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Prozac and Weight Gain: Causes & Influential Factors

Prozac (Fluoxetine) is considered one of the most popular antidepressant medications of all time. It was developed by the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and approved for the treatment of major depression in 1987. Many people have had great success taking Prozac to manage depression, OCD, panic attacks, as well as eating disorders.

The drug functions as an SSRI (selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitor) which increases extracellular levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin. By increasing serotonin levels in the brain, many individuals find that it works great to help manage depression. Despite the fact that it can really help some people cope with psychiatric conditions, those taking it often complain of weight gain.

Prozac and Weight Gain

When people are prescribed an SSRI medication like Prozac, they are mostly focused on recovering from a mood disorder like depression – they aren’t concerned with potential side effects. In some cases a doctor won’t even inform patients of certain side effects with the thought that if a patient knows of side effects, they may discontinue a treatment that they need. In any event, many people end up noticing throughout the course of their Prozac treatment that they’ve packed on some extra pounds.

How Prozac Causes Weight Gain (Theories)

There are many theories as to how Prozac and other SSRI medications may cause weight gain. Some speculate that Prozac may slow the metabolism, while others believe that it increases craving for certain sugary foods like refined carbohydrates. Others may simply experience an appetite change while on the drug. In any regard, below is the laundry list of possibilities that may contribute to gaining weight on this medication.

  • Appetite changes: If you had a poor appetite before treatment, and all of a sudden you have a strong appetite after taking the drug, it’s obvious that you’re going to gain weight. Many people with depression don’t eat enough food while they’re depressed, and when they start treatment, their appetite returns and they start to eat. If you notice that your appetite changes, realize that this is a normal side effect from the drug.
  • Carbohydrate cravings: There is a relationship between serotonin and craving carbohydrates. Some believe that Prozac and other SSRI medications alter serotonin, which in turn causes some people to experience carbohydrate cravings. If you all of a sudden develop a sweet tooth and are eating more pastas while on this drug, it may be a result of this factor.
  • Drug interactions: It is important to consider that the drug may be interacting with another medication or drug that you are taking. The interaction between the two (or more) drugs may be causing you to gain weight. It is also important to consider the influence of the other drug on your weight before blaming Prozac.
  • Fat storage: Taking this medication may be increasing your body’s natural propensity to store fat. If your body starts packing on more fat than you were prior to taking the drug, it may be due to this particular factor.
  • Hormonal changes: Another idea is that Prozac creates hormonal changes in the body over the course of treatment. When hormone levels become altered, it can lead to increased hunger, fat storage, etc. Due to the fact that SSRI-induced hormonal changes has not been extensively studied, this is difficult to confirm.
  • Improved taste: Some have noticed that when they take a certain medication, foods taste significantly better. It could be argued that neurotransmitter alterations in the brain may also alter perception of taste. Those who now experience an improvement in taste are more likely to eat more frequently.
  • Less depressed: When people are less depressed from taking Prozac, they may be more likely to eat. When depressed, a person typically isolates themselves, eats less, and may not care about their personal health. Upon becoming less depressed, they may seek out food and better manage their hunger.
  • Motivational changes: Taking an antidepressant may result in a decrease in overall motivation. In other words, a person may feel so much better with their life, that they may see no need to exercise. This is a phenomenon that occurs in some people and could be called antidepressant-induced laziness. Those taking Prozac may become lazy as a result of the drug’s effects.
  • Side effects: The side effects of Prozac can include things like fatigue, tiredness, and grogginess. Not everyone will feel tired after taking the medication, but some people certainly do. Side effects like increased tiredness and decreased energy may lead a person to sleep longer and rest more instead of getting proper exercise.
  • Slow metabolism: Your metabolism may be the root cause of the entire Prozac-induced weight gain. Some speculate that regardless of whether you eat the same foods and portions during treatment as you did pre-treatment, you are still going to gain weight. This leads many to believe that the cause of this weight gain despite no change in foods or portions is a result of a slowed metabolism.
  • Social dining: Those who feel less depressed while taking an antidepressant often start to go out more often with friends. Engaging in social activities often results in “social eating” which generally isn’t healthy food. Social eating often results in going to fast-food restaurants and/or large portions of food.

Note: It is possible to experience a combined influence from many of the possibilities listed above.  In other words, a specific theory such as slow metabolism may not be the sole culprit for causing the weight gain.  It could be a compounding effect as a result of slowed metabolism, plus feeling lethargic, plus social dining.

