Is weight loss with Adderall normal?

Hi, I want to try taking Adderall for weight loss, but I don’t know if it is safe. Sudden lose of weight is promised, is it normal?

Adderall is combination of amphetamine and dextroamphetamine. It is originally used for improving attention span, concentration, and overactive behavior. Mainly, it is prescribed for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy, an illness of sudden falling asleep. Rarely, it is used for weight loss. It is not the right approach to losing weight, you should spend more calories and intake less, in order to stimulate burning of accumulated fats. I suggest you to start with mild exercise to stimulate cell metabolism, you will feel much better and all your efforts will pay of.

Look I take adderall for my ADHD. I strongly advise against using this for weight loss. I have done all types of medicattions for weight loss, such as ephedra, ephedrine, guarine, caffeine, etc.. and using pills to try to lose weight is very detrimental to your health. Adderall works as a suppressant and thus will slow down your metabolic rate which is why you do not feel hungry. If you slow your metabolism down like this, upon discontinuation of the medicine, you will rapidly gain the weight and most likely enter into a state of depression and wind up binging because your body is so used to having a stimulant in it.

slice wrote:

Hi, I want to try taking Adderall for weight loss, but I don’t know if it is safe. Sudden lose of weight is promised, is it normal?

Please do not take Adderall for weight loss. This drug is intended for people with ADD/ADHD. It has very different effects on people who do not have it. People w/ ADD have an imbalance of chemicals in the brain & the stimulants help those chemicals maintain a proper balance.
I have to be monitored w/ an EKG at least once a year. This drug increases your heart rate & blood pressure. If I get nervous, my heart feels like it's going to beat out of my chest.
I have ADD & have no choice but to take this medication, as it helps me focus, keeps me from being frustrated, being forgetful, etc. It also helps my relationships w/ people. Basically it helps me function like someone w/o it & I'm very happy, so the side effects are worth it too me, & I actually don't have to many of them, as you would probably have a lot more since you don't have ADD/ADHD.
Sudden weight loss never is healthy, & usually always comes back. Eat right, work out, & you will feel so much better. The weight loss is slow at first, I know I have been there, but it becomes much easier to keep it off. Plus your natural endorphins make you feel like you are on top of the world. For your health's sake do not risk serious side effects to loose a few pounds. It's not worth damaging a beautiful life.

I've been on 15 mg of Adderall since last Sept. I'm 37 and was just recently diagnosed with ADHD. I can't believe how great I felt when I started taking it! I actually felt and sounded intelligent at work. It's like going through life not being able to see clearly, and then being prescribed eye glasses. It's like "so THIS is what it's like to be normal!!" Totally amazing. I do also take Effexor for anxiety, and I will tell you that in the morning when I take both meds I feel like I love everyone and it's a great day. I don't really like this because it's not reality. I do like the fact that my mind is clear and I can prioritize. I don't forget things.

Now about the weight loss ... I do need to lose about 30 pounds, and when I first started taking it I lost 15 pounds in about 6 weeks. Then it balanced out and though I wasn't losing, I wasn't gaining either. Then my husband suggested that I stop taking the Adderall because I was more aggressive. I stopped for about 4 weeks and my mind went back to mush again ... and I gained about 10 pounds. I'm now back on the 15 mgs, and I feel better. I don't care so much about the weight loss because that will come off with WILL POWER, HEALTHY EATING AND EXERCISE.

Sorry this is so long, but some advise for those who desperately want to lose 20 pounds or more ... just adjust your lifestyle. don't think to do something "to lose weight" because you won't keep it up. I decided to exercise Mon - Fri because it helps my body not ache. I have 2 small kids and 3 sets of staircases in my house. I ACHE! Eventually it will come off. I just use the adderall to function like a normal person.

