# Any other fat Crohnies? Losing weight with Crohn's?



## ladybugoleander

I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease when I was 18. I am now 23.  Unlike most people with Crohn's disease, I actually gained weight when I started having Crohn's symptoms.  Before Crohn's, I was thin and active. I exercised heavily, I was captain of my high school's swim team and water polo team.  When I started getting Crohn's symptoms, I stopped being able to exercise heavily, which I'd always enjoyed, because I just didn't have the energy.  By the time I was diagnosed with Crohn's, I had gained 60 lbs.

In the past 5 years, I've only had a few very brief windows of remission.  When I've been in remission, I started exercising again, and losing weight.  But, remission never lasted long, and I was back in a flare-up, in pain, and fatigued, and the weight came back.

I'm currently in a bad flare-up. My Crohn's disease is considered severe.  I'm on a high dose of prednisone, which has made me gain another 20 lbs. (and the prednisone isn't even working :-/)  I might have to get surgery soon.

Now I'm even fatter (obese according to BMI), and feeling awful.  I used to always tell myself that the weight didn't matter, that I'd lose it once I was feeling better, and I didn't worry about it.  But now that I'm even fatter, I can't help but feel disgusted with myself.  However, I just don't know what to do.  I eat fairly healthy (minus fibrous foods and vegetables because I just can't eat them),  when I can eat at all, and I'm scared to restrict my calories because I'm malnourished as it is, although you'd never know by looking at me.  I hardly have the energy to clean my apartment, let alone exercise heavily like I'd like to. I also have arthritis in my knees and back, which makes any kind of exercise even harder.  However, whenever I express sadness over being fat, everyone I talk to (all healthy people) tell me to just start exercising, like I'm just being lazy, and making up excuses for why I don't.

Anyone else gain weight with Crohn's disease?  Has anyone tried to lose weight with Crohn's? I know most people with as severe a case as mine normally have a hard time keeping weight on, but I'm the complete opposite.

Should I stop being vain, and caring about my weight?  I just get so frustrated that I'm at the "prime" of my life, and not only do I have to spend it being sick, I also have to spend it being and feeling fat and disgusting.  And I get pressure from my family to lose weight, despite the fact that I'm sick. It's like they'd rather me be thin, and dying in the hospital, than be fat.

Any and all advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!  And thank you for reading my long post!


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## sickinlk

Hi ladybug,
Im in the same boat with the pred.
i have UC and chronic pancreatitis.  and i still gained weight.  
im on pred too and the hardest thing is craving sugar.  ive gained 9lbs and im about 20lb overweight.  i joined slimming world last year and lost 23lbs in total till my last flare.  But slimming world has you snacking on fruit and veggies to fill up between meals and now i cant eat them.  hate the low residue diet.  i love my salads and stirfrys and fruit.  Ive asked to see a dietician just today. 
Maybe you should too.  mite help to know what you can eat never mind what you cant eat.  

You are not being vain.  its hard enough being this ill without battling weight gain too.you'd think 1 thing would go our way?  i shamefully wished id get worse sometimes just so id loose weight.:frown:


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## Athena_Noctua

Hiya


Losing weight is easy - you've just got to do it right. The first thing you need to understand is that you HAVE NOT gained weight through lack of exercise - calories in < calories out = fat loss is, to put it bluntly, BS. I can't do much exercise, either, and I've not gained a single ounce - quite the opposite - I've LOST weight due to inactivity because my body has catabolised all my muscle (well most of it!). I've gone from around 119lb to 109lb (I'm 5'4"). 

What causes fat loss/gain is what you eat, NOT what you do, and the reason the UK and US are in the grip of an obesity epidemic is that everyone is TERRIFIED of fat (particularly saturated fat). Dietary fat DOES NOT equal body fat; to save time, and because I'm tiring, here's something I wrote earlier, which will explain everything (I hope; if it doesn't, feel free to ask me about anything you don't understand). 

Do you have oatmeal for breakfast...? Now that stuff WILL kill you - as will anything else made from grains. You see, you've been brainwashed by the ADA and USDA into believing dietary fat will make you fat, and give you CHD. It's IMPOSSIBLE for fat to make you fat - UNLESS it's consumed in conjunction with carbs. 

