My neuro psy just recently percribed me adderall xr 20mg. I've been on it for 2 weeks and it is working really great so far. I've been hearing from a lot of people about how it makes people lose weight. I hope this is true because I would love to lose some weight while I'm on it. Right now I'm about 5'4 and weigh 230.5 and I am a 21 year old female. So far during the two weeks that I've been on it I've lost 4.5 pounds. Will this keep up? I hope so I'd really like to be able to lose more weight.

Yes, but the appetite suppression will diminish and if you keep upping the dose to capture that effect you are headed for a whole heap o' trouble.

i think the most imortant thing to remember here is that you are taking the adderall to combat symptoms of a really frustrating condition.......adhd! i understand wanting to lose weight as that appears to be an issue in your case, but i hope you can remember that if the dose continues to work for your adhd, leave it alone and count your lucky stars. just fyi, there is a new thread dealing with making healthy life changes. the folks on there are just the absolute greatest in terms of support and encouragement. some of them are trying to lose weight as well. log in and introduce yourself, we'd be happy to have you! for me, the struggle is smoking......and struggle is an understatement!!!

When I first started taking Adderall I lost 10 pounds in the first two weeks. I also had heard about it losing weight but It never really crossed my mind again. But from what i found out was the weight that i had lost was more water weight. Im not sure abou you but I was real dehydrated for the first month or so and the medicine sucked up all the remaining water in my body. But that is the most of and i have pretty much stayed the same weight since then and it has been 4 months maybe... With it also losing weight my appitite decreased as yours probably did and i thought it was great. i was losing weight and all but i then found my self getting weak and not having much energy. i had to end up forcing me to eat something but i think for the most part it sped up my motabilsm which was nice. this is all though from what happend to me. But for the most part i don't think it helps people lose weight. I hope this makes since... sorry if it didn't

I've lost a lot of weight since I've been treated for my ADHD - 45 pounds and counting! The appetite surpressant effect helps, but improvments in my impulse control are BY FAR the most important reason for my weight loss - I can now prevent myself from eating when I am not actually hungry. A litre of ice cream will now last 3 weeks in my freezer rather than 3 days, and I've been able to keep up with an excersize program for 9 months straight - previously I'd have been lucky to stay with it for a month or two (and I'm being kind to myself by saying "a month or two"). Procrastination is less likely to keep me from the gym when I take my meds. My health is better, my BP is down, and I look better than I have at almost any other time of my life! It's no wonder I am such a strong believer in the use of stimulant medication for ADHD!
I hope that you have similar success.
Good luck,
Greg

I have been taking Adderall XR 20mgs a day for a month and a half and haven't lost any weight in the first month. I had no appetite for only about the first 2 days. My question is does the meds effect metabolism? Just wondering cause I started a new diet on Jan. 1st and already lost 8lbs in 11 days. I just seems like a lot. I don't think a lot of it was water either because since I started taking Adderall I've been somewhat dehydrated.

see if you think about it, the weight loss could be water. when you are dehydrated all your body wants is water so after a while it will absorb all of the extra water in your body to try to get hydrated. Im not if that makes since or not though. Hopefully it is

Adderall won't speed up your metabolism (pity!) but it should help you stay on your diet. I doubt that the weight you have lost is all water - 8lbs of water is quite a lot! Do make sure that you drink lots of water - both for your diet and for the Adderall - there really is no down side to drinking lots of water, except for the frequent trips to empty one's bladder!

Adderall will "speed up your metabolism", more than any other stimulant medication, because the l-amphetamine is more peripherally stimulating than centrally. The l-amphetamine in Adderall is similar in effect to ephedrine, the active ingredient in Ephedra, the herbal weight loss supplement recently banned.

The d-amphetamine, being more centrally active, will suppress appetite more so than l-amph, but also increases fat burning peripherally.

Broadly speaking, Beta-adrenergic agonists increase fatty acid acid breakdown, thus leading to weight loss.

interesting... i've always wondered if it sped up your metabolism... i had a feeling with all the food that i have been eating at night would make me a little hefty but i weigh the same... it's nice to have the decreased appitite and all bu it stinks when the meds wear off cause usually it's at night and all you want to do is eat... hmmm food

just fyi, i've researched articles all through the nimh and other sources, and have found no evidence at all that adderall will speed up one's metabolism. according to every academic article, journal entry etc...that i researched, the effect of adderall is widely stated to cause a decrease in appetite. this is not the same as an increase in metabolism.

