Will I Ever Lose This Weight? Working out 5 days a week!

Hi everyone

So back in June I finally got off of prednisone after being on it For two months. I gained 20 pounds which I was fine with because I was severely underweight when I was sick. I am now on humira, however, I am going on a cruise in two weeks. I am trying to drop some weight before hand so that I am able To eat a little bit more and splurge a little bit more while I am on the cruise.

I have adopted a diet similar to Paleo, to where I am not eating any bread, wheat, candy, or any bad sugars. My diet mainly consists of lean meats, fruits, vegetables and a lot of water. I am currently working out five days a week, Three days of weightlifting and two days of running. In the first week I lost 3 pounds. I was very excited to think that I might lose the weight quicker than I thought. However, since that week, I am on week three now, and I still have yet to lose any more than 3 pounds. My weight has been fluctuating. I am working so hard to try and lose this weight, but I feel discouraged. I am sure that I am not losing the weight because of Humira, but I am still tracking my calories and I am not losing any weight. My trainer thinks that my body is just holding onto the fat and I will lose it soon, but I just do not think that is the case. Has anyone had success with losing weight while on Humira?

hi. i think it might be that you're turning your fat into muscle. which weighs more. it took me a long time to lose prednisone weight. im not sure about humira. but wanted to say keep you're head up and have a great time on you're trip!

I thought that too, but I feel like I should still be losing some weight. Thanks for the positive words!

I say don't be so hard on yourself...if you are working out 5X a week you must be feeling pretty good and I bet you look great...go and just relax & have a GREAT TIME!

You were underweight already so that may mean that you only needed/wanted to lose 10 pounds or less even. Losing that little bit of extra weight can take a really long time. Plus its possible that you're still retaining water from the Prednisone and that takes time to come down from, working out or not.

As far as weight gain with Humira, all I've heard mentioned on the side effects list is fluid retention in the extremities which you would have noticed. Ah, finally found it. "Unusual wight gain or loss," is listed as a less common side effect. http://www.drugs.com/sfx/humira-side-effects.html

Yet it may be too soon to tell what's happening because so far you haven't gained weight from it. My guess is that the water retention from the Prednisone isn't done being completely annoying yet.

Well a problem I can see is that being in a carb starved or even caloric deficit for too long will cause leptin levels to drop. Leptin aids greatly in fat burning.

This advice was given to me from bodybuilders who wish to cut down for a show.

hey there

i was told it would take approx 12 weeks to loose the water retention weight, 3 years later im still trying to get rid of it lol

to be fair, ive not did much work at the gym or anything so thats maybe the reason why, ive been sitting back waiting on it just falling off.

anyway, best of luck

Volcano said:

Well a problem I can see is that being in a carb starved or even caloric deficit for too long will cause leptin levels to drop. Leptin aids greatly in fat burning.

This advice was given to me from bodybuilders who wish to cut down for a show.

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Well, I am still getting carbs from fruits and making sure I allow myself a cheat meal each week. I'm not starving myself by any means, but I do know that I am keeping on track with my calories. I could probably afford to eat a little more, so this week i'll just listen to my body and feed it, but not be so under my daily calorie count that it could be hurting me. Thanks for the advice!

TwinkleToes said:

Well, I am still getting carbs from fruits and making sure I allow myself a cheat meal each week. I'm not starving myself by any means, but I do know that I am keeping on track with my calories. I could probably afford to eat a little more, so this week i'll just listen to my body and feed it, but not be so under my daily calorie count that it could be hurting me. Thanks for the advice!

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Carbs from fruits are sucrose/fructose and have their own digestive process where they are converted into triglycerides. With starch carbs (glucose) there is a completely different hormone response (insulin).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15181085

Previous studies indicate that leptin secretion is regulated by insulin-mediated glucose metabolism

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Insulin is also inflammatory and not something you would want to intentionally increase if you have crohns.

Cut down on the fruit,
Fructose is processed by the liver and leads to insulin production and fat storage

Try towards a ketogenic diet (very low carb) for a while so your body will metabolise fat rather than keeping it in storage (which the body does when there is plenty of sugar)

Another option is intermittent fasting, If you don't eat for a while then your blood sugar drops and your liver starts making ketones, so a similar effect as the ketogenic diet

"Normally, our bodies rely on glucose for fuel — the result of our moderate to high-carb diets. Carbohydrates are broken down to glucose, which gets converted into energy and transported to our muscles and organs.

But when carbs are restricted, and when there’s a lack of glucose, our liver starts to produce ketones — a process that shifts our body towards fat utilization."
http://io9.com/what-you-should-know-about-the-low-carb-ketogenic-diet-489267213