Does Porridge Stop Hunger Pangs?

Here’s a little equation many people with depression will be familiar with: Mirtazapine + weight training = a ceaseless, incessant hunger. 

One side effect of antidepressants is increased appetite, meaning no matter how much exercise you do (I go to the gym 6 times a week) you’re always going to be overweight. I’ve been getting regular exercise since I was 17 when I took up boxing. I’ve always had fitness in my life. I’ve wavered frequently, particularly at uni, but the exercise that should have made me healthy was consistent. 

Yet my weight kept rising since I moved out of my parents’ in 2010 (and I stopped getting regular square meals). 

I started on Sertraline at the start of 2017, according to my notes. I was probably about 75kg at the time. My weight certainly jumped up after that. I’ve hopped around between medications, settling on Mirtazapine a few years ago. I’m planning to come off it at some point, as I believe time spent in therapy, plus meeting with support group Andy’s Man Club, has done a hell of a lot more good than just stuffing my body with chemicals. 

Keeping my weight down and not being bombarded with hunger pangs has been a balancing act I’ve failed to master. The other day, though, I found what I believe is a solution: porridge. 

Porridge oats are low in fat, low in sugar, slow-burning, and more importantly, cheap. A 2kg bag of Tesco’s own porridge oats is £2. That would make about 20 times as many breakfasts as a cereal box of the same value. Cereal, I find, doesn’t sustain me, and even though I work a pretty sedentary office job, I’m starving again by 10am. Thus follows 2 hours of crippling starvation until lunch. 

The other day I switched from cereal. I had a medium sized bowl of porridge before work, and that kept me going until 12, when I had an appetite, but not a dizzying one. The only downside is that it’s incredibly dull, tasteless sludge. Hence, I mixed in some blueberries one day. Some chopped strawberries the next. I threw these in with the oats and cold water, then mic’d them a couple of minutes, resulting a little more fusion of taste. It does mean, though, a few more trips to the supermarket for more fruit. Bananas last a little longer; they’re good chopped up too. 

So, here’s what’s going to happen. I’ll have porridge for breakfast, most days. Certainly I’ll break from cereal breakfasts. I’ll also (once again) cut out junk food. Next Saturday I’ll see whether the cravings have subsided, and whether I’ve beaten any records at the gym. I’ll focus on body-weight endurance exercises like 10-minute cross train, dips, and chin-ups. I’m currently 87kg. The heaviest I’ve ever been is 88. I’m aiming for under 80 at some point, but I doubt that’ll happen within a month, let alone a week.