Oral steroids and starving!

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chaychay48
chaychay48 Posts: 20 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Yesterday I was prescribed 40mg of prednisone for 5 days for some severe sinus pain I am having and then I am suppose to start weaning down. After losing 25 pounds I am terrified that I will start packing on the pounds again. After one dose I have already noticed that I am STARVING whereas prior to that my way of eating pretty much eliminated extreme hunger and cravings. I'm having a hard time keeping up my work out program due to the sinus pain. I have a CAT scan scheduled for tomm to try to get to the bottom of things. Does any one have experience with prednisone and success with not gaining weight while on it?

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  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    I have experience with prednisone, but no success not gaining. I gained weight when I took it. Luckily, you are only on it for 5 days. My only advice is to try to snack on low calories stuff as much as possible to minimize the damage.
  • dietstokes
    dietstokes Posts: 216 Member
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    I've been on prednisone a few times for 10 days at a time. I found the first few days I was fine weight wise, but then on day 3 or 4 would gain a huge amount of water weight. You wont gain fat if you keep you calories in check. Yes your appetite goes through the roof on the medication (though not sure why). I would recommend making sure you are eating lots of low calorie high volume food while on prednisone so that you can eat often and fill your stomach for few calories. Think giant salads, cut up vegetables, etc. You might also want to take this time to eat a maintenance and just focus on healing. Weight loss will still be here in 5 days time.
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
    edited July 2015
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    dietstokes wrote: »
    I would recommend making sure you are eating lots of low calorie high volume food while on prednisone so that you can eat often and fill your stomach for few calories. Think giant salads, cut up vegetables, etc. You might also want to take this time to eat a maintenance and just focus on healing. Weight loss will still be here in 5 days time.

    All of this. Add more vegetables into your meals to "volumize" them. I like egg white scrambles with a lot of veggies, thick soups, stew, chili (all with plenty of veggies added in), stir fry, zucchini noodles, salads, etc.

    What's odd for me is that I can't eat on prednisone at all. It's like cocaine in a pill!

  • katemckenna5
    katemckenna5 Posts: 36 Member
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    I had a kidney transplant a year ago and will be on Prednisone for the rest of my life. I was terrified of blowing up. I told myself I would not let it ruin my efforts and I think of it as another hurdle I can overcome.

    You have already lost 25 pounds (go, you!!) So you know it can be done. Make the smartest choices you can. Think of your calories as a challenge... how much food can I eat within my range?

    I agree with huge salads and veggies, but make sure you find alternatives for faves that are hard to fit. For me, Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches and candy bars are life savers!

    Feel free to message me if you're feeling frustrated or want to vent. Remember, you got this!
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    Prednisone will bloat you up and there's not much that can be done about that.

    Try to eat low-cal, but filling foods so that you can eat a lot and stay nice and full. Fruits, veggies, no-fat dairy, that kind of thing.

    Feel better! :)
  • quinjen
    quinjen Posts: 3 Member
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    Make sure to set your sodium goal to around 1500 mg a day to keep water weight at bay. Stay awake from packaged foods and use whole ingredients. Frozen is better than Cannes if you do not have fresh foods available. Check out low sodium recipes at sodium girl's blog. I think cooking light low sodium has a few good recipes. Canned goods and package foods/ pre packaged spices are LOADED with salt (sodium) so steer clear of them for the next few days.

    The nice thing about low sodium diet is that the results are almost instantaneous if you start putting on water weight. To be honest, most Americans eat more than twice the recommended daily value of sodium in a day. We can all benefit from monitoring salt intake.
  • glenelliott5872
    glenelliott5872 Posts: 150 Member
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    I was on Pred for a large part of a year. I put on 1.5 to 2 stone. If you are on a short sharp course then I would suggest you don't worry about it. If on for long term then just maintaining weight will be an achievement. You have more important stuff to worry about than weight loss
  • Whitezombiegirl
    Whitezombiegirl Posts: 1,042 Member
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    Just finished a 5 day course yesterday. I gained 2 lbs in water retention over night but I've lost 1lb and I'm sure the other 1lb will go shortly. I did find my appetite incrsaed but I also got a nasty taste in my mouth- so over-eating wasn't that appealing. I doubt I've lost any weight last week- I'll be happy if I maintain. Overall, if it clear my ETD then it would have been worth it it as I;ve been ill for 7 weeks now and not been abale to exercise.

    Hope you feel better soon.
  • Whitezombiegirl
    Whitezombiegirl Posts: 1,042 Member
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    quinjen wrote: »
    Make sure to set your sodium goal to around 1500 mg a day to keep water weight at bay.
    My thirst was raging and I was craving salt like mad. I think the amount of fluid I was taking in was lowering my salt levels too low - so there is that to think about also.

  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    dietstokes wrote: »
    You might also want to take this time to eat a maintenance and just focus on healing. Weight loss will still be here in 5 days time.

    So much this.

    5 days is nothing. I hope you get better soon.
  • chaychay48
    chaychay48 Posts: 20 Member
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    Thank you all for the support! With the ok from my doctor i started weaning off of the full dose of prednisone after three days and I feel much better, no more sinus pain. The CAT scan results came back and they didn't find any tumors or polyps, just some thickening of the lining in my sinus and a whole lot of gunk! And even better, due to the super short time on the steroids I was able to maintain my weight! Thanks again everyone!

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