Let me give you a brief explanation, of why carbs are the enemy and not fat...

As you may know, your pancreas produces insulin every time you eat carbs. The more carbs you consume, the more your blood sugar is raised, and the more insulin is required to deal with it, until there comes a point where, no matter how much is produced, it's not enough - this is known as 'insulin resistance' or 'insulin insensitivity'. 

Once this stage is reached, it means your muscles and liver's glycogen stores are full, and the body has no choice but to convert the excess sugar into body fat. Continue to eat a high-carb diet, and the next stage is type 2 diabetes. In fact carbs - and grains are particularly evil in this regard - are responsible for every single condition blamed on dietary fat and cholesterol (yep, that's healthy too - your liver produces 1.5g of the stuff every single day and, if you consume too much through your diet, it simply produces less, and vice versa. The only numbers you need to worry about on your cholesterol 'score' are those for LDL (low density lipoproteins) and triglycerides. And what raises these numbers...? Yep, you guessed it - CARBS!!! Dietary fat - and saturated fat in particular - only raises HDL (high density lipoproteins - aka 'good' cholesterol). 

Have a read of the following article to learn why the ADA and USDA - as well as the BDA and department of health here in the UK - have got it so totally, utterly, 100%, WRONG!

http://dietheartpublishing.com/diet-heart-timeline

There's much more to it than that and, if you'd like to know more, then there are plenty of blogs to which I can provide links (check out Mark Sisson's excellent blog at marksdailyapple.com for starters. His article are science-ese-free, witty and informative). 

So, for brekkie tomorrow, ditch the oatmeal/other grainy crud in favour of a side of bacon and a few eggs fried in nice healthy butter or lard (or - better yet - buy some extra virgin coconut oil (I use Nutiva brand) and use that instead!). Your heart will thank you! 

I used to believe the crap the BDA spewed - that's why I weighed 24 stone (336lb), size 34/36 (30/32 US) and was type 2 diabetic. As soon as I stopped listening to them, I dropped 16 stone (224lb) and 15 sizes to UK4-6 (0-2 US)). 

This has been a public health broadcast on behalf of The Primal Blueprint. Thank you for listening  You'll now be returned to your scheduled programming... ;oD

That's basically it. There's one more thing I'd like to add, which is of particular relevance to those of us with IBDs, grains and legumes contain antinutrients (evil substances which inhibit the absorption of nutrients - NOT a good thing when we've a hard enough time on that front as it is) and lectins (mild toxins produced by most plants to prevent consumption - and grains and legumes have particularly high levels. These irritate and inflame the lining of the gut, in much the same way as the tar in ciggies irritates and inflames the lining of the lungs). There's zero nutrition in grains and there's absolutely NO good reason for consuming them. 

Sarah xxx
(grain-free 10 years/low-carb Palaeo for 8)


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## ctrl z

I lost over 100 lbs a few years ago with the Medifast diet. It took a year.

It's full of soy and artificial sweeteners but if you don't care about consuming those things then give it a shot.

It is low calorie and low carb.

You eat 5 of their "meals" a day (which are fully fortified) and one meal you make yourself according to their guidelines.

I've maintained my weight loss for 3 years.


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## agirl65

I've actually lost weight since I've been sick. But a friend of mine has Crohn's as well and she's put on probably 15 lbs over the last 6 months.  I find that I just don't get hungry, so that's my problem. I'm sure with Pred, it would increase my appetite, it does hers. I'm so sorry you are dealing with this!! I do not think you are being vain about the weight either...


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## Niklovely

Before being diagnosed, I was about 55 lbs overweight and while dealing with my first serious flare up, I lost about 40 lbs. For now, I'm just maintaining and I use a Fitbit to track my calories in vs calories out.


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## Athena_Noctua

Ctrl z - it's also incredibly dangerous! Meal replacement diets may lose you a little fat but, because it's so low calorie, and you lose 'weight' so fast, 95% of what you lose is muscle. It can't fail to be - you body has to find the extra nutrition from somewhere, so it eats your muscle. 

I have campaigned against MRP diets for the past 10 years and will continue to do so. Not only do they not teach you about correct nutrition, they can make you so paranoid about calories you end up with an ED. 

