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Weight gain weight loss I need to get healthy....

Before being diagnosed I never had an issue with my weight it never even fluctuated in the slightest. At diagnosis I lost a tremendous amount of weight. Since then I fluctuate up and down depending on flare or pred dosage lol.

Recently however I have watched what I ate I exercise moderately yet do nothing but gain weight. It is a running joke in my house that I eat lile a mouse and my mum pigs out in the evening and I gain her weight lol.
a couple of weeks back I moderately ate salads veg everything someone with crohns would struggle with just to mentally know I was eating right I briskly walked every day for approx 30 mins each time... I went to the dr at the end of the week and id gained 6lbs... when I explained this to him he said "we definitely need to get this weight under control" and left the room.

Im not excessively over weight. Im 5"3 and last weighed in at 166lbs... im avoiding the scales now... but im so demotivated... I am doing all the right things but nothings giving my clothes no longer fit and its depressing. I want to feel good about my body even if I cant get my weight back down....

I dont know what to do. Ive not exercised since seeing the dr lol too much pain exhaustion and demotivation...

maybe I need a buddy to do this with.. or just people to put me in my place on an off day... I dont know.. just dunno how im meant to stay motivated instead of getting depressed lol...

sorry for moaning there could be so many things that could be worse.. its just so hard to come to terms with this "new" body of mine...
 

afidz

Super Moderator
My weight fluctuates like yours, its so annoying!
I retain a lot of water, could that be your problem?
you coud talk to your doctor about going on water pills and see if that helps. Try to avoid things with salt too.
 
Can I buy those over the counter? Neither of my drs are all that helpful when it comes to discussing weight or fatigue and of course fatigue makes it so much easier to gain but I literally eat like a mouse... a lot of my problem is I get constipated a lot so it's no surprise sometimes that I am heavier but I just don't get how exercising and eating well can cause weight gain lol just a huge kick in the teeth.

I will look into the water retention thing keep a food diary and bring it back up with the dr n show them how well and healthy I eat.
 

afidz

Super Moderator
You can get them over the counter, I'd you do at least make your doctor aware in case something happens or he thinks it's a bad idea.
 
Weight gain can't come from nowhere. Gaining a few pounds from one week to the next could be due to water retention or constipation (and the opposite is also true - if you have diarrhoea you can lose from one day to the next) so weighing on a short-term basis isn't always giving you the whole picture.

But long term, over weeks and months, if you aren't losing weight it's because you are eating more calories than you are burning off.

Don't overestimate the effects of exercise - it doesn't burn off that much. (And again the opposite is true - I have the opposite problem, I can't gain weight and I really need to. I had surgery last month and was on bed rest. I still haven't done any exercise since the surgery, I'm just sitting around all day. But even on bed rest I lost a lot of weight because I couldn't eat enough after the surgery.)
 
I would love to gain some weight, but every time I do gain some weight I always end up losing it all again :ybatty: I seem to bounce from being 56kg down to 53kg then down to 50kg then back up again then down and so on....
 
i wish i could share it with you guys. i kept a food diary for a long while, and i would have to force myself a lot of the time to reach 1200 calories a day. so i know on a given day my chances of over eating calories are unlikely.

i am fed up of trying to loose it, but i know that both being over and underweight is really not healthy, and thats all i want... i know some of it could be constipation but surely if i can gain 6lbs from constipation in a week than my hour and a half on the toilet should also mean i lose 6lbs lol! but hey it never works like that!
 
Novice I am in the same boat as you....my doctor(my old gastro who I thought was a quack) didn't always believe I was in a flare because I wasn't loosing weight like I was 5 years ago in previous flares...and I have to respectfully disagree with unxmas...you can not even come close to getting enough calories and still gain weight...which is also my dilemma....there are many factors, body not getting enough and going into starvation mode, especially some people are more prone to this after some steroid use, cortisol/adrenal levels out of whack and also hormone levels altered( which is what I found out for me, I found out my testersoterone levels were triple and I was diagnosed with pcos so be sure to check all your thyroid and hormone levels !

