weight gain while on chantix

i am sure glad i found this as well, i am and always have worked out everyday now i just keep gaining i talk to my doc but no help, i eat very healthy and nothing helps. i am glad i no longer smoke but this isn't a mush better trade off.
if anyone has an answer let us know.

I have been on Chantex for about two weeks. I can not believe the amout of ab fat. I am so upset and do not know what to do. It really did help with the cravings, but being so sluggish and my legs feeling like they weigh a ton. Its just too much.

Yes, once you realize the weight gain will continue, you will need all that confidence, as you try to exercise, but become discouraged from being winded. Being overweight, with no way to loose it, is not a healthy trade-off to smoking. It is unconscionable for doctor to prescribe a cure whose effects are nearly as bad as the disease. The ill-health effects of unnecessary weight gain also include loss of self-esteem, which in turn effects one quality of life. Get a clue.

I started chantix 7 weeks ago. It works great for quitting smoking. However, the reason I am on this site is like everyone else-to find out what the heck is going on. I started a RX for nerve pain around the same time and thought maybe the side effect was coming from that but after researching it further the biggest side effect from it is anorexia. That is so not my problem right now. It's like other people on here are describing, weight gain over night! My appetite has actually decreased since i have quit smoking due to the other medication I am taking and my physical activity has increased dur to the type of work i do and i have gained nearly 12 pds. I have maintained my weight for the past 4 years doing less than I am doing now. It too is also going right to my stomach, butt and thighs. I feel disgusting and want to get off the Chantix but when I miss a dose I crave a cig and I'm afraid I will go back to smoking. Either way though this is not healthy! Help!!!

I started chantix 7 weeks ago. It works great for quitting smoking. However, the reason I am on this site is like everyone else-to find out what the heck is going on. I started a RX for nerve pain around the same time and thought maybe the side effect was coming from that but after researching it further the biggest side effect from it is anorexia. That is so not my problem right now. It's like other people on here are describing, weight gain over night! My appetite has actually decreased since i have quit smoking due to the other medication I am taking and my physical activity has increased dur to the type of work i do and i have gained nearly 12 pds. I have maintained my weight for the past 4 years doing less than I am doing now. It too is also going right to my stomach, butt and thighs. I feel disgusting and want to get off the Chantix but when I miss a dose I crave a cig and I'm afraid I will go back to smoking. Either way though this is not healthy! Help!!!

There is definitely something to this. I started taking chantix 8 days ago. I started gaining weight immediately when I got to day 4 (when the dosage first doubles). I gained 5 lbs in a 3 days! So the seventh day I hit the gym hard for two hours and wake up the next morning and have gained another 0.2lbs. Did I mention I am currently doing a 90 day weight loss challenge at work and have been eating right the whole time? Yes, that is important. Did I also mention this is my second time using chantix? I used it and quit for a year when I was in college. Since then I have gained over 65 pounds. I had a wake up call at my last physical and my doctor said I was morbidly obese and sent me to see a nutritionist and told me to get moving. So I did and lost 35 lbs since November 2012. Now, for all you "calories in, calories out" and "quitting smoking slows down your metabolism" people: this is not a coincidence. I have blamed my weight gain on everything under te aun but chantix until this week. I know now that this medication has contributed to my struggles for the last 6 years. I will not take another pill I promise you that. I only hope that I didn't take it long enough to screw myself up too bad this time around. And for all of you out there wondering if you should take up smoking again to lose the weight - don't bother I already tested that theory for you accidentally. The answer is no it does not help you lose the weight.

Also important that I mention the 5 lbs I gained in the first week were prior to my quit date. So it was not the metabolism alone that caused the gain.

I agree. Definitely have had weight gain and I LOWERED my calorie intake and INCREASED my exercise/cardio/wieght training. So, to the other guy, I agree, we all know how people gain weight and I knew it could happen when I quit. Now I can't get the 10 lbs I gained in the first month to go away. I find this interesting. I'm glad I got on this page.

I started taking Chantix a little over a week ago, I haven't even quit smoking yet, and I've noticed the past few days that I can't fit into anything. I just weighed myself and I've gained 7 lbs! I'm 30, and I've maintained the same weight (between 130- 135) for the past 10+ years, now all of the sudden I weigh 142?!! It's all in my gut area, like everyone else said also. I'm not taking another pill, and I'm praying that I haven't taken it long enough for the damage, or the weight, to be permanent. I've read through a lot of information tonight, and, from what I can tell, the drug can relate to weight gain through one of these issues; (1) it attaches to your nicotine receptors, which also release dopamine, and dopamine regulates metabolism (google "Chantix weight gain dopamine" and you should be able to find something, (2) hypothyroidism, through hormone production that regulates weight, and Chantix has been observed to be the cause of hypothyroidism, (3) diabetes, which people all over are suing pfizer about, because the drug is somehow messing with insulin and causing diabetes. Those are the main, and most reasonable answers, I've been able to come up with. No one I've read about has been able to lose the weight after discovering this issue, unless they eventually lost it, and lost interest in posting about it too. I really hope this helps someone else, because I had to dig through page after page of searches to find theses pseudo-answers, and still, there's always those people trying to say it's not the drug, which is ridiculous, being that the ONLY thing I've changed so far is the addition of this drug to my system, and I've read many other similar (and worse) accounts. If anyone has any other answers, or has managed to lose the weight, I'd love to know! I'm so glad I read all this now, I hope it's soon enough for me. That company really should be held accountable for downplaying the side effects of a drug like this, and allowing so many consumers to be harmed.

