Mirtazapine - one month off it. Let's talk about weight

So I have been off mirtaapine for a month now and I want to let you know what I have observed about weight.

When I gained 20lbs after being on mirtazapine for a while, I started to watch what I ate. It was hard because as you all know, it gives you a huge appetite! Soon just watching what I ate wasn't enough. I used an online calculator which worked out that with my age, height and activity level, I needed 2100 calories a day. So to lose a pound a week I needed to eat no more than 1600 calories a day. Soon it became clear that doing this did not make me lose a pound a week. In fact it was bearly a quarter pound. So I upped my exercise to vigorous cardio every day and finally lost that pound a week. Over the weeks and months, I calculated that the mirtazapine was causing me to need 400 calories less than what all the online calculators said I needed. People who say they gain weight on mirt even though they are not eating any more than before, are telling the truth. It is not just the cravings that make you put on the weight.

Anyway, as I tapered off the mirt, the cravings stayed with me until I reached just 5mg a day. But I still needed the same amount fewer calories a day to maintain my weight. This effect stayed until two weeks AFTER I came off the mirt. I was still gaining weight as soon as I ate normally!

Then suddenly, three weeks after being free of mirtazapine I am losing half a pound a day, without even trying. I have no nausea causing this and am actually consuming close to 3000 calories a day. Yesterday I had 3 chocolate bars and still lost weight. I work very hard physically mucking out horses etc, so need a lot of calories, yet on mirt I actually only needed 1800 calories to stay the same weight when working out every day plus doing the horses. That's a difference of 1200 calories! No wonder so many people gain weight on mirtazapine.

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