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So apparently there’s been another factor in my increasing waistline that I didn’t even realize until this week… My prescription medication. Depression itself is a huge factor in my appetite and eating habits, but apparently my antidepressant of choice is, too.
It turns out that Effexor XR (venlafaxine hydrochloride) has a side effect of weight gain. I just never noticed it before because I’ve been on a relatively low dose for approximately two years, so the increase in my appetite was insidiously unnoticeable. This is likely because the drug I switched from was Remeron (mirtazapine) – which had me absolutely ravenous all day, every day. By comparison, Effexor brought my appetite back to normal.
But my doctor and I agreed to increase my dosage this week, and I haven’t felt full for more than 30 minutes after a good meal since then. With weight loss as one of my goals for 2012, this is a big problem. And no – I can’t stop taking it. Effexor XR helps me too much. I need it for my mental health; I don’t think I could function without it.
So what am I going to do about this?
Institute a Grazing Schedule
I cannot tolerate being hungry all the time, but it’s going to take a major shift in my eating habits to combat the hunger without putting on weight. Instead of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a bedtime snack, I’m going to attempt to do what’s supposed to be healthier for me anyways… Eat smaller portions every two hours.
I confess to being way too lazy when it comes to putting food in my body. When it comes time for lunch, I want to spend as little time on acquiring my food as possible before I get back to my desk. If I can’t toss it in the microwave, come back to my desk for two minutes, and just grab it when it’s done, I’m probably not going to bother eating it. At least, that’s been my M.O.
So I’m going to have to force myself to prepackage easy-to-grab portions of food when I get it home from the store. (That will be an adjustment. The grocery store wears me out, and I usually pretty much collapse after I get the food into the house.) I’m contemplating writing approximate calorie content with a Sharpie on the outside of the plastic bags I’ll be using for portion control, so I can keep track of what I’m putting in my body. And I can balance the better-for-me choices, like 2% milk string cheese and cashews, with things I crave and can’t give up, like donut holes and brownies.
Dining out will still totally screw things up for me. They don’t offer grazing portions at restaurants unless you’re allowed to order off the kids menu – and even then, sometimes you’re still in it for 600+ calories. But I’m committed to restaurants three times a week – my working lunch with the girls on Mondays, lunch out with my parents on Tuesdays, and the pre-grocery shopping lunch with the family on Saturdays. I’m just going to have to see how it goes on those days with my newly increased appetite. Maybe I can eat enough to keep me satisfied longer, and it will just be a matter of skipping the next two-hour snack. We’ll see.
Do you graze? Or have you at least tried it? Let me know if you have any helpful grazing strategies. I could use all the help I can get!
Read my Big Fat Medical Update for more details.
That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.