Notice I put "speed up metabolism" in quotes, because it is more complicated than that. If you just go to pubmed and type, "Adderall speed up metabolism", you won't get anything.

Amphetamines cause an increase in dopamine and norepinephrine, (serotonin too, but not really relevant here). Norepinephrine is a weak beta-adrenergic agonist, beta-adrenergic agonists increase fatty acid oxidation. Amphetamine is also direct beta-adrenergic agonist, increasing fatty acid oxidation. As a sympathomimetic, the amphetamine increases adrenal secretion of epinephrine, which is a direct beta agonist. Also, sympathomimetics increase heart rate and body temperature, which broadly speaking ="speed up metabolism".

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/research/job185drugs/methamphetamine.htm
http://www.med.howard.edu/pharmacology/handouts/autono3.htm

Edited by moderator - too sarcastic

PS - this is meant in total and absolute humor, none of the above should be taken as strict medical advice. I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on tv. All the experiences in the above paragraph are exclusively and solely the author of said paragraph. Increasing the dosage past what your doctor recommends is not advised at all. Using adderall for the use of weight loss is also, not recommended, that above was meant for humor and should not be taken seriously. If it is taken seriously continue to reread this disclaimer so that it sinks into your mind, that this initial paragraph was meant for a good jolly laugh.

Love Always,

Scott

Adderall won't increase you body temp, but it will increase your heart rate slightly, which will burn a few more calories a day. But that's not your "metabolism" which involves the use of energy in the cells themselves - muscle cells mostly although I think your brain uses a great deal of energy too. Adderall won't alter how cells use energy, it alters how the brain transmits messages. About the only thing you can do to increase your metabolism is excersise - I think that slightly increases the energy output of the cells throughout the day and as the muscles get bigger they use more energy too.

Greg, you couldn't be more wrong. The thermogenic properties of amphetamines are well known and have been established since the 1950's. Granted, as with most things the effect is dose dependent and subject to individual variation. The fact that amphetamines have been in use since WWII is why you won't find any references to most of this stuff in pubmed, you have to go to a pharmacology text book.

Amphetamines are the premier sympathomimetic compound. Look at the references I gave. It is all there.

When I was on 60mg/day of adderall I used to get what I would call 'soaker hosing', I would just be soaked in sweat. When I cranked up to 100mg/day of adderall I would not only sweat like crazy but I lost tons of weight, to where I looked gaunt and people were worried about my health.

Before you rudely and sarcastically edited my posts, there was a really important point I was masterfully making, and that is being careful when using adderall because you will loose weight and you might think it's great, but you also have the potential of really loosing touch with reality as I did when I was on those levels of adderall.

Unless you're a doctor, stating your opinion as hardcore facts is very interesting. Plus the fact that you are able to stir things up and then edit the posts you don't like is at best, interesting, and not very funny.

Scott

- not trying to be funny, trying to keep things polite. Moderator -

Adderral increases the chemicals that give a feeling of saiety, not metabolism. Even if they did (the overall concensus here seems to be they dont) metabolism fluctuations are very minor in comparing 2 people. My personal experience is that Strattera really did decrease my appetite, but adding 5 mg of Adderral balanced me out. 2 docs I spoke with said it was probably because it made me feel good and I made better food choices. Many people have lost weight on medically prescribed ADD drugs and also the abuse of them. Usually the body will have a rebound effect, if healthy eating is not kept up. If you really do need to lose weight, hopefully it will be because you can make good food choices and not impulse eating or emotional eating.

I understand that people are attached to Adderall because it works so well, however, that doesn't make it significantly different in effect from other amphetamines. Amphetamines are sympathomimetics, they do increase thermogenesis, fatty acid mobilization and lypolysis.

In fact, Adderall was originally designed, tested and marketed for WEIGHTLOSS.

]The regulatory history for the amphetamine mix now marketed as Adderall dates back to 1960, when NDA #11-522 was filed for a drug known as Obetrol. The drug was marketed by the Obetrol Division of Rexar Pharmaceuticals, without FDA approval, for obesity.