Sarah xxx


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## Athena_Noctua

Nik

Did you not read what I said...? Calories in < calories out is an old myth and can actually lead to weight GAIN because you're eating low-fat, and therefore high-carb (because every calorie-counter knows 1g fat = 9 calories and 1g carbs = 4 calories, so they cut out the fat (which is the stuff which causes body fat LOSS) and keep the carbs (which cause body fat GAIN)). 

I suggest you all read The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson (marksdailyapple.com - please read his blog; it's informative, witty and science-ese-free). 

Livin' La Vida Low-Carb by Jimmy Moore (visit his site too - Google the URL he's changed it recently and I forget what it is now). 

These 2 are blogs I read daily (and I regularly post to their fora) and they both know what they're talking about. 

Finally ctrl z - it is highly irresponsible to recommend a MRD to someone with an IBD; those shakes are full of gods only know what crap (the protein is guaranteed to be soy and that's evil crap when you're healthy - we're not healthy). 

If you need to lose fat, it should be done using real, nutritious, whole foods, not processed, chemical-filled, artificially-flavoured, artificially-sweetened gloop.


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## ctrl z

Athena_Noctua said:


> Ctrl z - it's also incredibly dangerous! Meal replacement diets may lose you a little fat but, because it's so low calorie, and you lose 'weight' so fast, 95% of what you lose is muscle. It can't fail to be - you body has to find the extra nutrition from somewhere, so it eats your muscle.
> 
> I have campaigned against MRP diets for the past 10 years and will continue to do so. Not only do they not teach you about correct nutrition, they can make you so paranoid about calories you end up with an ED.
> 
> Sarah xxx


I had about 100 grams of protein a day at the time. I didn't lose any muscle. The diet caused fat burning. That is what a ketogenic diet does.

I've maintained my loss for three years. I think I know a good bit about correct nutrition.

I was obese. I'm not anymore. It did a lot for my life.

I made a conscious effort to keep track of my calories and if you noticed from my post, I also made my own meals.

I'm just trying to offer some advice to someone to help get them out of obesity. You may not like it but it worked for me and I'm pretty healthy for a crohnie.

Besides, have you heard of enteral nutrition? How about elemental nutrition?

Crohnie's do it all the time. They are meal replacements. Would you say that a person with Crohn's disease using these methods to feed themselves have eating disorders like you claim?

In fact, one could argue the diet I was on to lose my weight is good for someone that needs a low residue diet.

But yeah. I'm doing great now. I'm incredibly happy with what I've accomplished.

Thanks for your concern


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## ctrl z

Athena_Noctua said:


> Finally ctrl z - it is highly irresponsible to recommend a MRD to someone with an IBD; those shakes are full of gods only know what crap (the protein is guaranteed to be soy and that's evil crap when you're healthy - we're not healthy).
> 
> If you need to lose fat, it should be done using real, nutritious, whole foods, not processed, chemical-filled, artificially-flavoured, artificially-sweetened gloop.


Yeah... it's gloop. As I said in my post, "if you don't care about consuming those things".

I don't eat that way any more. 

I eat whole, organic foods, and I supplement my diet with organic meal replacement drinks to give my gut a rest.

You may have done it your way, but I did it my way at the time and it has made a huge improvement to my life.

You don't need to attack me for sharing my experience. You need to chill out.


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## 723crossroads

ladybugoleander said:


> I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease when I was 18. I am now 23.  Unlike most people with Crohn's disease, I actually gained weight when I started having Crohn's symptoms.  Before Crohn's, I was thin and active. I exercised heavily, I was captain of my high school's swim team and water polo team.  When I started getting Crohn's symptoms, I stopped being able to exercise heavily, which I'd always enjoyed, because I just didn't have the energy.  By the time I was diagnosed with Crohn's, I had gained 60 lbs.
> 
> In the past 5 years, I've only had a few very brief windows of remission.  When I've been in remission, I started exercising again, and losing weight.  But, remission never lasted long, and I was back in a flare-up, in pain, and fatigued, and the weight came back.
> 
> I'm currently in a bad flare-up. My Crohn's disease is considered severe.  I'm on a high dose of prednisone, which has made me gain another 20 lbs. (and the prednisone isn't even working :-/)  I might have to get surgery soon.
> 
> Now I'm even fatter (obese according to BMI), and feeling awful.  I used to always tell myself that the weight didn't matter, that I'd lose it once I was feeling better, and I didn't worry about it.  But now that I'm even fatter, I can't help but feel disgusted with myself.  However, I just don't know what to do.  I eat fairly healthy (minus fibrous foods and vegetables because I just can't eat them),  when I can eat at all, and I'm scared to restrict my calories because I'm malnourished as it is, although you'd never know by looking at me.  I hardly have the energy to clean my apartment, let alone exercise heavily like I'd like to. I also have arthritis in my knees and back, which makes any kind of exercise even harder.  However, whenever I express sadness over being fat, everyone I talk to (all healthy people) tell me to just start exercising, like I'm just being lazy, and making up excuses for why I don't.
> 
> Anyone else gain weight with Crohn's disease?  Has anyone tried to lose weight with Crohn's? I know most people with as severe a case as mine normally have a hard time keeping weight on, but I'm the complete opposite.
> 
> Should I stop being vain, and caring about my weight?  I just get so frustrated that I'm at the "prime" of my life, and not only do I have to spend it being sick, I also have to spend it being and feeling fat and disgusting.  And I get pressure from my family to lose weight, despite the fact that I'm sick. It's like they'd rather me be thin, and dying in the hospital, than be fat.
> 
> Any and all advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!  And thank you for reading my long post!


Check out the SCD diet for crohn's. You will lose weight on it. At least I did. Just check the website or on here I'm sure it's listed.:ysmile:


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## Thermo

Athena_Noctua said:


> Do you have oatmeal for breakfast...? Now that stuff WILL kill you - as will anything else made from grains.


I strongly disagree with this statement!


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## Niklovely

Athena_Noctua said:


> Nik
> 
> Did you not read what I said...? Calories in < calories out is an old myth and can actually lead to weight GAIN because you're eating low-fat, and therefore high-carb (because every calorie-counter knows 1g fat = 9 calories and 1g carbs = 4 calories, so they cut out the fat (which is the stuff which causes body fat LOSS) and keep the carbs (which cause body fat GAIN)).
> 
> I suggest you all read The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson (marksdailyapple.com - please read his blog; it's informative, witty and science-ese-free).
> 
> Livin' La Vida Low-Carb by Jimmy Moore (visit his site too - Google the URL he's changed it recently and I forget what it is now).
> 
> These 2 are blogs I read daily (and I regularly post to their fora) and they both know what they're talking about.
> 
> Finally ctrl z - it is highly irresponsible to recommend a MRD to someone with an IBD; those shakes are full of gods only know what crap (the protein is guaranteed to be soy and that's evil crap when you're healthy - we're not healthy).
> 
> If you need to lose fat, it should be done using real, nutritious, whole foods, not processed, chemical-filled, artificially-flavoured, artificially-sweetened gloop.


I did read what you said. I haven't gained any weight using this method. I've maintained. Losing fat is not a priority for me at this point, especially since I lost so much weight so fast while dealing with my flare up.


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## ddevanie

I was thin until after my entire large intestine was removed then I went from a size 5 to a size 14. My Dr explained that for years my boby wasn't absorbing my food and was reacting like I was starving myself again (while I was having my flare ups body thought I was starving myself) I have found it very difficult to lose weight especially with having fibro and arthritis not to mention back surgery 3 years ago. I know it is frustrating but try to keep positive.


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## deniselind

When I first got sick with crohns I lost weight, that was 20 yrs ago. I am now 39 and have at least 1 flair per year that is treated with prednisone. I have gained 60 lbs through being sick over the years. I can not exercise when I'm sick. I have no energy at all, add pain and there is no way.


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## Hblakes

I too am having the same problem. I've gained weight and the good I love mostly veggies and legumes salads things that would help me succeed in losing are bad if you have microscopic colitis!? What can we eat that will help us lose and heal our bellies!!???


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## jacquell

I was diagnosed with crohns when I was 15 start taking meds now I don't know how to lose the weight I'm turning 20 in few days I jus want lose the weight


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