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losing weight while on methadone
i have been trying to do some research on methadone and weight gain. i have noticed that i am not the only one out there that has gained weight while taking methadone. it would be great if anyone can help or have suggestions on losing weight and if it is easy to do. i have read alot of people asking similar questions but no replys on the subject at hand.
Hi guys,
It is possible to lose weight on methadone. You just have to realize that the game has changed once you start taking medication like methadone or other meds (lithium, psych meds etc.)
It's true your metabolism slows a bit but that's not the big issue. The way your body processes certain foods drastically changes. The biggest issue is going to be sugar of any kind (that includes eating too much fruit like watermelon or cherries etc). The body CANNOT metabolize sugar on methadone. It basically instantly gets turned into fat. There is a scientific article that describes this in detail; I will try to find it.
Your second enemy is carbs. If you are eating things like oatmeal and pasta, you are screwed. Carbs turn into fat if they are not instantly burned off. This may be worse on methadone as well though I don't have any specific science on it. Of course you need carbs; doing an atkins type of diet is not what you want. But you don't want to eat 40% of your calories as carbs like the government tells you. That is way off. Instead you want about 20-25% of your calories to be carbs but complex carbs only from things like green vegetables, beans, lentils and peas.
The only exception to this is if you eat under 1000 calories in a day and are very active and use sugar to fuel yourself through the day. In this case it is possible, but this is unhealthy for many reasons.
I'm on 90mg and have already lost a lot of weight. I follow a strict diet involving mostly only things that are found naturally in the earth.
I will be creating a website outlining all this information soon. It will have the exact diet I have been using as well as a meal plan. Whether you are handicapped and wheel-chair bound, on methadone, lithium, whatever it is that has been holding you back can be overcome by following a few guidelines. I'll post back when the site is up.
It is possible to lose weight on methadone. You just have to realize that the game has changed once you start taking medication like methadone or other meds (lithium, psych meds etc.)
It's true your metabolism slows a bit but that's not the big issue. The way your body processes certain foods drastically changes. The biggest issue is going to be sugar of any kind (that includes eating too much fruit like watermelon or cherries etc). The body CANNOT metabolize sugar on methadone. It basically instantly gets turned into fat. There is a scientific article that describes this in detail; I will try to find it.
Your second enemy is carbs. If you are eating things like oatmeal and pasta, you are screwed. Carbs turn into fat if they are not instantly burned off. This may be worse on methadone as well though I don't have any specific science on it. Of course you need carbs; doing an atkins type of diet is not what you want. But you don't want to eat 40% of your calories as carbs like the government tells you. That is way off. Instead you want about 20-25% of your calories to be carbs but complex carbs only from things like green vegetables, beans, lentils and peas.
The only exception to this is if you eat under 1000 calories in a day and are very active and use sugar to fuel yourself through the day. In this case it is possible, but this is unhealthy for many reasons.
I'm on 90mg and have already lost a lot of weight. I follow a strict diet involving mostly only things that are found naturally in the earth.
I will be creating a website outlining all this information soon. It will have the exact diet I have been using as well as a meal plan. Whether you are handicapped and wheel-chair bound, on methadone, lithium, whatever it is that has been holding you back can be overcome by following a few guidelines. I'll post back when the site is up.
I can relate to the eating, and waking up craving sweets. I am also very depressed and feel so unattractive . I am looking for a solution to this problem so if you find something or I find something lets let each other know.
ji hollie, heres one for you ive been on meth for 24 yrs and hve gained weight to, but the clinic im in says that its because you are lowering your metabolism, because its a central nervous system relaxer, i know it also slows down your breathing.
hi Ray1223
im reading your post, i know you wrote this a while back, but like everyone else here, i am in the same boat, i would like to know if you can, please send me the name of the hcg you used, i ve read up on it, and it seems great, i was about to see a MD for it, but here in NY where i live its like 600 for a months supply.
im reading your post, i know you wrote this a while back, but like everyone else here, i am in the same boat, i would like to know if you can, please send me the name of the hcg you used, i ve read up on it, and it seems great, i was about to see a MD for it, but here in NY where i live its like 600 for a months supply.
