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Dealing with weight gain

Sunday

Senior Member
Messages
733
coxy, yes, actually that was the pattern of my illness: gained weight the first year, then suddenly just keep losing no matter what I ate. I speculate that the weight loss was due to losing my ability to absorb food (gut issues). (My acupuncturist thought I might have leaky gut, and he might have been right.) There is some evidence that methylation may be what's needed to get the gut back into good shape. Certainly my experience with the B12 protocol (which is meant to restart methylation) could be interpreted that way.
 

Sunday

Senior Member
Messages
733
Kim, just wanted to add my appreciation for the Defense of the Whales. And in addition: mermaids are vain characters who have a habit of destroying the people they encounter (e.g. the Lorelei).
 

Sunday

Senior Member
Messages
733
You might try carnitine, which is something we tend to be deficient in. It's essential in the fat-burning process which creates ATP.
 

caledonia

Senior Member
In general, just eat (and drink!) healthy. Eat whole foods (which still have all the fiber and nutrients in), not processed foods. No diet foods or pop or fake sugar or fake anything. Drink water. No concentrated/high glycemic carbs. Get lean protein and a bit of good fat with each meal or snack. Check out the Zone diet for an example of a good balanced diet.

If you're having problems with hypoglycemia which causes you to eat more often to maintain blood sugar levels, crave carbs etc., add chromium supplementation. I was able to drop one meal a day just by doing this.

Other than that, be aware that meds such as anti-depressents and pain meds can cause weight gain. You can try switching meds, if you're game.

Also problems with hypothyroidism and adrenal fatigue can cause weight gain or inability to lose weight. You can supplement with the appropriate hormones/glandulars and helper supplements to get the thyroid and adrenals functioning better.
 

Hysterical Woman

Senior Member
Messages
857
Location
East Coast
Hi samatk,

Trying to lose weight while having CFS - so frustrating! Good luck to you. I don't have specific diet suggestions, but agree with Caledonia in that some meds can really cause weight gain. After 18 years of being on elavil and being hungry 24 hours a days (and craving carbs and salt) I am completely off of it. I can already tell a difference in my appetite. I don't get up out of bed in the morning, walk to the kitchen and start grabbing for things to eat being so hungry hungry hungry.

Take care,

HW
 

bakercape

Senior Member
Messages
210
Location
Cape Cod. Mass
Some things that have helped me

1) Lots of fruits and vegetables

2) Lots of water and green tea instead of Coffee. 8 glasses of water a day.

3) anaerobic excercise if you can tolerate it. Every time I try aerobic excercise I relapse but some weight lifting I can keep up and it helps buld retain muscle which in turn burns more calories than fat.

4) fight depression. I know I get depressed as a result of having CFS and it makes me want to eat more and give up on taking care of myself the best I can. Avoiding stressful people and situations and surounding myself with those who support and understand my illness helps the best for me.

Good luck. Weight control is so hard when you can't exercise much or at all.
 

wonderoushope

Senior Member
Messages
247
Oh I am glad I am not the only one with this issue. I am going through a weight gain just now, with CFS symptoms flaring up. I am trying to be so careful with what I eat, but it doesn't matter what I do. Sometimes I am ravenous hungry and other times I am so full for the whole day. The problem for me is when this flare-up happens the days when I am hungry I can never feel full. I've tried eating lots of protein, including having a pea based protein shakes, and it makes no difference at all. I've tried lots of combinations of foods to try and fill me up but I am still ravenously hungry. I probably eat anywhere between 1200-1600 calories a day now. When I am hungry it is so insatiable that I can't not eat, but still try and eat really healthily and eat foods that are supposed to fill me up.

Like I will have porridge in the morning and half an hour later I am starving.

I know it's not in my head, because when I am in remission. I can eat pretty much anything and don't put on any weight, but when the flare-up happens I can eat so strictly and I put on weight without breathing.

My stomach bloats like anything, and become more sensitive to foods at this time as well.

I have found it very hard to lose weight pretty much since my mid 20's when I think my IBS issues started. I suspect I had a bit of CF back then, but didn't realise it. Before my mid 20's I was always slim and never hungry.

When I was in remission, I had a personal trainer for 16 months, doing 45 min x 2 times a week and a pretty healthy diet, and the weight barely budged. I kept on saying to him, isn't it strange that the weight is moving?

The only thing that helps eventually is time to heal, and having a super strict diet, no processed foods and a few kg go back down. But I never having big losses that's for sure. Usually I can gain or lose 3-5 kg from illness to remission. I am currently up 5kg.

