How I lost 77 pounds in 2005 - Weight Loss Message Board

CorbinRay68 · 12-31-2005, 07:35 AM

I'm male, 47-years-old, and this past summer, I started having lots of side effects from Celexa (memory loss, panic attacks, wild mood swings, obsessiveness, etc), so my doctor took me completely off SSRIs for the first time in many years, and he tried me on Wellbutrin XL 300MG.

It wasn't an easy switch. Celexa's side effects got even worse when I quit taking it, and Wellbutrin added side effects of its own (headaches, sleeplessness, queasiness). The queasiness was so bad that I just couldn't stand to eat. I ate, but I didn't enjoy it. Soon, all the side effects leveled off but the queasiness remained. But I was determined to stay on the Wellbutrin because my wife couldn't stand the mood swings that Celexa had been causing me.

The queasiness finally went away, but in the meantime, I discovered that I had somehow lost a bunch of weight, even though I wasn't even trying to. Don't get me wrong, I needed to lose weight, but dieting was the last thing on my mind.

Before Wellbutrin, I was a pig. Back then, I made it a point to pig out at two all-you-can-eat buffets every single day! Back then, my goal was to eat fast so I could "get my money's worth."

But in September, I went to my favorite Chinese buffet, but everything was different. I got full before I ate half a plate of food, and the obsession to stuff my face was gone.

Since March (my highest weight this year), my BMI dropped from 31.6 to 21.5, and my weight dropped from 240 to 163. This is awesome! My doctor is extremely pleased, my wife is extremely pleased, and I am proud as I can be. For the first time in my whole life, I'm actually thin!

It's nice to be thin, but I had a whole closet full of fat clothes that I had to give away. That's ok, because I've replaced them with just a few items that fit me well and actually look good on me.

boicrazy3188 · 12-31-2005, 01:27 PM

Congrats! Thats great that it happened so nicely for you (besides being sick all the time). Its good your body has changed so that you can't eat as much, but in able to keep the weight off, remember to watch what you eat. What I mean is portion sizes. See, if you only eat 1/2 plate now, next year it could be 3/4 of a plate and two years later you could be back to eating the whole plate plus. It happens, but if your serious about keeping the weight off, then you should watch how your eating changes or doesn't.

chevyman · 12-31-2005, 05:07 PM

hi,
I heard that wellbutrin will help in weight loss as well as help a person stop smoking/depression ect,,ectt
would you credit your weight loss taking the wellburtrin XL ?
How much weight did you lose while taking that? do you have to keep taking it once your weight/mood swings are all gone?

CorbinRay68 · 12-31-2005, 09:55 PM

I hope I can stay on the Wellbutrin for a while because it's helping my depression without clouding my mind the way Celexa did. But even if I quit my Wellbutrin, I don't think the weight will come back. My stomach has shrunk, and so has my appetite. It's possible that I might be able to eat a bit more than I do now, but I don't think it will be a problem. As things stand now, I'm still losing weight. That means that I'm still burning more calories than I'm consuming, and I'm not burning calories with exercise or anything like that. So I continue to eat all I want without a bit of exercise, and my weight continues to drop.

EllipticalLover · 01-01-2006, 09:13 PM

good job! i'm proud of you, even though i don't know you.