Weight Gain/Body Image

[Ruby 9]

Did anyone start taking adderall for the appetite suppression aspect or experience worsening of an eating disorder while on it?
 

I was on it daily for 4 years, getting up to 30mg IR daily (I’m only 5’0”) and have been off it for ~75 days now. I lost a decent amount of weight on it, and having struggled with body image and disordered eating for quite some time, I was extremely hesitant to get off of it. In fact, the only reason I came off of it was because I was tapering off of a very low dose of Valium that I was on for about 6 months before stopping the adderall.

Ive really been struggling with weight gain, specifically in my midsection. I feel like I’m constantly bloated and my belly fat is disproportionately increasing. I’m not large by any means but I’m really struggling with this, along with low dopamine/Anhedonia. Has anyone experienced fat redistribution after awhile off of adderall? I went from eating probably less than 1000 cals daily and obsession with cutting out as much as possible to being less active, and eating ~1500-1600 on average. I’m trying not to let myself get back on but this part of it has made it very tempting.

[Somewhere 7]

Honestly your circumstance doesn't sound that bad. In my estimation you can definitely lose the weight pretty quickly, though indeed stomach fat is very stubborn and is by far the hardest to lose. When weight distributes disproportionately its usually a sign that you are metabolically unhealthy. I feel like adderall destroyed my digestive system the last few years, so this makes sense for me.

I was always very athletic and extremely fit my whole life, until the last few years on adderall (28-30yrs)
Like you, weight really packed on the midsection for me too, which sucks because I've always had good abs.
I'm 6ft and put on probably 25 pounds the last few years of my addiction, and then another 25 immediately after quitting. After quitting, my appetite grew and I was too tired and too sore to workout in any serious capacity. It took serious baby steps for me to even set a fitness base.

I've been clean 2 years now. The first year clean I was pretty much useless, and could hardly even workout.
I got a gym membership right before Covid. I lost about 30 pounds by this point. I have about 20 more pounds to lose and I'm determined to lose it by the summer. The midsection fat is really the last dragon I need to slay. Its definitely diminishing, its just taking way longer than everything else. Much longer than I expected.
I do intermittent fasting 3-4 days a week which really helps reduce appetite the rest of the week, and keeps my calories low. I try to workout 5-6 days/week.
I do upper and lower body lifting, and extremely hard 3 mile cardio on the treadmill pretty much every day I'm at the gym (I try to get 2 miles around 12.5mins, and then finish 3 miles by 21min). Its important to really push yourself on your runs.
To get rid of this last bit of stubborn belly fat I'm planning on doing more ab workouts with medicine balls, and just general core work.

How's your progress?

[quit-once 1,737]

Welcome, @Somewhere!

Congrats for being off stimulants for the last two years.   That belly fat is sure hard to lose, and it is the first fat to come back whcn you slack on the workouts.  Losing those thirty pounds is a really big deal and I bet you feel a lot better not packing around the extra fat.  I workout about every other day, although just at home.  I am not comfortable going to gyms or fitness / yoga classes right now due to Covid.  I also practice intermittent fasting, although skipping a morning meal is something I have done most of my life, so it is really no big deal to wait until noon for my first calorie intake.  I reached a stable body weight about two years after quitting and it fluctuates up to ten pounds depending on the seasons.  I find those extra ten pounds make a huge difference netween feeling fat and feeling fit.

[Ruby 9]

19 hours ago, Somewhere said:

How's your progress?

I've started to get a little more energy recently but nothing significant. I workout 3-4 times per week at home and have been trying to do both more HIIT and strength training however I haven't been going on as many walks due to weather. 

I don't believe I've lost any weight. There is a chance there is something going on with me metabolically as you said but it's hard to say. I stopped weighing myself because it was too upsetting. I was 102 at my lowest on adderall and maintained around 110 for the most part while on it. However if I were to guess correctly I am probably around 120 now, but 10 lbs is more drastic on someone my height (5'0").  

I'm trying to give it more time as I've only been off for a little over 4 months but I'm considering seeing a doctor soon to do blood work.

[Somewhere 7]

On 12/20/2020 at 2:13 AM, quit-once said:

Congrats for being off stimulants for the last two years.  

Thank you! I don't know about you, but it took a LOOOONG time for me to feel any major improvements physically mentally or emotionally.The first year I made almost no progress. At the end of the first year I began to very slowly take incremental baby steps towards improvement. Then all at once it seemed I was off to the running. It can be hard to stay motivated during certain moments when I think of how much work I've put in and yet how much farther I have to go ("how did I let it get this bad!?"). But overall I'm very confident now.
How's your recovery?

On 12/20/2020 at 2:13 AM, quit-once said:

 I workout about every other day, although just at home.  I am not comfortable going to gyms or fitness / yoga classes right now due to Covid. 

Covid really threw a monkey wrench into everything didn't it? So many plans and goals were ruined this year for me. But still, I've been very fortunate to come out the other side of this thing better off than where I started. I hope your home workouts can be effective. (I tried Yoga for the first time the other day--my God its much harder than it seems!)

On 12/20/2020 at 2:13 AM, quit-once said:

I also practice intermittent fasting, although skipping a morning meal is something I have done most of my life, so it is really no big deal to wait until noon for my first calorie intake.

I feel like breakfast is a sham and we've all been lied to our whole life (most important meal of the day my arse!) lol
I used to force myself to have breakfast every morning, but after fasting I realized it is almost entirely unnecessary.
I actually feel much better physically and more awake mentally when I skip breakfast.

[Somewhere 7]

On 12/20/2020 at 9:30 AM, Ruby said:

I've started to get a little more energy recently but nothing significant. I workout 3-4 times per week at home and have been trying to do both more HIIT and strength training however I haven't been going on as many walks due to weather.

 

At 4 months clean you are doing way more than I was capable of doing at 8 months, lol. You should be proud!
 

On 12/20/2020 at 9:30 AM, Ruby said:

I don't believe I've lost any weight. There is a chance there is something going on with me metabolically as you said but it's hard to say.

For me, it took a long time to lose any weight, but then it came off much faster as my workouts improved. I honestly think my metabolism needed alot of time to rejuvenate. I developed a lot of bad habits while on adderall (I was on and off for 8 years, but it got bad the last 2 years) and it took a long time to heal from all the abuse.
If I had to bet, you'll see big improvements by the spring if you stick to your routine.
 

On 12/20/2020 at 9:30 AM, Ruby said:

I'm trying to give it more time as I've only been off for a little over 4 months but I'm considering seeing a doctor soon to do blood work.

I think patience is the key. As I said for me, it took a long time to even get going. Even now as I am progressing faster and almost back to normal, there are still moments where I get really demotivated and self-ashamed ("how could I allow myself to get into such a state!?") I struggle with drinking after such moments so that's been a tough habit to kick. Sometimes I just catch a bad angle of myself in the mirror or something and it almost ruins my day haha.
But I'm really trying on not being too hard on myself. I'm on the right path. I've put in hard work. I need to remind myself of that every so often. I think you should too. You've already put in a lot of work.

Hope you have a good new year! Let us know if you got any results from the doctor!

[Ruby 9]

On 12/30/2020 at 2:21 PM, Somewhere said:

At 4 months clean you are doing way more than I was capable of doing at 8 months, lol. You should be proud!
 

For me, it took a long time to lose any weight, but then it came off much faster as my workouts improved. I honestly think my metabolism needed alot of time to rejuvenate. I developed a lot of bad habits while on adderall (I was on and off for 8 years, but it got bad the last 2 years) and it took a long time to heal from all the abuse.
If I had to bet, you'll see big improvements by the spring if you stick to your routine.
 

I think patience is the key. As I said for me, it took a long time to even get going. Even now as I am progressing faster and almost back to normal, there are still moments where I get really demotivated and self-ashamed ("how could I allow myself to get into such a state!?") I struggle with drinking after such moments so that's been a tough habit to kick. Sometimes I just catch a bad angle of myself in the mirror or something and it almost ruins my day haha.
But I'm really trying on not being too hard on myself. I'm on the right path. I've put in hard work. I need to remind myself of that every so often. I think you should too. You've already put in a lot of work.

Hope you have a good new year! Let us know if you got any results from the doctor!

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I totally relate to the catching a bad angle of myself in the mirror lol. I'm almost at 5 months off and I'm hoping that this weight is the peak of my post adderall weight gain. Working on patience and acceptance is very challenging. The only result I've gotten from my doctor is low blood sugar and I've always been on the lower side. I'm not sure how this impacts insulin/weight. I have an appointment with a GI doctor in 2 weeks since I am constantly bloated, maybe something will come out of that. Thank you again and have a happy new year as well

[SleepyStupid 852]

On 1/2/2021 at 7:33 PM, Ruby said:

I have an appointment with a GI doctor in 2 weeks since I am constantly bloated, maybe something will come out of that.

i'd be curious to hear about your results - i had tremendous bloating for a while after, but at the time I chalked it up to poor eating habits. I can say with certainty that my GI system even today is not what it used to be (but maybe that's just age as well ).

weight gain is something that I neglected the first few years of my recovery, and it wasn't until recently that I really recognized the impact it's had - it might be solely responsible for the social anxiety that I currently have, particularly when interacting with people who last knew me 40 pounds lighter!

my weight has definitely stabilized, though at a much higher level than i'd like - working out at home is okay, but I'm definitely looking forward to gyms openings again (:

[quit-once 1,737]

Almost ten years post -adderall, my GI system has finally recovered.  There are still a few foods that give me heartburn so I avoid them.  Some kinds of bread, some kinds of cookies (and eating too many of them) and milk still don't agree with me, especially near bed time as they ness with my sleep.  It is much, much better than five years ago.  For the first five years of my recovery, I was convinced that I had permanently damaged my GI system.  Oddly enough, my body weight has stabilized at what it was when I quit, although I now have more muscle where there used to be fat, due to regular yoga practice and / or workouts. 

[dolssa 123]

YESSSS. Adderall gave me an eating disorder. I didn't realize it, bc i never thought about food while i was in my addiction but I loved the adderall skinny body I had, and people would ALWAYS compliment my body saying whats your secret!!! if only they knew it was a diet of cold brew and adderall. I am now a year off and those first few months i gained 10 pounds and then I lost the weight, but didnt get back down to adderall skinny which would make me spiral and want to use. I did try wellburitn for a few months which also decreases appetite which i loved. but I got off that too. I just passed the year mark and its a never ending struggle of wanting to take adderal for the purpose of masking hunger. Im coming to terms that this is deeper than just being addicted to adderall and i might need to seek treatment for an ED. just wild because i had a great relationship with food pre adderall.