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General Fitness & Nutrition: How to get around antidepressant weight gain??

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    kamikazeskibunny
    I have been taking Lexapro for over a year now, and i've noticed that my weight is really hard to take off...way harder than it used to be.

    I am 5'6" and 186 lbs...I gained about 41 lbs in the last year due to a back injury from a car accident, which took approximately 8 months to heal to the point where I could resume my normal activity levels. Now I'm at my heaviest weight ever and I'm having a HARD time making any progress, even though I'm working out 4-5 times a week, for an hour at a time, with at least 30 mins of cardio in there, and the rest is weights.... Plus I'm keeping my calories under 2000, and i avoid processed sugars, I dropped my carbs and increased my veggie intake, drinking lots of water and staying away from alcohol.....sigh....

    I have no idea what else to do. I have been athletic all of my life , and have never had this much trouble dropping weight....The only thing I can think of is that the antidepressants are making it harder to lose the weight.

    does anyone know how to get around this, or if there are alternatives to this prescription that dont cause weight gain?
    • CommentAuthorFree MemberGardenia64
    • CommentTimeNov 17th 2007
     
    Gardenia64

    Congrats on the fact that you have the ability to exercise after the injury.  Unfortunately, with antidepression meds, as with most medications, I suppose, one never knows what side effect one will experience.  I have been on almost all of them trying to find the right match.  The ones that worked caused weight gain.  The one's that didn't control my depression, caused weight loss.  Most medications have both side effects as possible, one being more likely and the other being rare.  It really depends on your individual bodies reaction.  Trial and error.  Discuss your concerns with your doctor and perhaps he can work with you to find another one to suit both your medical condition and healthy weight loss/ maintenance.

  3.  
    changingground

    Kamikaziskibunny-

    I can't speak to the side effects of your meds, as I'm not a pharmacist or an MD, but would like to encourage you to keep trying. When I started running this past year (to put an end to the 2-4 #'s/year gain I've started in my late 30's) I saw no weight loss effect for the first 2-3 months, at which point I started losing weight pretty consistently. It seems the first rule is that everyone's specific experience will be different, but that the averages are very similar. I'll bet if you keep at it, and watch what you eat, you'll start seeing results.

    I also found helpful checking the fat and calories of the foods I was eating at lunch using an online calorie report (there are many). It really helped me understand what exactly I was putting into my body. My favorite example is the one of the Wendy's salad dressing- regular ranch dressing, 130 calories. Lite ranch dressing, 40 calories. And Arby's Market sandwiches, while good tasting with turkey and lettuce and tomatoes are also huge calorie inputs.

    • CommentAuthorFree Memberturfgirl
    • CommentTimeNov 18th 2007
     
    turfgirl

    sorry to hear that you are having problems on your current anti-depressent and weight holding on. as a previous poster said some will make you gain and others lose. every drug is different to everyone. for me they make me lose weight and have zero appetite. maybe speak to your doc about changing type/dosage.

    i don't have much other advice. have you ever been to sparkpeople.com? i find it is a great (free) diet/exercise website which could help you calculate calorie range, track calories/exercise and such for weight loss. it also has forums/teams so this may be a great question to search out there as i am sure many people there have had similar issues.

    • CommentAuthorFree Memberslowone
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2007
     
    slowone
    k-buny - I'm not sure my experience will help but I've been on mirtazapine for several years. I used to be top 20 in Cat 4/5 races before I started taking the drugs. After I started my dosage I gained 15 pounds and dropped to middle or lower half of the pack in my races. That was depressing (no pun intended). I tried every form of dieting, but as you also have found, nothing worked for me. The good news is that I have recently been able to come off the drugs and since then my appetite has been significantly reduced, some weight has come off (but not much because I am in my off-season), and my workouts have been better because I can now achieve and hold intensity for longer periods. I did not find any magic solution while I was on the drugs. What got me through it was a longer term view of things. I accepted that while I was on the drugs I would have bad race results. But: 1) I didn't lose my wife 2) I didn't lose my job 3) I became a much better father because the drugs really helped me. It seemed like a fair trade-off, because all 3 of those consequences were coming at me. You look much younger than me (I'm 45), so you probably have even more athletic years ahead of you than I did when I was in the same situation. In my situation, the trade-off of declining race results vs a better overall quality of life was worth it. And, since I've been able to get off the drugs, it now seems like a short pause that is now over for me. Hopefully you will not be taking drugs for the rest of your life, and if in a few years you can stop too, you will still have lots of years to do what you want to do on the bike.
    • CommentAuthorFree Membertaneia
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2007
     