Ok so I have been researching for a while now on how to lose weight on methadone. I did find something that works..and works FAST. I have to warn you, it is controversial but you will find many success stories if you search the web. It's called the hcg diet and has been around since a Dr. Simeons brought it to light in the 50's. Basically, hcg is a hormone found in pregnant women and is generally used to help assist infertility issues. Dr. Simeons found that it is also very successful when used for weight loss. HOWEVER, the FDA does not approve hcg for the use of weight loss because there has not been enough research done to prove this.Yet there are many dr's today that use hcg to help their patients lose weight. This is totally gunna sound like I'm trying to promote a product for a company but I promise, I'm not :) Like you all, I've been struggling with weight gain due to methadone and although I am finally tappered down from 120mgs to 45mgs, I'm doing it VERY slowly so I'd like to start losing weight now rather than weight until I am completely off the 'done. So far, I have lost 7lbs in 5 days..Here goes for those interested:
Using HCG for weight loss
You cannot buy hcg in stores, if you see it at Walmart, it's NOT real hcg and you will waste your money. It can be prescribed by your doctor for weight loss in the form of injections, drops (that you put under your tongue) or even pellets. Also, you can purchase hcg online but beware: there are MANY hcg products online and you have to be careful because most of these "hcg" products are not real hcg. It can also be expensive. Anywhere from $40-$160 for the drops and even more for the injections. You can actually lose .5-3lbs a day..yes, it is true. Go on youtube and check out all the hcg success story videos. Women usually lose less than men. It is very possible to lose 30lbs in one 30 day round or even more. But the key is to follow the protocol exactly!
How it works
Ok, after doing my research, I decided to purchase the drops online. You take the drops daily and combine it with a VERY low calorie diet (VLCD). The drops of the hcg hormone used along with this diet, helps in a few ways. First of all, it helps with hunger and makes the very low calorie diet (VLCD) even possible for you to do, because otherwise, nobody has THAT much self control. Also, hcg helps prevent your body from going into starvation mode. In starvation mode, your body starts to burn not only fat, but muscle...which is obviously not good. Hcg helps with this also by preventing your body from burning muscle. So you can't just do the diet without the hcg because it is unhealthy and probably impossible to do. When taken at the right dose, you will experience little to no hunger at all.
The protocol is broken up into phases. I'm not 100% familiar with the injections because like I said, I'm doing the drops. There are 4 phases. Once you have the hcg and you're ready to start, you do phase 1: Loading. The first 2 days is called the loading phase. You will start taking your hcg on these 2 days but will not start the diet just yet. The first 2 days you eat as much as you can. Usually recommended to eat high fat foods. This is a very important and necessary phase. It helps your body to store the fat you will need later on. This also will help with hunger during the first week of the diet.
Phase 2: VLCD (very low calorie diet)
Day 3 of taking the hcg, you will start the diet. This phase can last from (I believe) 21 days up to 40 days, it's up to you. During this phase, you would be eating no more than 500 calories a day of very specific selected foods. It is recommended you skip breakfast but it's ultimately up to you. Each day you are allowed 2 servings of fruit (apples, strawberries, oranges, grapefruit only), 2 servings a veggies (celery, tomatoes, lettuce, asparagus, cucumbers, onions, garlic..a few more I can't remember..), 2 servings of protein (very lean beef, sirloin steak, white fish like tilapia, chicken breast, shrimp) and 2 servings of Melba toast or grissini sticks. You can spread the food out (example: eat some fruit for breakfast, protein and veggie for lunch, fruit for snack, protein veggie for dinner)..but it's important to stick with only the foods that are allowed AND also to weight your foods. Each serving of protein 100g or 3.5oz, a handful of fruits, ect. Also very vital to this diet: WATER! You should drink about half your weight in ounces daily. Juice from one lemon is also allowed daily, franks hot sauce is allowed and pretty much any spices except sugar (this means no barbecue sauce). Just to give you an idea of what the diet looks like. So yes, it is vital to take a multivitamin daily and also an extra potassium vitamin daily and yes it will take some self control but with the hcg, it is very possible. So far, I have not experienced ANY hunger at all...although I have experienced some other side effects, I'll explain below)
Phase 3 is the maintenance phase.
