I have just recently started taking adderall to treat my ADD and I have a quick question about weight loss. While reading about the drug I've seen that weight loss and a decline in appetite are side effects. Does adderall actually cause weight somehow by itself or is the weight loss that many experience simply the result of eating less because of a decreased appetite? I don't really want to lose any weight, so I just want to make sure I'll be fine by just taking care to eat as much as I usually do even if I'm not as hungry.

Hi

I am not on adderall im on ritalin but i believe its similar for both... I was just diagnosed 2 wks ago and started the ritalin then.....

I had just been on a diet and was the size I wanted to be, so like u didnt want to lose any weight - i think i lost a little

I find that it makes me not hungry and not interested in food, and I have to force it down

or i will feel hungry and really keen on food but after only a few mouthfuls i just do not want the rest..... I also forget to eat.... went out one day at around 12pm and was staring thinking i need breakfast but had nothing at home so was going to buy - took my meds and it wasnt till about 4 hrs later on way home I suddely realised i hadnt eaten and i had to think for a while 'are you sure u didnt eat' maybe u did and forgot' cos I just didnt feel hungry at all and didnt think a totally empty stomach no food at all at 4.30pm could feel so not hungry....

I am trying to figure out some high calorie foods I can eat that are not junk (ie high in good fats not bad) as I find that larger meals are just too hard to eat and can leave me feeling sick.

also I guess maybe have a good meal before ur first tab(that doesnt work for me as mornings are my worst adhd symptom time so I need to be medicated before i try and get up and make breakfast! but thats just me) and then at the end of the day when they wear off.

id love to hear any healthy high calorie food ideas anyone has? not piles of sugar and saturated fats, but olive and similar oils, that sorta thing...?

also anyone who has had ritalin and amphetamine - is one worse than the other for this?

What I do to keep my metabolism from tanking is to make smoothies with whey protein. I alternate between adding peanut butter and using berries in my smoothies, because sometimes I'd rather it be salty and sometimes I'd rather it be sweet. :) I make a blender-full at the beginning of the week and then take 1/5 of it with me every day and just sip it all day long so I'm taking in some good quality calories every day during the day. Just a suggestion for something with decent protein in it.

I find these sorta thing's don't have any effect whatsoever. I'll still down a whole meal from mcdonalds and return for more :)

I'm on dexamphetamine. It has a short halflife. Right now I want to lose weight so I am timing my doses to hit hard in the predinner snacking and dinner time slots. I know if I am late with the dose my appetite is much better.

I find these sorta thing's don't have any effect whatsoever. I'll still down a whole meal from mcdonalds and return for more :)

Wow...it's funny how people are so different. I've alwasy overeaten and in the past could easily down a couple of Burgerville cheeseburgers (Country Natural Beef - hooray!) and a large fry, and yeah, go back for more.

On meds, I can't even tolerate the thought of fries. I ordered a double cheeseburger cause I felt like protein but could only finish half of that.

To address the original question - from what I've read, there do seem to be those who believe that stimulants will up the metabolism. I don't know about that, but I do know that most of the weight loss I've read about seems to be attributable to decreased food, caffeine and alcohol intake along with, in some cases, an increased activity level.

My metabolism has always been very slow, and I don't see that that has changed - I'm losing weight far slower than I thought I would on Adderall - only about 13 pounds in six weeks, which is not much considering how much my calorie intake has gone down. Losing weight isn't the "point" of the drug, obviously, but I want to make use of the help it's giving me, so I'm going to try to add in more exercise.

Anyway, point being is that if I'm any indication, my metabolism is still as sluggish as ever.

For me it was a reduced appetite. I lost like 5lbs over a week and a half because I ate so little. But then it went away.

And by the way, the reason drugs like Adderall were used as weight-loss pills some 30 years ago was for this reason. But the reason they stopped using them is because the loss of appetite went away pretty quickly and you had to up your dosage, which isn't a good idea.

weight lose is normal with most add adhd medications

I find these sorta thing's don't have any effect whatsoever. I'll still down a whole meal from mcdonalds and return for more :)

Im finding that now that I have switched to dex, but I am still losing weight on a large number of calories - you finding that?

Im finding that now that I have switched to dex, but I am still losing weight on a large number of calories - you finding that?

Wow you are lucky! I am on 30xr adderall and I work out like a mad woman and haven't been losing any weight. :mad: