pred belly

Hi, i was diagnosed with SLE about 4-5 years ago and have been dealing with it since. I used to not care about taking the pred and gaining the weight and not care what people thought but now it is sort if just getting to me and its hard to not care because i feel i look like an elephant. I have starting walking about 2km a day aswell as do 10mins of ab workouts in my bedroom as i am too young to join a gym. I will soon be seeing a nutritionist to help me with eating better foods even though i already take fresh tuna salads and fresh fruit for my lunches.

Its just i want to know if anyone has any advice for me to help with the pred belly.

[misty14]

Hi rye

It's good your taking steps to control your weight and doing the right thing as regards exercise and diet. I have taken daily pred for a long time and the way I control my weight is to cut down on portion size, limit amount of carbohydrates ie bread and potatoes and sugar so I've cut puddings out apart from treats!. You have to have treats to keep you going so I desnigate sat or sun as treats day!. I have a biscuit a week and feel pleased I've managed to keep my weight at a healthy level on this regime!. It's not easy but I tell myself I don't want to develop diabetes because of the steroids and so far I haven't!.

Hope that's helpful and keep going with what your doing. It really will pay off. Let us know what the nutritionist says. X

[PMRpro]

Like misty14 I lost 35lbs of pred weight by cutting carbs a lot. Pred changes how your body processes carbs - and cutting carbs helps reduce the risks of weight gain and also of developing steroid-induced diabetes.

There is a thread somewhere where several people on here reported their big weight loss using Slimming World but that often has a lot of carbs and doesn't suit everyone. My daughter uses it and to me it sounds complicated - avoiding carbs is easy and you can do it anywhere! I order salad instead of potatoes or pasta.

Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist - so beware if you are told to cut a lot of different foods. You have to be careful about your diet

[bhunter]

I go on the treadmill bike every single day for 20minutes. I do this when I'm on meds or not. Hope this helps but I find it's easier for my arthiritis

[Ronswife]

I put on weight from the fats like butter or cream. Fats go directly to the fat cells without changing. Under a microscope butter in a cell looks like butter. Oils too. If I put a pad of butter on bread I then cut it in half and put it back. It is stored in cells until you burn it off. The more you burn it in exercise the faster your metabolism becomes making the job easier for you. So be careful with how much fat you are using and I applaud you for taking steps. I call that self love. We need this attribute to be our best selves in order to extend our love to others in healthy relationships.