Guest wrote:

Look I take adderall for my ADHD. I strongly advise against using this for weight loss. I have done all types of medicattions for weight loss, such as ephedra, ephedrine, guarine, caffeine, etc.. and using pills to try to lose weight is very detrimental to your health. Adderall works as a suppressant and thus will slow down your metabolic rate which is why you do not feel hungry. If you slow your metabolism down like this, upon discontinuation of the medicine, you will rapidly gain the weight and most likely enter into a state of depression and wind up binging because your body is so used to having a stimulant in it.

Adderall INCREASES metabolism. It does not slow it down. You have no idea what your are talking about!

I am prescribed to adderall for ADHD, I took it for a few years and theres an initial weight loss but if you stop it comes back and it never exceeded 10-15 pounds. Yes it does help with my ADHD im much more focused at school and just in general. But to lose weight it isnt really that great, for 15 pounds it wouldnt be worth it, if youre desperate enough to take a drug to lose 15 pounds then you can probably lose almost that in water weight.

Ive lost 80 pounds because I exercise 5 days a week and changed my eating habits, it would not have happened with just adderall.

And whoever said it speeds your metabolism isnt necessarily right, it speeds your heart rate and in turn you burn calories (my resting heart rate at peak on adderall is my suggested fat burning heart rate) but it suppresses your appetite, which makes your body think it has to go into starvation mode and it slows your metabolism. no matter what youre doing you have to eat to lose weight!

I don't know about anyone else's experiences with adderall, but I took it for about a month awhile back. I was taking 20mg(one pill every morning) a day for about 40 days. I don't think it's a substitute for a healthy diet and exercise plan but it did help kickstart my diet and I was able to lose much more weight even after I stopped taking it than I was before I took it. I definitely don't think it's for everyone. My son's teachers think he should take it, but I refuse to put him on any kind of medication, especially at only 6 yrs old. I just thought I'd share my experience with it.

I started taking adderall for my ADD a few months ago. I had no idea it was supposed to suppress appetite or help with weight loss. As my doctor increased my dose, I started to notice my appetite was much smaller. I had been trying to lose weight anyways and had only been maintaining it. Suddenly I've lost 10 pounds in the last 2 1/2 weeks. I am eating healthy and I'm trying to make sure that there's food in my stomach just as with any balanced diet. Well, I'll continue with my good eating habits regardless. I suppose it might be unhealthy if I solely relied on the meds, but I'm sure my healthy eating only fuels the accelerated weight loss.

For almost my whole life, I have struggled with my weight being on the average of 40 pounds overweight. I could never have imagined a life where food wasn't either a source of consternation or obsession. But then two months ago at the age of 49, I was diagnosed with having ADD and was prescribed Adderall. What a difference it has made in my life. Not only have I lost a focus on food and the struggles with my weight, but it has made me devote my energies to truly positive things I want to change about causes that are important to me besides what the scale says.

Just prior to going on Adderall, I had lost about 10 pounds by skipping breakfast and lunch, but I was constantly hungry and thinking about food. Once I was on Adderall, I just didn't think about food. Prior taking the medicine, I had no idea that this was one of the side effects. I did get really thirsty the first two weeks but that went away after about two weeks. I also have lost weight very slowly averaging only about a pound a week. I have lost a total of 20 pounds and am in a size I haven't been in for years. The amazing thing is, I have no desire to snack and when I eat I only want to healthy. I can only eat small portions because I get that full feeling. For some strange reason, I have developed a craving for dark chocolate (70% higher cacoa). Maybe this is why I had the for the slower weight loss.

Do I recommend it to those not diagnosed with ADD? I don't know. Inspired by my success, my husband obtained a perscription for it and already after one day has had the same experience being on it. Well see how it turns out for him.

While it has been wonderful for losing weight, this isn't why it's my miracle drug. Unless you know what's its like to feel like your mind is full of static, and then to see things clearly, you can never truly appreciate the medical benefit of Adderall. With that being said, I still have never wanted a life on a perscription drug unless it was to sustain my life, so I don't know how long I will actually take it.

