For a lot of people living with mental illness medication is a necessary evil they help us maintain mental wellness and live a happy, fruitful life. But this life can come with side effects and one of the most common and mentioned is weight gain.
drugs like Seroquel which is commonly referred to as the "Carb Monster" can pack on weight by doing two things, slowing the metabolism and craving carbs and other tasty tidbits in epic amounts. I am will to be larger if I can maintain a healthier mental life but some people struggle with this. The media and society also stigmatizes fat people. I am tired of people saying, "Just exercise and eat well" and the weight will come off" as this is not always possible with people on psychotropic meds. All the dieting and healthy eating in the world will not help when the meds just put weight on you. And a fuck you to the fitness industry who feeds off the insecurity of people..
TV shows talk about dieting at no end because we think thinner people are better people yet no one talks about the 20% of North Americans who are on Psych Meds whose weight gain is not a choice but one that is a effect of working to stay sane. How many thousands of people we see every day who are not rail thin are on meds. How many people who others have said, "Look how he or she let herself go" is taking life saving meds.
If you throw in the stigma of mental health on top of the stigma of weight gain, people living with mental illness are faced with a double whammy of finger pointing. Again I will state that I am comfortable with my size and like myself, my weight gain is a direct effect from my meds, but my sanity is more important than being able to fit into Lululemon clothes. And while I am on Lululemon, as a company fuck you for judging people who are not tits on a stick, some of us have a reason for not being a size zero, it is called survival. So think before you judge someone on size for any reason not just medication induced chubbiness, we are all just trying to live.
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