czechy10

Hi -

I'm currently on Meridia. I take the 10mg every morning. I've been on it since June 2nd and I've currently lost about 13 pounds. I haven't had any real side effects except for there was a period of nearly a week that I didn't go #2. It wasn't that I felt I had to go and couldn't as in true constipation. I just didn't feel the need to go. That made me a little uneasy so I took some Milk of Magnesia to get it going and I haven't had problem since. I'm pretty regular now.

I'm learning a great many things while I'm on Meridia. I don't get nearly as hungry as I used to. I'm really learning portion control and how to eat right. Most days I don't get hungry in the sense that my stomach is rumbling. I know it's time to eat when I get tired. After I eat something (healthy of course) I'm feeling good again. I don't really have cravings for candy or anything sweet like I used to, but on the rare occasion that I do, stick of gum will satisfy it. Also, notoriously I crave chocolate while on my period, but I didn't have one this past period while taking Meridia.

I've also come to learn that I'm a horrible emotional eater. Good example of this was about a week and half ago, I got into an argument with my mom and the first thing I did after the argument was cut myself a big slab of chocolate cake. After I ate it, I had an epiphany. 1) I wasn't hungry when I started eating it 2) I didn't really realize what I was doing 3) The cake wasn't even that great, but I ate it anyway. That's when I realized I was an emotional eater.

After this enlightenment, I decided to do a few things. 1) I researched some books on the internet about emotional eating to make sure I read the right ones and then I went to the library and checked them out. I wanted to learn the pscychology of emotional eating and how to head it off. 2) I started keeping a food log. It's not enough to write down what time you ate, what you ate, and how much you ate. I also included a column for why I ate, who I ate with, and if I did exercise, what exercise I did that day and for how long. In two weeks, I found out I ate pretty well at home and with my family, but I tended to eat badly even when not hungry when I was around co-workers and we were having company gatherings, I tended to eat badly on the weekends when I was around the boyfriend, and I tended to want to eat when not hungry when I was bored, unhappy, stressed, etc.

So now at present, I am currently working on strategies to make sure that when I'm in situations or with people that I have a tendency to "lose control," I need to find some other ways to ensure that I eat healthy in those situations or make sure I find a better way to deal with it only with food. If I don't make these changes and make them permanent, when I stop taking Meridia, all my hard work will have been for nothing.

Sorry about my long winded reply. Meridia is a great drug to get you started on the road to weightloss and a healthier life, but while you are on it, you need to make sure you institute changes (ie, like me conquering emotional eating) whatever they may be, that will insure that you continue to lose or maintain your weight.

Also, it's important to exercise. If something is important enough, you make the time for it and I believe excercise is one of those things. I work out twice a day 4 to 5 times a week. Don't freak out. It's only a half hour each session. For example, three days a week, I do work with weights for a half hour. Then I on those days, in the afternoon I might do some cardio or do some calisthenics for a half hour (what the military style physical training). For cardio, I do things as simple as walking for 20 to 30 minutes, 20 minutes of run/walk, a do a cardio tape like Tae-Bo. I try to change up my routine and include as many different exercises as possible so I don't get bored and my body doesn't accustomed do doing the same things every day or every other day.

That's just what I've been doing and I've been pretty successful.