So you are not alone out there novice, and I know many people suffering with crohns and other conditions that do NOT eat enough calories, and much to to their frustration because of one reason or another, GAIN weight instead of losing it. Many of these people I know had food allergies they only found out after a very strict elimination diet (gluten free, scd, paleo) food honestly does matter and for someone. That staunchly refused and rebuffed that along with my doctors , 12 years later, I am FINALLY seeing the light! One found out had a fructose intolerance after having SIBO and once did paleo /scd dedicated got rid of fructose and SIBO and ended up healing herself because every fructose food she put in her body put her body in attack body along with the crohns so she never ended up getting her proper nutrients so but instead of losing weight even though didn't eat a lot, gained it...


So maybe start on a elimination diet even for 4 weeks and slowly introduce things ? And especially since you have crohns, go autoimmune protocol (look up autoimmune protocol paleo) and cut out eggs /nightshades/nuts...it might seem hard but it might be one small thing you never knew that could be helping wreck havoc on your body along with your crohns...or you could have leaky gut or SIBO as well(common with us crohnnies) good luck and as a young person of 24 who is suddenly overweight, I understand your frustration!
 
and I have to respectfully disagree with unxmas...you can not even come close to getting enough calories and still gain weight...
No, you can't. It's literally, physically impossible.

Some factors can mean you need less calories - e.g. thyroid. A thyroid problem could mean the amount of calories a person needs is less than it would be if that factor were removed (in this example, if the person's thyroid was working properly). But if you take in less calories than you need, you will lose weight no matter what hormonal or thyroid issues you have.

You could have a minor increase in weight due to water retention. That's it. You can't put on fat (or muscle) if you are taking in less calories than you need.
 
Hello, sometimes it can depend on the location of CD. Often people with CD predominately in the large bowel tend to not loose weight and those with extensive in the small loose weight. The small bowel absorbs nutrients - the large holds waste and absorbs water/fluid. Either one has it's own frustrations.
Sorry for what you are going through. CD just sucks and is a pain in the a@@!

May you find your way through this ~ know you are beautiful at any size. Don't let society tell you what is acceptable when it comes to body form.

Peace to you.
 
On a weird note ~ why is it when you drink a bottle of water that is 24 ounces you can stand on a scale and gain nothing? LOL ~ where did it go?
 
On a weird note ~ why is it when you drink a bottle of water that is 24 ounces you can stand on a scale and gain nothing? LOL ~ where did it go?
Lol have you actually had that happen? I knew some girls who were in treatment for anorexia, and in order to make the doctors think they'd gained weight (fat) when they actually hadn't, they'd drink litres and litres of water right before the doctors weighed them. So perhaps if you drink enough the weight will be there - until you pee it all out again. ;) If someone drinks a glass of water and their weight doesn't go up - maybe they sweated a lot before stepping on the scale?!
 

Cross-stitch gal

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Vancouver,
On a weird note ~ why is it when you drink a bottle of water that is 24 ounces you can stand on a scale and gain nothing? LOL ~ where did it go?
I'm sure within around 10 minutes, you'll know where it goes! Probably will be spending the next 1/2 hour or so running back and forth from the bathroom!!! :ylol:
 
Unxmas I agree with the exercise one not making you lose weight,I,m in the gym a lot and generally am a sweaty mess but it does help your general health my cholesterol is low,blood pressure is really good resting heart rate is low(I had a heart monitor)so it does a lot of good.the only thing I would say is being a crohnie makes it harder to control weight.good luck
 
My weight fluctuates like yours, its so annoying!
I retain a lot of water, could that be your problem?
you coud talk to your doctor about going on water pills and see if that helps. Try to avoid things with salt too.
Me too. :( I drink a lot of green tea, which seems to help. I try to avoid white starches, which is hard when you are flaring. I eat sweet potatoes instead of white, pumpkin puree, lots of soups. I hope this helps!
 
