Question about Weight Gain

[NuttyJoe]

I'm in a pretty critical situation with weight gain. I quit smoking and started taking Zyprexa about the same time.

I'm wondering, does weight gain happen on APs regardless of your diet or is it a side effect of your appetite increasing and munching out? I've heard some people say weight gain on APs is just inevitable.

I've switched to basically eating nothing but salads everyday cause I want to cut weight. My appetite has gone through the roof though, I'm always hungry and food and drink is that much more enjoyable.

Wondering how others handled this situation and some food suggestions would be most helpful, thanks in advance.

[helenllama]

It is to do with what you eat i believe.

[themadhatter]

I go through some wicked cravings on my current cocktail from time to time. My pdoc wants me to do a low carb diet and for the most part I stick to it and going to the gym. The weight gain is more what you eat like helenllama said. You do need to watch what you eat calorie wise. I know the cravings can be real bad from personal experience and it feels like your stomach is a bottomless pit but I have actually lost weight on the meds. I credit it all to diet and exercise. When I wasn't watching what I was consuming I gained weight like crazy. It just comes down to self control and watching.

[vanderk]

Weight gain with Zyprexa is not universal. But damn near. I've only seen a handful of people who have not gained wight while taking it. Intake is a big issue. But the metabolic effects are real. I dealt with a young man in jail some years ago who gained 135 pounds on it. In truth, he was pretty emaciated on arrival, maybe 20 lbs underweight. But he was indigent (no goodies from the commissary) and the jail serves up a fixed-calorie diet. His gain was undeniably extreme. But I've seen a lot of wight gain in the 40-60 lbs range. Quality of life issues loom large.

There is even a school of thought that if you don't gain weight on an AAP, it probably isn't efficacious for you. There has long been a hypothesized link between psychosis and problems with glucose metabolism.

[NuttyJoe]

Weight gain with Zyprexa is not universal. But damn near. I've only seen a handful of people who have not gained wight while taking it. Intake is a big issue. But the metabolic effects are real. I dealt with a young man in jail some years ago who gained 135 pounds on it. In truth, he was pretty emaciated on arrival, maybe 20 lbs underweight. But he was indigent (no goodies from the commissary) and the jail serves up a fixed-calorie diet. His gain was undeniably extreme. But I've seen a lot of wight gain in the 40-60 lbs range. Quality of life issues loom large.

There is even a school of thought that if you don't gain weight on an AAP, it probably isn't efficacious for you. There has long been a hypothesized link between psychosis and problems with glucose metabolism.

Do you happen to remember what dosage of zyprexa he was on?

I'm happy to report I actually lost a few pounds last week thanks to dieting.

[gizmo]

I think a lot of it depends on your natural metabolism. I have been following a strict diet with no breakfast, a 100 calorie lunch, and a low fat dinner (that I use a program to track all the calories on).

I rarely eat more than 1500 calories a day, and I am stuck at a 7 lb weight loss. When I was on geodon instead of zyprexa, I lost 35 pounds doing the same diet. On zyprexa I just gained it all back - eating normally -no fast food crap.