I began taking Zoloft a few months after my daughter was born. It's been about a year and a half. I'm very happy with the product. I don't have much anxiety anymore and I think I'm happy. However, now that I am looking back at pictures my recent weight gain appears to have started when I got on the drug. Which means combined with my pre-pregnancy weight gain, pregnancy weight gain, I also have a post-pregnancy weight gain. That adds up to about 60 pounds in 2 years. Ouch! This is the first time I've considered the medication could be causing some issues. So, I'm just wondering if anyone has lost while taking Zoloft. I couldn't find too many positive responses when I searched the board. Thanks!

I'm currently taking Zoloft and as you can see by my ticker, I am having no problem losing. In fact, I didn't start losing until AFTER I started taking it. It has helped immensely with my depression and as a result it is so much easier for me to eat well and exercise. If Zoloft needed a spokesperson, I would have no problem being one. lol I attribute my success today to it.

Zoloft made me gain a lot of weight and made it hard for me to have any motivation to lose it. When I switched to Prozac a few months ago, I started having the motivation to exercise and actually cared whether or not I was overweight (which on the Zoloft, I did not care). I feel like I have a lot more energy and a lot more self-control on the Prozac. But, I think it is different for everyone and it all depends on how your body reacts to the medication. I have heard of other people losing on Zoloft, but that wasn't the case for me, or two friends of mine who were also on it. You may want to talk to your doctor about it.

I don't take Zoloft.....but my DS1 takes Zoloft....he is in his 30's....when I saw him in December....he had lost 10 lbs.

April

I took Zoloft for about 5 years and the whole time I gained weight. It helped my anxiety but I didn't care one way or the other. It kind of flat lined me. I went off the medicine in 2002 and started by weight loss in 2004 after gaining to 289. I think the medicine really makes you gain but then again it effects all people differently.

I also take Zoloft. Although I have seen no significant fluctuation with my weight due to the drug that does not mean it could cause you to have trouble losing/gaining weight. The best thing you can do is talk to your doctor. Start monitoring your weight now and maybe you will notice an increase the longer you are on the drug. I can not give soliod medical advice because I am not a doctor but that sounds like the best thing to do. Good Luck!

Deleted (double post; see below).

I lost weight easily while on Zoloft, but regained when I stopped taking the medication. But then, one of my depressive symptoms is overeating, so it makes sense that Zoloft would help me lose weight, to the extent that it helped with my depression. However, there are other people who tend to lose their appetite when they're really depressed. I've always wondered if those people would gain weight on Zoloft, because their appetite returns as their depression lifts. Is it possible that's what you're experiencing?

Do I ever relate. I started taking Paxil 5 years ago and gained 60+ pounds.
I also developed diabetes after starting it. I have heard that exercise is the key to helping get control of the depression. I have to make a committment with myself....I will exercise every day for 30 days before I will go off the Paxil. I am scared of needing the Paxil if I go off of it. I started it almost 5 years ago when my mom died on 9/12/01.....yep the day after 9/11. I didn't think I could get on with out some help. Before her death I survived a HORRIBLE divorce from a ex who wanted me to do the wife swap thing...When I said NO WAY he went out and found someone who would do it and we got divorced and he married her 12 days later. If I had ever needed antidepressants...that should have been the time...but I survived and so did my 8 year old son.....Now it's 5 years after my moms passing and I am scared of stopping the Paxil...It make me feel sluggish, flat lined, and totally apathetic.....Thanks for listening and Wish me luck.....Patty

WooChx- I took Zoloft only for several months and couldn't handle the way it made me feel. I was put on it for anxiety, ocd, and depression. It made me feel like a total zombie. I had no regard for timelines, what others thought, or about losing weight. Like everyone has said, everyone reacts differently to different meds. My doc put me on Wellbutrin w/ the Zoloft and it literally would put me to sleep for hours in the middle of the day.
On so many of these meds, weight gain/ weight loss always seems to be possible side affects. Talk to your dr. and see what he/she thinks. Maybe there is another you can try or maybe add something to help w/ the weight issue. I wish you much success!

Patty, I am so sorry for all the things you've endured the last several years.
I can see that you are a very strong woman though, you got thru it and so did your son. Good for you!! I would suggest talking to your dr. and see about making either a switch or maybe a different dosage. There has to be something that will make you feel better. You will get through this rough patch. Just be open and honest with your doctor and tell them what your goals are, and how you are feeling. Best of luck to you and take good care.

I have been on antidepressants for many years ( Zoloft and now Lexpro )
they did not make me gain weight ... my poor eating habits and laziness did.

Zoloft seems to make it easier for me not to binge. (When I forget to take it, I sometimes feel HUGE sugar cravings at night. When I take it I binge maybe once a month instead of every day like beforehand.)

I was highly depressed with anxiety attacks for about one year. I was prescribed Zoloft and it did not cause any weight gain. I guess it depends on body and brain chemistry. I actually think that Zoloft allowed me to curve my appetite because I could not do it for a long time, or maybe it was my motivation to be thin. Anyway, I stopped taking it without consulting my psychiatrist because night after night of exercising, my depression lifted. It could be that my extra load of weight was causing my depression in the first place. Who knows? Nevertheless, I was taking Zoloft through the majority of my weight loss regime, and did not let it be a barrier to my success. I guess one internalizes all those comments that it is impossible to lose when on this medication, but I do not find it to be true. Give it a try and don't use it as an excuse. By the time you know it, you will be on your way to achieve your goal.

I have both lost weight and gained weight while on Zoloft. I don't think that it ever MADE me gain weight, even though I gained while taking it. It works fabulously for my depression and anxiety, am taking 100 mg/day, have lost 73 lbs, and I'm at my goal weight.

On the other hand, I took Remeron for 6 weeks last year, and it made me hungry continuously, and I couldn't feel whether I was full until my stomach hurt. It was like being 8 months pregnant and having an uncontrollable appetite. (I gained 9 lbs. in 6 weeks on that medication, so I stopped taking it.) It was nothing like Zoloft. I think if you need to question whether it's the medication, it's not the medication. There was NO QUESTION that Remeron increase my appetite.

same thing here with depression symptom.
I am on Lexapro 10mg and have not tried any other SSRI.
so far, I am motivated to go outside the house, walk, run still not crazy about meeting people (socializing) but I was always somewhat of an anti social.
how about talking to your doctor about changing medication?