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Prednisone and weight gain......

Posted , 16 users are following.

Marla0415
Marla0415

I have gained 20 lbs since being on Prednisone. I was watching what I ate closely at first trying to keep it from happening. Then it just seemed to come on me. . Since at the time I had no real idea about the duration of PMR and being on steroids I thought in a few months when it's over and I'm off Pred I'll get the weight back off. Well now that I know that I could be on these steroids for quite some time I'm wondering if it's actually possible to get the weight off even though I'm still on the Pred. Has anyone had success at this. I'm at 20 mg currently and know it will be a long process to reduce since I've already attempted 3 x and had to go back up even higher than my initial dose.  I've read Pred actually changes your metabolism.  The PMR battle can be discouraging and then to gain the weight too makes it more so. Any comments and thoughts are appreciated from my fellow PMR cohorts!!!

1 like, 87 replies

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  • lee63556
    lee63556 Marla0415

    Posted

    Try Dukan diet. Is very good. And skip potatoes and mashed. Quinoa is a good alternative to carbs. Eat more fish, poached salmon or grill salmon as long is not fried. I am still new to Pred (2weeks) and I have tried my best to go gluten free too. Intolurate to wheat and most of the combinations in biscuits. If these doesn't help if I found a better way to loose pounds I will let you know. Please look into Dukan diet. Good luck

    LM

    • EileenH
      EileenH lee63556

      Posted

      Quinoa is not an ideal inclusion of a low carb diet - it isn't an alternative to carb, it is an alternative to cereal grains. An American 1/2 cup portion of quinoa would contain about 20 grams of carb - a hefty proportion of the daily allowance in a low carb diet which is typically 30-50 grams of usable carb. 
    • Marla0415
      Marla0415 lee63556

      Posted

      Low carb seems the consensus so far.  Darn, another of life's pleasures snatched away,  Good you are watching things early and stay vigilant. I tried and failed. :-(
    • lee63556
      lee63556 EileenH

      Posted

      I cooked one cup of quinoa and divided them into four portions, cooked a lb of button mushroom, mixed veg of broccoli, coliflower and snow pea (cut into small pieces and boiled for a few minutes) all divided into equal 4 with quinoa. I use them for lunch and I hope it is a right way to do. 😀 
    • Marla0415
      Marla0415 lee63556

      Posted

      I'm not familiar with Dukan Diet but will certainly research it.  Thanks. 
    • EileenH
      EileenH Marla0415

      Posted

      It's just another of the low-carb eating plans that makes a fortune on the back of it by selling "special" prepared low carb foods. Which all contain all sorts of stuff - preparing meat/fish/eggs/cheese dishes with fresh veg and salads is easy and far better for you.
    • lee63556
      lee63556 EileenH

      Posted

      Not really. Is just a recipe you have to prepare from scratch. And is free download from App Store. 
  • julian.
    julian. Marla0415

    Posted

    I added 10kg.

    The mixture of being less active, fatigued, eating because I couldn't concentrate on anything.

    Reduce the carbs and smaller helpings generally. A smaller plate. I needed to weigh myself every day and draw a chart as my weight was up and down by a kg over a day so 207 gm/week was well hidden. But over several months down it came.

    Interesting discussion with coronary rehab who weighed me before and after which showed a slight gain, so I showed them the longer term chart with all the natural variation and suggested that "spot samples" were subject to large error.

    In simple terms, the engineer in me figured that if I was eating more than I needed I would put on weight, so eat less than I needed and I would lose weight. To a certain extent it probably didn't matter what I ate, as long as there wasn't too much of it.

    There is of course the minor matter of what the weight is made of. My fat percentage is down after exercise.

    I'm a bit suspicious about "pred caused it". I figure my generally much lower activity level caused it. But becoming more active was an insurmountable barrier a year ago.

    • julian.
      julian.

      Posted

      PS forgot to mention .... somehere in all that was going on I got a bit older and my at rest heart rate dropped to lower than I can ever recall. Blood pressure normal. No observable problems. I took it as an indication my metabolic rate is lower. Which means I need to eat less.
    • nick67069
      nick67069 julian.

