As a patient relying on antipsychotics, notably olanzapine I experienced extreme weight gain in a short amount of time. To combat that my psych recommended ozempic injections, which is technically an anti-diabetic drug that is also approved for weight-loss. This however is not covered by insurance and would cost me up to 300 Euros a month. After some research I came across a meta-study about metformin (also an anti-diabetic drug) being successfully used to combat (and reverse) weight gain caused by antipsychotics. Another study I came across mentioned success in weight-loss for knee ostheoarthritis patients. So it appears to work for weight loss also in other circumstances than just antipsychotics.
I tested metformin for roughly 2 months now and I can report a massive shift in my eating habits. I have a lot less appetite during the day, which makes dieting possible for me again. So far I constantly lost about 4 kg in 2 weeks. Why am I not counting the initial 6 weeks? Because there is a drawback to metformin. It can cause digestion problems (your food goes basically out like it goes in). That's obviously not sustainable (and is in fact a serious side effect if persisting) but I managed to get around those issues.
First, you should not drink alcohol when using metformin. Personally I have no issues drinking an occasional beer or two but I avoid getting shitfaced as excessive (or too frequent) alcohol consumption could technically cause lactic acidosis.
Second, (very important) you should dose your metformin right after a meal in order to avoid said digestion problems. Since I am sticking to that I had no digestion issues at all.
Thankfully the second study also provided some dosing guidelines. There they started with a low dose of 500mg metformin per day and slowly increased the dose up to 2 grams daily over a time-frame of 6 weeks.
I didn't follow this dosage regimen but it seems to make sense. I started with 1 gram, which led to digestive issues. Then I tried half a gram per day, also causing said issues. I was already half ready to ditch this stuff after a month but then I started only taking it after a meal and within maybe 2 weeks I went successfully from 0.5 - 1.5 grams a day. I would start with 0.5 gram after a meal and once that worked without issues I would take another 0.5 gram dose after a second meal, upping the dose to 1 gram per day. Now after some weeks I am taking 1 gram in the morning and half a gram in the evening which is working nicely for weight loss so far. Note that I still could go higher on the dose according to the second study. This might be nice in case metformin loses efficiency after initial weight loss (which often happens when dieting). If this happens to me I can still move up to 2 grams per day.
It took me roughly 6 weeks to dial it in properly (just like the second study states) but I ramped up the dose largely within the last 2 weeks after being on 0.5 gram the initial weeks, so maybe 6 weeks aren't necessary. If you encounter digestive issues, I suggest you slow down your dosing regime. Also I would initially stick to 0.5 gram per meal. These days I tolerate 1 gram doses easily even after a relatively small meal. Like a sandwich or something.
I hope this info might be useful to some peeps out there since metformin for weight-loss seems still relatively unknown. Take care and keep in mind, what works for one person doesn't have to work for another. If you keep having digestive issues no matter what this might be an indication for lactic acidosis and you should stop. Ideally you coordinate all these steps with your physician (you can print out the studies and show them to your doc).
Here is an overview of metformin regarding drug interactions and potential side effects.
I tested metformin for roughly 2 months now and I can report a massive shift in my eating habits. I have a lot less appetite during the day, which makes dieting possible for me again. So far I constantly lost about 4 kg in 2 weeks. Why am I not counting the initial 6 weeks? Because there is a drawback to metformin. It can cause digestion problems (your food goes basically out like it goes in). That's obviously not sustainable (and is in fact a serious side effect if persisting) but I managed to get around those issues.
First, you should not drink alcohol when using metformin. Personally I have no issues drinking an occasional beer or two but I avoid getting shitfaced as excessive (or too frequent) alcohol consumption could technically cause lactic acidosis.
Second, (very important) you should dose your metformin right after a meal in order to avoid said digestion problems. Since I am sticking to that I had no digestion issues at all.
Thankfully the second study also provided some dosing guidelines. There they started with a low dose of 500mg metformin per day and slowly increased the dose up to 2 grams daily over a time-frame of 6 weeks.
I didn't follow this dosage regimen but it seems to make sense. I started with 1 gram, which led to digestive issues. Then I tried half a gram per day, also causing said issues. I was already half ready to ditch this stuff after a month but then I started only taking it after a meal and within maybe 2 weeks I went successfully from 0.5 - 1.5 grams a day. I would start with 0.5 gram after a meal and once that worked without issues I would take another 0.5 gram dose after a second meal, upping the dose to 1 gram per day. Now after some weeks I am taking 1 gram in the morning and half a gram in the evening which is working nicely for weight loss so far. Note that I still could go higher on the dose according to the second study. This might be nice in case metformin loses efficiency after initial weight loss (which often happens when dieting). If this happens to me I can still move up to 2 grams per day.
It took me roughly 6 weeks to dial it in properly (just like the second study states) but I ramped up the dose largely within the last 2 weeks after being on 0.5 gram the initial weeks, so maybe 6 weeks aren't necessary. If you encounter digestive issues, I suggest you slow down your dosing regime. Also I would initially stick to 0.5 gram per meal. These days I tolerate 1 gram doses easily even after a relatively small meal. Like a sandwich or something.
I hope this info might be useful to some peeps out there since metformin for weight-loss seems still relatively unknown. Take care and keep in mind, what works for one person doesn't have to work for another. If you keep having digestive issues no matter what this might be an indication for lactic acidosis and you should stop. Ideally you coordinate all these steps with your physician (you can print out the studies and show them to your doc).
Here is an overview of metformin regarding drug interactions and potential side effects.
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