Apparently Chantix has "changed" it's formula. I used it back in 2010 and did not gain a pound, (after 8 month of use) however I changed insurance companies and my new one would not cover it, so I did not conquer my smoking addiction. I have recently 2013 changed insurances again and have begun the use of Chantix again. (approx. 3 months now) and I have experienced a substantial weight increase. I have also noticed that the dreams associated with the older chantix are not as intense this time either. My body image plays a huge roll in my self esteem, so I am considering discontinuing the use of this product. I wish you much success with your efforts to cease smoking, but don't see much for myself as everything else has failed for me.

Thats a bunch of bs ToniF. The cost of 1 month presciption of chantix is the same as 1 month of a pack a day habit. In other words.... your insurance company not covering it is a bs excuse for you to put off quitting plain and simple. As far as weight gain, I gained a bit of weight on it, most likely due to eating more, however I was actually able to push myself much harder at the gym and bust 1000-1300 calories off in an hour of high intensity workouts. In 1 month i was in better shape than I had been in 10 years and felt better than i had since i started smoking. Sounds to me like folks need to push harder at the gym, do some interval training, and adjust how you are eating and when you are eating. Or if you want you can continue to make excuses on why you dont want to quit smoking.

I used champix 2 years ago and no weight gain happened. But now, I gained 10 kilos in the last 2 months. The case is I could not lose any pound, although I know that I could do before with the cardio exercises and going on a diet. (I mean if I do exercise like now I could easily lose weight. But now I am still gaining) Many people says in this forum that they gained weieght. Could you also lose those extras after a duration?

Try Ideal Protein system, I did and it helped me lose weight where nothing else did. Don't start smoking again...you can lose the weight. Talk to your doctor abut the side effects from stopping, I'm not an MD but do know that you need to wean yourself off of it, decreasing dosage over a period of time.

I've been on Chantix for about 2 weeks and have gained 15 llbs. Last weekend I helped my sister pack to move across the country. Very hard work and didn't hardly eat a thing. When I got home Sunday night we went out to dinner for Father's day. I tried to put a pair of blue jean shorts on that fit me on Friday, but couldn't hardly button them. I had to take them off and put knit shorts on. I think I gained 5 lbs in my stomach just over the weekend! Very distressing!

I had lab tests in January last year which included thyroid tests (which were all normal). I am 49 years old now and weighed 190 last January. I had weighed that for approximately two years. My doctor suggested I take chantix. I was extremely concerned about gaining weight as I was already a little heavy. I am 5'4". In April last year I called my doctor and asked him if any if my meds would me me gain a bunch o weight virtually overnight. He said, no. At this point, I had severe edema (major water retention) on my shins and ankles. By April of last year, I had gone up to 220 pounds. (I eventually seemed to stop gaining at 235 pounds. I hdnt changed any habits except walked more. Oh, I should also say that in April of last year, my new doctor did the same thyroid tests I had in January and it now showed that I have a thyroid disease. I have n under active thyroid or hypothyroidism. (Only two months prior, my tests were normal). My doctor told me (once the thyroid meds supposedly brought my levels to normal) that I had to lose weight and pretty much told me I was lazy and wasn't exercizng enough and must be overeating. I look like I am very pregnant. I also have now been told that I have type 2 diabetes. (Again, in January, I did not). I went off chantix in September but still could not lose the weight. (By the way, my first doctor told me that the only side effects were he dreams, which I never got). I have been back n chantix for about 2 months now, and am going off it as of now. I have managed to lose 15 pounds, but no more s coming off. I am so embarrassed about the way I look, that I do not want to leave the house. Everything I put on, I feel makes me look fat ad sloppy. I have also LST my ability to critical think since October. I have failed every course since then (I had straight A,s before then). I now have to see a psychiatrist because the meds my doc prescribed for depression and my inability to focus, concentrate, and when I read my instructions for my homework, I might as well be reading a foreign language. I found out from my pharmacist today, that chantix can cause endocrine problems and diseases as well as problems with focus and concentration. I think I will also be contacting an attorney tomorrow. Because if my endocrine problems (which are permanent) are caused from chantix, then because m life will be cut short, my daughter should be compensated for losing her mother all because I wanted to quit smoking