Featured Article: Effects of Drug and Alcohol Use on Your Weight

I am not an addict but I have some family members that are addicted to some of the more recreational drug. I guess that's what they're calling them. The family members that are extremely strung out on drugs have lost a significant amount of weight very fast. It make s them look like they are anorexic.

I was over 300 pounds and I lost about about 150 lbs when I STARTED drinking and LOST my appetite (took about a year)! I stopped stress eating white carbs, and started drinking vodka, and took walks for about 30 or 45 minutes every night.
I have gained some weight back due to stress (I'm about 225 lbs now) and no walks anymore, and I now drink vodka very heavily.
Alcohol greatly affected my weight loss I believe, but now I'm a functioning alcoholic who a lot of times sleep eats! Substance abuse, I agree it does affect your diet and nutrition, but for me, I still get up and go to work EVERY DAY for the last 10 years. I'm an untreated diabetic for the last 5 years now and am ignoring the damage I'm doing to myself, mostly because of the money, and somewhat because of my addiction!

weed is sick

Thanks for the useful information. It's so sad though that when we take drugs, we are less considerate of the ill effects

Thanks so much for the useful information. It's so sad though that when in the process of taking drugs , we give little to nil consideration to the ill effects of taking drugs, and think more on satisfying the craving. It seems facts and information mean little for a lost addict. That's why it's best to take head while we are yet not exposed to drugs.

I used to drink all day without eating then when I got home I would have a terrible hunger! Of course I would not pick healthy options, just speed dial the pizza guy. I put on about 20 pounds during those dark years. It took a lot of work to shed them again and I really wish I could have those years back.

I have seen it happened. My husband started losing weight years ago and i didn't even know what was hapenning until I found out about the abuse. They lose their appetite barely eating that leads to malnutrition. He looked 10 years older.

Really gives you something to think about doesn't it? I mean we eat to stay healthy and maintain good nutrition but once drugs step into the equation, well we don't only stop caring about nutrition but we stop caring about everything in general, or at least that was my experience. I did read not too long ago about a study through some science magazine that stated that people who smoke marijuana regularly are often closer to their ideal weight than those who don't. That was a little hard for me to believe as I know my past with that drug and know that I had a belly on me from all those late night munchies. I've also done pain pills and found that I lost a lot of weight because I just wasn't hungry while other gain weight by taking pain pills. I think it all depends on the body and how the specific drug interacts with things, specifically your metabolism.

I have witnessed people waste away to nothing on meth. Not a good way to lose weight. One guy I know has all kinds of nutritional deficiencies even after getting clean. Scary stuff.

Wow, I knew alcohol had a lot of calories, but I didn't realize how much it impacts your body. Personally, I don't think its worth it. Plus the headache the morning after doesn't help. I have started my own weight loss journey 11 months ago, and I am not willing to throw that all away for a drink.

This makes a lot of sense to me. I have never really seen a healthy drug addict. I pretty much agree with everyone here.

Oh and I knew alcohol had a whole lot of calories, but I suppose I never really thought about the impact that has on the body and a person' weight.

Every person I have ever known that has been addicted to some kind of drug or alcohol was thin. Usually not very healthy looking and their teeth would be in bad condition. A relative of mine who was an extreme alcoholic and would use their food money to buy alcohol told me once that they had a package of gravy mix for dinner and that is all they ate all day. So I think alcohol definitely distorted their thinking and the ways they thought about eating and nutrition.

We presented a paper during college regarding the weight loss effect of cocaine dependency. A related literature stated that "cocaine generally suppresses one's appetite that contributes to weight loss" was just an assumption.

A research led by Dr. Ersche, a neuroscientist from University of Cambridge, paved the way for a deeper understanding on why these metabolic alterations happen to cocaine-dependent users. According to her, it is not the appetite suppression that causes weight loss. It is due to the fact that the users had significantly lower amount of fat mass compared to ordinary men. So this means that despite the fact that cocaine users ate more food which contribute to notable weight gain, they didn't gain weight. The results therefore indicate that cocaine thus reduce weight gain, and specifically fat storage, but these effects has nothing to do with suppression of appetite.

There may be tons of problems that arise from the use of substances. Therefore, the sooner we can put an end to the addiction the better! Thanks for your thoughtful post!

Well I've seen drug addicts that are overweight. Each person is different. Classic alcoholics are generally thin, but that means all they do is drink. The one that drinks what ails them. If they have a hangover headache they just start right up first thing in the morning. Alcohol and beer makes your body unable to metabolize fat properly. Oh, I see this article talks about that too. Gluten does the same thing; which is in a lot of food and in most beers.
A person might be thin but their body fat percentage is still higher than a person who doesn't. The muffin top belly that are small layers of fat is something that the skinny addict has. Excessive drinkers who eat more than the classic drinker will gain weight in the belly and so forth. A lean body mass is not obtainable with these addictions.

I know for a fact that a person suffering from any health problem, or any kind of eating disorderswill find it more difficult to control themselves. Their health problems definitely becomes worse.

The effect of drugs at first is mostly psychological, then it moves to dramatic life-style changes. Part of that life-style change is eating disorders that develop after substance abuse and dependence. We should take care of ourselves, and others near us, and to discourage the use of such materials as which damages our lives.
We're humans, and deserve to be humans. Sometimes we forget that, and start treating ourselves as lower than that. We should think about the damage we're causing to ourselves, and also to our living and non-living environment.
This is a good article, we should heed it.

My father abused every kind of drug out their for many years. As a young man my father was extremely handsome and very active. When he started abusing drugs that all changed. He lost his rugged handsomeness. He became a lot less active. When he stopped using drugs he picked up a lot of weight. He has started smoking weed again but he still have problems with his weight. I believe that being on drugs kept his weight down.

I am overweight now, but back when I did drugs I was so thin. What a terrible time that was, didn't eat right at all, all I could think of was satisfying that horrible and insatiable need to get high. That was all I could think of most of the times, there were days I completely forgot about eating! Terrible times.