Haven't gotten there yet, but it usually lasts a couple weeks. You will stop taking the hcg and very slowly start introducing other things to your diet, such as diary...but no carbs or sugar just yet. Like I said, I haven't gotten here just yet so I haven't looked too much into what is exactly allowed during this phase but I do know this is when you stop taking the hcg, to prevent your body from becoming immune to it. This is important if you decide you want to do another round. You must wait 3 weeks before starting phase 1 again if you are looking to lose more weight.
My experience and side effects so far
There are different kinds of hcg drops available online so although it may cost more, it might be best to go through a dr. You gotta be real careful. Not maky products online are real hcg but instead are homeopathic hcg. Don't get me wrong, I've come across many success stories from people who used homeopathic, but really, in these products the hcg is so watered down that there is only a "memory" of hcg in the actual product. I decided to go with real hcg drops just to be sure I got the most for my money and I really want the best results. Just my personal opinion though. The first 2 days of loading were kind of hard for me because I already was starting to notice I wasn't hungy. I ate as much as I can and only gained a pound from those 2 days. (usually people gain around 4, but lose it the first day or 2 of the vlcd). I'm on day 6 now and have not had any hunger at all! Yet, I do sometimes have sugar cravings. They aren't too bad though. My body is detoxing from the lack of sugar and I do get some mild headaches but each day is better and better. Ibuprofen helps with the headaches so it's not a problem for me. For me, I noticed I would get nauseous and feel a bit weak in the mornings. That's the part I really don't like and I don't understand why this is happening to me when others on the hcg diet forums don't seem to have much of an issue with nausea, vomiting or anything. I'm starting to think I may have a sensitivity to hcg because my last pregnancy I had terrible morning sickness. So I'm going to see my dr today to see what she thinks. So hcg is probably not for everybody! The diet is not for everybody! I highly recommend checking with your doctor first...also I am not an expert by any means and as I said before this diet is very controversial and there will be people who will talk crap about it. In the first 5 days, I lost 7lbs so I know it does work BUT I can't say for sure how successful it is in the long term yet. I usually go by other's experiences.
Do the research yourself! Look it up and decided if it's for you! Then, please check with your doctor! If you have any questions, I'll try my best to help but a place I found VERY helpful is the hcg diet forums (type it in google)
Just wanted to share in case it happens to help someone, anyone struggling with weight loss on methadone. Good luck :)
Using HCG for weight loss
You cannot buy hcg in stores, if you see it at Walmart, it's NOT real hcg and you will waste your money. It can be prescribed by your doctor for weight loss in the form of injections, drops (that you put under your tongue) or even pellets. Also, you can purchase hcg online but beware: there are MANY hcg products online and you have to be careful because most of these "hcg" products are not real hcg. It can also be expensive. Anywhere from $40-$160 for the drops and even more for the injections. You can actually lose .5-3lbs a day..yes, it is true. Go on youtube and check out all the hcg success story videos. Women usually lose less than men. It is very possible to lose 30lbs in one 30 day round or even more. But the key is to follow the protocol exactly!
How it works
Ok, after doing my research, I decided to purchase the drops online. You take the drops daily and combine it with a VERY low calorie diet (VLCD). The drops of the hcg hormone used along with this diet, helps in a few ways. First of all, it helps with hunger and makes the very low calorie diet (VLCD) even possible for you to do, because otherwise, nobody has THAT much self control. Also, hcg helps prevent your body from going into starvation mode. In starvation mode, your body starts to burn not only fat, but muscle...which is obviously not good. Hcg helps with this also by preventing your body from burning muscle. So you can't just do the diet without the hcg because it is unhealthy and probably impossible to do. When taken at the right dose, you will experience little to no hunger at all.
The protocol is broken up into phases. I'm not 100% familiar with the injections because like I said, I'm doing the drops. There are 4 phases. Once you have the hcg and you're ready to start, you do phase 1: Loading. The first 2 days is called the loading phase. You will start taking your hcg on these 2 days but will not start the diet just yet. The first 2 days you eat as much as you can. Usually recommended to eat high fat foods. This is a very important and necessary phase. It helps your body to store the fat you will need later on. This also will help with hunger during the first week of the diet.
