Weight loss, exercise and fibromyalgia

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FibroHiker
FibroHiker Posts: 344 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
It's been about 6 months since I was diagnosed by default with Fibromyalgia. Since then I spent some time ignoring all the advice others have given me regarding exercise and the disorder and tried to "beat" fibromyalgia.

In the last six months I haven't lost much weight by fighting against it but came to the following conclusions regarding weight loss, exercise and fibromyalgia:

I can't do any exercise that works to build muscle mass quickly which is unfortunate because increased muscle mass helps to increase and burn more calories on a daily basis. I can take walks and short hikes. Weight lifting or isometric muscle exercises either leave me feeling extremely fatigued the day after or causes pain flare ups for many hours after exercising.

I can't exercise for long periods of time. I have been taking short hikes, 3-4 miles, without much consequence for several months now. Last week my hubby and I decided on Father's day to stretch out our hike just a little bit more than usual. Once we reached the top of a big hill climb we walked along some gentle rolling hills at the top before heading back down. It stretched out our usual 60-75 minute hike to 2 hours. It was too much and the next day I could hardly function because of the excess fatigue.

CICO and consistency seems to be the only way to successfully lose weight. When I have been consistent with my eating and managing my intake with the MFP app to adhere to my goals, I have lost weight. During the weeks when I have said, "Screw this. I'm eating pizza and cake." I have quickly put the weight back on.

If your experiences have been different, I'd love to hear from you. Also, if you've been prescribed something that helps you to be more active please do respond. I haven't tried many meds prescribed for Fibromyalgia, but I'm always looking for new suggestions for something that I could possibly try.

Replies

  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,467 Member
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    Sounds like you’ve got it figured it out. It took me much longer to figure it out than it sounds like it took you, but with similar results.
  • FibroHiker
    FibroHiker Posts: 344 Member
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    corinasue1143 wrote: »
    Sounds like you’ve got it figured it out. It took me much longer to figure it out than it sounds like it took you, but with similar results.

    It's good to know I'm on the right track.
  • FibroHiker
    FibroHiker Posts: 344 Member
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    Fuzzipeg wrote: »
    I'm very sorry you have this diagnosis which has brought so many uncomfortable and restricting symptoms to say the least.

    Recently a young friend of mine on here who has struggled with her fibro for years achieved a hypothyroid diagnosis. As soon as her body was receiving correct thyroid support for her she became the person she use to be active, positive, loosing excess weight. Her endocrine systems balance was replenished. I'm wondering if you have been fortunate to have your thyroid/ pituitary/ adrenals tested, simple blood tests cover it. The trouble is currently it is not fashionable to test these things properly. Best scientific practice says to have this information before treating. For many going outside general medicine is the only way to discover this information and achieve the support they need.

    I hope you will read around Fibro because linked to low thyroid function digestive difficulties can reduce your digestive biome, similarly if you have ever used antibiotics, as is now realised other medications can also impact ones digestive biome. It is now being realised this population of microbes digesting our foods enabling some vitamins like b 12 to reach the point where they can enter the body, if many microbes are reduced and or lost we do not absorb effective nutrition. We all have our own best combination which makes people distrustful. Using pre and pro biotics can help, please read into various products to see what should be best for you.

    The way our bodies work is far more complicated than many are inclined to want to understand I wish you all the very best as you work towards regaining your health. I suggest you look for national support sites and medical papers though many are pay to view, much is available under free access over someone's blogs, though they can give you insights of some other places to look.

    Yes, I was tested for low thyroid and was put on medication years ago. During diagnosis for fibromyalgia I was retested many times for thyroid functioning, through all the various panels, and my levels always came back to be functioning within the average range.
  • ilovekiwis
    ilovekiwis Posts: 17 Member
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    Hi there. I also have fibro and in general, what works for me as far as weight loss with minimal flare up is the same. Gentle exercises like walking and stretching, CICO, and time.

    I wanted to add that swimming and yoga are good low-intensity options.
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,298 Member
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    aidyah - I fear you are one of the persons who needs to be higher up in the so called "Normal Range", ample for some but not for all. It makes all the difference between struggling and flying and enjoying life, there are many of us like this. Please if you are able, try to find a functional physician who will look at your results in a more understanding way rather than by dictate. Where t3 (its not often tested) is low or in the reverse form is of no use to the body, supported with mineral and vitamins this can be a great help. Where someone has the right combination of minerals this should correct reverse t3. Going functional has made a world of difference for myself and many others. Its easy for those who have not experienced the pain and frustration of knowing they are far from up to par, feeling blocked which ever way we turn, to scoff. Only we know what it is like and there are times when we need to make that leap of faith, life can be better.

