preventing weight gain.

[kariann330]

So we all know that some psyche meds cause moderate weight gain, some more then t blockers and estrogen do. Im now on one of the biggest weight gain culprits, Haloperidol aka haldol. I was wondering if anyone has found a way to prevent blowing up like a balloon while on similar meds especially when coupled with hrt. I recently got back down to 220 from 250 and really don't wanna ever go back

Thanks everyone in advance.

[Devlyn]

I thought calories caused weight gain, specifically, consuming more calories than are expended. I guess a pill might make you want to eat, but you don't have to, right? I used will power to stop consuming alcohol, it's got to be the same thing. Hugs, Devlyn

[kariann330]

If only it were that easy hun....i don't know what it is but for some reason psyche meds seem to cause me to gain weight like a sponge in water....one nice side effect tho is possible breast enlargement lol.

[AmberSkyeArisen]

I went from 170 to 151 (current weight, still going down). It is as easy as eating less. Don't blame the pill, your body does function a little differently now, but the basic principle is still the same. You might crave food... fight it. You might crave sweets... fight it. I like to binge every once in a while, but overall I just eat less. Don't punish yourself by not eating certain things every once in a while, just don't make a habit of eating foods that aren't filling (you'll want more).

Read the labels, if I have a bag of chips in front of me, i'll go through it all. Check the label to find out there's over 1000 calories in that bag of chips (not small bags). If I know something has a lot of calories, I won't buy it. If I know it's something i'll eat quickly and i'll want more of, i'll not buy it.

Here's an idea: If you get hungry and you know you shouldn't be eating a lot of calories at the time, eat an apple. It's pretty filling, takes time to chomp through, and burns more calories than you get from it. (would be better to eat the apple about 20-30 min before eating a meal, so you eat less calories, whereas if you eat it 3 hrs before a meal, you'll still be hungry and you'd eat more than waiting until 30min before)

I hope this helps

[Nov413]

It might mess up your metabolism which really does affect how much of the calories consumed are used or stored

[Carrie Liz]

The key is basically just to avoid simple carbs...

It's not just a matter of calories. It's all about blood sugar. The sugars in your blood are what your body runs on. And if your blood has more sugar in it than your body needs for energy, that is when it releases insulin, which locks the excess energy up in fat cells.

So again, it's not just a matter of calories. Certain foods take longer to break down into a form that your body can process than others. Carbohydrates are easy for your body to process into energy, and thus they enter the bloodstream as sugars that your cells can use for energy very quickly. Meats, veggies, and fats, on the other hand, take MUCH longer for your body to process. Proteins and fats must be broken down in the liver in a lengthy process called ketogenesis before they can be used for energy. So while simple carbs raise your blood sugar very quickly, proteins and complex carbs raise it much more slowly over a longer period of time. And since you only put on excess fat when your blood contains more energy than your body needs, it's really only carbs that cause you to gain weight, because they're the only food that raises your blood sugar enough to force your body to store it as fat.

So basically, just go for a diet with as few simple carbs as possible... no wheat, corn, rice, pasta, grains, sugar, or potatoes, and you should have no trouble whatsoever not only avoiding weight gain, but dropping weight like crazy.

Look up either the "paleo" diet or the "slow-carb" diet. I've been on these diets for 6 months now, and have lost 45 lbs, despite having to fight against the metabolic slow-down that happens with HRT. And this is with a LOT of cheating involved. (I can't help it. Sushi and pizza are too damned tempting sometimes. :p)

(And before you go saying "OMG, what about cholesterol?" I have been eating bacon, eggs, as much red meat as I want, coconut oil, fish oil, and cooking just about everything in butter, and my total cholesterol has actually dropped by 30 points, from 139 to 109. And yes, there is research that shows that low-carb diets improve cholesterol long-term. And that using natural fat sources like virgin oils and butter rather than processed vegetable oils like corn oil, canola oil, and especially anything with trans fat, is actually MUCH better for your cholesterol levels.)

[Tristan]

Yeah moderate exercise and eating right.

[sam79]

So basically, just go for a diet with as few simple carbs as possible... no wheat, corn, rice, pasta, grains, sugar, or potatoes, and you should have no trouble whatsoever not only avoiding weight gain, but dropping weight like crazy.

Look up either the "paleo" diet or the "slow-carb" diet. I've been on these diets for 6 months now, and have lost 45 lbs, despite having to fight against the metabolic slow-down that happens with HRT. And this is with a LOT of cheating involved. (I can't help it. Sushi and pizza are too damned tempting sometimes. :p)

I practically live on that stuff, and can't put weight on to save my life. Risotto, sushi, pasta, pizza, doughnuts, muffins. That's about my entirety of what I eat. Might have the occasional steak, but otherwise just those mentioned. For the last 5 months, I've not gone above 150 pound, and I'm 6". The last 4 months of those on HRT. Any hints as to why I'm not putting on weight with all this food I eat?

[suzifrommd]

Suzi's simple weight control tips:

1. Don't eat when you're not hungry. Learn to listen to your body.

2. Exercise a lot. 4x/week minimum.

3. Know what you're eating. Don't put anything in your mouth unless you know how many calories it has.

4. Don't use food as a reward, comfort, entertainment, social accompaniment, or something to keep you busy. Eat only to stay healthy.

