Taking Adderall for weight loss, pros and cons?

What type of school gives a masters degree to someone who can't spell ludicrous?

Does having an education mean that you can't say something ridiculous?

I agree with your statement despite the fact you had to pump your own tires while making it :)

I don't know what pills you take but I have never had those effects yes I lose wait and it takes me at 12-13 hours to fall asleep after taking the pill but otherwise I'm cool.

First of all, I am a medical professional. I want you all to know that most medications that are prescribed today were first intended for a purpose, but then found out that it another effect that worked well for other disorders, so then it is marketed for that alternative purpose. ie: Depakote originally manufactured for epilepsy, found to work for bipolar disorder, now used for the latter frequently. So while I understand your frustration at being labeled a junkie because people use adderall for weight loss and not ADD, its also effective for weight loss, which in case you didn't know, obesity is at epidemic porportions and it IS a disease as well.

Now, to address the accelerated heart rate, you need to speak to your prescribing MD about that. While it is common to feel "sped up" on adderall, if your heart is racing too fast, it can lead to dangerous health conditions such as heart attack, stroke, hypertension, etc which is nothing to mess with. You may need to decrease the dosage, or be switched over to another medication. I experienced this after I had surgery on pain medications, while one made my heart palpitate, another did not. Please seek out medical advice right away, its nothing to mess with.

So while I do not advocate people to take a pill for everything little problem they have, many medications are effective to help us with conditions that are affecting our ability to live normal healthy lives. Obesity is a serious condition and not everyone can just diet or excercise it away. Please stop dismissing it as a lack of willpower, or being a lesser disease than what it is you have. Just like so many other" lesser" diseases that many people have no empathy for like alcoholism, drug addiction, etc. is from societies lack of KNOWLEDGE that many ignorant unsympathetic comments are posted in these forums.

Lets see...Addera is by far one of the most addictive "diet pills" out there. And i suggest not taking it strictly for weigh loss. I started taking it about two years ago and i started out at 135. I took 10 mg a day and didnt even start to notice that i had to increase the dosage throughout the weeks because it was no longer supressing my hunger. Within a few months i was taking 20-40 mgs a day. Not too mention if you do not have ADD/ADHD it will cause depression, anxiety, or lack of sleep. At the end of the year I was down to 110 pounds. Which at 5'1" I didnt look too thin but my heath was poor. When you go all day without eating your metaboism slows so when you do begin to eat it gets stored as fat. Once you no longer have adderall weight comes back on mroe than before! If you want to lose weight eat less ,  workout, and drink tons of water. Adderall causes accelerated heart rate for a long period of time. Which is basicaly like doing any illegal drug to speed your heart rate up. I eventualy stopped taking them and gained all my weight back in three months!!!! Not worth it... i PROMISE

That's a little insensitive. What if someone told you to just exercise some self control and pay attention. Some people have real issues with food. Just because the FDA says it's ok to prescribe for your diagnosis, if it works for weight loss, isn't that valid? Obesity is a real killer and I'd say more significant than your ADHD. Diabetes.

Thank god someone else said exactly what I was thinking. Alli is pretty amazing, but it doesn't decrease your appetite. Most people are looking for a quick fix to weight loss. I've been on my meds for close to four years.... I have been at a consistant 135-137lb average. But I have a question. In the last year I've been getting uncontrollable anxiety. I am perscribed 60 mg a day, and for about two years I took exactly 60 mg a day. But I went through a traumatic death of a boyfriend and lost my job all within a year. Anyways I didn't need to be taking 60 mg a day. So I've cut myself back to about 30mg a day. Mostly only on days I have to work. Anyways, this anxiety is severe. I've gone to the pharmacist and they told me to take some vitamin that I can't think of the name right now, but that doesn't help either. I also seem to be having a harder time sleeping since I lost my job and cut back on my meds, that's why I'm posting this at 3:45 am. Do you have any suggestions on how to deal with anxiety while being on adderal. From what I've researched it's supposed to help with anxiety? What's the deal?

I agree people should take Adderall for weight loss. But, the "just exercise" and "have some self control" comments are pure ignorance. Sugar is addictive. People who are morbidly obese or struggle with food are addicts. The U.S. pushes sugar like crack. We would never allow a vending machine full of crack in our kids' schools, but we allow McDonald's, Taco Bell and other fast foods. We serve them sugary "fruit" drinks for breakfast so companies who push sugar are assured of an addicted adult population.