    A young friend of mine on here, is now well enough to take the holiday of a life time and her weight and activity levels are normalising.

    Said with the best of intensions, I hope you achieve your very best state of health soon.
  • shaumom
    shaumom Posts: 1,003 Member
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    I've got fibro, and the following things helped me (that you didn't mention).

    1. I have found that I can do more physical activity IF I REALLY slowly build up to it. Like, going on a sudden hike that is much more than I usually do, or more intense than I usually do? That'll do me in like it did you. But if I build up to it, I do better. But it has to be SO slow. Like, I add 1-2 minutes of this activity a day and build up from there - and sometimes have to keep the same activity 2 days in a row before I go up. And I have to KEEP doing it nearly daily. If I don't and let my activity level go back down, I have to start from scratch, basically.

    I have not yet gone on a hike that is really intense, not in years, but if I was going to, I'd probably take a few months to build up to a daily higher intensity to do it. But I'd REALLY have to want to do that hike. :-)

    2. I have noticed that quite a few foods impact my pain and exhaustion levels. Some have turned out to be low level allergies, some just seem to be sensitivities. Corn, of all things, seems to be a big one for me - my pain and exhaustion is SO much more when I have eaten corn, and it gets worse the more days in a row I eat corn. But I have met a number of folks who also have foods that seem to help or hamper their ability to be low-pain or more active, so it might be worth exploring a food journal while mixing around your diet to see what helps, what doesn't, you know?

    Also, I have met a number of fibro folks who, like myself, react to a few chemicals - sulfites seems not uncommon. And sulfites is also used to bleach salt white, so if you use regular salt, you ALWAYS get it. I just mention this because if one does an elimination diet, even the salt can be a culprit of symptoms.

    3. Adding in a lot of bioflavonoids.

    So, quick history in case you aren't aware (and apologies if it's superfluous info!), any plant foods we're eating contain bioflavonoids. Some of these have been studied, some have not, but most research is pretty early stages regarding these. However, one thing that is becoming pretty clear is that bioflavonoids often have an impact on mast cells and seem to make them less likely to release certain mediators into the body. Mast cells have over 200 mediators they release into the body, so this obviously can impact a lot.

    The important thing for fibro folks is that mast cells release many of the mediators that can cause pain and inflammation (as well as allergic reactions and other issues).

    So increasing certain bioflavonoids may help with inflammation and/or pain, which might be useful for fibro.

    I personally take olive leaf tea and guava leaf tea (I pick the leaves myself) and honestly, it helps a lot. I notice when I'm not ingesting these. They are very high in three beneficial flavonoids: quercetin, luteolin, and rutin.

    Quercetin is popular enough you can find supplements of it, but the rest, you have to find foods.

    To help with that, or to figure out what bioflavonoids might be of use to you, potentially, I found the USDA list of bioflavonoid content of foods very useful. (https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80400525/Data/Flav/Flav_R03.pdf )

    It is not all foods. But after I had found studies on some of the flavonoids that had been said to help a different illness of mine, I started checking out the list to try and find more foods with them. And then, I started taking the flavonoids listed there, and I would do google searches, typically: flavonoid name mast cell (or inflammation, or pain) abstract .

    mast cells are easier to reference in studies because they are so commonly mentioned as the cell that released an inflammatory cytokine, etc... Otherwise, you often need to know the exact mediator the study was looking at, which is more difficult.

    But you can find a lot of interesting research, and most of the time, it's something that you could experiment with safely by simply adding in some foods to the diet, because they don't involve medication or dangerous practices at all, you know? As long as one doesn't go over the top and eat, say, 500 oranges a day or something, obviously. :-)



    But anyway, that's what I've done that seems to help. I still don't have a lot of ability to exercise, honestly, but what I do have always improves due to the above three things. :-) Good luck you you!

  • FibroHiker
    FibroHiker Posts: 344 Member
    Options
    shaumom wrote: »
    I've got fibro, and the following things helped me (that you didn't mention).

    1. I have found that I can do more physical activity IF I REALLY slowly build up to it. Like, going on a sudden hike that is much more than I usually do, or more intense than I usually do? That'll do me in like it did you. But if I build up to it, I do better. But it has to be SO slow. Like, I add 1-2 minutes of this activity a day and build up from there - and sometimes have to keep the same activity 2 days in a row before I go up. And I have to KEEP doing it nearly daily. If I don't and let my activity level go back down, I have to start from scratch, basically.

