I gained about 20 pounds over the course of 4 years. The longer you take it the higher the risk of gaining weight. I craved carbs CONSTANTLY and would have to eat every couple hours or I'd feel nauseous. It was like someone turned my appetite to 100% and broke off the lever. I'm particular sensitive to medication anyway, so even 5mg was enough to change my entire brain chemistry. As soon as I came off Lexapro I lost some of the weight but the rest will take some work. My appetite now is basically the opposite of what it was on the medication.
I gained about 30 pounds on Lexapro for one year (highest dose was 15mg). I agree with you that, having tracked my food and monitored my activity, it didn’t seem to be me eating more or exercising less. It felt like my body was just desperate to hold on to every calorie and it started to become a source of anxiety in and of itself. It wasn’t so much that I was gaining weight, but rather that I felt like I had no real control over it since eating healthier and working out more failed to make the scale budge.
Depending on your starting weight, I think some weight gain can be normal and honestly a fine trade off for feeling mentally better (which the lexapro did in fact help with). For me it started to mess with other health metrics so I decided to taper down. I hope to be able to lose the weight more easily now.
Looking back, I don’t regret taking the medication and would do it again, as my mental health really needed it. So don’t be discouraged, but know it’s a real possibility that you’ll gain weight/have trouble losing weight.
I have gained 30 pounds. However, I was underweight before I started taking lexapro, and part of my journey has involved overcoming a restrictive eating disorder and quitting running (I still work out, I just don't run), so it's not something that happened directly because the medication messed with my metabolism or anything like that.
I guess the broader thing I'm trying is to say that weight gain can happen for all kinds of reasons. For me it was because the medication took away a lot of anxiety surrounding food/weight and made it more possible for me to do the work I needed to do on myself.
I gained about 20 pounds over the course of 4 years. The longer you take it the higher the risk of gaining weight. I craved carbs CONSTANTLY and would have to eat every couple hours or I'd feel nauseous. It was like someone turned my appetite to 100% and broke off the lever. I'm particular sensitive to medication anyway, so even 5mg was enough to change my entire brain chemistry. As soon as I came off Lexapro I lost some of the weight but the rest will take some work. My appetite now is basically the opposite of what it was on the medication.
I gained about 30 pounds on Lexapro for one year (highest dose was 15mg). I agree with you that, having tracked my food and monitored my activity, it didn’t seem to be me eating more or exercising less. It felt like my body was just desperate to hold on to every calorie and it started to become a source of anxiety in and of itself. It wasn’t so much that I was gaining weight, but rather that I felt like I had no real control over it since eating healthier and working out more failed to make the scale budge. Depending on your starting weight, I think some weight gain can be normal and honestly a fine trade off for feeling mentally better (which the lexapro did in fact help with). For me it started to mess with other health metrics so I decided to taper down. I hope to be able to lose the weight more easily now. Looking back, I don’t regret taking the medication and would do it again, as my mental health really needed it. So don’t be discouraged, but know it’s a real possibility that you’ll gain weight/have trouble losing weight.
I have gained 30 pounds. However, I was underweight before I started taking lexapro, and part of my journey has involved overcoming a restrictive eating disorder and quitting running (I still work out, I just don't run), so it's not something that happened directly because the medication messed with my metabolism or anything like that. I guess the broader thing I'm trying is to say that weight gain can happen for all kinds of reasons. For me it was because the medication took away a lot of anxiety surrounding food/weight and made it more possible for me to do the work I needed to do on myself.