Good luck to those who use it and with losing weight, which in itself is a very mind-altering, positive experience.

slice wrote:

Hi, I want to try taking Adderall for weight loss, but I don’t know if it is safe. Sudden lose of weight is promised, is it normal?

it wont reduce your body fat. you can be skinny and still have too high % of body fat. try exercise and stop being lazy

I take adderall as a mood stabilizer, and i think taking it with the intention of loosing weight could be pretty dangerous. While I have lost some weight while on the medication I also think it has the potential to make a person develop a difficult relationship with food which may lead to body dysmorphia - where you have a distorted self image. These are life long problems, i.e. eating disorders. You never get over an eating disorder and it is a constant battle everyday of your life. I highly recommend that you see a nutritionist to make a healthy plan in regards to your desire to loose weight. (i only mean to be helpful, not judgemental)

After many years struggling with being overly hyper, the inability to sustain any decent long term relationship romantically and friendly, being misdiagnosed and feeling like my mind was on a rollercoaster and my body was standing at the concession stand, I was told I have ADHD and it was amazing I was never told this before. Upon this diagnosis I was prescribed Adderall 20 mg for the morning and 5 mg for later on in the day. I wasn't completely sure of the side effects and never really knew that it was the same thing people in school use to talk about when they wanted to loose weight. I will admit I have lost a lot of weight on the drug, but the side effects plus the reason the medicine is suppose to be used for I would NEVER use it for this reason. The normal side effects for people with ADHD taking Adderall that personally s**k for me is extreme headaches & dry mouth. But most importantly, people have to understand that ADHD is a very bizarre disorder and if you are taking a drug that treats this disorder but you do not have it....how do you not realize that you are royally screwing yourself up? As an example:
Me personally, this was my life as a non-medicated person: I usually had a hard time waking up because at night I couldn't go to sleep; my brain would run laps of information through my head constantly, I would sit up and think about everything all the time any time. I would finally fall asleep at about 2 then wake up a few hours later wide awake and ready to go, so I would have to get up and read, take a shower or something to go back to sleep, by that time I only had an hour or two before I had to get up for school or work. I was constantly late to everything, people started to either not invite me to events that required promptness or they lie about the time so I would hopefully show up. I would have about 10 projects going at a time and could never answer my boss fully on how I was coming a long on any of them. I had to work full time, go to school full time, do volunteer work or baby sit or clean or something to keep myself busy because I couldn't stay still. People hated going out with me because I was never tired and never ready to leave. I would do stuff on a whim and then when I would finally think about it I would be so upset with the situation that I would go into anxiety mode. I would literally run my body down until it would basically fail on me by either extreme sickness or severe stomach problems. My brain constantly said, "Come on you can do it all, you don't need to sleep!" It's like my body had no say in the matter. I also was very excessive and couldn't ever budget myself or control myself when it came to specific things, I drank to blackout, I shopped like I had money, I said yes to every one like I was a million people in one. Nothing was ever enough, I always felt like there had to be more. I talked, worked, did things and thought at 100 miles an hour, there was no such thing as clam, relaxed and content.
I know this is long but the point is, that Adderall helped control all these behaviors; by taking a medication strong enough to do that IS NOT HEALTHY OR GOOD FOR YOUR MIND OR BODY if ADHD is not the reason you are taking Adderall. Please think about what you are doing...

I see a lot of self-righteousness in some of the posts and would like to add my personal experience to balance things out.

Adderall is a drug. Alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine are all drugs. Just like any other drug, it can have significant negative consequences, or it can enhance your life considerably. The key is to be responsible, and to stop once you achieved your goals.

I was prescribed 20 mg of Adderall for weight loss by the family doctor about a year ago. I weighed 290 lbs and I'm 6'4 tall. 3 months ago I reached my weight-goal of 210 lbs and stopped taking it. Since then, I regained my appetite and had to adapt to controlling my urges naturally without the drug. I've gained 4 pounds in the first month but seem to have it under control now (I weigh 213 at the moment).