Phase 2: VLCD (very low calorie diet)
Day 3 of taking the hcg, you will start the diet. This phase can last from (I believe) 21 days up to 40 days, it's up to you. During this phase, you would be eating no more than 500 calories a day of very specific selected foods. It is recommended you skip breakfast but it's ultimately up to you. Each day you are allowed 2 servings of fruit (apples, strawberries, oranges, grapefruit only), 2 servings a veggies (celery, tomatoes, lettuce, asparagus, cucumbers, onions, garlic..a few more I can't remember..), 2 servings of protein (very lean beef, sirloin steak, white fish like tilapia, chicken breast, shrimp) and 2 servings of Melba toast or grissini sticks. You can spread the food out (example: eat some fruit for breakfast, protein and veggie for lunch, fruit for snack, protein veggie for dinner)..but it's important to stick with only the foods that are allowed AND also to weight your foods. Each serving of protein 100g or 3.5oz, a handful of fruits, ect. Also very vital to this diet: WATER! You should drink about half your weight in ounces daily. Juice from one lemon is also allowed daily, franks hot sauce is allowed and pretty much any spices except sugar (this means no barbecue sauce). Just to give you an idea of what the diet looks like. So yes, it is vital to take a multivitamin daily and also an extra potassium vitamin daily and yes it will take some self control but with the hcg, it is very possible. So far, I have not experienced ANY hunger at all...although I have experienced some other side effects, I'll explain below)
Phase 3 is the maintenance phase.
Haven't gotten there yet, but it usually lasts a couple weeks. You will stop taking the hcg and very slowly start introducing other things to your diet, such as diary...but no carbs or sugar just yet. Like I said, I haven't gotten here just yet so I haven't looked too much into what is exactly allowed during this phase but I do know this is when you stop taking the hcg, to prevent your body from becoming immune to it. This is important if you decide you want to do another round. You must wait 3 weeks before starting phase 1 again if you are looking to lose more weight.
My experience and side effects so far
There are different kinds of hcg drops available online so although it may cost more, it might be best to go through a dr. You gotta be real careful. Not maky products online are real hcg but instead are homeopathic hcg. Don't get me wrong, I've come across many success stories from people who used homeopathic, but really, in these products the hcg is so watered down that there is only a "memory" of hcg in the actual product. I decided to go with real hcg drops just to be sure I got the most for my money and I really want the best results. Just my personal opinion though. The first 2 days of loading were kind of hard for me because I already was starting to notice I wasn't hungy. I ate as much as I can and only gained a pound from those 2 days. (usually people gain around 4, but lose it the first day or 2 of the vlcd). I'm on day 6 now and have not had any hunger at all! Yet, I do sometimes have sugar cravings. They aren't too bad though. My body is detoxing from the lack of sugar and I do get some mild headaches but each day is better and better. Ibuprofen helps with the headaches so it's not a problem for me. For me, I noticed I would get nauseous and feel a bit weak in the mornings. That's the part I really don't like and I don't understand why this is happening to me when others on the hcg diet forums don't seem to have much of an issue with nausea, vomiting or anything. I'm starting to think I may have a sensitivity to hcg because my last pregnancy I had terrible morning sickness. So I'm going to see my dr today to see what she thinks. So hcg is probably not for everybody! The diet is not for everybody! I highly recommend checking with your doctor first...also I am not an expert by any means and as I said before this diet is very controversial and there will be people who will talk crap about it. In the first 5 days, I lost 7lbs so I know it does work BUT I can't say for sure how successful it is in the long term yet. I usually go by other's experiences.
Do the research yourself! Look it up and decided if it's for you! Then, please check with your doctor! If you have any questions, I'll try my best to help but a place I found VERY helpful is the hcg diet forums (type it in google)
Just wanted to share in case it happens to help someone, anyone struggling with weight loss on methadone. Good luck :)
hey there, I have been on done for 1.5 years and just had a baby girl 2 months ago, bc if the pregnancy I gained allot of weight and my dose was split and its very high. I recently started to come down and im starting a pretty radical diet. I relate to allot of what you said, I am 2 weeks away from a major surgery in my mouth that's leading to false teeth and im only 29 years old, talk about a major kick to self esteem between that and the weight I have times I refuse to leave the house. But the done has given me allot too, I now have the strength and support to succeed in my diet, and go to the dentist and do what I need to for my dental health instead of trying to ignore it. so im greatful for all that but some days dealing with the side effects are very difficult.
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