Weight gain

[Gary1310]

I hardly recognize my body. My figure is so different, large stomach, hump on my back, large thighs. What happened? I gained 25 lbs. Plus the moon face. I am a mess! I am now down to 3 mg Prednisone, do not nap as much. Will try to diet...It has been the year from Hell!.....maybe if I can start walking again it will go back to how I think I look..not how I now really look! I think it may actually be a good sign that I care......up until recently, I just wanted not to hurt!

[Koalajane]

Hi Gary, have you cut your carbs? The low carb high fat diet helps a lot. I lost a lot of weight doing it and by walking 10000 steps a day.

Good luck

[Gary1310 in reply to Koalajane]

Thank you...I am feeling that I maybe able to start walking, again. My legs have been affected and are weak and wobbly. Am limiting white bread, potatoes. I do have fruit and milk, cheese. Trying to limit l main meal per day with meat. Will do some research on low carb diet.

[SnazzyD in reply to Gary1310]

I just cut out pasta, rice, potato, grains, maize, bread, any flour and put veg there instead with plenty of protein. There’s carbohydrate in veg and fruit so it’s not zero carb diet. Didn’t worry too much about fats but put emphasis on plant based oils. I made sure I took a vitamin B complex a couple of times a week because of the reduced wholemeal grain.

[Pixix in reply to Gary1310]

Trying putting Keto diet into your search engine! I’ve just started it for weight gain due to Pred and a diagnosis of prediabetic. I was surprised how much sugar or carbs there is in some veg and some fruit. Good luck!

[alvertta]

I feel your pain. Same here. Struggling w carbs.

[lindyloops]

Welcome to Pred ... I am exactly the same and as soon as I have to take the dreaded drug I start transforming. I am now reducing the e after a very panful and difficult year and yes I am almost 3 stones heavier and unrecognisable. I am now admitting that I have to go back to a slimming club and go down the diet route again. Its all a nightmare but then, its better than the pain and the exhaustion. Good luck. Yes ..caring ehat you look like IS a very positive sign of recovery!

[Orpheus82]

Different diets work for different people. I gained 2 stone in the first two years of taking pred. When I got down to 7mg I had had enough so joined a Slimming club. Lost 2 stone over a 10month period and have kept it off over a year later but I still go to the club as they give great support. It is so good to look in the mirror and see my face again as it was and not all puffed up! Good luck with whatever method you use

[SusyTe]

I put on a load of weight - wish I had listened when my rheumatologist, Dr Hughes, told me to watch the carbs. I have finally had success by doing Time Restricted Eating - and it seems to be helping with the inflammation too.

[tangocharlie in reply to SusyTe]

I'm experimenting with that and various fasts. Can't tell for sure if it's helping as I'm also doing low carbs, but something is working, my shape is shifting. I've got Jason Fung's guide to fasting to sort out blood sugar levels, insulin resistance etc- very interesting.

[SusyTe in reply to tangocharlie]

If you are interested in more info, another book worth taking a look at is Delay Don’t Deny.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

It is one of the reasons we bang on all the time about restricting carbs: there are loads of posts on the forum talking about it. Pred changes the way your body processes carbohydrates and also triggers your liver to release random spikes of glucose. They, in turn, trigger insulin release and the excess insulin deposits the glucose as fat in the place you mentioned. The frequent presence of insulin also leads to insulin resistance - that in combination with the frequent spikes of glucose results in deveopment of steroid induced diabetes. Cutting your carbs reduces the risk of both.

While fruit is "healthier" than processed sugars, it is still carbohydrate and too much causes problems too, and the sugar is fructose, even more likely to lead to insulin resistance. The greatest intake of fructose is due to HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) which is a cheap substitute for sugar used by manufacturers of processed carbs - and is to be found in smaller quantities in foods you wouldn't imagine would have it.

The secret is to ban as many processed foods as you possibly can - cook from scratch, then you KNOW what is in it. as an example, you could buy ready-made bolognaise sauce - that contains added sugar as well as a load of things your granny never heard of! My bolognaise sauce has meat, onions and tomatoes, wine and herbs, nothing else.

Once you cut the carbs a lot you will start to notice you aren't so hungry all the time - that is due to the blood sugar level shooting up, the body producing insulin and it falling to below the level you need which makes you crave carbs to bring it back up again. Fewer carbs, fewer spikes of blood sugar - there will still be some but you are aiming to make them fewer.

This site is easy to understand and uses pictures to show what you can eat as much as you like of and what you should avoid:

dietdoctor.com/low-carb

I lost 35lbs of PMR and pred associated weight - and without much exercise at first as I was on crutches. It was slow but steady - it may have gone on quickly, unfortunately it is likely to take a bit longer to get rid of!

