Home » Mind & Soul » Bipolar Disorder » The Weight Gain - What to Do?

The Weight Gain - What to Do?

© Colleen Sullivan

The Weight Gain - What to Do?

Last time we talked about the psychiatric medications that cause weight gain. There are a lot of them! The medicine is a necessary evil for bipolars though...without it moods continue to be unbalanced and stabilization becomes nearly impossible.

As frustrated as one becomes with the extra weight, stopping the medication is not the answer. Each time you stop taking these drugs your body builds a type of immunity, and the next time (or the time after that) they eventually become less efficient and possibly stop working for you at all.

The best answer of course is prevention as mentioned last time. When you are aware of the propensity of the drugs for causing weight gain you can take immediate steps to prevent it by either reducing your food intake a bit or increasing your exercise or a combination of the two.

This article, though, is for those of us to whom the damage has already been done, those of us who unwittingly have increased our weight by ten percent or more, those of us who are angry and frustrated with our inability to lose that weight, and those of us who would like to learn that it can be done and how.

I was diagnosed with Bipolar Affective Disorder twenty years ago, and during that time I took many different medications. The only one that has remained constant is lithium, which I have taken since diagnosis. I am one of the ones who fell into the pit of weight gain, and I gained a lot of weight. Four years ago a special doctor started me on the road back to health and by following his directions I eventually lost over one hundred pounds. Today I will share his common-sense approach with you. It is not easy, and takes constant vigilance. Over the past winter my weight crept up by 40 pounds, and I, like you, am continuing the quest for physical fitness.

The approach is basic. Increase exercise and decrease food (calories). No charts, calorie counters, involved menus or measuring foods are required.

THE DIET

Learn the art of substitution. Low-fat foods are better for you, and as you decrease the fat you will be able to eat more healthy fruits, vegetables and low calorie snacks. I was amazed at the number of food I was able to substitute...from whole milk, to 2%, to 1% and now to skim milk, without losing any of the nutritional value or flavor. Low fat margarine eventually replaced butter. I learned there was virtually no difference between low fat and regular cheese. I reduced red meat to two to three times a week, choosing less fat chicken, turkey and fish instead. I ate everything I had eaten before except for the most part I avoided highly sugared empty valued snacks, candy, potato chips and the like. I learned to enjoy diet soda, and am unable to drink the heavily syruped ones even yet). I even ate occasionally at the fast food restaurants (french fries and all), but mostly chose a chinese buffet where I could make my own choices when I ate out. I did a lot of reading about nutrition to learn from which foods I could gain the best fuel for my body.