Weight Gain and Vitamin D Deficiency

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pormac77
pormac77 Posts: 1
in Health and Weight Loss
I was recently diagnosised as severely vitamin D deficient and have just started week 2 of a 50,000 iu per week therapy treatment to get back to normal.

I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced a weight gain from a vitamin D deficiency?
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Replies

  • dellaquilaa
    dellaquilaa Posts: 230 Member
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    Nope - Vitamin D deficiency doesn't cause weight gain. The vitamin really doesn't have any metabolic function to it at all. It's primary function is to help calcium get in to your bones, and it also aids in coronary health. A deficiency can change your mood (slightly) which may make you more predisposed to binge eating, or making unhealthy choices, though.

    I've been taking 5,000 IUs per day for about 6 months (finally getting my levels checked this summer so I can stop). It's more a correlation, than a causative relationship. Like...I got fat because I was eating crappy food with very low nutrient density - which also happened to cause a Vitamin D deficiency. But I didn't get fat BECAUSE of that deficiency, they just went hand-in-hand.
  • rklein71
    rklein71 Posts: 112 Member
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    Actually, if you google something like "weight gain associated with vitamin d deficiency" there are several articles and studies that low vitamin d may have an effect on weight gain. I was just diagnosed with vitamin d deficiency syndrome as well and have been trying to do a ton of research. While I also thought it just had an effect on bones, it appears it is far more important than that, and having low vitamin d is associated with heart disease, some cancers, autoimmune diseases, etc.
  • sa11yjane
    sa11yjane Posts: 491 Member
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    I will watch this thread with interest as, despite logging my food and exercise daily for over a year, my weight has still increased gradually. An underactive thyroid was diagnosed and I am now on thyoxine which I thought would turn my life around. However, the joint pains and chronic fatigue continue and I have now been diagnosed as being severely deficient in vitamin D . I, too, have googled this and have seen suggestions that it might be responsible for weight gain.......
  • stefi2107
    stefi2107 Posts: 52 Member
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    My friend had a severe vitamin d deficiency for years and it helped with her weight gain. Once it was diagnosed she was able to lose almost 70 pounds with the help of exercise once she started feeling better. Good luck!!
  • fluffykitsune
    fluffykitsune Posts: 236 Member
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    you can take as many vitamin d supplements as you want, but it isn't absorbed / activated unless you get daily sun exposure..
  • s123k
    s123k Posts: 2
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    Thyroid, diabetes and all the genetic and chronic diseases are the outcome of lack of exposure to sun. Lethargy leads to mal function of the organs.

    I have been severely deficient for almost 6 years.. did not know about it then.. but my thyroid started acting up. bordering arthritis and did not have strength to do anything in life.

    VItamin D gave my life back. Please read up in detail and do not under estimate this life source.

    Plants cannot live without sunlight.. how do you think humans can survive. Think about it.

    Good luck...
  • s123k
    s123k Posts: 2
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    Also Target brand UP&up vitamin D3 helped me. Others did not. I gained 12 pounds in 2 weeks with others. But not this one. I lost

    10 pounds. Make sure whatever you take suits you. If you are gaining weight and it is not helping.. that is not the right brand for you.

    Get something that is oil based. My suggestion: DO NOT MIX IT WITH CALCIUM.
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    Actually, if you google something like "weight gain associated with vitamin d deficiency" there are several articles and studies that low vitamin d may have an effect on weight gain. I was just diagnosed with vitamin d deficiency syndrome as well and have been trying to do a ton of research. While I also thought it just had an effect on bones, it appears it is far more important than that, and having low vitamin d is associated with heart disease, some cancers, autoimmune diseases, etc.

    You are right--it is so important to the prevention of cancer that the Canadian Cancer Society now recommends that every Canadian get a minimum of 2,000 units per day during the winter. They also warn against using sun screen during every exposure to the sun in the summer as sun screen blocks the making of Vitamin D in the skin during sun exposure. Make sure the Vitamin D supplement you are taking is D3, which is bio-identical to the Vitamin D your body makes during sun exposure. D2 is the synthetic form and it binds up magnesium in the body---no,no, no--magnesium is another very important nutrient to proper metabolic function.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,971 Member
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    you can take as many vitamin d supplements as you want, but it isn't absorbed / activated unless you get daily sun exposure..

    Not true.
  • catabolicmind
    catabolicmind Posts: 19
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    Just wanted to chime in as a data point and say I too had a Vit. D deficiency when I was checked earlier in the year. After supplementation I just FEEL better and more motivated, which definitely helps weight loss/exercise efforts. I wouldn't say it's a magic bullet but through different reasons (energy level, mood, "motivation") it does have a huge effect how you're losing/gaining weight.
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    There are full-body sunlamps available now (not cheap) that you can use to get your Vitamin D naturally. But beware tanning parlors as the type of lamps that they typically use put out ultraviolet A rather than ultraviolet B (the one you need in order to manufacture Vitamin D).

