Does Lexapro cause weight gain and what can you do to lose the weight?

Answer 1

The best way to lose weight regardless of the medications you are on is to eat a healthy diet free of fattening and junk foods and exercise regularly. If you are having a difficult time losing the weight, you may want to keep a stricter watch on what you are eating and perhaps exercise more.

While most people lose weight on Lexapro and it is supposed to be completely weight neutral, all pharmaceuticals affect each individual differently, so it is certainly possible that it could result in some people gaining weight. Perhaps you should talk to your doctor and get his or her recommendations.

Answer 2

Yes Lexapro does make you gain weight. In July 2007 I was 117 pounds wihich I had lost because of a big depression this winter. We are now at the end of Oct and I weight 144 lbs. I started Lexapro in May but at that time was on 150mg of Wellbutrin and doctor put me down to 100 mg. I am also taking 200 mg Topomax which had help me loose a lost of weight put even with that it doesn't stop the weight. Another side effect of Lexapro it you can not have any orgasm. It has stopped completely. No problems before. Please take another drug before Lexapro. It makes you feel good but the side effect are not worth it.

Answer 3

No. The best you can hope to achieve is a weight neutral medication when talking about antidepressants. The fact is, SSRI's can cause significant weight gain, among other side effects. If you are looking to take a medication to feel better and lose weight, you have the wrong class of drugs. The key is to quickly treat depression and return to a state of normalcy as quickly and aggressively as possible. The faster remission (minimal or no symptoms) is reached, the more likely you are to not gain weight, prevent recurrent episodes and/or lengthen the time between depressive episodes... and obviously feel like yourself sooner.

Answer 4

Patient with psychological depression tend to eat more and are usually overweight. Once the psychological tension becomes less, their diet get reduced to normal level. So they loose the weight.

Answer 5

One opinion is that the absolute best is Black Beauties. you will have lots of zip and not be hungry.In fact you may feel so good that you won't need the Lexapro.

Your doctor can help you with which is the best for you.

Answer 6

Weight-gain is a known side-effect of Lexapro, affecting roughly 5% of those who take this medicine. If you follow a weight-loss program and see no loss of the extra weight, you'll have to decide which is more important. Your doctor, or a dietician, may have useful advice. General information:

Doctors and dieticians recommend losing weight gradually, allowing a whole month for every 4 to 8 pounds you want to lose. Do not starve yourself, or skip meals, or try throwing up.
Here's a program for the period in which you want to lose weight:
Get plenty of moderate aerobic exercise (intense exercise may damage your joints). It isn't essential to join a gym; you can do sit-ups, pushups, dumbbell-lifting, jumping-jacks, and many other basic exercises at home. Walk as much as possible. Bicycling and swimming are good too.

Even more important than exercise, is avoiding junk foods and sweetened drinks such as soda. Try to avoid refined flour and pasta, processed foods, fried foods, and fatty cuts of meat. Preferably consume no added sugar, and as little added salt as possible.

Our great-grandparents didn't have the epidemic of obesity we see today, because they had a less-sedentary lifestyle, a much more natural diet, and they ate reasonably-sized portions.

Eat 3 not-large-portioned meals per day; do not skip breakfast; and avoid sugary snacks. If you want a snack, try (for example) an apple or a handful of unsalted nuts.

Limit your calories (best to consult a doctor or nutritionist concerning the amount), and weigh yourself at the same time each day, 2-3 times per week. If you see your weight diminishing at a safe, reasonable rate (1-2 pounds/week), keep it up.

Once you've reached your goal, increase your calorie intake somewhat, so that you can maintain your present weight. And you can then have small amounts of sweetened foods or junk food on occasion (if at all), along with your regular healthy foods. But keep checking your weight 2-3 times/week.

Avoid crash-diets, fad diets, diet pills, etc. These may be harmful, and need not be considered by people who have adopted an otherwise healthy diet.

More guidelines:
Don't concentrate on specific foods so much as on a balanced, healthy diet plus exercise.

Healthy nutrition means eating what your body needs, while ingesting as few harmful things as possible. It has also been described as getting enough of each of the major food categories, in healthy forms (grains, fruits, vegetables, protein, dairy, etc.; plus plenty of water).

In general, an example of a healthy starting point could be a menu of whole-grain foods and bread, a good amount of vegetables, legumes, some fruits and nuts, fish, lean meats in not-large amounts, and some dairy. However, this may need adjusting according to one's lifestyle, age, health, weight and other factors at the outset; and also later, as one sees what works for him/her in particular.

Also...whenever you feel queasy, nauseous, constipated or otherwise not completely well, try to remember what you've eaten over the last several hours or the last day. This is one factor in adjusting one's food habits.

See also:

Could you describe a balanced diet?

What features would a good weight-loss program have?

Some healthy snacks

Is it possible to slim down in just one area of the body?

Answer 7

For some people, Lexapro helped them lose weight and for some, made them gain weight. Therefore it really depends on the individuals metabolic, diet, and exercise routine.

Answer 8

It can actually make you gain weight because it effects your moods.

Answer 9

i have been o lexapro for a year and gant gain at all before i started lex my weight were 149 now iam at 127 i would to know if any one know how long it take you to gain weight back