20 lbs of Fat Weight Gain in Hospital - Body Not Feeling The Same! Please help!

Hello all,

I was recently admitted to the hospital for bipolar disorder (misdiagnosis) and I stayed in in-patient for 2 weeks. I’m a 5’11 male and I came into the unit at 130 pounds with 1 or 2% body fat. That’s skinny, I know, but I was a Raw Vegan and an athletic beast. I could run forever and never get tired. In the hospital, I was put on the following medications: clonozapem, risperidone, and lithium bicarbonate. These meds made me constantly hungry and I basically ate anything in sight. These meds also slowed down my metabolism so I had a lot less bowel movements than usual (rarely any). I left the hospital at 150 pounds with 15-20% body fat. Before the hospital, I had a perfect six pack and lots of muscle definition, but now, I don’t have any of that. I’m skinny fat now and I have a big bloated belly.

Forget my appearance. The main issue that I’m having is that I lost all of my strength, mobility, and flexibility. I can barely walk 10 feet without getting tired. I feel like I have 20 pound dumbbells attached to my ankles. I can’t run long distances anymore. I can barely lift any weights. It feels so restricting and challenging. I can’t do pull-ups anymore. I can barely do push-ups, but when I do, my arms shake uncontrollably. My feet, legs, and joints feel so different when I walk. I feel as if I weigh 200 lbs. It feels like my ankles are tight and don’t have as much rotation as they used to. My tendons feel stuck and weak.  My hip flexors are so tight and don’t feel as free and flexible as they used to be. They feel so restricted. I can barely stretch like I used to. My body doesn’t like stretching now. It’s very uncomfortable. In general, I have so much muscular weakness, tightness, and stiffness. I tried working out and pushing my body for a consistent 2 week period to see if my body would wake up, but nothing changed. I woke up worse and worse every day. By “worse,” I mean that my legs ache every morning and it’s so hard to get out of bed. They ache so much and make me feel like the fat around my legs is suffocating my muscles. They ache in the daytime too. I am losing hope because I used to be such a strong, flexible, and agile athlete and now that is all gone to waste. Will I ever have my comfortable body back?

Could a rapid gain of 20 lbs of fat in 2 weeks really have this type of effect on my body? Or could it be the medications that I am still taking (finished clonozapem, just finished taking risperidone, but still taking lithium 1200 mg)?

What is wrong with me? What could help me get my old light, flexible, and strong body back? Please help. 

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