Factors that influence weight gain on Prozac

It is important to recognize that there are other factors that will influence weight gain that a person experiences while taking Prozac. Most notably, the dosage, your lifestyle, how long you’ve taken the drug, as well as if you are on any other medications are often responsible for your weight gain.

1. Dosage

How much Prozac do you currently take? Those taking a high dose are significantly more likely to gain weight in comparison to those taking a low dose. When you take a higher dose, there is increased likelihood for side effects as well as physiological alterations. Essentially at higher doses, you are giving the drug more influence over your brain as well as body.

If you gained a little bit of weight at a low dose, but double the dose, you are also likely doubling the weight gain. This is why it is highly important to always stay on the minimal effective dose when taking this drug.

2. Individual factors

There are many individual factors that may play influence weight gain while on Prozac. These include things like: environmental stress, baseline metabolism, physiology, genetics, hormones, dietary intake, exercise habits, and your overall lifestyle. Many people assume that the drug is always responsible for the weight that they gain throughout treatment and fail to realize that it could be a variety of other factors as well. If you start craving carbs and end up eating a poor diet, this factor alone could be responsible for your weight gain.

3. Time span

The time span over which you have been taking Prozac also will influence the amount of weight you gain. Taking the drug over a short term period like several weeks often doesn’t give the effect of the drug enough time to “build up.” When you take the drug for moths, the drug will have elicited its effects on your brain and entire physiology.

If you stay on it for an even longer term, you may gain more weight due to the fact that it may alter your physiological functioning to a more significant extent. Additionally when many people take Prozac for a long term, they end up doubling the dosage due to tolerance at a lower dose. The increases in dosing along with long-term effects on your functioning make it easier to gain weight.

4. Other medications

Before assuming that the Prozac is directly responsible for your weight gain, also consider other medications that you’re taking. In some cases it may be the other medication wreaking havoc on your weight more than the Prozac. In other cases it may be that both your Prozac and other medication are each causing some reaction that leads to weight gain.

Yet in other individuals, both drugs could be working in synergy to compound the amount of weight that you gain. Always be sure to look up the potential side effects of other medications to determine whether they are weight-neutral or associated with weight gain.

How much weight will you gain from Prozac?

There’s no telling exactly how much weight you will gain from taking Prozac. Some people taking high dosages may gain quite a bit. Those who didn’t eat much prior to treatment who notice that their appetite increases may also gain a significant amount of weight. On average, most people that gain weight from Prozac and other SSRIs tend to gain 10 lbs. throughout the course of treatment. Fortunately, most people don’t view 10 lbs. as a significant amount and this negligible weight gain won’t bother them as long as the drug is working well for their depression.  Other uncontrolled studies have suggested it is possible to gain nearly 21 lbs. after 6-12 months of treatment.

  • Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24898363
  • Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC181155/

Will everyone gain weight while taking Prozac?

No. In fact, some people will actually lose weight for a variety of reasons while on this medication. Some people taking Prozac may actually lose interest in eating and/or become less hungry than usual. Others may not notice any weight change and for them the antidepressant will be considered “weight neutral.” It is estimated that nearly 1/4 people taking a particular SSRI drug like Prozac report weight gain. This means that for 75% of people, weight gain isn’t really much of a problem.

Prozac: Cost-Benefit Analysis

It is important to always conduct a “cost-benefit” analysis of any medication that you’re taking – including Prozac. If you gained a significant amount of weight, think about whether the drug is working well enough to justify this gain. For some individuals, the drug may not be working well and they may be gaining weight. In this case, a person may be better off going through Prozac withdrawal and/or switching to another medication.

Not everyone will have a great reaction to this drug, so finding a medication that you’re compatible with can be a challenge. If this medication causes you to gain some weight, but you feel significantly better than before you started taking it, it should be an easy decision to stay on it. Don’t let minor short term weight gain cloud your judgment into thinking that you’d function better without the drug if it has been working great.

Did you gain weight while taking Prozac?

Keep in mind that many people will gain no weight from taking this particular drug. For those that ended up gaining weight while taking Prozac, feel free to share how much weight you gained in the comments section below. It may help some to know the dosage that you were taking, how long you were taking it, and any other factors that you can think of that may have lead to an increase in weight. If you have any other thoughts regarding weight gain as a result of taking Prozac, be sure to mention them.

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86 thoughts on “Prozac and Weight Gain: Causes & Influential Factors”

  1. I was on 20 mg of Prozac for months and then decided to up the dose to 30mg. I’ve been on the increased dose for about 12 weeks and I’ve gained 11 pounds. What’s strange is that I seemed to have gained it in like a 2 week time span.

