Weight loss journey on AP's (Share yours if you want too!)

Health and Recovery
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I have gone up and down with weight, but being selective with meds I have lost a lot of the weight I originally put on with Olanzapine 20mg.

When I was first diagnosed, I didn’t really know anything about SZ - even though I’d previously escaped DX at the age of 17 after my first psychosis.

The evidence below shows that you can recover your weight whilst on AP’s

Basically, I went from weight gaining meds for me, to things like Haloperidol, Lurisadone, Aripiprazole and now Amisulpride.

For the most part I stayed weight neutral, but since being on Lurisdone for 18 months, and now Amisulpride for 4 years, I have shed nearly 30 kilos in weight.

Also, I started a more physical work, and started swimming as well. So life style changes have also helped

Just hope this thread might give some hope to those struggling with weight.

Before

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After

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I am trying quite hard but it’s very difficult to lose weight, on lurasidone right now

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I also controlled my weight by eating better.

I’d never recommend a diet, as that’s just temporary, and I have experienced the weight just going on more afterwards.

Food is a lifestyle as well. I just eat plenty of fruit, and my snacks are those low calorie things like yoghurt breaks, nutrigrain bars and eating seeded bread etc.

Also, my meat intake now is only really chicken and tuna. Sometimes I will eat burgers and sausages, but I ensure the meat content is very high if I can.

Here in the UK we also have a traffic light system on food for Calories, fat, sat fat, salt and sugar. These are helpful to pay attention too.

I only drink diet soda as well

This I think has helped a lot, as I used to binge on really unhealthy foods.

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yeah great job matey. I do physical things and it’s hard work but I’m 50. Makes it so much harder on these pills to lose but I appreciate your effort and results. That does inspire me to do better!

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Someone I saw recently was shocked to see me, as we’d not seen each other properly since Covid.

He sent me that picture, and it wasn’t until I saw it that I realised how over-weight I was.

@Crystal-Cotton - I think I saw your thread about wanting to lose weight

Hopefully this helps.

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I’ve lost 12 lbs and have been trying very hard to keep it off… I just started a new med vralar and I’m not sure yet how it’s affecting my weight… I need to keep at this weight for my wedding… my wedding is 16 days away… I’m super worried about fitting into my dress… if I don’t fit the entire day is ruined…

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don’t be too careful @Twialine you could eat cheeseburgers for the rest of the sixteen days and still fit probably…you would have to gain at least ten pounds not to fit in your dress…relax is what I’m trying to say…you are the bell of the ball…!!

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@jukebox thanks but this dress is SKIN tight… I might even wanna lose a few lbs because of how tight it is… I was 201 lbs I’m wanting to be 200 lbs before my wedding so it’s not like I wanna lose a HUGE amount but we’ll see

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well o k…try drinking six glasses of water a day…that usually will help a lot.

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@jukebox thanks I might try that

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Thanks for sharing your experience in weight loss. That is very inspiring.

I have been very careful about what I eat since I started taking AP’s about ten years ago. But I still got a little weight gain. I was about 50 kg before I took AP’s. Now I am between 55-58kg. In winter it is around 58kg, in summer it is around 55kg.

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Great before and after pictures @Joker. Well done.

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You look great too @Truemist8

I can relate to the swings in weight.

It gets me down a lot when I put the weight back on, but I think the lifestyle changes that have been made will work better this time around.

Hope you get to where you want too soon!

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I’d really like to know what to do. Iv been working out for a full year and I haven’t lost any weight. I eat my breakfast which is a big bowl of porridge, a sandwich for lunch and a big dinner at around 7pm. At weekends the said dinner is even bigger and lashed with gravy.

The cardio I do is a bike at a low to medium resistance for 30-60minutes five days a week,Iv been doing this since April 2020 when I’m not arsed doing this il go for a run, for 30minutrs. Mind you I wasn’t always consistent like for instance il go for two months 5-6 days a week then il get demoralised and stop for one to two weeks altogether.

This is the only physical activity I do I lay around doing nothing for the rest of the day so this may be the reason? I can’t do any hard farm work with voices but I use that as an excuse tbh I could do a bit

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Thank you for this post @Joker. It is really inspirational. I’m struggling with my weight at the moment. Well done on getting back to a healthy weight range. I’m starting my weight loss efforts tomorrow.

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Which AP are you on @anon47167357 ?

I switched med until my weight went down

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It depends on your reaction to the AP and how much the dose is.

Some of us don’t get a choice which AP we are forced to take.

I eat less than 1600 calories a day, which isn’t a lot of food for a man, but am just managing to maintain weight at around 76.5kg. The AP I take limits exercise as it gives me leg cramps when I walk over 2km.

I used to think weight gain was associated with a bad diet, but living on this limited diet proves to me that it is mostly the APs that cause weight gain. I don’t eat cakes, biscuits, crisps, deep fried food or sweets and haven’t for years and still I managed to put on weight.

If you get lucky with an AP that works for you and doesn’t cause weight gain, then the stars are aligned for you. If not, weight gain is mostly inevitable.

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I am on clozaril for the past 10 years, i gained a massive amount of weight on it, i went from 13 stone to 21 stone in 5 years, i then lost all that weight with a strict diet and excerise i am now 13 stone so losing weight can be done

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I’m on risperidone 6mg, @Joker

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The drugs I listed in my second post helped me maintain and then lose weight

I am sure there must be something that can help?

My current med Amisulpride 800mg is doing really well and has been the best so far

I think it irritated my pdoc having a red line with weight gain but we worked together to find a med I was happy with

Warning though, I did relapse a few times, lost my drivers license for two years and had a lot of time off work

Not perfect way of doing it but the end result was good

I tried risperidone but I couldn’t tolerate it

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