It becomes a vicious circle. You take antidepressants for depression. You feel better -- but gain 60 pounds. You were slim and now you're obese -- and you become depressed about your weight! Not only that, but your physical health can suffer dramatically. Your cholesterol and blood pressure often go up as your weight goes up, putting stress on your heart. You can no longer get out of a bathtub easily. There is more strain on your knees and your back. Serious weight gain can even result in diabetes.
Losing weight gained because of medications is not easy, but it is possible. As detailed in Hope for Weight Loss, researchers are beginning to study what techniques work and translate the results into programs that clinicians can use to help their patients. People who are comfortable with support groups have been helped by groups like Weight Watchers, and others report success by getting all their meals from programs like Jenny Craig and Nutrasystems.
To help our readers who want and need to lose weight, we have collected tips from our community members, other About.com Guides, and the Internet, plus contributing a few ourselves. These tips cover diet and nutrition, exercise and walking specifically, plus motivation and some selected recipes.
The bottom line is -- don't think it can't be done, and don't give up. Just as it's often necessary to try many medications in many combinations before hitting the right one that stabilizes your moods, you may have to try more than one thing in your effort to lose weight. But it's not impossible!