    It’s all in my belly, butt, and love handle area. I’m going to go back down to 20mg and pray it helps.

    Reply
  2. I’ve been on Prozac for 9 months. I started at 20mg and it did not work for me, but did notice I gained some weight. I then moved to 40mg and noticed even more weight. I’ve gained over 20 pounds in 9 months. I am not weaning off of Prozac.

    Reply
  3. I’ve been taking Fluoxetine and Risperidone for the past three years first at 10-20mg for the first two years and 40mg for the last year. From age 16-28 I weighed around 120lbs, and from 25-28 I wasn’t very physically active. My diet has always been subpar but I usually don’t eat a lot or that often.

    When I started taking the meds in that first year I gained 20lbs and have continued to do so each year at a rate of 1.5-3lbs every other month or so… at first it was cool because I’ve always wanted a fuller figure (I used to be a stick figure!), and the weight was filling me out in places like my rump and thighs… but the last 40lbs have gone directly to my belly.

    And the belly weight isn’t jiggly fat, it’s hard and bloated and doesn’t go away after gas isn’t passed or anything like that.. for the past 8months I’ve kinda lost my appetite because I don’t want to gain anymore weight, and I started eating fewer much smaller meals, but just yesterday I found out I’ve gained another 4lbs just from February till April.

    I’m going to start running again and switching to being a pescatarian for a while to see if I can scale this big belly back by 15lbs. But if that doesn’t work I might need to switch to a different antidepressant because I’m now on60mg and if I gain another 20lbs I’ll be too fat to function…

    It already hurts my back to stand for long periods of time, and that was never an issue for me, a sousaphone player. So glad I’m not alone on this abnormal weight gain issue! -Be Blessed

    Reply
  4. I started taking Prozac along with a plethora of medications after being diagnosed with a very severe form of depression. The doctors said it was one of the worse cases they had seen. Every medicine that the doctors subscribed did not seem to work. It took over four months before the doctors tried Prozac which started to give me some relief.

    I am now on Prozac (10mg) was on 20mg just recently and am tapering, 100mg of Lamictal, 75 mg of Wellbutrin, and 10mg of Buspar each day. When depressed I lost over 50 lb. in two months. I was down to 129 lb. when I became severely depressed and was unable to eat or sleep. I was so small that I had to buy all new clothes.

    When starting Prozac in January 2017 I was wearing a size 8. It is now April 2018, and I have gained to much weight. I weigh 201 lb. and wear a size 18 pant. I am so thankful to God that I was able to find Prozac and the other meds to literally save my life. I am now doing better and my depression seems to be under control.

    However, the weight gain is starting to take a toll on me both physically and mentally. I feel so heavy and tired all the time. I also feel fat and unattractive. I love that the Prozac saved my life, but my psychiatrist even admitted that I possibly could continue to gain weight from the medicines.

    I have tried exercising, dieting, and visiting with a nutritionist. Nothing seems to work in weight loss. I am not sure if it’s the Prozac causing the weight gain, one of the other meds, or a combination of the meds. Dealing with depression is like a five and take situation.

    You take the med only to want to feel better, but in the long run you could possibly gain weight making you feel even more depressed. I am thankful Prozac was there for me to get me better, but I am thinking about going off of it and just keeping on my other medicines since it is getting difficult for me to physically get around. Being only 5 foot tall and 201 lb. puts a lot of strain on my body.

    Reply
  5. I have gained 10 pounds in a year on Prozac. My life of worrying every day that I’m dying from one illness or another has dramatically improved!! Worth every pound! But it’s hard to lose it… I work out every day and no change!

    Reply
  6. I have been on generic Prozac 60 mg for a year now and have gained 60 pounds. I always seem to be hungry and particularly crave carbs. I am now over 40 and some doctors just say it’s because I’m getting older. I don’t believe that and am starting to get worried about it.

    Reply
  7. I have been taking Prozac for less than six months. Already I am UP TWO PANTS SIZES. While the depression has significantly improved, the colossal weight gain is parallel, if not in excess, of that improvement. The rapid onset of major weight gain is so disproportionately insufferable that I have decided to quit taking it altogether now.

    Reply
  8. I have been taking Prozac for 6 years now. I am 5’1. Before taking it I was 118 lbs and 13 years old. Right now I am taking 80mg and I am 175 lbs and 19 years old. The weight I have gained depresses me way more than my actual depression.