Unxmas I agree with the exercise one not making you lose weight,I,m in the gym a lot and generally am a sweaty mess but it does help your general health my cholesterol is low,blood pressure is really good resting heart rate is low(I had a heart monitor)so it does a lot of good.the only thing I would say is being a crohnie makes it harder to control weight.good luck
Yes, I agree. Exercise is great for all sorts of things - helping you heart, lungs, circulation, bones, boosting your mood and just being fun. But you need to do an awful lot of it for it to really make a difference to your weight. I think if you were training for a marathon or something you'd be burning off a significant number of calories. But I know quite a few people who go for a twenty minute walk and expect it to make up for eating extra portions of dessert every day. I think the idea that exercise burns of calories is promoted so much in the media and in government information on health, that people get misled about how much it actually burns off.
 
Yes, I agree. Exercise is great for all sorts of things - helping you heart, lungs, circulation, bones, boosting your mood and just being fun. But you need to do an awful lot of it for it to really make a difference to your weight. I think if you were training for a marathon or something you'd be burning off a significant number of calories. But I know quite a few people who go for a twenty minute walk and expect it to make up for eating extra portions of dessert every day. I think the idea that exercise burns of calories is promoted so much in the media and in government information on health, that people get misled about how much it actually burns off.
I'd agree. People do have a misconception about the amount of calories exercise burns off. I count calories daily and count my exercise-burned calories as well. I used to work out 1-1/2 to 2 hours per day, and that burned about 1200 calories, so I had to eat a lot more to maintain my weight. Now I have to keep it to 30 minutes a day on my elliptical, and that burns just over 300 calories. That's not many more calories than a candy bar.
 
I dont really know what to say to reply to all of your messages....

I am only looking to fit in my clothes and have a healthy body.

I have kept a constant strict food diary and exercise diary. On average I eat less than 1200 calories a day today I managed 1118 which was a better day I also do not do crazy exercise because it hurts my joints and lungs but I am trying to do a couch to 5k program and low impact walking.

My weight fluctuates constantly. One week I gained like 6lbs and this week im down 4lbs but that's as much as I lose.

I actually spoke to my gp yesterday and it was suggested my contraceptive inj could be making it difficult to lose weight or be the cause of some of the gain so im cutting that out.

I suffer constipation I do have crohns primarily in the large int but I also have a small area of narrowing in the small int.
I dont think I retain water

and I disagree with people telling me im eating too many calories.

I am going to try and persevere and hope changing my meds will have a positive impact.

Thanks for all the replies posted here I do appreciate it
 
Remember that if you eat too few calories, you will lose lean muscle mass. Then if you do eat a higher amount of calories you will gain weight more quickly and regain it as fat.
Weight fluctuations like you are describing can only be from water retention and loss; and also the constipation will cause your weight to fluctuate. It literally takes an excess of 3,500 calories to gain one pound; and a deficit of 3,500 calories to lose one pound. This is why when you cut calories by a couple of hundred a day you will only lose 1/2 to 1 lb per week.

Try to add some strength training either with free weights or resistance machines. Strengthening your muscles will reshape your body and make you stronger and look leaner.
 
Remember that if you eat too few calories, you will lose lean muscle mass. Then if you do eat a higher amount of calories you will gain weight more quickly and regain it as fat.
Weight fluctuations like you are describing can only be from water retention and loss; and also the constipation will cause your weight to fluctuate. It literally takes an excess of 3,500 calories to gain one pound; and a deficit of 3,500 calories to lose one pound. This is why when you cut calories by a couple of hundred a day you will only lose 1/2 to 1 lb per week.

Try to add some strength training either with free weights or resistance machines. Strengthening your muscles will reshape your body and make you stronger and look leaner.
I was going to say much the same - small fluctuations may well be due to water retention and/or constipation.

If you eat 1200 calories a day consistently for weeks you will lose weight. There will still be fluctuations up and down, but overall you will see a downward trend. It's better not to go much lower than 1200 calories a day even though you're trying to lose weight, and you shouldn't need to - if you've calculated your calories correctly you'll be losing weight.
 
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