Hi all,

I am on a med which has worked wonders for my depression. But recently I have noticed I have put on an extreme amount of weight during the six months I've been taking it. I can't honestly tell you what I was seven months ago, somewhere around 12 stone - I am now very close to 14 stone. I was severely skinny at age 14 and at 26 I am in a position I thought I would never be. I eat an awful amount of garbage which is supposedly a side effect of my medication. But I have cut down on lots of fatty foods in the last two weeks and I am still noticing a weight gain. Admittedly I do absolutely ZERO exercise. I want to plan out doing more exercise, possibly starting tomorrow with walking to work instead of driving.

Now I just want to understand from someone who has had a similar experience, how did you manage the weight loss? I have no alternative anti-depressant med, all the others give me horrible seratonin-syndrome like effects. I have no problem starting exercising and changing my diet if it means I can be happy. Has anyone else managed to do this and manage the weight gain? I just had my first panic attack in four months tonight after weighing myself after starving my body of food for the last eight hours. I can't afford to cut down on my meds to compensate.

Hi kirkwuk
Having done the weight gain bit on several drugs and now on a mission to lose it, I think I can say a few words about this.

I also put on weight on amitriptyline. Then I comfort-ate through some other med trials. Later I gained 7kg on Efexor, some more comfort-eating through some hard times, and then 10kg on Remeron. (A lady does not reveal her weight, sorry!) I went off the Remeron and I'm now back on Efexor and also on Wellbutrin and Lamictal. Efexor gives me carby munchies, the Wellbutrin takes away my appetite. But the Efexor effect is stronger than the Wellbutrin effect, just my luck! Not.

I have high blood pressure and really need to lose weight, to improve that, as both Wellbutrin and Efexor can cause hypertension. I'm also hypothyroid, side-effects of which are depression and weight gain, so I have to get that checked every 6 months and take a hormone supplement.

I don't have any magic secrets, but I am slowly but surely, losing weight, with effort. And I'm sorry to say, that sustained effort is the key. Exercise is a brilliant idea and I say that despite never having found any form of exercise that I like. Thanks to a wonderful friend who nagged me (in the nicest way) into coming walking with her, we now meet just after we have dropped our children at school in the morning (07:30) and we do a brisk 30 minute walk around the neighbourhood, including some hills, 5 x week. (The other 2 days I sloth out!) That gets my heart rate up and a sweat breaking. Then I shower and go to work. I work on the 4th floor, so I take the stairs (and yeah, I'm gasping by the time I reach the top - I'm no athlete!) If you can do more than this, good for you! Exercise raises your metabolic rate for about 24 hours.

Cutting down on fatty foods is great, but you need to control the carbohydrate too. Eating carb provokes release of insulin which is a real storage-hormone and pulls carb (in the digested form of sugar) from your bloodstream into your cells where it is stored in case of famine(!) You may or may not have heard of the Glycemic Index, but the more slow-to-break-down the carb is, the less it provokes the insulin response. So it means wholegrain seed loaf type bread, preferably whole-wheat pasta (in moderation), wholegrain or basmati rice, a few potatoes. Just not too much of these. Load up with vegetables. Fruit is good too, but does also contain sugar so not too much. Apples are ideal as they are very slow-release carb. Go for lean protein, chicken and fish (although I don't much like fish, it's a real health food, so do as I say, not as I do...) and less red meat. For omelettes use less yolks. My oldest daughter has been vegetarian for a year, so we are eating more lentils and beans and once you get into them, they are great, really fill you up so you feel you've eaten. (I still need meat, or I just can't sustain my iron levels.) Eat some protein at every meal, as it also helps with satiety.

Breakfast. I struggle to eat in the morning, but it really helps somehow. I can't manage a hearty breakfast, but I have at least a little protein and some slow-release carb. Then I pack some raw vegetables to take to work, to snack on in the morning. I'm fond of tomatoes, green (bell) peppers, carrots, lettuce. The raw veg cover some of the nutrient and fibre needs. I've also got into the habit of filling a 2 litre bottle with water in the morning and getting to the end of that bottle by 5pm.

Drinking water before a meal also helps to fill your stomach so you eat less at the meal. Eat slowly, chew well. I've also learnt that eating mindfully helps - in other words, when you are eating, don't gobble it down or sit and do something else, focus on what you are eating, how it tastes, the texture etc - somehow your stomach feels fuller and you feel like you have really eaten and are satisfied.

Evenings are my worst! I'm a late-night snacker and that is the worst time to eat. I can't drink water then, or I'll be up several times in the night. I simply have to focus on an activity (usually my art, or a hobby) in the evening, so I don't wander around grazing. If you can manage not to eat after 6 or 7pm, you'll do very well. I so struggle with that, but keep thinking about how much I want to lose the extra weight and the slogan "nothing tastes as good as slim feels". I don't keep chocolate, biscuits, sweets, sodas or any junk in the house, because if it is there, I WILL EAT IT. My willpower seems to go down with the sun! (And every so often there is a late-night chocolate expedition... but then I eat it, ENJOY it, savour it and then in the morning get back onto proper food. The odd blow-out doesn't kill everything.)

That's about it. I don't like exercise, loathe gyms, but my friend and I have a good natter (in between gasps) while we walk which makes it tolerable. And you just have to distract yourself when you feel like nibbling, keep some semi-nutritious things in the house for when you cave in and keep thinking about how good you'll feel when you aren't lugging all that extra weight around. I have about 12 kg to go still, just to get to a BMI of 25. I'm 47 and the weight sticks to me like glue these days! Somehow it was so much easier when I was younger!

Slow and steady, will get the weight off and keep it off. I'm suspicious of weight-loss pills, and appetite suppressants are psychoactive and likely to mess with your brain chemistry. (I did those when I was a lot younger.) I'm also near the end of my options, AD-wise and am just now finding some stability, which is very, very precious to me, so I'm not messing with it.

Sorry it got so long, but Good luck. It CAN be done even on "weight+" meds, it just takes sustained effort and wanting it badly enough.

Wow wow wow, nice lengthy post. I did read it, and saved it to my hard drive for when I need it most - that's when I weigh myself and realise I'm putting on weight.

I've cut down on pretty much everything now and am going to slowly start on eating salads a couple of times this week at work. I'll start with two days and see how I go. At 24 I was told in my company's health evaluation that I was overweight for my height and age. I am now JUST over normal weight for a 26 year old male and some consider me still super-skinny, as I have never been anything but skinny. I definitely had the munchies on Amitriptyline but have resisted them. I started eating two biscuits at mid-day instead of one. I have gone through a lot of mental pain with my illness so am strong enough to make sacrifices.

Thanks for the help.

Soooo, yesterday wasn't a great day, and as it wore on, it headed further south. At around 5pm, I was tearful and feeling like I was going back to square one. It was time for an Emergency Medical Chocolate! I drove to the supermarket and procured myself 200g of the stuff, legally and without incident. Rushing home for my fix, I consumed 100g, drowning my sorrows in the melting chocolate and wallowing in the ecstacy as the substances crossed my blood-brain barrier...

Truly, this is the Drug of Drugs. The Anti-depressant that tops the rest. There are just two problems: the high dosage required for a sustained effect, as well as one particular long-term side-effect, of a rather weighty nature.

Somewhere in my previous post, I do believe I said "Do as I say, not as I do." If not, I just said it.

So this morning's walk was brisk with some stiff hills, to atone for my transgression. Ahhhhh, it was SOOO worth it!