    I can’t take this anymore. I hate my body now because of this. I’m a dancer and because of this I’ve failed many auditions because I’m too fat. I believe if I had not started prozac I would be fine.

    Reply
  9. Ive been taking prozac on and off for 13 years. I’ve went from 107 lbs to 190 lbs, back down to 125 and back to 170! I currently decided to stop prozac altogether and start wellbutrin. I’ve been on wellbutrin for a week now and lost 5lbs. And I feel so much more energetic!

    Reply
    • Hi there. I’ve been in Prozac for three years and have gained 50 pounds. My doctor just wrote me a script for Wellbutrin. I’ve been tapering off of Prozac for the last two days and I feel horrible.

      How are you doing now? Have you returned to your normal weight? Did you swap Prozac for Wellbutrin or did you taper off of the Prozac before staring Wellbutrin?

      Thanks so much. This feels scary and it’d be so good to hear from someone who’s already been through this.

      Reply
  10. I began taking Prozac 20, 40 then 60. I was switched from Celexa directly to Prozac amid weight gain concerns. I had heard that Prozac was more likely to cause weight loss, which initially, it did. After approximately 2 months, I started to slowly gain weight and it has steadily crept up from 142 lbs – 191 lbs. with really no dramatic lifestyle change / change to diet.

    My doctor, like many others I’ve read about, was very dismissive and offered to send me to nutritionist. I feel extremely concerned because I began tapering 10mg at a time, however, I don’t feel great and keep resorting back to my regular dose. I am, however, so grateful for the comments on this thread. I felt so alone after my doctor’s appt.

    Reply
  11. Started taking prozac in 2010. At the time I weighted 295, and was on the way down, but noticed some anger management/depression issues. Started taking 20 mg/day. 4 weeks ago, I decided to stop taking it. I weighed 356 lbs, and had little motivation or desire to do much of anything.

    I talked with my doctor, and he recommended a reduced/tapering dosage plan, so that I could come off it without too many withdrawal symptoms. I feel clearer now than I have in years, and I don’t binge eat anything like I did while taking the drug. Since cutting my dose to 10mg / every other day, I have dropped 10 lbs in the past 2 weeks, and I have started doing crossfit.

    I have more energy than I have in years. I have 2 weeks left, and I will be off completely, and I can’t wait to see what I feel like then.

    Reply
  12. So so glad to find this website. I had been feeling for the last few months that I was just a loser and couldn’t do anything right. I have taken anti-depressants for 10 years, when I started taking them I weighed 96 lbs. I now weigh 171. I also go to the doctor’s diet program, where they prescribe phentermine diet pills. Really all that has done for the last few months is just help me not gain anymore.

    I was gaining 10 lbs every 6-8 weeks, I am assuming that it has to do with my doctor upping my prozac from 40mg – 60mg. I eat less than 1100 calories a day and walk about 3 times a week. I weaned myself off of the prozac (fluoxetine) on October 27th, so it has only been about 2 & 1/2 weeks, I sure hope it doesn’t take too long to get a little of this weight off.

    I have about 4 pieces of clothing that fit me now. I am in a size 14. Can’t afford to go out and buy new clothes.

    Reply
  13. Have been on 20mg Fluoxetine for 13 months and have gained 10lb, this after having lost 42lb 3 years ago. I think it is because I feel like my old self and consequently am eating like old self. Can relate to having a wardrobe full of clothes that are too uncomfortable to wear and am reduced to a couple of pairs of elasticated waist trousers and baggy tops. I am fed up with dressing like a fat person again and have stopped taking the tablets completely after reducing them to 3 times a week. I am determined to wear my lovely clothes again, wish me luck. ?

    Reply
  14. I gained about 40 lbs the two times I was on Prozac. The first time I was on it for about two years but the second I was only on it for about seven months and I still gained a lot of weight. It helped with my anxiety, but the weight gain was too much. I won’t take it again. I’m glad to hear I was not the only one that gained weight on it.

    Reply
  15. I have been taking the generic fluoxetine. I have been on increasing dosages for about 4 months. At first I actually lost my appetite and lost 10lbs. I was very sick. Over this past month my appetite has increased significantly. I eat and eat and eat. I crave so much sugar it’s not even funny. I have gained 5lbs.

    I have been trying to lose weight before going on the meds but now I am discouraged. I don’t want to go back to that depressed, stressed intolerable person but I also don’t want to blow up again. I was down 40lbs! I was trying so hard. I have spoken with my doctor. Still awaiting her response to this matter.

    Reply

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