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Mirtazapine diet club

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evergreen
evergreen

I thought I would start a thread about trying to lose weight on this drug. If others are currently dieting, please add your experiences here. I would like to discover whether we gain weight on mirtazapine purely because it increases our appetite, or whether other factors are at play. I certainly gained weight quickly when I started on mirtazapine (around 1.5 stone). My appetite was revenous, especially for sugary foods. I tried to com off mirtazapine around 6 months in and failed. I lost half a stone in the week I waas off it, but most of that was due to severe nausea. When I went back on the drug I did not gain more than a couple of pounds, but I was being very careful what I ate. My weight has been steady now for two years.

I am not happy carrying around the extra stone however, and so have decided to diet. I am on day 8 and it is VERY hard. But I have lost two pounds so far. This is with me still eating 1700 - 1800 calories a day. I have a very active physical job and so my daily calorie requirement is 2100.

I have also started taking raspberry ketones and green coffee bean extract as of this morning in the hope that it will help me to burn fat. The interesting thing is, the amouont of weight I have lost is the same as would be expected from a person who is not on mirtazapine.

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3 likes, 210 replies

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  • Nessie91
    Nessie91 evergreen

    Posted

    You seem to be about the only one who is keeping the weight off.  Apart from the two items you mentioned, what calory intake do you aim for?
    • evergreen
      evergreen Nessie91

      Posted

      I eat around 1700 calories a day. I have a physical job with horses and need 2100 calories a day to stay the same weight. I try to keep below that by at least 300 calories a day.
    • pixie22
      pixie22 evergreen

      Posted

      The calorie calculator estimates that I need 395 calories a day to lose 2lb a week. I couldn't survive on that! That's probably more than the porage I have for breakfast!
    • evergreen
      evergreen pixie22

      Posted

      No, you certainly couldn't. How many calories does it say you need to maintain your weight? Are you quite a small person? As that does not seem a lot.
    • pixie22
      pixie22 evergreen

      Posted

      1,395 calories to maintain weight. Strange thing is, if I enter the weight I was before I lost 2 stone ( due to an operation that went wrong) it says I can eat 1,548 calories to maintain weight! That's actually about what I aim for anyway. I wasn't fat before (5ft 7ins) and I'm not thin now!
    • evergreen
      evergreen pixie22

      Posted

      That's correct. The more overweight you are, the more you have to eat just to maintain weight. That's why the slimmer you get, the harder it is to lose weight because your body does not need so much food. If I was 15 stone I could eat almost 500 calories more and not gain weight.
    • pixie22
      pixie22 evergreen

      Posted

      I don't think it's good practice to encourage someone to cut down to 395 calories a day. It might be correct theoretically according to the calculations but it's just not practical. I certainly won't be doing it.
    • evergreen
      evergreen pixie22

      Posted

      Of course it isn't, but that is to lose 2 lb a week. I only aim to lose 1 lb a week. You don't need to cut it down that drastically. Even eating 100 calories less than you need will make you lose weight. That would be 1295 a day. Lots of people do this. The only reason I don't cut down that much is because I am working so physically hard each day and would collapse. But if I had a desk job, I would cut down a lot more.

      I am making it sound easy. It isn't. It is very very hard and takes a long time. Some days you feel like giving up. My husband and sons are eating chocolate every night and I can't have it.

      But what this calculater shows is that it isn't mirtazaapine making us fat. It is because we are eating more calories than our body needs each day. I was eating 2650 on average each day. It didn't feel like I was over eating but I was - by 550 calories a day. That is why I was putting on weight.

    • pixie22
      pixie22 evergreen

      Posted

      I agree with what you say, and I'm glad I understand a bit about nutrition to make sense of it. It does worry me that there may be some people who go on the calculator site, and think they need to cut down to that small number of calories. It just wouldn't be healthy. It might encourage anorexics too.
  • Nessie91
    Nessie91 evergreen

    Posted

    Hi Evergreen

    thanks for this.  I sit and don't move much during the day so I obviously much less than this.

  • evergreen
    evergreen

    Edited

    How is everyone doing? I have not lost any more weight this week. My total weight loss is 3lb in 3 weeks so 1lb a week. However, I am still eating around 1500 - 1700 calories a day. I have lost the same amount of weight as would be expected for a woman of my age, weight, height and activity level. Therefore my metabolic rate is not slower than average. So for me at least, mirtazapine does not seem to have affected my metabolic rate. My weight gain was due to the drug making me over eat. This over eating is at it's worst the first few weeks after starting on the drug. After this, I would describe my appetite as average. I enjoyed my food and ate a bit to much, which meant that my weight slowly climbed.

    What I have learnt from all this is that we need a lot fewer calories to maintain weight than many of us think we do.

    • jacqueline59667
      jacqueline59667 evergreen

      Edited

      Hey everyone a said I wld get bak to u all been on Mirt 30 for a year now x feeling bak to normal x joined slimming world and lost 6 and 1/2 pounds in my first week x
    • pixie22
      pixie22 evergreen

      Posted

      Latest report. I've lost 2lb this week, and I've been eating quite a bit more than the 395 calories recommended by the calorie counter website! I wonder how much effect water retention has on the weight gain or loss?
    • evergreen
      evergreen pixie22

      Posted

      Well done, pixie!

      I have actually lost more weight than I should have done according to my calorie deficit of only 250 calories a day. I should only be losing haalf a pound a week but it has been an average of 1 pound. So it looks like mirtazapine does not give you a lower metabolism. I really didn't think I was eating too much before as I never snacked, just had 3 meals a day and the odd glass of wine, but when I added it up it was no wonder I was gaining weight as I was eating around 400 calories a day more than my body needed.

    • Mermaid3011
      Mermaid3011 jacqueline59667

      Posted

      Hey Jacqueline! I was wondering how things are going for you with taking mirtazapine and the weightloss program you decided to go with (I havent heard of slimming world but I am in Canada... that could be why).

      Anyway.... would be nice to revive this chat!

    • jacqueline59667
      jacqueline59667 Mermaid3011

      Posted

      Hey, hello there x ye I lost 14lb in 6 weeks proving u can loss on mirtazapine. I go to slimming world and attend a meeting locally x it's a great eating plan x u can checki it out on line x
    • Mermaid3011
      Mermaid3011 jacqueline59667

      Posted

      Wow congrats! That's awesome!!! Yes I'll check it out online! I am following a strict eating plan (counting calories and only putting good things in my body that "count") and try to be more active. Have lost 1.2 lbs since last week when I started with Mirt, so I hope I can keep going... 

      Let us know how things are going for you!!! 

      Cheers 

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