Starting Finasteride While Overweight?

[Brandon87]

Hey, everyone. My name is Brandon. I'm 29 and first noticed my hairline receding about seven years ago. The process has been VERY slow, and just in the last year has it started thinning on top to the point it bothers me. I got prescribed generic finasteride by a dermatologist a few days ago, but after reading a few comments both here and elsewhere, I'm concerned about starting.

I'm 5'9" and weigh about 230. This is the most I've ever weighed, as I was regularly at 150-155 up until 2009 when I started gradually putting on weight. My question is: should I be concerned about my weight in terms of side effects? I'm especially worried if I start at this weight, I will increase my chances of developing gyno. However, I'm also worried that if I take a few months to lose some weight BEFORE I start finasteride, my hair will either thin drastically from weight loss or from continuing to wait to begin treatment.

Does anyone have any advice? Thanks in advance!
-Brandon

 

[g.i joey]

Happened to me man, I got on the drug at 240 (I'm 5'11) and got gyno. I had to get off the drug, lose weight and take an AI at the same time to get rid of the gyno. My advice would be take the 2-3 months you need to lose at least 10-20 pounds and then start. I'm 215 now and have been taking the drug for 8 months with no noticeable side effects at all.

You can also start now and dose .25mg while you're trying to lose weight, this will at the most just slow things down and slightly protect you while losing weight.

 

[Saiyaman]

Is gyno more commonly developed in overweight people on finasteride?

 

[Brandon87]

Happened to me man, I got on the drug at 240 (I'm 5'11) and got gyno. I had to get off the drug, lose weight and take an AI at the same time to get rid of the gyno. My advice would be take the 2-3 months you need to lose at least 10-20 pounds and then start. I'm 215 now and have been taking the drug for 8 months with no noticeable side effects at all.

You can also start now and dose .25mg while you're trying to lose weight, this will at the most just slow things down and slightly protect you while losing weight.

Hey man, thanks for your reply and sharing your experience with me. I have a couple of questions, if you wouldn't mind answering them.

1. How long did it take you to lose that weight? Did you lose much hair in the time you went off finasteride to lose weight and treat your gyno? If so, did it thicken back up after you restarted?

2. This is probably a dumb question, but did you drastically change what kinds of foods you ate when you lost the weight? The reason I ask is because a couple of my friends have both lost 40 pounds lately: one simply started eating a lot of fruits, veggies, protein and cut out junk food and soft drinks; the other pretty much ate all the same bad foods but limited his calorie intake. Which did you do? If the former, do you feel like eating healthier foods in general has helped combat potential side effects from occurring/reoccurring?

Thanks again.

 

[g.i joey]

No problem bro, honestly I was really pissed about the gyno so as I was treating it I payed 0 attention to my hair. i tend to lose weight fairly fast and in the span of 2 months I had dropped 18 pounds and lost another 5-7 when I resumed my propecia regimen.

Do yourself a favor, download myfitnesspal, keep yourself at a 500 calorie deficit daily and you'll lose weight in no time. Also look out for your macro intake but most importantly just make sure you're eating a 500 cal deficit daily. Nothing too intense that's gonna make you give up in 3 days.

This is just my guess but I think that it's a little harder to lose weight on finasteride, so try to lose as much as you can while you're not on it and stick to being healthy while you are on it. I don't think sides are related to the persons everyday eating habits but it's best to keep your body healthy as it's adjusting to the medication. Good luck man!

I should also add, I'm 8 months on finasteride now and I'm definitely maintaining, I recently switched to the Nioxin system shampoo and it definitely helps aesthetic wise in comparison to head and shoulders.

 

[Brandon87]

No problem bro, honestly I was really pissed about the gyno so as I was treating it I payed 0 attention to my hair. i tend to lose weight fairly fast and in the span of 2 months I had dropped 18 pounds and lost another 5-7 when I resumed my propecia regimen.

Do yourself a favor, download myfitnesspal, keep yourself at a 500 calorie deficit daily and you'll lose weight in no time. Also look out for your macro intake but most importantly just make sure you're eating a 500 cal deficit daily. Nothing too intense that's gonna make you give up in 3 days.

This is just my guess but I think that it's a little harder to lose weight on finasteride, so try to lose as much as you can while you're not on it and stick to being healthy while you are on it. I don't think sides are related to the persons everyday eating habits but it's best to keep your body healthy as it's adjusting to the medication. Good luck man!

I should also add, I'm 8 months on finasteride now and I'm definitely maintaining, I recently switched to the Nioxin system shampoo and it definitely helps aesthetic wise in comparison to head and shoulders.

Ah, that makes sense; I probably wouldn't be caring too much about my hair either if I were dealing with gyno. I'll take your advice and download myfitnesspal. Thanks again!

I'll make sure to post updates and pictures once I get started on treatment.