prozac and weight gain

i had to laugh at your post.  I was on paxil - which is close to prozac and i was working out and eating right and i gained about 10-15 within two months. I asked  my doctor that question and she said well be gretful your working out or it would be double. Gee - thanxs doc!!

hey els how many mg of effexor xr do you take?

els said...
Hi veryconfused, welcome to healing well forum.  It is difficult to say which antidepressants will or wont make someone gain weight as we all react to these medications differantly due to our body chemicals being differant.  I was on Luvox and didnt gain any weight but there are many people who report weight gain.  I am now taking Effexor Xr and have lost weight on it...but still some people say they gain with it.  Zoloft is a big one that does cause weight gain, I was on that for many years and we have a thread dedicated to that.  I also believe that a lot of people dont have as many weight issues with Wellbutrin.  Have you spoken to your physician regarding this?

veryconfused said...els, thank you for your reply Iam very confused how the weight just creeped up. I didnt notice at first the weight gain maybe it was because the meds. where working but when I did I was not a happy camper!!!!!! It is taking or seems like for ever for weight to come off. Working out and diet pills dont help, I guess I have to wait for my metabolism to speed up again.

all i can tell you is from my own personal experiance in taking antidepressants for many years.  I took prozac only for a few days I didnt react to it well.  However, I was on Zoloft for well over 5 yrs and like you said the weight just sneaked up on me.  I had to realize that I wasnt a teenager anylonger who could eat whatever I wanted and not gain a pound staying in a size 6.  It was a hard fact to swallow that I had gained well over 50 pounds and being over 30 it is so much harder to lose the weight as your metabolism does tend to slow down.  What I did was cut my carb intake...and went to eating only whole grains, nothing white, cut out as much sugar as possible and started reading the lables of the items I buy at the store.  If sugar is listed within the first 5 ingredents I dont buy it.  Eating like this has helped me to lose the weight and then some.  I also go to the gym and exercise everyday if possible.  I still take an antidepressant and know that weight is always going to be an issue with these type of medications.  However, in regards to weither I would want to be over weight and on an antidepressant or slim and depressed I would always choose the first....as my depression is unbearable untreated.  A few posts up from here I posted a link via webmd that explains why some people gain weight on antidepressants and why others dont.  It is an intersting article if your interested.