Can you loose weight while on Prednisone?

Note: Please don't give up or be discouraged by my words below. Because you have a different disease than what I took the prednisone for, your body may react completely differently. Your body could need it so much that you have no adverse affects! God made us all wonderfully different! The following is just my personal account and opinion.

I have been off and on prednisone for many years in my life. (I used to suffer from ulcerative colitis before my large colon had to be removed via emergency surgery.) Anyway, I was never able to maintain my current weight or lose weight while on those steroids - except when I was in the hospital for that emergency surgery & I nearly lost my life. And, although I lost 40 lbs in that month of hospital stay with extremely high does of steroids, I still got the "moon face." I happily welcomed that moon face in the mirror because it meant I was still alive and able to be a Mommy to my baby!

I think that if you are on a low dose of steroids, it is indeed possible not to gain an excessive amount of weight. One of the main troubles I have is that they will irritate your stomach and many people mistake it for hunger and/or try to alleviate it with food - it's quite a tricky drug! However, it's not just the extra calories consumed that will cause weight gain; its the steroid itself, too.

Have you talked with your doctor who prescribed it about your desire to lose weight? I always protested when my doctor put me on it by saying "but I don't want to gain weight!" Nearly every time my doctor would say that this was the best course of treatment for me to get better....and I wanted to get better more than be thin. I would ask your doctor if anything else would work as well, and if not, then at least you can be sure you are doing the best thing for your body - getting/ staying well - even if it means a couple pounds don't melt off right now. I hope someone does post with a trick to losing while on prednisone! I need it, too!

YES you can... but its going to be HARDer than normal.

Prednisone makes you release more insulin, which can make people SUPER hungry. That's the only reason they gain weight.
I have been on it, and I am a nurse who has seen many people who have had to be on it for a long time.

I took mine once per day, so I took it at night before bed to get through the worst cravings. I exercised like a crazy person and it took a lot of will power to maintain my weight. I also took it for autoimmune issues.

Medicines affect everyone differently, and it depends on the dose. Hopefully you won't have too many problems with it.

If you are on it a long time ( like i was) you might get little cheeks, but this is temporary, and is NOT from a weight gain necessarily. Called moon face. It will go away when you are done

Have you seen "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead"? It's a doco about a guy that has your disease and how he ended up stopping taking Predinsone by juicing fruit and veges. He lost a lot of weight out of it too.

Disclaimer: He does say that you should be monitored by your doctor while trying this. DO NOT stop taking your meds unless your doctor says it's ok.

I also am on prednisone. But I am on it for polymyalgia. It is the only thing You can take for it. But every one keep saying you can loose on it. That is why I am here. I also hold alot of water and take lasix for it. But dont give up. Since I have been on this site Just eating right and watching my food drinking lots of water. I have lost 10 lbs alone in water. So I am sure once I finish with the water i will start loosing real weight. Hang in there you will too.

You can make me a friend if you want

I was on this for a long time a few years ago because of my ashtma problems, and I did gain weight from it. I now take it a few times a year for only a week or so. Most of the weight that I gained was water weight, but I also wasn't watching what I was consuming and I couldn't excersice a whole lot because of my medical situation.
I trully hope you give wieght loss a try and that you find a wonderful support system on here to help you out:)

Hi I am also on Prednisolone as I am slowly losing my sight! I am on 80mg and also on an immunosuppressant. I have been on it for nearly 3 years and struggle big time to control my weight! I eat healthily and exercise regularly but still seem to balloon! My doctor has given me weight loss tablets which do not have nice side effects but help a little.

Good luck with the weight loss and any body comes up with new ideas please let me know, apart from starving myself I'm at a loss x

What disease are you taking it for? A few years ago I spent a year and a half on prednisone. I ballooned up, mostly because I was eating whatever and not working out. This used to be fine but not on prednisone. I gained a lot. If you eat right and work out you can counter act those effects. You WILL retain water weight a lot more, so do not freak out about that. Also - space meals out and have them more frequently. This can help the hunger you get from it. The biggest other side effect I had was sleep loss. I became completely sleep free...getting 2-5 hours a night, meds like meletonin can help a lot with that as does diet.