    Also, if you are going to go the supplement route, understand that, if you don't eat your greens (spinach, kale, etc.) you will need to take a K2 supplement. But if you eat a greens product and one serving of some kind of a source of K2 (pumpkin seeds are a great source), you should have no worries. Also, you need to know that when you cut back on your Vitamin D supplementation in anticipation of the spring or on a sunny vacation, your levels of Vitamin D can drop like a stone if you don't cut back gradually.
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    you can take as many vitamin d supplements as you want, but it isn't absorbed / activated unless you get daily sun exposure..

    Not true.

    I agree, it is not true that you won't utilize Vitamin D supplements unless you get daily sun exposure. I get little to no sun exposure for six months of the year and yet my doc says my levels are just fine (I take a minimum of 2,500 units year round).
  • bentobee
    bentobee Posts: 321 Member
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    Just wanted to chime in as a data point and say I too had a Vit. D deficiency when I was checked earlier in the year. After supplementation I just FEEL better and more motivated, which definitely helps weight loss/exercise efforts. I wouldn't say it's a magic bullet but through different reasons (energy level, mood, "motivation") it does have a huge effect how you're losing/gaining weight.

    This is my experience also.

    I am on prescription Vitamin D3, for what it's worth. After a period of taking 5,ooo IUI a day for a month (to pull me out of the deficiency pit) I am on 12,000 a week for maintenance. I begin feeling very rundown and just "off" if I slack off on taking it.
  • LauraW1023
    LauraW1023 Posts: 1
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    That answer is completely wrong and your doctor should watch your thyroid as well. A lot of GPS miss the connection. Vitamin D is soon to be reclassified as a hormone, and most endocrinologists already refer to it as one. It is directly connected to thyroid function. It affects the function of the liver and kidneys as well, and extreme vitamin d deficiencies can also be signs of several autoimmune diseases that would definitely affect weight gain.
  • twixlepennie
    twixlepennie Posts: 1,074 Member
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    I've been deficient for years (number stubbornly at a 21), and I was thin while deficient, overweight while deficient and thin again, while still deficient. For me it doesn't seem to have any effect on my weight.
  • br0co1ii
    br0co1ii Posts: 4 Member
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    I'm not sure if it's the vitamin d deficiency causing the weight gain, or the reason that your'e deficient that's causing the weight gain. Or bot, or neither... But I was just diagnosed with celiac disease which is likely the cause of my own vitamin d deficiency. Getting that straightened out is making me feel better. I'm also pretty much forced to eat better due to the celiac. I'd get to the bottom of any deficiencies if you have them and make sure you don't have another underlying problem.
  • noneya2010
    noneya2010 Posts: 446 Member
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    Thyroid, diabetes and all the genetic and chronic diseases are the outcome of lack of exposure to sun. Lethargy leads to mal function of the organs.

    I have been borderline deficient for several years and now officially severely deficient. However, I disagree with the exposure to sun causing the deficiency. In the summer, I spend several hours a day in the sun -- sometimes all day long at the water park, etc.. In the evenings during the winter, I spend time in the sun each evenign doing yard work, going for walks, before the sun sets. Research indicates for many, the primary source of Vit. D is through sunlight exposure, but deficiencies for many, are not due to lack of exposure. I am also fair skinned and a redhead - so the dark skin (more prone to deficiencies) does not apply either. According to my dr., I'm probably dealing with an absorption issue plus the fact I am overweight.

    I do believe, however, that lethargy and laying around, not being active, etc, does lead to malfunction of our bodies - through lack of activity.
  • noneya2010
    noneya2010 Posts: 446 Member
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    you can take as many vitamin d supplements as you want, but it isn't absorbed / activated unless you get daily sun exposure..

    Not true.

    I agree, it is not true that you won't utilize Vitamin D supplements unless you get daily sun exposure. I get little to no sun exposure for six months of the year and yet my doc says my levels are just fine (I take a minimum of 2,500 units year round).

    I agree also. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin and in order for it to be absorbed correctly, it needs to be taken with a meal containing fat - research indicates it is best to take it with your highest fat meal in order that is gets absorbed correctly. Absorption of this vitamin has nothing to do with the sun.
  • sa11yjane
    sa11yjane Posts: 491 Member
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    There are actually lots of articles associating Vit D deficiency with weight gain. After being put on thyroxine for an underactive thyroid I still didn't feel right and was still very slowly gaining weight and after my bloods were retested for auto-immune illnesses they came back with a massive Vit D deficiency. I now take prescribed supplements daily and, interestingly, even though I still eat the same diet as before my weight is very slowly decreasing. This obviously isn't hard evidence but it's interesting.....PS I am also outside for about 3 hours a day throughout all seasons dog walking so get lots of natural daylight.
  • mbanister1
    mbanister1 Posts: 29 Member
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    Don't mix with calcium?? In order for calcium to be absorbed you must also take vitamin d.

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