    taneia

    hey kamikazeskibunny,

     

    I work primarily with women who have eating disorders, but also with individuals who have serious mental illness, so please understand that my chief concern is for a person's mental and physical health and not necessarily their comfort level with weight. That said, I completely understand and can empathize with your dilemma, as I've been out of commission in my regular training routine with a chronic injury, and that has me depressed and putting on weight myself.

    You may find it helpful to talk with your doctor or pharmacist about alternative drugs.  For every drug that causes weight gain as a side effect, there is usually at least one with similar intended effects that doesn't.  For my clients, I find that this approach only works if the person is fairly new at trying different medicines and the prescriber hasn't already exhausted the alternatives.  I also encourage people to go to their prescriber and other sources too, for more detailed information about the weight gain and other side effects.  For instance, a lot of drugs cause an initial, rapid weight gain in almost everybody, but have no apparent effect on weight after that.  With some drugs, there is an initial weight gain each time a new course of medication is begun.

    Ultimately, I would hope that mood stabilization would eventually trump the discomfort you may feel about being a heavier weight than you're used to, especially knowing that you are eating nutritiously, moving your body regularly and maintaining  healthy lifestyle. There is health at EVERY size - sometimes medications are more a matter of learning how to balance your cost-benefit ratio accordingly.

    Wishing you well,

     

    Amy

    (PS - I'm not an MD, but an MSc in pathophysiology and psychology.) 

     

     

    • CommentAuthorFree Membertaneia
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2007
     
    taneia

    I had another thought after I posted this that you may want to think about, considering all the working out you've been doing:

    Glycogen is the stored from of carbohydrate in the muscles and liver.  When you're training, your stores of glycogen can quickly become depleted or be reduced slowly over time.  It is not unusual to put on several pounds after a few rest days in glycogen as it contains a lot of water and is therefore heavy. Glycogen weight can be added very quickly and should not be confused with body fat which comes off and on more slowly.

  8.  
    MissTearyVee
    sry to hear about the meds.  it makes me worried because i'm going to be prescribed lexapro soon!  I've had the same problem with another medication, abilify.  It made me feel really hungry alot.  My advice is to just make an eating plan and try to stick with it and if you feel hungry just drink some water and the hunger pangs tend to go away.  Or you could go talk with your pharmacist about it.

    ultimately, you've got to judge whether or not you feel comfortable with yourself.  I know how it is to feel bad about weight gain.  hope your back injury heals up ok, and take care, <333
    • CommentAuthorFree Memberjacanz
    • CommentTimeJan 12th 2008
     
    jacanz

    Also, remember it took nearly a year for all that weight to go on. With being inactive your metabolism may have slowed down even without the effect of the drugs, so you have be a bit patient. Not easy with everything that has come your way by the sounds of it.

    It is worth seeing what other meds you could take and really really grilling the doctors etc about all the possible side effects. Plus find out whether it is going to be possible to come off the meds entirely. I was lukcy and only needed a year on the anti-depressants. Though that was dependant on maintaining a high level of exercise which in my case seems to make a major difference to my depressive symptoms.

    For now focus on the fact you are able to train again, you are eating well and taking good care of your body. Don't let the weight issue tarnish what you are accomplishing .

  10.  
    adamappleby
    Just switch to Wellbutrin.  Fewer side effects and regularly leads to weight loss.

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