Antidepressant Weight Gain

If you have entered this page without reading the rest of the site first, The Road Back Program is a non-profit 501(c) 3. We have been helping people taper off psychoactive medication since 1999. Over 40,000 people have used this program to become drug free.

If you were to read through the book on this web site, How to Get Off Psychoactive Drugs Safely, you will read that we do not recommend starting any diet program while still on the medication, and in this case an antidepressant. That has been able to change.

Weight Gain Caused by Antidepressants

Over the last 12-years, our researchers have made partial breakthroughs with methods to help stop drug induced weight gain. During the summer of 2010, clinical studies unraveled the last and most important part for a solution of the weight gain caused by medication, specifically antidepressants. The Road Back Program has now taped the route for successful weight loss.

Note: This weight loss approach works for people still taking an antidepressant as well as those already off the medication.

The weight gain caused by antidepressant usage is now an acknowledged side effect by the drug companies, the F.D.A. and the American Medical Association. If your physician still claims that an antidepressant does not cause weight gain, the physician needs to read the current drug description supplied by the drug company.

Again, The Road Back Program’s main focus is assisting individuals tapering off psychoactive medication but with 25% of the people taking an antidepressant experiencing sudden and dramatic weight gain, a fair amount of our research time has been spent looking for the cause of the antidepressant induced weight gain.

The Cause of the Weight Gain

The intent of this text is to make the science easy to understand for all readers of this web site. If you are a medical professional and wish to read additional scientific information, please go to PubMed and type in the search box “JNK” “obesity” or “JNK” “diabetes” or any other term you wish with JNK.

The Exact Cause of the Weight Gain and the Solution

Antidepressants make a gene found in our cells become too activated and remain too activated. This causes insulin resistance in the cells and insulin will no longer flow freely into and out of the cells. This is also why antidepressants cause a 20% greater incidence of diabetes. The gene is called JNK.

Click here and continue to a web site JNK Diet.

"I am finding I am like many others that have gained weight from their antidepressant. That was my first step and just finding out enabled me to take the necessary steps to lose the weight. I am an aerobics instructor and workout 5 days a week religiously. At first, I noticed my energy level was down and I thought I had been working out too much and my body was not able to recovery any longer. Then the little pouch on my stomach became noticeable. This made me workout even harder and spend more time on my abs, all to no avail.

My legs started to feel heavier and my thighs enlarged. During a checkup, my doctor found nothing wrong with me at all and accused me of overeating. That pissed me off.

I found your web site while doing a search about antidepressants and weight gain and it made so much sense. I knew something was off and it was not me consuming 4,000 calories a day.

It has now been 90 days since I started this diet and I am very pleased. I did not lose any weight during the first 30- days and almost quit the diet completely because I did not want to waste more time with a diet that did not work. I felt better during the first month but zero weight loss. My husband urged me to keep going with this because it was the only diet geared for antidepressant weight gain available.

Sometime during week number 5 everything began to change when I lost 4 pounds. I have averaged 4 pounds of weight loss a week ever since that magical moment during the 5th week.

After being able to look back at things, what was probably happening during the first month of this diet was my insulin resistance was causing me to not lose weight. Using the supplements and the diet change helped correct that and then the weight loss could start. My guess any way.

I wanted to send my success in to you because so many others might have stopped when weight loss did not happen in 30-days and they would miss out on what is just around the corner. Maybe it was easier for me because of my workouts but I doubt that. I have now shared this with some of my students that are taking an antidepressant and I can see them smiling again in a few days after starting and most are losing weight in the first few weeks."

"Like so many others, I did not feel this diet would work for me. I had steadily gained weight for the past 3 years and nothing would stop the gain. My doctor thought I was lying to him when I told him I was eating 1,500 calories a day and still going to the gym 4 days a week, plus doing aerobics. I had a complete blood work done before I started this diet because I wanted to see if I would have the exact same results that were boasted in the clinical studies. My liver enzymes were actually high as well as my cholesterol, and my glucose was just a little high. To my amazement they all came down to a normal range in 30 days. Weight loss did not start until week 3 on the diet and then it was 3 pounds a week on average. I did not starve and I felt great throughout the entire time. I still do the 3 days of only fruit and vegetables from time to time because I feel it actually is good for my body to be free of meat protein occasionally. The weight is also staying off! No weight gain rebound."

"I have been taking an antidepressant for 14 years and gained over 50 pounds. I would diet, exercise and restrict my calories and nothing I did would work. I found this web site and did what was suggested and did not really expect to loss weight. I felt like it would just be another promise or possibility and then I would feel let down again.

Well, 60-days later, I am 30-pounds lighter and have only 20 more to go! I kept my old cloths for some reason and I can't wait to put on my favorite dress again. As I write this I feel a little stupid or self-centered. This diet has done wonders for how I feel. I feel alive again for the first time in several years. Actually, the weight loss is a plus and is no longer my concern. Wow. I can't believe I just wrote that."

