Weight Gain From Zoloft

Posted by merman2222 @merman2222, Jun 6, 2023

Hi,

This is for anyone else experiencing weight gain while on SSRIs. I really want to get to the bottom of this so any info would be greatly appreciated. I started this med when I was in my late 20s and my weight literally changed overnight. I went from 168 lbs, which I maintained for years prior regardless of how much I ate, to almost 200 in less than a month. At first I was thrilled, because I had been trying to put some meat on for years. That didn't last long once I realized how hard it would be to take the weight off. It's nearly impossible.

Before anyone says anything about diet and exercise, let me preface this by saying neither changed before or after I started taking this, nor did my sleeping habits. I have been an athlete all my adult life. I run and/or lift weights approximately 2-3 hours a day, every day, plus swim and practice jiu jitsu (which in my class is an hour of intense cardio). As for my diet, it was pretty much the classic "american" diet before and after - meat and potatoes, with fruits and vegetables mixed in and something sugary for dessert after dinner. Again, before the med, no weight gain. After, massive weight gain.

As for metabolism slowing down as you age, I got off of this med several times trying to find an alternative. Unfortunately, nothing worked so I ended up getting back on it. However, WHILE I was off of it, my weight quickly normalized. So it's definitely the medicine that is causing this.

I tried for years to pinpoint EXACTLY what was happening in my body and experimented on myself many times. I came to the conclusion that it is fluid weight and that it is either caused or exacerbated by refined sugar (natural sugar or Stevia is okay). If I eat anything with refined sugar, my weight jumps up drastically in a very short time.

So the only solution I derived is to stay on a very restrictive diet, like keto, because pretty much everything has sugar in it these days. If I do that, my weight is manageable, but it also makes for a miserable life because I can't enjoy food (and the keto versions of bread etc don't taste nearly as good as the real thing).

I did an experiment recently where I weighted myself after a week of healthy eating, then again after eating some KFC, and I recorded both weigh-ins. Before the KFC, I was 188. Afterwards, less than an hour later, I was 194. That's a six pound gain from one meal. And that's not even the worst example. I once gained 11 lbs from eating a slice of white bread.

I guess I am not looking for dietary recommendations so much as I am trying to figure out what is going on in my body. I would like to get checked out over an extended period of time while I eat different things to see how my body reacts to it. Like, put some sensors on me and have a doctor monitor my internal organs and glands to see what biological reactions occur. Is there such a clinic or lab that can accommodate that?

Because all the info I find online basically says doctors don't know exactly why these meds cause weight gain. That's not good enough for me. I need to know a little more and I'm sure others would appreciate that info as well.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Digestive Health Support Group.

i went through the same thing with sertraline, only 25 mg a day for late onset menopause grumpies (i am 61). i eat as healthily as possible, do lots of heavy housework (we are remodeling an abandoned old boarding house, and heavy gardening) and almost never touch sugar or even sugar subs. i did well my first year with sertraline, i maintained my weight of 130, but after that i gained 30 pounds in 16 months. it was shocking. i weaned myself off the sertraline over the course of a month a few months ago when i was desperate and am very slowly losing the weight, at a third of the pace i would have before setraline. regular fasting has helped, with activated charcoal, along with low carbing. but it is as if my metabolism has been destroyed. i am determined not to give up.
maybe sertraline affected my hormonal responses or the insulin response?
share what you find! and good luck!

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