[Pixix in reply to PMRpro]

Diet doctor is excellent, thanks and confirms I’m doing the right things. Last night I made chicken stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon! With a lot of broccoli. It was delicious. Recipe from pinterest by searching in Keto recipes. Normally I would not have cooked this, thinking the calories are too high! It’s a different way of thinking. As I’m only two weeks into PMR I’m finding exercise very hard. I can only walk slowly with a stick and I tire so quickly, plus it’s so damp and wet my lungs are suffering and I can’t get out much. Thinking I need to get some sort of in-house exercise something, perhaps.

[Koalajane in reply to Pixix]

When I first was diagnosed I could hardly walk. I did really small walks, about 100 steps and slowly built it up. I now do at least 10,000 steps a day, yesterday was a good one I did over 17,000 steps. It is good for your bones. I now walk more than I ever did before PMR and love walking.

Good luck with it

[Pixix in reply to Koalajane]

See my other reply, we are hikers! Or were! At the moment after exercise I get dreadful Sciatic pains in both legs/back which I’ve never had before, and which are worse the day after...like Ive climbed a mountain not hiked around a small lake! Keeping a bit of a diary, first review meeting with my GP in 10 days time. Aiming to go up the forest in a hour sun is shining but heavy rain due later.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Pixix]

The stairs? Just getting up and walking around the house every half hour soon mounts up - as does marching on the spot in front of the TV!

[Pixix in reply to PMRpro]

Sadly I fell on them last year and broke my finger so badly I tore the tendon off the bone. Hasn’t put me off generally but I’m very dizzy and unbalanced at the moment so tending to walk on the flat only. We are hikers and live in the New Forest. Usually walk there three times a week, that’s partly my frustration! But take the point about marching on the spot in front of TV, that’s happening today! Thanks.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Pixix]

Yes - would have put me off stairs too! But if you walk away from the house for 5 mins and turn round that is 10 mins walk. Do it 3 times a day - that is a half hour walk. It doesn't have to be done all at once.

[Rosbud in reply to Pixix]

I use A small exercise bouncer , A bit like A

Mini trampoline and walk on that when I can't get outside to walk , prop my iPad up in front of me and walk for as

Long as I can , some days it's minutes but on A good day it might be half an hour X

[Pixix in reply to Rosbud]

Thanks from me, too, an interesting idea...

[Gary1310 in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you

[Gary1310]

Thank You everyone.....🌹

[Lanakay]

When I felt the worst I didn’t care what I ate. Eating was all I had left that I could do. I know that was bad. I’m feeling better now or I’m just getting used to living with PMR. I don’t know which. I am watching what I eat now. Better late than never. I’m still heavier than I’ve ever been.

[PMRCanada]

I was “forced” to lose weight due to a number of pre-existing conditions (OA of knee and both knees ACL and meniscus tears, hypertension). I was obese and inactive when diagnosed with PMR, and put on 20mg pred May 1/18.

I adopted a low carb/sugar/salt diet with the help of my daughter. Over the past summer, with the help of knee injections, I’ve slowly increased my activity (golf, pickle ball, walking, deep water exercises).

Worked like a charm....down 30 lbs, but ortho surgeon wants me to lose 15 more which is proving to be a struggle. I’m also completely off my high blood pressure meds.

I love food, I miss food, but in the next 4 months I need to not eat after 6:30pm, drink more water, and be very strict with my carb intake (sigh). Keeping up physical activities during our Canadian winters will also prove a challenge (no golf and treacherous walking).

I have good reasons, provided by the surgeon, for attempting to lose more weight, including a chance to avoid getting my left knee replaced, easier rehab, etc. He says we cannot predict what dose of pred I’ll be on by the time surgery rolls around, and I need that for my PMR, so it is not a controllable variable. My weight is.

I wish you all the best in your efforts to lose weight. It is never easy, especially while on pred and having limited mobility, but it can be done. Be sure to rest between exercising and pat yourself on the back for prioritizing your health and healing.

[dillydally1]

hi, it doesn't seem fair does it, we get pain, take prednisolone that really helps pmr symptoms. it is hard to look in the mirror and not see the person you knew. I try to avoid mirror's, I used to love going to the hairdressers but now I hate it because I have to look at myself.

you will get good support on here, everyone knows what you are going through. prednisolone does make you hungry, I am also on two other medications that cause weight gain and hunger

I tried the low carb high fat but it wasn't for me, although I know many on here have had success with it, I got a book carbs and cals which is supported by diabetes uk, it shows food photos, portion sizes, and counts calories, protein, carbs and fat, I have now started weight watchers on line, I have been on it 4 weeks and have lost 5lb, happy with that. I need to follow a plan or I would just eat anything. I still use my carb and cals book.

take your exercise slowly and don't push yourself to hard, small steps.

take care xx