Just stopping the gain can be a challenge, but it's not impossible to lose. It takes diet changes you can live with and exercise you can keep doing.
To help our community, we have collected tips and resources for those who want to do something to stop gaining and start losing. Take from these tips what works for you.
Don't get discouraged if you make healthy changes but don't lose weight right away. If you stop gaining, that's an achievement in itself, and you can adjust after that. And slow, steady weight loss is better than fast -- once you reach your goal weight, you'll find it easier to maintain it than if you dropped 50 pounds in a few months.
We have a number of resources for people who want to lose weight, whether gained from bipolar disorder medications or not:
- The Healthy Living folder on our Bipolar Bar & Grill Forum (also called, in some listings, BP Coping & Communications). To create a member ID if you aren't already registered, go to the Login/Registration page, then return here and click on the above link for Healthy Living.
- Diet Tips from Kimberly and me, from forum members, and from Guides around the About.com network. These aren't just about dieting as in "going on a diet" -- there are also tips about making healthy changes to your daily diet that will help you lose weight without special food or fancy restrictions.
- Nutritional Tips -- helpful information about supplements and foods that will assist you in making good choices regarding your daily diet.
- Exercise Tips from About.com Guides and others.
- Walking Tips -- since walking is probably the easiest form of exercise to start with, we've chosen several excellent articles and resources from Wendy Bumgardner, About.com Guide to Walking.
- Motivational Tips to help get you on target. If you hate exercising, if you don't have faith in yourself to keep resolutions or meet goals, these tips are for you.
- Selected recipes for healthy eating, contributed by community members and found on About.com sites.
