I am off the lithium, and I still have problems with weight. I am at 168 pounds. It always shocks me when I look in the mirror.

Yes I hate my weight I weigh around 250 and am 5'5". It sucks.

I gained terribly on every med I tried for Bi polar and I tried lots!! When I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes, I knew I had to get off Zyprexa . It took about 6 months to wean myself off it. I lost 48 pounds this year. I have at least 30 more to go. It is very hard to lose weight on antidepressants and the like. It isn't impossible though. You have to be determined and hard headed about it. I did lose weight while taking Zyprexa but as soon as winter came the weight creeped right back. I am sticking to this weight loss though. I will do anything not to have to take insulin,
Linda

PS I am down to 202 pounds from a high of 250.

what did you do to lose the weight?

I hate my weight too. I am struggling to stop eating and to exercise more. My dad is now suggesting I look into lap band surgery. I don't want to go there!!!

All I can suggest is to only buy healthy food and refuse to enter the door of a fast food place!

I get cravings at home for sugar and have only sugar free candy and chocolate in the cupboard. When I get salt cravings I eat a pinch of salt or have one of those packet soups.

I try to wait half an hour after meals before I eat any more, and to have a big drink of water when I am hungry to see if that takes the edge off it.

Its sooooo hard!

I recently gained 2 kilos.. i don't know how much that is in pounds..
from being on seroqual 200mg XR..just starting but 2 kilos has got me really worried.
but i suggest....go on utorrent or something and download zumba.. it's hard work really but u sweat and ur heart race goes up .. i do the 20 minute work out everyday and i lost 1 kilo today from doing it just 3 days in a row.. but u have to keep at it.. and DRINK water.. i know how u feel i've been craving chocolate and KFC so much.. but i'm not going to.. set a goal.. once u get into the fit side of mind and munch on lettuce and healthy things for a month.. u won't want to go back to the fatning things..like i drank water once for 2 months straight and was off coke and soda drinks and it felt good!!! and i also do wii fitt.. that is really good seriously.. it tells u ur weight and how much u lost.. remember ... u might not notice any difference but in your body..it makes the smallest changes that u don't see and than u see it after a month and u feel great!!! U CAN DO IT!

oh my god my weight.. thise damn bp meds.. and i cant work out because i have lupus and fibro..i try to dp light exercise but everything hurts like hell. i complain all the time to my pdoc. she says she rather have me fat and alive than dead....how can i argue with that...

I lost the weight by eating more whole grains and veggies and stopped eating white stuff,:potatoes rice sugar and flour. I exersize more too.

There is a web site called crazymeds.com

The guy who writes the site,is bipolar,once was in the high tech business of Silicon Valley (he's SMART!!)...he researches BP meds and posts info on side effects.

Recently he posted an article titled
DON'T LET ANYONE TELL YOU DIFFERENTLY...BP MEDS MAKE YOU FAT.

I walked into my Pdocs office for the first time ,weighing less than 140 Lbs..at 5'8" I was svelte..now after 7 years of BP meds I also weigh almost 200 Lbs......and I HATE it.......I've been on a lot of BP meds..only Topamax made me lose weight..but now I'm on Depakote FAT lethargic UUGGH

I totally relate

Oh ...and some BP meds stimulate the part of the brain that says FEED ME CARBS.....so sometimes it's nearly impossible to resist the carb urge.

I couldn't stop grab bite size of food & snakes all day long and I would raid refg at night and when I start my day at 4AM.
Now I'm takeing an otc soy protien power drink.
It causes me to feel full & my appit. is next to zero.
I used e-lax & supposal'i'tory to flush my bowls out 3 days before starting the drinks.
I used an otc chol candy type ex lax. Instread of 1 to 2 tiny candy bars ( lax). I only took 1/2 of lax bar. a day later I use surpository.
I keep a jar of raw penuts beside coffee pot in kitchen.& unsalted crackers. I keep bag of baby carrots, celery w salad dress in cup & on trya in refg.
Instead of potatoe chips I use dry cer'e'o.

