I have been on paxil for 6 weeks, am terrified of weight gain. I gained 27 lbs on this before and I teach fitness classes all week. I looked on the zoloft web site and it said there is suppose to be no weight gain with this med. I would like to know if this is true. Thanks

Bj

Hopless, I never gained a pound while on Zoloft.

My weight never changed the whole 8 years I was on it.
Hope that helps.

I'll add my somewhat dissenting opinion...I have gained since I started Z.

But, I'll qualify other changes in my life at the same time...
1) take Z with food...and take Z right before bed.  This means a healthy snack right before falling asleep...not a great idea for us who want to watch the weight
2) stopped cycling...riding bike for hours was great excersize...but I did not feel right while taking Z or any antidepressant.  (This is also why I watched my weight)
3) pie...french silk pie at lunch was short term feel good to replace cycling.

So, was it Z itself or all the changes?  Now, I take Z with dinner and watch what I do between then and bed. (but still need to start excersizing to work off the extra)

mm

During several weeks taking Zoloft I didn't gain any weight at all--unlike Paxil and Lexapro, both of which increased food craving and led to weight gain.

Everyone is different. I know people who did not gain weight on Zoloft but I did, and I gained it all in my boobs. I went up two cup sizes. There are some who would appreciate that but unfortunately I did not need bigger breasts.
Since I've been off, I went down one size. Otherwise I had no problem with Z.

Hello. I have been on Zoloft for 2 years and have not gained weight. Thanks!

Welcome to DF, Nikacat   Thanks for sharing your experience!

Hi all - I'm new to this forum :wave:

I have been on sertraline (we call it Lustral in the UK) for nearly 3 years now. I have put on loads of weight and looking back can associate it with the time I went on sertraline. It was not sudden, but gradually crept on over the years. I used to be on 50 mg a day till it seemed no longer to work so my GP upped it to 100, which I am still on. It seems to work for the depression but I do think it is reponsible for most of my weight gain. And another thing, all the extra weight seems to have gone to my top half! My backside and legs are quite normal yet from the stomach upwards that is where all the fat is, it's like I am two people put together - a fat top half and a normal sized lower half

Can anyone else identify with what I'm saying? Or am I just imagining this.

Hi. I have been on and off of Zoloft for 4 or 5 years. I did experience weight gain, but don't believe it was necessarily due to the meds. I think it was due to my way of handling the anxiety, which was to eat everything in sight.

I've been on Zoloft for almost a year. I take it in the morning and it really helps with my days. I have not gained an ounce from taking it. I have changed my eating and excersize patterns and have begun to actually lose weight (desparately needed here).
Sheepwoman

Ugh, yes! All my life I have never had a problem with weight. Ever since I stopped growing I was always 115-120 lbs. no matter what I ate or didn't eat or how I exercised or didn't exercise.

I went on Zoloft almost two years ago and was on it for at least eight months. It never did anything to help my MIs, but it did make the scale magically weigh me at 180 lbs.!! :verysad3:

When I stopped it, I didn't gain any more weight, of course. But since then I have not been able to take any of the weight off. I'm not one of those ppl who really cares about weight, but the thing I am annoyed at is that I can't fit into my clothes! I have very nice clothes that I love and would like to wear again someday. Clothes are not cheap, ya know!

I was hoping some of the other meds I tried after Zoloft would take some weight off, but no such luck. Ah well! Someday....

Hi,

I am fortunate to be on the thin side all my life, because I love to eat. I'm 5'7" and at the heaviest I've ever been was 142lb. The day my depression started I was probably 139lb. In two weeks, I stopped eating and fell to about 129.5lb. That was about seven months ago. I've been going to thereapy ever since. Now I started zoloft at the end of 2005. On that day I was about 135 lb. After three weeks of zoloft I just weighed myself, just today - I'm 127.5 lb.

So since I started zoloft for 3 weeks, I've lost almost 8 pounds. But I don't know if it's the drug. I don't have much of an appetite because I've been having a bad week.

