Why Losing on Lexapro Exists

My name is Katie, and I'm a 28 year old mom. I have a great marriage, healthy children, and life is pretty darn good. However, we all have our battles, right? I'm no different. My "battle" is generalized anxiety disorder.

My first experience with an SSRI was in college. I spent a few weeks on paxil, and decided I was capable of dealing with stress on my own. Although only on medication for a few weeks, it was enough to clear my head. Within 2 years I lost 40 pounds, broke up with my boyfriend, graduated college, and really changed my life.

Anxiety stayed away until after I had my first child. She was a colicky, non sleeping, crying infant... not exactly the best match for an overly anxious and stressed out new mom. I soon found myself unable to sleep, with a racing mind, crying and shaking and not knowing how to relax. Six months on paxil helped this time, and I was able to wean off the medication and get pregnant again.

After my second child was born I quickly returned to my anxious, stressed out, unable to sleep state. This time I asked my doctor for something a bit different, since paxil had produced some irritating side effects. My doctor suggested lexapro, and I quickly moved from 10 mgs to 20 mgs.

So back to the question of why did I start this blog. I've been feeling great on 20 mgs of lexapro for one year. My children are older and much easier. I'm not dealing with unusual stress in my life. In fact, I feel much more like my normal self than I have in years. I feel so good that I decided it was time to wean off lexapro. While on the medication I gained 15 pounds and felt tired often, and I am ready for those side effects to end. Besides that, I have been exercising and eating well, and I'm ready to live a healthy life both emotionally and physically.

I found that weaning off lexapro wasn't as easy as I expected. I'll get to that in another post some other time. While weaning I've been eating well, exercising, and noticing that the scale won't budge. Slowly I added in strength training, and extra days of jogging, and lowered my calories again cutting out all sugar and white flour. Still, the scale won't even drop a pound.

After keeping a food journal, counting my fiber and carbs and calories, and jogging miles around my neighborhood I finally realized the inevitable truth: I can't lose weight on lexapro. Over the past year I gained 15 pounds and blamed myself for eating too much sugar and not exercising enough. For the past few months I've tried to lose weight and the scale refused to move. After researching SSRI's and weight loss I've found many other people that faced the same situation as me. At some point in the year after getting off lexapro their metabolism suddenly kicks in and their weight drops.

My research gives me hope, because eventually my 1300 calorie a day diet and 12 miles a week of jogging should help me lose the extra 40 pounds of baby weight and lexapro weight. However I also feel frustrated because it seems that no matter what I do now I can't lose weight.

This blog was created as an outlet for me to chronicle my attempts at losing weight while weaning off lexapro. I hope that maybe somebody will read this and will have suggestions for me. At the very least, perhaps somebody will read this and realize that they aren't alone in their battle with SSRI's and weight loss.

I stand here today at 5'9, 196 pounds, and I'm currently eating 1300 calories a day. I try to run 3 miles a day, 4 days a week, and I try to include 30 minutes of strength training 2 days a week. I'm currently on 10 mgs of lexapro, down from 20. I'll let you know as my stats change. Welcome to my blog!