Weight gain

[skbird]

I was diagnosed with IC 4 years ago, though looking back at medical records, I probably have had it at least 20 now. It's only been the last 15 months that my flares have really been getting in the way of my life.

Things have been moderately ok lately but I still take meds, even though I'm not flaring badly at the moment, and I still get two instills a month because I flare on a monthly basis.

Ever since my bad flaring started though, I have been consistently gaining weight. Since 15 months ago, I have now gained a total of 45 pounds (started out at 150). I am not on any antidepressants and the meds I take the most, valium and vicodin, are really only associated with weight gain because they slow you down, yet I have been more active than I had been before I was diagnosed, walking 3 miles a day with a backpack (full time student) and eating 2000-2200 calories a day (I'm 5'10").

I'm just really frustrated. I turned 40 yesterday - maybe it's hormones? Anyone else gain weight during the course of their IC symptoms?

Thanks!

[IamBlessed]

Hi skbird

I just wanted to let you know that I can sympathize with you. I too have been gaining weight since being diagnosed and starting the IC diet. I can truely understand how frustrating this can be. More recently I started working with a dietician because my diet is also very limited because of my food intolerences too. She noticed that I was eating a LOT of carbs. Every single meal and snack was carbs. She doesn't endorse a no-carb diet but showed me how to cut back and instead use veggies, fat, and protein to fill up. I'm not sure what your diet is like but try taking a closer look. I now make sure to have protein with every meal and snack when before I may just have come chips or gluten free pretzles. They were low in calories and fat but they did nothing for my body and were causing me to gain weight. Now I eat lots of healthy fats like avocado, nuts, and nut butters and have veggies like carrots and celery for snacks and it fills me up more and I have more energy. The weight is FINALLY starting to come off little by little. I also would do some googling to see what your calorie intake should be. I'm not sure if any woman should intake more then 2000 calories.

I really hope that you can find something that works for you so that you can feel like your at a healthy weight again. And remember too that health isn't all about the numbers on that scale! Eating healthy and exercising is the best thing you can do for your body and every person is different.
You may also want to consider seeing your physician. It could be your thyroid or something else going on if you're feeling like you are getting a good amount of exercise with no results.

I wish you all the best!!!
Hugs, Sarah

[skbird]

Thanks Sarah - good tips! I'm actually 5'10" and according to "calculators" online, 2200 calories should be ok for me, so I've been sticking with that or less. I started studying nutrition a year and a half ago so I've been trying to stick to info I learn that way and funny - that's also the same time I have been gaining weight. I used to eat fats and oils with no limitations and was the right weight - it was only when I started upping my carbs, lowering my protein (which was way above what was 'recommended' by what I'm learning) and started eating regular servings of whole grains (brown rice, some sorghum and buckwheat).

Just to give a typical day for anyone interested:

• 7am: 2 steamed/boiled eggs
• 10:30am: 1 LARABar (only nuts and fruit) or a Kind Bar
• noonish: 2 brown rice tortillas, 3oz cheddar, 1/4 c pinto beans (quesadilla), and a spritz of olive oil
• mid-day snack: either 1 oz nuts or 1 serving of GenSoy cheddar crisps (130 calories)
• dinner: meat and a veggie (usually generous portion of veggie, like 15-20 brussel sprouts or a double serving of broccoli)
• dessert: 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream with some slivered almonds as topping, some strawberries

So you can see, I'm not starving myself, but I'm not being extravagant, either. I remember when I use to eat a "less healthy" diet and I weighed the right weight, I had bacon at least once a day, much more cheese, 1 cup of whole milk yogurt with maple syrup to sweeten it, and I ate banana chips with abandon, 3-4oz of nuts a day, still had ice cream - in fact the month before I changed my diet I had had 2 pies all myself (because they were gluten free, pumpkin and pecan), and I used liquid cream in everything. Also, I drank breves every day (lattes made with half and half instead of milk). So - tons of fat, the main difference being that I switched from "unhealthy bacon" and all that fat, and switched to low-fat brown rice whole grain tortillas. And of course, no breves because I don't drink coffee anymore.

