Steroids and weight gain

[Snowy53]

I recently took a course of steroids and notice a weight gain. Not sure it was just water retension. I stopped the steroids and would like to if I will naturally regain my weight as it was before the steroids.?

[SnazzyD]

Hello, do you have PMR or GCA? How long were you on steroids for? From my observation, if you were having salt in your diet you may well have had fluid retention, especially if you had a short high dose course. If this is the case, you should lose the fluid in a short time. When taking Pred any salt would make me swell up but it went in about 3 days if I cut it out.

If your weight gain is from eating more than usual due to hunger pangs, then you’ll need to reduce your intake especially if you ate carbohydrates. A diet with fewer carbohydrates and some exercise at your tolerance level should do the trick. Of course I have no idea of your medical condition and have not taken this into consideration.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Most people who just have a short course of pred and stop tend to regain their previous weight providing they haven't started to eat more because of the pred and continue with their bad eating habits. Most of us on this forum can't tell you from our own experience as we are on pred for years, not just weeks. But even we usually lose the "pred weight" once we stop taking pred or, if we are lucky, get to a low dose.

[granny-b]

Hi. I put on a lot of weight while on prednisolone. I have got down to 2mg. To get rid of the weight I joined a slimming group and with their plan I have just returned to the weight when I was diagnosed with GCA over 3 years.

For me it wasn't going just by itself. X