Self control and personal responsibility are a part of the equation, but if we were inundated with cocaine advertising on television, in stores, on billboards, virtually everywhere, we wouldn't blame it simply on self control, we'd address the bigger issue. Sugar triggers a process in the brain very similar to drugs, keeping the individual hooked.

Further, the "just exercise" myth is just factually inaccurate. The science tells us that it's virtually impossible to "exercise off" all the massive amounts of bad calories (the idea that "calories are calories" and we should focus on burning more than we consume is another myth ingrained in American society) we consume. A single 16 oz frappe from Starbucks, for instance, is ~500 calories. It would take about an hour of running to burn off one frappe. That's one drink. How many hours in a week does the average person have to exercise, for god's sake? Exercise is good, but it's not the sole answer to weight maintenance. This myth is why we have so many "skinny fat" people (people who look thin, but are as unhealthy as an obese person inside).

To be clear, I am very fit and healthy. I eat healthy and I exercise regularly, so I know it can be done. But, I am also very educated in the field and have run nutrition programs. The average person is confused by all the deliberately misleading food labeling, too exhausted to make good decisions (laziness is a symptom of sugar addiction - people aren't fat because they're lazy; people are lazy because they're fat), or are simply overwhelmed with all the changing information about what is healthy. Our government has systematically lied to us about nutrition and cowed to lobbyists who are only interested in generating money and care nothing about our population's health. It's not that Americans are just lazy, dumbasses, we are not on a level playing field against these giant industries that push dangerous foods.

So, again, I agree that people should not use Adderall for weight loss, but the rest is pure out-dated, BS. I'm so sick of seeing people blame it on things we know scientifically are not the problem. It doesn't help people lose weight. In fact, blaming someone for not having will-power or being lazy is counter-productive. It's why we have all these overweight, depressed people drinking diet Cokes and contemplating suicide because we tell the individual it's all their fault, when in fact, they're up against billions of dollars in lobbying and advertising money spreading confusing, misinformation.

25 years ago, a parent would say, "Only one cookie" because on some level, we knew a lot of sugar wasn't good for our kids. We could knew cookies, cakes, pies, milkshakes, etc were desserts to be consumed in moderation. Now, cereals, fruit drinks, processed foods, low-fat items, nearly everything in the grocery store is loaded with sugar. But, still fruit juice as good and cookies as bad. Change your thinking on this. Pick up the bottle and look at the back. You'll note that there isn't even a percentage of daily allowance listed for sugar. Do you know why? Because lobbyists in D.C. do not want you to know that information. There is big money behind keeping that off labeling. Because if they add that information, we'll all be outraged and upset about the fact that a single glass of many supposed healthy fruit drinks have more than a day's worth of sugar.

If anyone reading this is interested in a real solution, put down the Adderall, stop beating yourself up for being "lazy" and do this: Go on a 10 day to 21 day (depending on the level of your sugar addiction) sugar-free diet. Be careful, sugar can be hidden, especially in breads. No sugar, no bread for the detox time. Check the label and research "hidden sugars" (sugars under different names; fruit is sugar (fructose), but we know it's a "better" type of sugar, so you can have a little bit of fruit, but don't go crazy). This will essentially break your sugar addiction. The good news is, unlike cigarettes, sugar cravings will subside in a relatively short time (about 1-2 weeks). The point here is to get the sugar out of your body so your cravings will subside and "shock" your body into going back to how it should process foods. Until the sugar is completely out of your body, you might feel dissatisfied at times. Push through, that's withdrawal, it's your body telling you you need sugar, but just keep going - only 10 days to less than a month - you can do it!

After detoxing, you can go back to small amounts of sugar. Look at it like alcohol, a glass of wine now and then is not going to kill you and neither will the occasional cupcake. But, you do not want to relapse back into a full-on sugar addiction. So, after you've detoxed (for one thing, I promise, you will not be craving sugar like you did while you were "using"), save sugar for dessert only. Make sugar a "treat" again instead of a food group.

The best way to push through all the misinformation and keep things simple is to eat only "whole foods" (not the store, the kind of food). The produce section is your friend. Try to eat fewer foods in packages or pre-prepared meals from the freezer section. Processed foods have more added sugar and you will be hungry faster. Remember: All calories are not created equal. You want to "spend" your calories on foods that will make you full longer. A handful of almonds may have the same calorie count as a can of Coke, but not only will protein in the nuts fill you up more and make you less hungry, the sugar in the Coke will actually make you crave more sugar.

Good luck.

