Dieting with/for fibromyalgia

PocketNaomi
PocketNaomi Posts: 62
edited September 22 in Introduce Yourself
Hi, I'm new. Not just to MyFitnessPal, but to dieting; I've never needed to until this year, and I didn't acknowledge that I needed to until fairly recently. I have severe fibromyalgia which keeps me housebound and in pain a lot of the time; the combination of crippling fatigue which kept me from exercising, along with a pain medication which makes one tend to gain wait and a bad habit of eating for comfort made me put on about 40 pounds in two years. I'm trying to take off more than that, because as long as I'm going to have to work at this I may as well get to where I *want* to be, not just where I was at a more or less randomly chosen time. So the current weight is 195 and the goal is 135. I don't have a particular timeframe in mind, I'm just going to keep at it steadily until I get there.

I'm hoping that carrying around less extra weight will make the fibro pain less severe, and will make it easier to move and start exercising. I'm barely beginning to do anything active (and by active I mean "out of bed," -- walking from my car to the supermarket door is active for me right now), and hoping to improve it little by little, but I really have to take it slowly, because overdoing physical activity will cause a fibro flare almost every time. I love to swim and dance, though, and I'm hoping to start doing more dancing at home, a bit at a time, till maybe I have the energy to get myself to the pool every once in a while. Swimming doesn't give me trouble with exertion, but getting there and changed and into the pool and back again do.

So that's me. Hopefully there'll be less of me soon. Glad to meet you. :)

Replies

  • youngtweezy
    youngtweezy Posts: 183
    My mom also has fibromyalgia and is homebound most of the time. :\ Good luck with your weight loss and hopefully it eases your pain!
  • xarrium
    xarrium Posts: 432 Member
    Welcome! I know a couple of people with fibro and it's tough to hear about the bad days. Great job for deciding to make this change! I've heard that losing extra weight and cleaning up the diet tends to help reduce the pain, so hopefully it does exactly that for you--good luck!
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
    Talk about familiar. I too was recently diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Dr. gave me Savella which has helped tremendously with the pain. I have completely changed my eating habits and started exercising. I tried to stop taking the pills but feel like my muscles start protesting the exercising - they'll feel tight the rest of the evening. Good luck with you!
  • emersoam
    emersoam Posts: 179
    My mom has had fibromyalgia for many years. She certainly has many bad days and some decent days. She is very limited in the exercises she can do, but she has consistently been walking for as long as I can remember! She has built up to 5-6 miles even (at a pretty slow pace--like 3 mph?) She takes breaks as needed and walks on trails mostly (concrete hurts too much). These walks have helped her emotionally, physically, and spiritually!
  • ricksgurl
    ricksgurl Posts: 10
    It's hard to get started being more active but you are correct about losing some of the weight helping with your pain levels. I'm a newbie and a fibromite also and until this year dieting was never a necessity. I gained over 50# in the last year or so from one of the new fibro meds-I am to the point that walking up stairs leaves me winded and I have had alot of knee pain from the weight gain. My rhuematologist switched my meds and that has helped quite a bit as far as not gaining more --but the weight I already gained is not going anywhere by itself. If you start slow and give yourself breaks as needed you should be ok.-it's not gonna be easy-but it is an attainable goal and your body will eventually thank you for it! Don't beat yourself up if you backslide a bit on the exercising as long as you keep trying. My Doc told me to listen to my body-unless it says go back to bed!! Good luck!!
  • tiffanygil
    tiffanygil Posts: 478 Member
    My mom has fibromyalgia too and I was going to pass on any good info =)
  • PocketNaomi
    PocketNaomi Posts: 62
    Thank you for the welcomes and the support, everyone!

    :heart:
  • rachpiper720
    rachpiper720 Posts: 204
    I've was diagnosed with fibro about 4 years ago, although I've had symptoms for about 16 years. I have gained nearly 100 lbs in 6 years and am working on getting it off. It will be a long road. I really don't want to take the pills for fibro, but have found a few things that help me out and have helped me go from a pain level of 7-10 everyday to a 3-4 once a month.

    I had to start slow at exercising...really slow. Just 10 minutes helped, then if I made it through the 10 minutes I did more. Although my fibro isn't severe like yours, I found that just doing nothing made it even worse, but it sounds like you don't have too much of a choice. Just do what you can.

    I went to a massage therapist/holistic person who found I was severely low in magnesium and once I started taking it, reduced my pain dramatically (I wasn't into the whole holistic mumbo jumbo, but the results speak for themselves). Now, I have to take it right after I work out because my muscles start cramping and I find that it eases it right away. Sometimes I switch between calcium and magnesium and that seems to help to. A monthly massage also helps to get rid of toxins in the body and it just feels really good when done very lightly.

    Although some days all I want to do is sleep, I try to limit myself to 8-9 hours a night. Anything more or less throws me into the fibro-mind fog.

    Drink LOTS of water. It gets toxins out that stay in muscle and make them hurt.

    It is a long road, and something that you will live with for the rest of your life. Mix and match things up. Start slow and find little things that help with the pain. Good luck, and let me know if you have questions.
  • themommie
    themommie Posts: 5,033 Member
    I too have fibromyalgia and have gained 100lb in the last 8 yrs due to meds, lack of exercise and comfort eating. Just start slow with the exercise and increase a little bit at a time. I started with just swimming and walking, now I have also added resistance bands, biking and wii fit plus. I have lost 40lbs in the last 41/2 months and I am feeling better then I have in awhile though I still have bad days. Just hang in there and dont give up. Feel free to add me as a friend
  • viggie
    viggie Posts: 155 Member
    So great to find other who understands. Sometime the family just doesn't get it. Keep hanging in there.
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