It's so hard to tell, because depression itself can have an effect on our weight - up or down. Then, it could be the meds....really hard to tell.

I feel like, when I've been at my very worst, my sanity and just surviving is the main concern. If a med causes me to gain or lose weight, that doesn't much matter. Because without it, at times I've been suicidal and getting beyond that is my only priority.

Once I am healthier mentally/emotionally, then I can work with my doctor to deal with weight problems or possible med side effects. But not when I am so ill I just need to survive - overweight, underweight, or not!

Paranoid - I hope the zoloft helps you fight your depression. Hang in there! It can take a few more weeks for the med to do its full job. Keep working with your doctor, and sharing in here. You can do this! Hope your week gets better.

Karen

I didn't gain a thing.

Well, when I'm depressed I am also inactive, not burning calories. I may not eat healthily either. Plus I'm getting older and have experienced a slowing of metabolism. On top of that I believe zoloft has also slowed my metabolism, though I'm not positive. About ten years ago I was more fit, exercised more, had a good healthy weight. When I got depressed and started this drug, I gained weight, which has been with me ever since, about 20 pounds I'd like to lose. Then again, I have not exercised much in all that time! And my diet is still not real healthy. Mostly I'd say a sedentary lifestyle is apt to add weight, regardless of drugs.

This post has been edited by joeloveys: Feb 4 2006, 11:10 AM

When I was on Zoloft I lost a lot of weight, I felt much better about my self. I am 35 pounds over my normal weight now, and feel like crap about my self. I tend to eat to try to fill my emptyness. But I never get full.......

Yes! I can relate so much to this. It really isn't a physical appetite, but trying to fill an emotional need. We've probably used food to try and meet this need for so long that we don't even realize it anymore, but obviously what we need is some therapy. Not so much therapy to help us eat properly, but therapy to learn how to fill up that emptiness appropriately. Because the food sure doesn't do the trick!

Karen

Thats so true......I am sooo hungry now for something.....

Oh yes, I have been on Zoloft for over 4 years. I too gained weight. I noticed it really came on once I was put on 100 mg. And it seems it has gone from my waist up. Also seemed like there was an increase in my appetite as well. I believe everyone has a different response to it. I have tried Welbutrin XL....it gave me back my lack of energy, but the side effects such as blurry vision ( fogginess) were just enhancing my anixety I already have. I have notic ed lately Zoloft is not working as well for me. Now getting the fluttering in my throat once again. Not sure if the doctor will c hange the meds or up them. My understanding some take 100 mg twice a day. So with all your side effects, your are not imagining it.

i posted this elsewhere, but i wanted to say that i gained around 25 pounds from zoloft.. i was eating healthy and exercising.. i was much more healthy than i had been in years. ALSO.. i had mono during some of the time i was taking zoloft, and i still gained weight. the only explaination is it did not work well with my body chemistry, because i hardly ate/was hardly able to eat while i had mono.. so i shouldn't have been putting on a noticable amount of weight. if anything, i should have dropped a bunch of weight from being bed ridden and unable to eat!

I started taking zoloft 9 months ago for anxiety and mild depression. In that 9 month period, I gained 10 pounds. I have never had a weight problem before and I have always been an avid exerciser and healthy eater (except for my weakness for snickers bars!) I'm in the process of tapering off the med now...although the weight gain is not the primary reason I'm going off (terrible migraines)....hopefully I'l be able to shed some of this weight off!

I have gained a lot of weight on zoloft, and that is the main reason I am going off of it. However, if I felt that i needed it to stay sane or normal, I would not stop. It helped me through a tough year, and i'm ready to take on the whole sans meds now. Also, had I known how difficult it would be to stop taking it, I probably would have been reluctant to start taking zoloft. Live and learn, I guess. I just hope I can get all this weight off now!

If you don't like the weight gain, definitely try something else. You can have more health problems too if you weigh more. All the antidepressants I've tried (including zoloft) has done nothing with my weight. I've been around the same weight for over half my life. Everyone reacts differently to medications, so you just never know. I don't react the same to all antidepressants also.