    I have not yet gone on a hike that is really intense, not in years, but if I was going to, I'd probably take a few months to build up to a daily higher intensity to do it. But I'd REALLY have to want to do that hike. :-)

    2. I have noticed that quite a few foods impact my pain and exhaustion levels. Some have turned out to be low level allergies, some just seem to be sensitivities. Corn, of all things, seems to be a big one for me - my pain and exhaustion is SO much more when I have eaten corn, and it gets worse the more days in a row I eat corn. But I have met a number of folks who also have foods that seem to help or hamper their ability to be low-pain or more active, so it might be worth exploring a food journal while mixing around your diet to see what helps, what doesn't, you know?

    Also, I have met a number of fibro folks who, like myself, react to a few chemicals - sulfites seems not uncommon. And sulfites is also used to bleach salt white, so if you use regular salt, you ALWAYS get it. I just mention this because if one does an elimination diet, even the salt can be a culprit of symptoms.

    3. Adding in a lot of bioflavonoids.

    So, quick history in case you aren't aware (and apologies if it's superfluous info!), any plant foods we're eating contain bioflavonoids. Some of these have been studied, some have not, but most research is pretty early stages regarding these. However, one thing that is becoming pretty clear is that bioflavonoids often have an impact on mast cells and seem to make them less likely to release certain mediators into the body. Mast cells have over 200 mediators they release into the body, so this obviously can impact a lot.

    The important thing for fibro folks is that mast cells release many of the mediators that can cause pain and inflammation (as well as allergic reactions and other issues).

    So increasing certain bioflavonoids may help with inflammation and/or pain, which might be useful for fibro.

    I personally take olive leaf tea and guava leaf tea (I pick the leaves myself) and honestly, it helps a lot. I notice when I'm not ingesting these. They are very high in three beneficial flavonoids: quercetin, luteolin, and rutin.

    Quercetin is popular enough you can find supplements of it, but the rest, you have to find foods.

    To help with that, or to figure out what bioflavonoids might be of use to you, potentially, I found the USDA list of bioflavonoid content of foods very useful. (https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80400525/Data/Flav/Flav_R03.pdf )

    It is not all foods. But after I had found studies on some of the flavonoids that had been said to help a different illness of mine, I started checking out the list to try and find more foods with them. And then, I started taking the flavonoids listed there, and I would do google searches, typically: flavonoid name mast cell (or inflammation, or pain) abstract .

    mast cells are easier to reference in studies because they are so commonly mentioned as the cell that released an inflammatory cytokine, etc... Otherwise, you often need to know the exact mediator the study was looking at, which is more difficult.

    But you can find a lot of interesting research, and most of the time, it's something that you could experiment with safely by simply adding in some foods to the diet, because they don't involve medication or dangerous practices at all, you know? As long as one doesn't go over the top and eat, say, 500 oranges a day or something, obviously. :-)



    But anyway, that's what I've done that seems to help. I still don't have a lot of ability to exercise, honestly, but what I do have always improves due to the above three things. :-) Good luck you you!

    I have heard about the need to "build up" exercise from quite a few others. That's good to know for when I want to add resistance training back in to my routine.

    A lot of info there about the bioflavenoids and mast cells. I will definitely investigate further. Thanks!
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    edited July 2019
    Options
    My wife had Fibro so severe she could barely get up out of bed four or five years ago. We eliminated gluten, found out she was severely allergic to cow dairy and went plant based, Mediterranean Diet a few years ago.

    She's 95% better. Avoiding toxins helped her a ton. Women with Fibro tend to have poor absorption of Vitamin Bs and need methyl Bs. Also, many have MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity). Doing water aerobics actually set her off in the first place. We watch everything in chemicals. Round up, in my humble opinion, is also a chemical. While I don't think it's as bad as some make it out to be, it seems to have a dramatic affect on her microbiome for the worse. Avoiding Round-Up has helped her immensely as well. That's easy to do with being gluten and dairy free, but we've gone back to eating some sheep/goat cheese on occasion.

    As for exercise, Tai Chi is great. You seem like a very high functioning person with Fibro. Every time she tried to walk, it was awful (sometimes still is). Forget high impact stuff. She loves the AirBike - minimal impact/jarring and she can actually do intervals on it, which helps metabolism. Pilates has been great for her and some yoga too. Low impact stuff seems to allow her to do exercise without pain. We tried Pickleball. That was a disaster! Sent her into a flare.

    Personally, I think it's a genetic predisposition where something flips on a switch with ties to the immune system that starts with gut dysfunction along with constant chemical exposure. Sweeteners seem to be a common theme too with a lot of folks that I know with it. Diet pop consumption for years or similar. I think that goes into the long-term chemical exposure category. My wife had three or four packets of sweetener every day for decades. Now, it's Sweet Leaf Stevia or honey or Organic Sugar or nothing.

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