Antidepressants and Weightloss

[MargotFenring]

I have been doing SW for a nearly three weeks now, and whilst I have lost 2lbs each week, and kept Syns at between 3-8 per day, and started jogging 3 times a week, as well as having resistance/strength training, others are having much higher losses - 3-7 lbs a week - but without the exercise and eating similar stuff to me. We are part of a FB group and post everything we eat (I know...).

I always thought 2lbs a week loss was good, but it seems there is pressure to lose more in the group. The consultant encourages us to set personal weekly loss goals of around 3-4lbs.

I am on target to lose another 2lbs this week, but if everyone else is getting higher losses with less or no exercise, then I wondered if my antidepressants, Citalopram could be slowing things up. I have heard of this drug causing weight gain but my GP said it shouldn't do.

Has anyone else experienced a slower loss with antidepressants/anti-anxiety meds?

[OwlinaTree]

I'm not on any meds, but I would say I lose around 1 to 1.5lb a week on average. 2lb a week seems like a good loss. Also it might depend how much you have to lose. If a person is very overweight I would expect them to lose more quickly. Are you only getting to lose a small amount?

[OwlinaTree]

Trying not getting sorry.

[MargotFenring]

3 and a half stone to get to top of healthy bmi, so quite a lot really.

[bear28]

I find if i do slimming world 100% and gorge on fruit and veg (which is costly i know) and water I can lose around 7lbs a week. Saying that, its difficult to justify shopping 2/3 times a week for fresh produce and spending so much on it. I am not hugely over weight but need to lose 2 stone just for self confidence but everyones body is difference. Id be proud that you have taken the steps to lose the weight and it is coming off.

[GoldenBlue]

I lost 3.5 stone so far and averaged a steady 1.5 lb per week. I had a few weeks where I lost more and a few where it was less, but it was pretty steady. I was in the obese BMI category and am now in healthy so sounds like you are starting from the same point as I did.
I've been going for a while and seen lots of people along the way, in most cases when people first start exercising they seem to hold more weight, for 3 or more weeks then have a sudden drop, sometimes a big one. It's as if the body needs a bit of time to get used to the exercise.
Be persistent and don't get down heartened 2 lb a week is good, you'll have lost half a stone a month. The slower and more consistently it comes off the harder it is to out it back in too.
Good luck

[Thingymaboob]

3-4 lb a week is totally unrealistic. Maybe the odd week and first week but not every week. I was losing 4lb a week on Cambridge. 2lb a week average is great! I would be super pleased with that.

[Thingymaboob]

I'm not sure what the relationship between antidepressants and weight gain is. I put on 20lb on sertraline but I spent a lot of time in bed back then. No exercise. Ate crap.

[MargotFenring]

Thingymaboob - I have see countless threads on MN about antidepressants, and weight gain and heard it said several times in RL. After the initial month or so of stronger side effects when I started taking mine, where all I wanted to do was lay down and sleep, I was considering maybe it to do with that rather than an impact on metabolic rate. I have been careful since starting them at any rate, as was really worried that weight gain would be another side effect.

[emwithme]

I lost 4 stone (and got to target) while mostly on anti-depressants. (I say mostly because I wasn't on them for the first three months - but should have been - and came off them for the last three months of loss). It took me from June 2015 to November 2016, and averaged 0.75 lbs a week. I was happy with that, my consultant was happy with that, my doctors (for both mental and physical health) were happy with that.

That being said, the last stone came off FAR easier than the first three, and that was the only one where I had no medication in my system. The anti-depressant I was on apparently caused an average weight gain over the first three months of use of 2 stone, and I lost 10 lbs over that time, so I bucked the system by quite a bit, but it really was hard going. I changed nothing in terms of what I did for the last stone compared to the one before that (where I adjusted my portion sizes) but it flew off!

HOWEVER...my mental health was FAR more important than dropping big numbers every week. I did SW before and lost 3/4/5 lbs every week. I didn't keep it off, whereas this time round I made far more sustainable changes and have now been at target since November.

[MargotFenring]

Thanks emwithme. You make some really good points there. Mental health is as important as physical.

[harderandharder2breathe]

I put on weight on mirtazepine (don't think I did on citaloram). Partly the extra weight from that pushed me to start losing weight.

3-4lbs every week is unrealistic. I don't go to groups but I thought you were supposed to set your own targets. Online it guides you towards 1 or 2lbs per week long term.