Why does losing weight fast make fatty liver worse?

[andrewax2]

I haven’t really found an answer online, just the statement that it does. Thanks in advance.

[Alterity]

I have never heard that. Dr.'s tell you to lose weight. I'm in a research program and have lost and all my labs are much better since I've lost 48 pounds. Never heard it gets worst with weight lose. I think you read or heard wrong.

[ThyroidDeb]

I have read the same thing that losing too fast is not good however, some people get weight loss surgery to lose it fast. I can't answer, hopefully Wayne will read your question and answer it for us! I was worried but my doctors never showed concern, so I just keep losing. I will fill you in on what my new liver doctors orders are especially for fibrosis. He said this is why it is so important to know if you have cirrhosis or fibrosis or if the cirrhosis is early stages. Stop taking a multi vitamin then take Vitamin E 400 IU for 3 months ONLY, stop and start taking a multi vitamin again which contains vitamin E low level. This vitamin is not water soluble and can become toxic if continued so do not continue. Vitamin C is great too, is water soluble and you can take anywhere from 200-1000 UI daily. Both he said are good for liver and healing of younger damage. PLEASE ASK YOUR DOCTOR, MAY NOT BE HIS PLAN. I have decided on a biopsy to know for sure, this doctor who is affiliated with the liver Institute from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, MI personally doesn't care for the fibroscan but I had a fibro blood test which was f3 FIB-4 was indeterminate, he said with those two results alone he would have done a biopsy but when you throw the fibroscan with f4....why with 3 different scores would you just determine f4 as my gastro did. He said he treats fibrosis and full blown cirrhosis differently. It is very possible for fibrosis to heal back at least a stage as can early cirrhosis. Again, discuss with your doctor this may not be his recommendation. Good luck.

[andrewax2 in reply to ThyroidDeb]

I’m curious on the Vitamin E statement. So I actually did take Vitamin E for about 3 months early last year, but I only stopped since I thought too much would thin your blood too much. I started taking it again recently. Would cycling it every year or so be OK? I didn’t find many articles stating that. I did find one about DHA Omega 3 being good so I purchased a full DHA Omega 3. I also saw Milk Thistle at my local vitamin store, but uncertain if that’s any good.

[nash2 Partner]

It is one of those issues on the fringes since you can overdue anything. Weight loss requires that all of that fat gets processed into energy or some other kind of molecule so if you ask your body to handle that flow of raw material faster than it properly can things can back up or the wrong end product can get made. Ordinarily that is managed by the body but suppose you are taking drugs that force more fat movement than you can deal with. Just one example but steady is better than as fast as possible when your liver is already damaged.

[andrewax2 in reply to nash2]

Thanks for the response! That clears it up a bit. I’m not trying to speed through it, but I’m losing weight slightly faster than the CDC recommended (I think it’s 2 lbs a week, I’m averaging around 3-4lbs).

[nash2 Partner in reply to andrewax2]

You might consider adding a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil or fish oil to your diet. That should slow your rate of loss and be good for your liver as well.

[Alterity]

I lost my 48 pounds in 2.5 months. All the Dr. said was maybe you should go a little slower as you are on the research program. Never said it was bad.

[Erushbass]

A large calorie deficit stimulates the release of the hormone Glucagon from your Pancreas which unlocks stored fat, which will flood your blood with fatty acids that have to be processed by the liver.

This can further overwhelm an allready fatty/ compromised liver.

[MINTVCX in reply to Erushbass]

Interesting could you please provide the source of this?

[Erushbass]

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Point one under the section "Hapatic Lipid Matabolism" describes the mechanism.

This will be elevated by excessive calorie restriction.

I recommend reading the entire article, its very informative.

[andrewax2 in reply to Erushbass]

Thanks for sharing the article!

[kensimmons]

If you google "rapid weight loss liver" you will get a ton of articles pro and con about weight loss. There doesn't seem to be a consensus.

Some say overly rapid loss leads to liver stress. Others look the same study and say, that wasn't caused by weight loss, but by drugs or vitams given during weight loss, it was the drugs that cause the problems. Some argue it's not so much losing fat too fast, it's losing protein too fast that is a danger. And then other researchers seem to say the risk there but it is so low the benefits outweigh the risks.

Google it and you can spend hours reading 100 article about fast weight loss good and bad and look up Very Low Calorie Diets while you are at it.

I don't think there is any consensus about this. Perhaps a minor consensus would be lose it and lose it fast...but not too fast. (Good luck finding out what is meant by that).

And that is even before we get into diets - which one to use? Some doctors like Keto and some say it can cause serious kidney problems if you don't drink enough water during it. I mean there is so much out there I don't know how fistfights don't start at doctors conventions.

Of course I am not a doctor so feel free to ignore anything I write.

[latingutz70]

Hi, I agree with a lot of the comments. I have read both sides of the argument . 5 months ago when I decided to change my eating habits and lose some weight, I didn’t know how long it would take me lose weight but I started with a 1200 calorie diet and then I went to a 1600 calorie diet. I did run like 5 days a week and exercise every other day. I lost 42 pounds in those 5 months.

I had a liver biopsy done before I began my lifestyle change and it said, that I had moderate to high fatty liver. I just had fibrosure and LIVERFASt test done and both said no nash and no steatosis. It’s far from over still want to lose another 6 or 7 pounds seems like the hardest, but not in a rush to get the last few pounds off. Best of luck with your weight loss, it’s not easy but can be done.

[BonArr]

When you lose fat all the toxins which were stored in the fat are released. Your liver now has to deal with all these toxins to remove them from the body. This is a challenge and can cause you to feel bad...perhaps part of the symptom you mentioned in another post...even if your liver were functioning normally. Hence it is much more work for a liver which is performing less efficiently.

[andrewax2 in reply to BonArr]

Thank you! This a clear and great explanation, I appreciate it a lot.