My Life As A Dowell: Weight loss and bipolar medications

This is a topic that I want to address. When you first get diagnosed those first 6-7 months are hell. Your weight goes up then down up then down. Once it gets under control if you are not careful it can and will creep up.
I am of the majority of the people who have gained weight on medications. And the simple fact is that losing weight with these medications is an uphill battle attached to an already existing battle. study after study that you can find during a internet search will tell you that people with Bipolar disorder are at high risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. So what does this mean to me? Well I interpret this to mean that losing weight is going to be more challenging for me and people like me.
It is weird my medications actually increase my cravings for foods that I love, like pasta. My Zolaft, when cycling, can make me crave starches and carbs so bad that I am down right mean.
So what is my action plan? I will follow Weight Watchers and do what I have to do. But for the cycling I am going to try to increase my exercise when i feel it coming on. In addition to that I have read some studies that suggest you increase your water intake during this time, it is supposed to increase the effectiveness of the medications, so instead of 6-8 glasses of water I will increase it to 9-10. all these little changes will add up and I'm hoping that my cycling will decease in either the number of times a year it will happen or decrease the length, I'll take one or the other.

Now on to the weigh in!!!

I weighed in on Saturday at 192.2!!! a loss of 2.2 pounds! I was very happy. BUT, I had a major cycling issue on Saturday that carried over to Sunday, I binged. I was upset with myself for finally giving into the cravings and all, but realized that for every accomplishment that happens there is the possibility of comming up short the next time.

And now the picture a day!!