Fluoxetine and Weight Loss

Hello,

Has anyone had problems loosing weight whilst on Fluoxetine?

I stopeed taking it (under guidance from a Doctor) 2 weeks ago and have carried on with my diet as when I was on the tablets. I have already seen quite a difference! I read that it is hard to loose weight whilst on them so am wondering whether my mind is just playing tricks on me!

I don't want to weigh myself because when I think I am loosing weight it gives me more motivation to carry on!

I lost quite alot of weight while I was on fluoxetine, mainly because before that I was too depressed to get out and go to the gym so they definately helped kickstart my weight loss. I haven't been on them for around 8 months or so and I haven't seen any real change in my weight loss, still slow and steady. I don't think taking flouxetine really made a difference other than helping with my depression helped me be more active. My doctor prescribed them to me because I was worried about weight gain whilst taking anti depressents, he said fluoxetine doesn't cause weight gain and can even help with weight loss -whether thats the drug itself or like I have already said, helping you get out of your depressed rut and feel like exercising I don't know but whatever it was it works and now I'm getting by on natural anti depressants - exercise lol

I have taken fluorexetine for a long time, on and off, and it never seemed to influence how much weight I lost or gainned. But what I've heard is that it's supposed to help you lose, if that.. I'm currently on it, and don't think it's been having an influence on my weight loss.

oh dear! Was kinda hoping for the opposite answer!

In all honesty thank you for your replies! Can't always have it the way we want!

I absolutely have this problem.  I take a low dosage for IBS and the doctor warned me I might gain weight.  Since then I have been working out regularly, being more active in my daily life and following a 1500 calorie a day diet and I just can't seem to lose weight.  After a few months of working out 3-4 times per week for about 30 minutes with no result, I increased to 6 workouts a week for an hour at a time and I gained 1.5 lbs.  And don't tell me it was muscle weight!  I'm very discouraged but I don't want to go off the med, especially right before the holidays when I have too much going on to sit at home nursing and unhappy digestive system.

You're not alone on this one!

I didn't realise you could take Fluoxetine for IBS.....its an anti depressant

Yup - I'm actually on two different ones - both at dosages lower than would be used for depression/anxiety.  One slows down the digestion process, the other helps keep the intestines from cramping.

It's amazing how tied in all our body systems are!

I realize this post is a little out-of-date but I came across this thread while doing some research.  I'm a pharmacy student and was casually looking into fluoxetine used in weight loss.  What I've found is that for about 6 months it does seem to have a positive effect on weight loss with people taking the medication losing significantly more weight than those people who were taking placebo.  However, after 6 months it really loses its efficacy and becomes about the same as placebo.  Also, while some of the effect of fluoxetine could be related to increased activity due to resolved depressive moods, most researchers believe it actually has to do with the effect of serotonin on the brain's "hunger" receptors.  Because fluoxetine increases the amount of serotonin in your brain, more of it can act on these receptors and cause you to have less appetite.