Iron deficiant anemia and weight loss

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  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    I don't think there would be a connection between anemia and weight loss other than the fact that anemia is quite common especially in women and especially especially in women who are attempting to restrict their caloric intake.

    Eat red meat and/or spinach, supplement if need be. Iron is something MFP tracks, use that to your advantage.

    This^^^^^. Track your iron in the app. I'm not anemic, but have been in the past. I don't supplement, but I do make sure I'm at least getting the recommended amount. This may not be enough to reverse anemia, but for those who are just low or heading in that direction, it makes sense to use the tools available. And FYI - If your diet allows cereals, a lot of cereal is iron fortified.

    Do not use the mfp values for iron tracking, next to worthless as no one enters them.
    Again, do not supplement iron unless you are tracking via blood tests and show clear deficiency. Too much iron is very bad.

    Wasn't aware there was an issue with MFPs iron tracking. Is it just that so many of the food entires don't include iron (gives an N/A) even if they have iron?

    True about iron supplementation, consult with your doctor on that and only in the context of testing...don't just start popping iron supplements daily without checking as it can be quite bad. I did not mean to be giving medical advice so thanks for calling me out on that

    Yes, that's the issue. If you used entries that don't have iron value and tracked with MFP you'd always log a false deficiency.
  • proudjmmom
    proudjmmom Posts: 145 Member
    I've been iron deficient anemic all my adult life. I manage to bring my hemoglobin levels up on my own, but can't seem to get my iron stores up. I have really heavy periods, so by the time I get it up, it quickly goes back down with AF. The doc wants me on supplements, but I can't handle supplements (I also suffer IBS-C). In regards to weight loss, no it has definitely not hindered my weightloss efforts (see my ticker).
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    I'm mildly anemic because I don't like meat and not too keen on spinach and it hasn't been a problem for my weight loss. I think the problem may be caused by the lack of energy and general dizziness, so you move less and exercise less enthusiastically.
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