[abbyt89]

Weight loss and gain can be boiled down to: do you eat more or less calories than your body burns? It's simply the law of thermodynamics. Yes, certain types of food can screw up your body in other ways (like a high-sugar diet) but if you eat less than you burn, no matter what it is that you eat, you will lose weight.

1 lb of fat takes a ~3,500 calorie deficit to burn. So an aggressive diet like the one I'm on is a 1,000 calorie daily deficit = 7,000 calories per week or two pounds.

You can get a pretty good estimate of how many calories you burn a day using this calculator to determine your Total Energy Expenditure (TEE): http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced

There are many things that affect your TEE such as your activity level, your body fat percentage , etc. Other things like hormone and thyroid levels and other conditions/medications can certainly alter your TEE, but it's a relatively small amount. If you think that your medicine is affecting your metabolism too much then subtract 10% (this is a generous figure) or so from the TEE that the calculator gives you.

After you have your TEE (the easy part) you just need to make sure you eat at a deficit to lose weight (the hard part.) For me, it's SO much easier once I get into a routine. The first week or two sucks because I'm really hungry and grumpy but once I'm a few weeks in it becomes easy-peasy.

I started by buying a food scale and setting up an account at MyFitnessPal. MFP makes it super easy to track the calories you eat so you can make sure you are eating at a deficit. The most important thing is that you track everything that you put into your mouth. It's so easy to dismiss little things here and there but they add up and can seriously affect your weight loss.

As long as you consistently eat below your TEE you will lose weight, it is physically impossible not to. Over the last few years I've gone from 260lbs to as of today my lowest low of 187 (I'm 5'8.) There were a lot of breaks in my diet over those years but I'm back on the wagon as I'm going full time in about 5 months and want to be close to my goal weight. Every time I've dieted I've used this method and I have consistently lost weight.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions or want some more tips. Good luck!


Edit: Note that I didn't mention anything about exercise in my post. Exercise is super important to overall health but if you're only concerned about the number on your scale then diet is 90% of weight loss. Consider what I said about a lb of fat taking 3,500 calories to burn. A moderate workout might be 300-400 calories. Even if you did that every day it would only result in about 3/4 lb. per week of weight loss while dieting alone can result in up to 2lbs (or more if you start out particularly heavy).

Exercise should definitely be done in accordance with a diet because it will make a difference but really the number 1 thing you have to worry about is "am I eating fewer calories than I burn?"

[abbyt89]

I practically live on that stuff, and can't put weight on to save my life. Risotto, sushi, pasta, pizza, doughnuts, muffins. That's about my entirety of what I eat. Might have the occasional steak, but otherwise just those mentioned. For the last 5 months, I've not gone above 150 pound, and I'm 6". The last 4 months of those on HRT. Any hints as to why I'm not putting on weight with all this food I eat?

Read my post above but for you it's the opposite: you need to make sure you are eating in excess of your TEE. If you can eat 500 calories over your TEE every day you will gain about 1 lb per week.

It can be difficult to eat a lot of food if you're not used to it so if you really want to gain weight track your calories and try to eat healthy, calorie-dense foods. Nuts are probably the number one way to do this. They are relatively high in calories and loaded with healthy fats and other great things for your body.

Dairy products are also a good bet. If you find yourself having difficulty eating at an excess one of the easiest things to do is make  yourself a nice big protein shake with whole milk and a spoonful or two of peanut butter. That alone could easily be 700-1,000 calories and is delicious and has good macronutrient ratios. The important thing is to not try to gain weight by eating a lot of pizza, desserts, etc.

[Sammy]

Haloperidol? Wow... I still remember this one from my childhood when I was 7 -14 years old I took it for years... I was prescribed to take 1/4 of pill per day because of my hyperactivity. I dunno why but from all my meds (and there were tens of various brands over years) I used to hate Haloperidol the most.

[kariann330]

Haloperidol? Wow... I still remember this one from my childhood when I was 7 -14 years old I took it for years... I was prescribed to take 1/4 of pill per day because of my hyperactivity. I dunno why but from all my meds (and there were tens of various brands over years) I used to hate Haloperidol the most.

Im on 2mg a day right now while i transition from Serequil and Depakote. On top of being trans i also suffer from bipolar 1 with severe psychosis so they are trying to control the hallucinations, OCD, paranoia and agoraphobia. My only problem is that for some reason i balloon like crazy with the stronger antipsychotic medications.

I will be trying the advice yall have given of watching my calories closer and trying to exercise more frequently...once the 16 days of never ending rain is over lol.

[Devlyn]

Building an ark is probably a good workout!

[A]

The reason a medication causes weight gain is that it increases appetite, normally. Make sure you eat less than you're hungry, and eat a lot of filling, low-calorie stuff (whole grain, water, fruit and vegetables, etc.)

[kariann330]

Building an ark is probably a good workout!

With all of the rain i have seen here in Ohio recently, im tempted to build one...or get my boat out of dry dock and get it ready to swim again.

[Ultimus]

I have a nutritionist, the world renown Dr. John Berardi, PhD in biochemistry. He coaches elite athletes such as Georges St-Pierre, along with NFL athletes and the Canadian Olympic team. As such, I feel like I could give the most informed advice.

Follow Dr. Berardi's 10 habits and strategies, and you will manage you weight easily:

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/strategies.pdf

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/members/free-fat-loss-course/files/5-daily-habits-for-fat-loss.pdf

Good luck!