I am on prednisone for sarcoid. I've been on prednisone for 5 months now ( 40 mg for 2.5 months, 30 mg for 1 month, 20 mg for 1 month and currently on 10 mg ) and it shows. In the beginning the weight came on super fast. Since I've started tapering, it's still coming but, it's slower. Even though its still slowing coming on, I've noticed that if I increase my water intake, I feel better. I have started working out an extra day during the week so, I hope that helps. Now that I've found this forum, I hope that we can keep each other motivated on our journeys good luck everyone.

I've been on and off prednisone for almost 20 years for RA. I am currently on 15 mg and this is the first time I've gained significant weight. Maybe because I'm older now and my metabolism is slower. Anyways, I want to say that prednisone makes you gain weight not only because it makes you hungrier and you eat more, but because it alters your metabolism and redistributes fat. It's an upstream battle. I've gained 10 pounds in less than two months and I haven't been eating any different. I've always been thin and could eat whatever I want, but I guess not anymore. It seems the harder I try to lose weight, the more I gain. I will just have to wait until I get off the prednisone and borrow a bunch of pants two sizes bigger.

Hi. I have been diagnosed with SLE for 2 years now and initially I lost like 15kg in one month before I was diagnosed which was awesome cause I looked perfect. Then the Dr started prescribing me Prednisone and within 2 months all the weight was back on again. I do not like the wight gain but choose to live rather so I tolerate it. I just wish it will go easier. It is not an escuse to use but it also doesn't make weight loss easier. I am on 10mg a day. Is it best drinking at night or in the morning?

Hi. I have SLE. I have regular prednisolone. I am a nurse. I am losing weight steadily. Need to be pretty strict. Drink lots of water if hungry. Eat lots of veggies. Fruit etc. good luck

I have been on prednisone since my 30's. It started with Esinophilic (sp) pneumonia. Doctors have put me on pred off and on all that time. 37 years later I am a hot mess of auto immune diseases. Crohns, PSC Liver disease, COPD, and a diagnosis in Jan 2013 of myasthenia gravis. I am on a taper of 60 mg down to 20 mg. All the while triating on to Azathiopine to hopefully replace the pred in 4-5 months. In the mean time, while off the pred I had worked hard to lose weight and went down to 210 (6'1"). I ballooned to 236 as off this AM. Swollen feet and moon face.I can't exercise ... tough for an old former Marine. While losing weight I was able to maintain 1500 calories ... The CRAVING got to me 2000-2500 daily now. Tomorrow I go back to 1800 calories and then 1500 the following week ... all though willpower. Oh, and I am a Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma 6 year survivor as well. We old Marines are hard to kill ...

I was on Prednisone for two and a half years (bowel cancer, ulcerative colitis) and ballooned to 308lbs being unable to exercise because of major surgery. I talked my consultant into coming off it when I got steroid induced type 2 and eyesight problems, he switched me to mercaptopurine which is better for the weight problem but can have worst side effects. Following partial partially successful abdominal reconstructive surgery I am now able to exercise and although my diet is still limited I have managed to lose 81lbs so far, got rid of the type 2, but best of all I am now totally free of all medication.

I was on predisone for 4 weeks starting with a doseage of 40 mgs and tapered down each week. I was able to lose weight, but I exercised 5 days per week and cut out sugar and flour. I lost 13lbs. I did not give into the hunger pains, but instead drank plenty of water and adequate amounts of potassium.

Every few months i have asthma attacks which usually land me in the ER. Last may I was pregnant and had to be hospitalized for a week so they could monitor the baby. They said the prednisone would make him big. He ended up being almost 10 pounds. I gained 50 which was way too much since I weighed 200 when I got pregnant. Prednisone is awesome because it enables me to breathe but then I have to clean up the weight mess aftetwards. Why cant there be a pill that causes extreme sexiness!?