      Posted

      I could not agree more with what you said. It is simple. If we consume more calories then we use, we gain weight. It does not matter what the source of those calories are. Here is VERY simplified version. Body converts all forms of food into basically two cathegories - form of carb that will be used as energy; if we dont use it, it is converted into long term storage = fat.  The above is true if we eat carbs or protein or fat. To lose weight one can reduce food intake and/or increase activity level.

      Percent fat is much better indication how "fat" we are then weight, another very good point you made.

    • nick67069
      nick67069 julian.

      Posted

      There could be another reason for your lower rest HR... The more you are fit, the lower resting HR is... Mine used to be below 40 when I was in top shape... now with PMR it is in mid 50's
    • lee63556
      lee63556 nick67069

      Posted

      I agreed with you about the food intake. I believed in listen to your own body. When come to food the mind is like a 'black hole' but I think most pain killer makes you eat. I feel hungry more when I was on painkiller before Pred (maybe is just in my mind?) or maybe I won't want the med to cause problem to my stomach 😀😀 with PMR there is not much of activities we can do but walk and some of PMR sufferers can't even do that. So I have been very lucky still managed to take the routes I used to walk before the PMR with a slower pace. 
    • Marla0415
      Marla0415 julian.

      Posted

      I'm pretty sure if you are diligent at watching what you eat while on Prednisone you won't gain weight as it is true if you take in more calories than your body needs it is stored as fat. Maybe Prednisone promotes fat storage somehow though and makes it easier to gain somehow because I did feel it came on ever do quickly. Regardless I guess it's up to me now to get it back off and keep from gaining more. 
    • nick67069
      nick67069 lee63556

      Posted

      I try to encourage people not to rely on diet alone, since what really changed with PMR is that our activities are reduced. The right way to fix the problem is to increase the activity, not to diet. The only exception to that is if you have real, legit reason that you cannot walk, like injury ( Achilles tendon for example). Otherwise there should not be excuse not to start doing something.  In addition, if you diet, you are losing fat and muscles, not just fat. At our age, we don't have much muscles to lose and it is much harder to get them back. As I pointed out in the other post, percent fat is much better measure how "fat" you are. During the process of diet muscles are replaced with fat, which is lighter per same volume. So it appears that we are losing weight, while the percent fat is going up!

       

    • lee63556
      lee63556 nick67069

      Posted

      You are right about activities. If one put on too much weight and restrict the walking activities. So both diets and activities should work together. I do get tightness at the back of my leg when walk although the pain on both hips subside. The journey I used to walk normally took me twenty minutes and now it took me 30-35 mins. But it hasn't stop me. So I hope all PMR sufferers please take a walk round the block or town centre. Helps to loose weight and strengthen the legs capability. Bad days I walk short round. Good days I can 'fly' oops. 👍 Thumb up for walking Nick?
    • EileenH
      EileenH nick67069

      Posted

      Sorry, don't agree guys, calories are not just calories and there is work that shows it is possible to eat more calories without putting on weight if you eat non-carb ones. It is also to do with the pathways. As long as you are eating loads of carbs you use them for energy and any excess is laid down as fat, that is perfectly true. Reduce the carbs enough and your body starts to use up the fat stores by ketogenesis. It doesn't mean you can eat unlimited fat and protein but you can eat more than if you eat carbs. There is also the aspect of reversing insulin resistance - that won't happen as long as you are triggering insulin production by eating carbs. No/very low carbs - no insulin production.
    • Anhaga
      Anhaga nick67069

      Posted

      Nick, there are diets and there are diets.  I think what most of us here are referring to when we talk about changing our diets is not so much calorie restriction (although that is a real issue for some) but alterations in the actual foods we consume.  As Eileen says, you can get just as many calories from a diet rich in whole foods but light on carbohydrates (especially the grain-based carbs and highly refined foods).  In my case I really can't afford to reduce calories bu must cut back on the carbs and simple sugars.  So I eat a lot of nuts, and high protein foods and don't cut out the fat (healthy oils)
    • Daniel1143
      Daniel1143 EileenH

      Posted

      Eileen - we've never met, but I have to say you are quite impressive.  LIke many folks in this PMR dialog, I tune in to everything you have to say.  Far more insightful than any rheumatologist.  So perhaps you might start a new discussion group which is simply Eileen the Oracle.  You'd have quite a following.
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