. Those eating days keep my metabolism from plummetting and make it easier to resist things like chocolate because I know I can have it without guilt within a few days.

Hope some of this was helpful. Fighting weight is no fun but losing it can be.

Hugs

Johnny

[Guest]

Hi Susan,

It's wonderful to hear from you again!

SSRI = Seroquel, right? My wife had been on it, but talked her doctor out of it because of the weight gain, After falling into a deep depression this winter, the doctor had her start again. But, she's lost about 15 pounds since then. The difference has been that we've gone to a very low-carb diet: Fresh veggies (and avoid the sweet ones like carrots and peas, etc) and lean meats are the primary parts of the diet. The Seroquel affects your metabolism and causes you to store sugars that you eat. The trick is to not give it the sugar! Peanut Butter, bread, etc, they are not your friends right now! It isn't easy to maintain a strict diet, but if you can stick with it, you'll see the difference.

I am happy for my wife - she's a tough case to bring out of depression, and Seroquel worked well for her. But gaining weight was hurting her self esteem. Now that she's down to a very healthy weight, she's got a much more positive outlook on life. And she's ecstatic that she's been able to continue her weight loss in spite of it. I hope it goes so well for you!

Love, Kat

[Guest Angelgrlsue]

Thank you JJ and Kathleen, youur advice does help. Kathleen I am on Lexapro. Peanut butter as well as peanuts is going to the toughest to substitute, I will try though. I do eat a quite a bit of fruit and do eat veggies, just not eneough. Have to go right now, my son just got home.

Hugs,

Susan

[Guest Megan_Lynn]

Not sure why anyone 6ft tall would complain about being 174 that is like very skinny. I am 5'11" myself and the last time I was close to that 177 ( 2007) I was almost all skin and bones. Its been 14 years since I was that light. But yes many drugs out there can and do mess with ones ability to mantain weight and or gain it as well. From the listing of your diet you seem to eat alot of carbos. cut back on breads/cereal/ oatmeal /ect. If you are not very active them carbos will pack the lbs on fast like.

[Guest]

Hi Susan,

Lexapro? Didn't know that was an SSRI too. I took that for about 6 months and it had a wonderful side effect: stopped my nicotine craving cold. And I gained about 10 lbs, but that's normal for stopping smoking.

It isn't easy to keep the carbs out of your diet, but do try to get plenty of healthy proteins - and it will lessen your appetite for other things.

And, if you can exercise to burn off the calories that helps a bunch too. This year, I've dropped another 5 lbs, not from changing my diet, but by getting back on the treadmill for an aerobic walk nearly daily.

Love, Kat

[Guest Zoe_1988]

Hey,

I was on Zoloft and I'm currently on Venlafaxine, however apparently I was eating anxiously and starting antidepressants actually made me lose weight (from 180 pounds to 147). But I did hear that gaining weight is a side effect from my doc, I also know that my doctor gives me additional medicine to control bad side effects, like melatonin to regulate my sleep. So if I were you I'd ask my doc about a medication to control the weight gain since it's unfortunately apparently normal on the medicine. Cheers! =D

-Zoe