Olanzapine makes me a full blown food addict. I go a week or two of no junk food, no binge eating, just generally eating healthier… then I relapse. Tonight I did a Walmart order and got tons of unhealthy food and I’ve ate a lot of it tonight.
I can’t stop giving in to my cravings. I’m 5’6 and weigh somewhere in the 230’s. I’m going to die an early death unless I lose weight.
Before I started having mental health issues, I was in great shape. 160 with abs, low resting heart rate, healthy blood pressure, good cholesterol levels. Once I started taking AD’d and AP’s, I gained a ton of weight.
Feeling down and depressed after what I ordered today.
Yeah it’s tough. Is lo- carb an option? You can still eat well and hi fat ain’t so bad but sugar and carbs don’t help with zyprexa…
I think there’s two things. Impulse control and then diet. Approach them both and realise how hard it is. As with anything it’s one step at a time but honestly keto has improved my health from losing a heck of a lot of weight…I still eat well although eating out is hard to cherry pick what your eating but still can do it…
So. Impulse control which is discipline and messing around with diet so you enjoy eating still. Stuff not enjoying eating.
@rogueone - You always give great and detailed advice. I appreciate it mate. You do so well with your exercise and diet. You should be proud of yourself.
Mate. I’ve been there myself so know how much difference it can make. I gained on risperdal and understand those cravings. It was hard adding so much weight and you don’t lose it getting back on zyprexa but it’s worked.
I know it’s hard and just suggesting. Look at low carbs. It’s disciplined eating which can be the problem as you describe but there’s benefits there for sz people for sure.
It can be hard to stick to a diet in general, more so taking meds. I used to go to the store and just buy cookies and cakes to eat as a snack. I gained a ton of weight as a result. I have no good advice on overcoming cravings, it’s not something I am good nor interested in, I like to still enjoy eating out with friends or having a cheat meal and overcoming my cravings would hinder me socially, making it harder to enjoy a good time together(I live in Italy, every social gathering here involves eating).
I think it’s hard to strike a proper balance because often desire to eat can be one of the few things that still cause a response and you really don’t want to mute that too.
Personally I think that adding some regular exercise should help keep you more motivated to not eat out of your diet by making you feel more committed to your endeavors.
Lastly I’d say that the negative symptoms are helpful for sticking to your diet, usually it’s just the side effects from medication that make dieting hard because otherwise the impulses that push other people to eat would be very mild for us, at least in my personal experience.
Dieting successfully is all about giving yourself an eating disorder to fix an eating disorder. You either need to insert new desires to thwart your current ones, suppress your current desires until they are in line with your goals or realistically a bit of both.
Having goals for your meals like I want to eat X protein or X calories can also help you keep yourself accountable more than just going to the kitchen and eating because you are bored, same for adhering to a schedule for your meals. I eat roughly every 4h, I used to eat once a day, the goal is the same, you know when to eat and what you want that meal to be like, which takes away many of the intrusive thoughts you’d have if you needed to decide when to eat and what.
Also remember to fail forward, if you have a meal over the top, you can just lower carbs and fat for a day and offset most of it and then get back to business as usual. It doesn’t have to become a personal failure; also it’s quite hard to out-train a bad diet but it’s quite easy to out-train a bad meal if you want to take that route instead. Make yourself accountable, make your choices in terms of food have an impact on your life beyond your emotions. All of this can result in an eating disorder over time but taken in moderation it can be a necessity to regain some agency over your own weight.