Doesn't that seem like Bizarro World diet?

Anyway... maybe I need to go back to eating like that - sheesh.

Thanks!

[Mothergoose]

You body can quickly change carbs into sugar, so it enters your blood stream fast and raise's your blood sugar level fast, this triggers you to make insulin, (they call this the fat storing hormom). So what your body dosen't need for energy it stores as fat.

Fat that you eat, your body can not turn into sugar, so it dosen't get stored the same.

The trick is to eat the fat and protiens and not the carbs.

This is a very abrivated version of a diet. Or therory behind a diet.

MG

[skbird]

Yeah - I am pretty familiar by now (just had finals week!) with biochemistry and physiology of how different foods (lipids versus carbs) are incorporated into the body.

Really, the point of my post was - is anyone else finding that they've gained weight since they were diagnosed? Is it my meds? Is it something to do with IC? Is it because I am hitting perimenopause and now my hormones are going nuts? I'm just really confused by how a person could gain that much weight eating a healthy diet, such as I am. As well as being active and conscious about what I put in my body?

Just so frustrating. :S

Thanks...

[VickiB]

I'm just really frustrated. I turned 40 yesterday - maybe it's hormones? Anyone else gain weight during the course of their IC symptoms?

It seemed like when I turned 40 I suddenly began to add weight. I really feel that what happened is that my metabolism slowed down so I no longer required the same amount of fuel as in my 30's, but I was still eating like in my 30's. My solution has been to strictly limit the carbs. I swear, if I even walk down the ice cream aisle at the store and glance sideways through the freezer glass I gain 5 pounds!

Bummer!

[skbird]

Ha! That cracked me up for some reason. I used to be on a low carb diet and it worked well for me, and then I went gluten free (found out I had Celiac) and was able to eat carbs again with no problem, for about 5 years. I don't eat huge amounts of them either, I mean, compared to Atkins induction, yes, I eat a lot, but nothing like what "typical" people do. The RDA is 250-300g a day for a person my size and I have around 100 or less. Maybe I'll go back to limiting myself to 50g/day. It just frustrates me that I'm actually studying nutrition, using nutritional info to create my diet so I can be "familiar" and aware when it comes to helping others, and yet I have gained 45 pounds during that time :S

I'm also hoping to get some hormones straightened out - I am having a hysterectomy at the end of this month and will have some work ahead of me getting balanced.... maybe that will help - I understand that with perimenopause, you make less estrogen, so your body gets greedy and holds onto it, in the form of fat, and that's why people in that age group tend to gain weight. We'll see how it goes!

[Mothergoose]

Okay so you are right I did not answer your question, did I gain weight, quite a bit of weight, yes.

I think I have had IC all my life but by my early to mid 40's it became really bad, so was it the meds?, lying in bed for years?, the no energy?, pain? pain pills? eating to deal with the pain? I just felt to sick to care how I looked?

I don't know probably all of above.

Last fall after finally starting to feel better I set about loosing the weight I had gained. I now stick to a no suga,r no simple carb, IC diet and this seems to be working pretty good for me.

I also feel well enough again to be able to go out and go for a walk each day something I love to do but have not been able to to fro quite a few years now. I find this is good for my mind as well as my body.

MG

[skbird]

@MotherGoose - I've keep thinking my inactivity may have something to do with it, then I realize in the last year I've been more active than I have in years, and yet I am gaining about 5 pounds every two months. I'm definitely going to cut back on my carbs and see if that helps, and I'm also hoping my upcoming hysto will help reduce some of my pain so I won't have to rely on meds as much, which I think contribute (despite no obvious evidence on the internet and talking to doctors).

Thanks for your thoughts - I think sometimes I need to hear other people so I can realize it's ok to give myself permission to not feel well all the time - and that sometimes that results in other effects such as weight gain/loss and all the other stuff.