Here are the pros and cons from my experience, and the experience of others I know.

Cons:

1. Insomnia. Make sure you take the drug early in the day. I have had many 2 and 3 hour night because of taking it too late (6 hours before going to bed for an example). While the effect should only last 4 to 5 hours, it can keep you up much longer. I do not seem to have trouble when taking it 10 or more hours prior to going to bed.

2. Mood swings. Adderall will most likely make you happy. I tend to get a "oh isn't the world wonderful" kind of an attitude when I take it. While this may sound like a pro, I do not think it is. For one it is unnatural. Also, your newly-found sentimentality means every little thing will offend you. You can be happy one moment, then the most minor of things will tick you off and ruin your day. Get used to it, and try to control your emotions.

3. Addiction. You will get used to being on the drug, and you will feel out of sync on the days you do not take it. This usually pushes people to continue taking it for as long as they can. It can lead to try other stimulants like Meth or Cocaine. Please don't. Adderall will most likely cause some neurological effects in the long run. I do not have personal experience with that, but it is just simple logic. Take it while you need it, stop when you're done.

Pros:

1. Appetite suppression. And i mean major appetite suppression. At first, I could go on the whole day without eating and would not miss it. I tried not to do that as I know it is unhealthy. I felt the appetite suppression was great as it enabled me to have complete control over my eating habits. I would make sure that I ate 1500-2000 calories every day, and that I had enough exercise. Do not kill yourself to lose weight. You'll just gain it all back once you stop. Develop healthy eating habits and stick to them.

2. Increased energy. I can exercise like a madman when on Adderall. It makes exercise exciting and worthwhile. Make sure you do get some exercise when you're trying to lose weight.

3. Increased focus. I was going to school while taking Adderall, and I never felt it helped me study. Ive always been quite capable of studying, and Adderall didn't change that. I was a good student before and after Adderall. I know a lot of people who take it to study, and it seem to help them quite a bit. It did help me with work though. As a computer programmer I used to work about 6 hours before I'm completely exhausted. I could work for 12 hours straight while on Adderall and it truly increased my income.

So know the facts and do some research before making a decision. But I can testify to the effectiveness of the drug.

Live responsibly.

bednarz wrote:

Adderall is combination of amphetamine and dextroamphetamine. It is originally used for improving attention span, concentration, and overactive behavior. Mainly, it is prescribed for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy, an illness of sudden falling asleep. Rarely, it is used for weight loss.

Actually, it was originally used for weight loss. Adderall, or Obetrol, as it was originally called, was prescribed in the 60's for treating overweight.

bednarz wrote:

It is not the right approach to losing weight, you should spend more calories and intake less, in order to stimulate burning of accumulated fats. I suggest you to start with mild exercise to stimulate cell metabolism, you will feel much better and all your efforts will pay of.

Gosh, you mean if people eat less and exercise more they'll lose weight? Wow! You've got to get the word out! There are so many overweight people out there that need to hear this. Maybe you should go on Oprah, or Dr. Phil.

Pardon my sarcasm, but it's not that easy. There are all kinds of physiological and psychological reasons why some people can't lose weight, and sometimes a medication can help. You wouldn't say that someone with clinical depression just needs to cheer up, or that a schizophrenic just needs to get a grip, would you?

Sure, there are risks involved in taking medications, but let's not lose sight of the fact that obesity is a risk factor in heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, stroke, sleep apnea, gastroesophageal reflux disease, low self-esteem.... I could go on. Most people will probably find that if one medication makes them lose weight, they can throw out all the medications they were taking for all their secondary, overweight-induced illnesses.

I think it's time we started treating obesity as the disease that it is and get over the fact that just because certain people abuse certain drugs, it doesn't mean no one else should use them if it improves their overall health.