There was a point in time at my worst with CFS where I would have nausea every day and have days without eating and the scales didn't budge at all, in fact I popped on a lot of weight.

I think there is something going on in the body, that is blocking the signals at this time. The body goes into stress mode and everything goes out of whack.
 

Little Bluestem

All Good Things Must Come to an End
Messages
4,930
When you can expend so little energy, it is difficult to get enough nutrients without getting too many calories. I do not know the solution.
 
Messages
3
Oh I am glad I am not the only one with this issue. I am going through a weight gain just now, with CFS symptoms flaring up. I am trying to be so careful with what I eat, but it doesn't matter what I do. Sometimes I am ravenous hungry and other times I am so full for the whole day. The problem for me is when this flare-up happens the days when I am hungry I can never feel full. I've tried eating lots of protein, including having a pea based protein shakes, and it makes no difference at all. I've tried lots of combinations of foods to try and fill me up but I am still ravenously hungry. I probably eat anywhere between 1200-1600 calories a day now. When I am hungry it is so insatiable that I can't not eat, but still try and eat really healthily and eat foods that are supposed to fill me up.

Like I will have porridge in the morning and half an hour later I am starving.

I know it's not in my head, because when I am in remission. I can eat pretty much anything and don't put on any weight, but when the flare-up happens I can eat so strictly and I put on weight without breathing.

My stomach bloats like anything, and become more sensitive to foods at this time as well.

I have found it very hard to lose weight pretty much since my mid 20's when I think my IBS issues started. I suspect I had a bit of CF back then, but didn't realise it. Before my mid 20's I was always slim and never hungry.

When I was in remission, I had a personal trainer for 16 months, doing 45 min x 2 times a week and a pretty healthy diet, and the weight barely budged. I kept on saying to him, isn't it strange that the weight is moving?

The only thing that helps eventually is time to heal, and having a super strict diet, no processed foods and a few kg go back down. But I never having big losses that's for sure. Usually I can gain or lose 3-5 kg from illness to remission. I am currently up 5kg.

There was a point in time at my worst with CFS where I would have nausea every day and have days without eating and the scales didn't budge at all, in fact I popped on a lot of weight.

I think there is something going on in the body, that is blocking the signals at this time. The body goes into stress mode and everything goes out of whack.
 
Messages
3
I was diagnosed with chronic encephalopathy and immune deficiency in 1984 long before the concept of CFS was developed. I was 42 and had never had a weight problem and could eat almost anything without budging the scales. I weighed 112. In the beginning of CFS, I lost weight and went down to around 104 and I looked and was very bad. My killer cells were overactive, not suppressed.
My doctor was doing research with a university professor and I was put on an orphan drug from Germany which greatly helped with the multiple chemical sensitivity that was a horror. At a point and as the research on the outbreak of CFS in Incline Village got publicity, I decided to change to Dr. Paul Cheney. He has tried every conceivable treatment to help his patients despite his own very serious heart problems. I have not been bed ridden and I work every day, but at a sedentary job. By the time I come home, I am wiped out for the rest of the day. The horrible headaches I had at the beginning of this ordeal just disappeared one day. But now I have had significant weight gain 30-40 lbs.. I weigh more than I did when I was pregnant. I actually exercise more than before I got sick. I play golf, but can only get through 9 holes and I do a relaxed form of Yoga once a week. I can't do any aerobic exercise. Two years ago, I lost 15 pounds on weight watchers and was thrilled, but gained it all back when I cut my leg and got a serious leg infection that took four months and many rounds of antibiotics to heal.

I didn't mention that I believe that my health problems started with exposure to a pesticide used in our home for flea control. This pesticide and since been taken off the market for indoor use.

I work in the environmental health field, and my hypothesis is that body fat may be protecting us from toxins (both external and from metabolic processes) that we can't break down because of broken detoxification systems.

The viruses and infections that central to CFS are often elevated in those with suppressed immunity like transplant and chemotherapy patients. Finding the trigger for the immune abnormalities is (in my opinion) key to treating CFS.
 

jann1033

Senior Member
Messages
176
Glad to see this thread. I don’t know what metabolic snafu causes it but I’ve gained every time I’ve had a flare and never lose it . Over 59 lbs this last 6 months. Makes no difference what or how much I eat( gained 20 lbs in a month and could not keep food down , ate, threw up gained, how in the world does that even happen???) me/CFS over 30 yrs now. Hasimitos last 5 but supposed to be under control. I feel like I’m slowly dying. No remission any longer, housebound but not bed bound yet . Guess I’m just glad to know I’m not nuts about the weight gain