[Susan13]

When I had endometriosis I also took progesterone and I gained 10 lbs in 2 weeks and I am sure it was from the medication. I think that might have something to do with it. Also had a hysterectomy when I was 36. Best thing I ever did. I only have one ovary so I take estrogen every day. I don't miss my painfull uterus at all. I did have a bit of a hard time feeling I had lost part of my womanhood, until I got on the estrogen and my hormones got more balanced. Now I think it is great and I am still all of me.

[skbird]

Hi Susan - yeah, I've heard synthetic progesterone can cause bloating but that the bioidentical kind (prometrium) isn't supposed to, and I was fine when I took it for 5 years but then after the 10 month "mishap" of taking Seasonique, going back on prometrium swelled me up and I've never recovered. I kept thinking it would go away. Then I got an ablation and that didn't help because OF COURSE I have to have a weird (heart) shaped uterus. So finally, having the hysterectomy - they're taking EVERYTHING out and starting me from ground zero so I can hopefully get back on track while I still feel like having fun I think my doc said I'll be using the estrogen patch that's bioidentical, and I may or may not have to use any progesterone with it. I'm just really looking forward to The New Me. (I say this one day after turning 40 - I'm really ready for a make-over )

[sabstory]

I have gained quite a bit of weight. I look bigger than I am though, because of the IC belly, I literally look about 6 months pregnant. It used to be swollen for a couple of days and then go back down, but now it is swollen most of the time. It is hard and painful when palpated. I also have quite a bit of flank pain with the bloating. In the past 18 months I have gained about 30 pounds, which was a lot for me, I am only 5'2". The other sad fact is that I am only 25, so I hope this isn't a trend for me. I find that my diet has become severely limited, because I deal with other food allergies/intolerances. Lately I find myself eating: cereal with almond milk, frozen blueberries, pear cups, cliff mojo peanut butter bars, Lara bars, ice cream, coconut fruit bars, apple toaster strudels, pancakes, broccoli, carrots, Brussels sprouts and mac and cheese. Probably not the diet of champions, but what else is there?

[ICNDonna]

When I went to diabetes education they provided excellent tips for weight control. The one that's easiest for me is to stick with the 90 or 100 calorie snacks. I stick with ones that have nuts so there is some protein there.

I think my body also sucks up calories when I walk past the bakery!

Donna

[bubbe1]

weight gain

It seemed like when I turned 40 I suddenly began to add weight. I really feel that what happened is that my metabolism slowed down so I no longer required the same amount of fuel as in my 30's, but I was still eating like in my 30's. My solution has been to strictly limit the carbs. I swear, if I even walk down the ice cream aisle at the store and glance sideways through the freezer glass I gain 5 pounds!

Bummer!

Vicki,
I am so with you on that! Thanks for the laugh!

[skbird]

I think the hard thing for me is that I have probably had IC for >20 years and yet only been strongly symptomatic for the last year and a half - and that's when the weight came. And it's all over - not just my belly, it's my thighs, hips, chest (from a 34D to a 36DD/E) though not quite so much in my face. Even my calves have grown, though they are pretty rock hard because I walk so much and climb a lot of stairs.

Is this a sign of IC and related conditions all kind of creeping up together and getting worse? Did my dropping caffeine cold slow my metabolism? Or is it just freakin' hormones? Every time I get annoyed about it, 5 more pounds appear on the scale.

I think I'm most frustrated because I eat no fast food, none of the things that 90% of Americans eat daily, make all my own food, and go for the healthy options (lots of veggies, meats). I'm also studying to be a Registered Dietitian and nothing I've learned so far seems to point at why this would be happening to me - no clear answer.

I haven't had a potato chip in 12 years, or eaten at a Carl's Jr/Taco Bell, etc. I guess it just makes me mad that not only do I have to suffer from IC, but I also get to keep getting larger even though I am doing all the "right" things when it comes to food.

I appreciate your answers, though -