Adderall is definitely a huge boost to jump start your diet. But it is not the right alternative to approach since adderall is HIGHLY addictive. The thing is that you may get a more "positive side-effect" due the fact you are not ADHD. But you also get more of the negative side effects as well. You're even twice as susceptible of being addictive. On a certain degree, it is completely understandable why people abuse it but they honestly become so wrapped up into it. From what I have observed, the drug often masks your personality with a more confident and productive attitude giving you the false ideal view that you cannot simply achieve this persona without it, which isn't true. Don't fall for that trap, you'll regret it. Truthfully, adderall is a weight gainer in reality due to its withdrawal and EXTREME need to feed once the dosage is cut off thus resulting in higher weight gain and unable to determine portion control. In the long haul, you should approach dieting in a healthier aspect because you may lose you desired weight but underneath ALL the skin may be a bunch of health problems you stirred up by your choice of dieting.

Omg this piss me off on so many leaves like so many like myself I have a very saver case of adhd and it destroyed my childhood and my education and I was diagnosed with the doctor just lookin at while I was walking across a big open safe its that bad I have met very few that has it even close to severity as how it's effected In my life and there are cases way worse then I but around my area I have the worst case documented if it was not for people like you among other abusers that ruined for the people like myself I would not have been denied it for that fact that my own family might take them who doctor never met yet so it was bad enough that I couldn't get cause I was not old enough to make absolute sure that didn't take it the school system gave up me friends left and anyone that walked by would stop and make fun of me I am no 23 years I got prescribed adderall this month and its made me feel like I was actually a human. Of this world and I made my first friend this is not wrote for pity because I life is the greatest thing to me for the first time in my life I have found meanings To not.overdose on the hundreds of benzos I was completely sh*t face wasted becaue doctors thought extreme sedation was the safest thing rather having a new name of a sibling.of.a adhd kid found dead from stealing meds so imagen what life I experienced was.that amount that I was forced awake to eat and then going back to sleep until I had to eat waking.me up for school didn't happen and accidental uncontrollable bathroom accidents was something I knew to well so trying to overdose when I finally took my next dosage was another familiar part in my like it became the most positive outlook of my life my mom documented this an the outrage from parents who's kids had adhd was the only reason I am on them now so I hope you know it was people like you as well as other that destroyed youth from life from friends from a education and from major life events kids need in life that's to all the people for supporting my story I am almost.sure most of your parents know more about.the you but truly pissed that I is now prescribed to kids that are overweight like it's prescribed more them subjecting kids to forcing them to pertisapaitting like in my youth even I was forced to try when school still allowed me

My doctor prescribed this specifically FOR weightloss. I am not a druggie and find find the accusation to someone using to for weightloss offensive. Many medications have multiple uses. My antidepressant seconds as a treatment for my irrational bowel syndrome. Is that not ok either?

You should feel like a piece of sh*t you take adderral because you aren't right in the head that's what should make you feel bad not people taking for fun

I took Adderall for 5 years because of my ADHD.. I was underweight for as long as I can remember.. The doctor took me off because I went to the ER because I was finally having side affects after 5 years. I gained about 90 lbs!!!! I'm only 14!! He put me back on it because he said that much excessive weight gain wasn't healthy. I started taking it again this week and I can FEEL the weight loss.

Are you still on the adderall? And are you still at your preferred weight?

I was 14 and 185 pounds when I started taking it. In a year I was 130. It will make you lose weight but in a horrible way!! I didn't eat except for the weekends. I hated taking it but it help me get my grades up from a F to a B.. The entire school year I felt like a zombie. I didn't talk, and it felt like I was walking in fog. I had severe ADD and ADHD. Don't take this for weight loss. It's so unhealthy

This is the most ignorant thing I have ever read. People say the same thing to people with depression, anxiety, bi-polar disorder, or any other mental disorder that you can't understand. It's totally understandable that you don't understand too, because you don't suffer from it. ADHD occurs because the dendrites in an ADHD person's brain's nerve cells don't absorb message hormones as quickly as someone who does not have ADHD. Stimulants slow the brain's reuptake of the hormones so that the dendrites have more of an opportunity to receive the message one nerve cell is sending to another. Stimulants bring regular people up, but ground people who have ADHD. Ask any psychologist or doctor and they will tell you that ADHD is real. Yes, I can manage to pay attention to something if I put every ounce of effort I have in my being into concentrating, but without my medication, which allows me to function and pay attention with the amount of effort that regular people do, I feel as if I am worth very little, because I can't accomplish everyday tasks the way other people can. I have an IQ of 130, so it has nothing to do with intelligence.