I do not recall the name of medication - med that blocks the absob'ions of grease.
My Mother was on it yrs ago. she could eat lard burgers & poo the grease + reg poo.
The 2 come out seprated.
I know that's gross. sorry.
My tummy has been bloated for 2 dys.I assume from the drink.
Durning tha 2 ddays I didn't feel like eating. I made myself eat a luttace & tomatoe sandw.
This wk I'm starting on a fiber drink.
Wal mart has soy prottine drink mix in pharmy area.
I mix only a scoop in mug and let stand for 5 minture. the drink thickin's as liken to pudden but not to thick.
W/o tax, I paid $10.00 for small container of soy protien at Wal mart. there's also a $25.oo size.

I tried for 3 yrs to lose 10lbs. now I so need to lose at least 20ty lbs. I have 3 belly rolls plus small roll just beneath the rib area of bra. my back looks like I'm vvareing 2 feed bags- 1 on ea side.

I went up 2 shoe sizes.

I'v started shopping in my pj's because of depression. depression soly due to being fat. I just about live in my pj's.
I'v reached a point that I don't curl my hair anymore & occassinal I wear more than foundation makeup.

Being that you work out, the soy protin drink will help u gain muscal mass & your body will eat only the fat cells contents.

I'm pretty much a shut in. I can only work out for 5 minute intervals for 30 minutes 30 minutes twice a day. 1 hr total per day.
I try to go to store everyday - not to shop but to walk around inside store.

I refused to take lithium based on re search plus it causes very unhealthty weight gain.
My p-doc says that it doesn't cause weight gain.

Most Subways have drive thur.
I like Mc D sauage bisq. I so dislike butter.
anywhoo I lay sauage between nankin tio renmove as much grease as possible.

U do know that we like greasy foods because greasy - fat taste so good. we wouldn't eat it if it didn't.

Oh ya, I dislike salt. I don't even use nu tr salt ( taste like but not salt)
even bread, frozen veg's , everything has salt in it. Fish &frozen veg's was packed in salt.
even salt free crackers have salt.

I pray that soy protien will keep on working for me.

oh ya, powder fiber will also surpress appitie.
it causes us to feel full ( like we just ate a big meal)and it also cause gas ( farts).

Sorry for such a long reply.
I hope that at least part of my yadda will be benifitual.

i'm not in the same boat exactly, but its hard to be disciplined when you have the kind of problems we do. lol. sometimes its like i can think of donuts and gain 3 lbs. pretty funny coming from a guy huh? it's this sedintary life i'm stuck in though.

There should be a world wide protest about the weight gaining caused by crazymeds.

In late 2007 I went to see my doc since I had the flu. At that point I weighed 129 lbs, was slim and toned and comfortable in my skin. I'm a guy that was a chubby kid so weight has always been a thing for me.

Anyhow, here we are today; and I have nearly DOUBLED MY WEIGHT SINCE STARTING TREATMENT. Going from 129 to 240 has me hating myself for being so disgusting and such a pig, but it's as if I have zero control over how I eat. Getting up 5 times every night to eat cookies or cake or something like that, plus living an almost completely sedentary life. My pec's have turned to flabby man boobs. I too live in my PJ's as none of the clothes I have fit. I have about 25 pairs of nice jeans that are way, way too small. I've gone from a 29-30 inch waist to a 38-39. Please, somebody shoot me with a hollow dart; and maybe I'll deflate!

I gained a 100lbs when I got put on BP meds. My blood pressure went thru the roof and I tried every diet I could get my hands on. Finally just came off the Seraquil and BOOM I lost 65lbs in 7 months. I found that working with a trainer helped me tone up while I was loosing and she put me on a healthy diet too. Ever since I came off the Seraquil my hunger has decreased. I am still on Lamictal and Amblify but I seem to be loosing weight just fine while I am just on those drugs. But boy did that Seraquil mess me up!!!!