"After steadily gaining weight for the past 15 years I have finally reversed the process. I am 100 pounds over my ideal weight and could not seem to do anything to stop the weight gain every month. I have been doing the suggestions for the past 14 days and have lost 9 pounds. I am stunned. My asthma has diminished, my constant joint pain is half as much and my mood has improved greatly. I am excited about the weight loss but I feel the mood changes are different. My entire body feels different and that must be effecting how I feel. Thank you for this diet!"

"I was lucky enough to be part of the study. Reading through the clinical studies done on this product does not do it justice. Don't get me wrong, the studies read very well, but it is also how I felt while doing the supplements that made all the difference for me. I not only lost the weight I wanted to lose, but I felt fantastic while I lost the weight. I honestly thought I would only keep gaining weight the rest of my life. Now I feel like I have a life again! I can't thank you enough for coming up with this supplement combination."

"After many years of steady weight gain (chronic asthma and thyroid conditions) and no solution to hand I was feeling I would never loose the weight I needed to. I am grateful to find that after only one week on this program I lost 9 pounds and felt great while doing it. Never hungry, steady and constant energy level and almost daily weight loss. I now have hope for a better quality of life thanks to this effective and healthy program."

Why This Diet and Supplement Approach Works

An Israeli medical group conducted a clinical study titled, (Antidepressant induce cellular insulin resistance by activation of IRS-1 kinases) in 2007, which demonstrated the sequence within the body that takes place leading to weight gain and potential obesity when a person takes an antidepressant. This study was the first to show the direct cause of antidepressant induced weight gain and by defining the cause of the weight gain it allowed a route to follow to look for a possible solution. The cause of antidepressant weight gain, as described in the Israeli study, is rather technical and we will do our best to keep the explanation easy to understand.

Antidepressants cause a gene in our cells to become too active. Genes can turn off and on much like a light switch or a rheostat that can dim or brighten a room with the turning of a knob. The gene that is affected by the antidepressants is called the JNK gene. When this JNK gene is turned on too much, other proteins in the cells will begin to be too excited as well and in other cases completely shut off their functional processes.

With the case of antidepressant induced weight gain; the JNK gene becomes overly activated and this makes a substance called IRS-1 not function properly. IRS-1 regulates insulin within the cells. Insulin resistance is the next step in the process of gaining weight due to the antidepressant. The cells are no longer able to regulate the inflow of insulin properly and a pre-diabetic state is now in place. For those of you that are predisposed to diabetes, this is why there is a 10-fold increase chance of becoming a diabetic when an antidepressant is used. Your body is already genetically arranged to have a problem with insulin and it only takes the stimulus of the antidepressant to push the body over the edge.

For the medical professionals reading this, we are aware that there are other factors that can cause insulin resistance and obesity, however, this information is specific to antidepressants and their cause of weight gain. You see, a person can take an antidepressant, eat a well-balanced diet, get plenty of exercise and still gain a massive amount of weight. We have had too many aerobics instructors over the past decade gain weight once they started taking an antidepressant to not look further at this problem.

The Solution For the Antidepressant Induced Weight Gain

The solution is simple actually. Reduce the activation of the JNK gene and then a good diet and exercise will actually lead to weight loss.

How to Reduce the Over Activation of the JNK Gene

The process we followed while researching this JNK gene not only led to an effective way to lose the weight gain caused by antidepressants but it also led to a massive improvement of our drug tapering program. After reading JNK gene medical studies conducted by Harvard Medical and other prestigious universities, we knew a drug company would be making a weight loss drug in the future based on the JNK gene but their drug would probably address diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, cancer, tumors and a host of other real diseases. We were correct.

The biopharmaceutical company Celgene now holds 17 pending patents or full patents for a new drug to reduce the over activation of the JNK gene. Read more from Celgene. One of the JNK drugs being produced by Celgene for reducing inflammation is nearing the pre-clinical stage. Read more. These will probably be a blockbuster drug for Celgene in the future for several medical conditions but what can be done now to help stop the over activation of the JNK gene?

There are natural ways to reduce the over activation of the JNK gene and reverse the weight gain caused by the metabolic changes forced on the body by the antidepressant. Medical studies show you can reduce the over activation of the JNK gene naturally and effectively without the use of a drug.

After reviewing thousands of JNK gene medical studies, while keeping in mind the metabolism route of antidepressants to not create a drug/supplement interaction, a completely natural solution was found.

We wish we could say “reduce your calories, exercise and weight loss will happen for you” but you know that has not worked. We wish we could say “try the prepared gourmet meals offered by the top diet companies” but you probably have and you know it has not worked at all.

Until you reduce, and keep reduced, the over activation of the JNK gene, weight loss does not have a chance to begin when an antidepressant is used. That is another simple and to the point statement here but watering down the truth is not going to do anyone any good.