Does Obesity Cause Inflammation? Or Is It the Other Way Around?

I've been trying to figure out what's causing my 24/7 inflammation/pain cycle and even my healthcare providers don't agree on what I should be doing proactively, especially when it comes to weight and diet. I'm significantly overweight and I understand the energy in/energy out logic to weight loss, but I am one of those people whose body evidently doesn't want to abide by those rules.

If you've ever had to deal with inflammation and obesity, or are even only slightly overweight and have been told that your inflammatory markers are high, putting you at risk of serious health consequences, what have been your experiences? Did your most significant weight gains begin after an illness that taxed your immune system? Did you start stress eating and eventually found you were in too much pain to exercise so the pounds started piling on? Maybe you've been sick and now can't keep weight on, but still feel inflamed or lab work shows inflammation, even on a "normal" diet. If you've found something that worked for you, please - share your story.
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Replies

  • JLynRN
    JLynRN Posts: 19 Member
    I definitely believe my weight contributed to my development of Hashimotos.... but I know that I CAN lose it, if I put in the effort and the will power. Like he said ^^ extra weight affects so much! Our hormones, our brain chemistry, our bones, etc.

    I have no doubt that any overweight/obese person would see significant improvements in their pre-existing conditions by losing weight and treating their body right.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,329 Member
    Hun, your metablism is not at a standstill. If it was at a standstill you'd not storing food as fat as that's part of metabolism and a normal, healthy function if one eats too much calories. If it was at a standstill you would simply be dead.
  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,261 Member
    My friend has problem with inflammation when she eats gluten
  • Nikion901
    Nikion901 Posts: 2,467 Member
    You don't need to increase your BMR to lose weight, or add to your efforts to create a calorie deficit.

    It's pretty meaningless, actually.

    You need to increase your TDEE, your total daily energy expenditure.

    You can do that without building muscle, and you can start by increasing your daily movement. Pace while you're on the phone. Park further away in the parking lot. Take the stairs. Look, as I said into graded exercise (which is just a fancy way of saying "take baby steps").

    These forums take a dim view of the saying "a calorie isn't a calorie". In theory, I know what you mean, but it's an empty phrase. Calories are units of measurement and they shouldn't be confused with what they measure, which is what people who say they aren't all the same seem to do. The things they measure aren't the same, and I'll agree with you on that point.

    Different macronutrients and different foods have different effects on people, and those effects vary from one individual to the next. However, this doesn't mean that the calories which measure the energy in the foods which deliver those macronutrients are different. It means that the macronutrients are different.

    Don't conflate nutrition with energy :)

    You said you gained weight, but was that fat. There's a difference between edema, or water weight gain and fat gain if you're having an allergic response that's causing you to retain water to the point it's masking fat loss that you should be seeing from a caloric deficit.

    Have you looked into a low-histamine diet? I've known people on another forum who have had to be on one.
    ^ this ... it is right on.
    Also ... how is your gut working (as in elimination) ... you'd be amazed at how much weight a full small intestine and blocked up colon can add to your scale.
  • DevotedToDASH
    DevotedToDASH Posts: 60 Member
    @gottaburnemall - the first words out of every new Dr's mouth (except a nephrologist) over the past ten years is "have you tried diuretics to lose some of the water you're retaining?" I have no doubt that a lot of it is water. I believe much of it is due to a condition called lipoedema (not to be confused with lipidemia), but there are only a handful of Drs in the entire region who have the training to diagnose it... and the insurance won't pay (nor can I afford the time away from work) for the diagnosis or treatment to help with the symptoms. As for diuretics, I have tried them - they don't work for me and my kidneys don't like them. The doctors scratch their heads and shrug their shoulders because what should work, doesn't. That is why I started looking for different answers. Because I have a histamine reaction to virtually every food they've tested, it's probably a cumulative effect there too. At this point, I'm looking to reduce whatever fat there is lurking. I will definitely look for the low-histamine thread. Thank you for mentioning that!
    You need to increase your TDEE, your total daily energy expenditure.

    You can do that without building muscle, and you can start by increasing your daily movement. Pace while you're on the phone. Park further away in the parking lot. Take the stairs. Look, as I said into graded exercise (which is just a fancy way of saying "take baby steps").
    This is part of what I'm trying to become more accountable for here. I know I could do better, but I average about 7500 steps a day (I have a desk job or it would be more), and with 8 grandkids, my weekends are often filled with activity (I'm not a passive grandma who likes to just sit back and watch the kids play). I leave the couch potato-ing to my hubby.
    Please take a look at plant based diet, I have Fibromyalgia and doing plant based diet has help with the pain and Im losing weight too. I feel better. That means no meat, dairy or cheese, just whole foods, you will feel like a new person.
    @jennpinklady - I had decided last night that this actually begins for me tomorrow. Part of the reason for this post was to see if anyone else had tried - so thank you for your input! I've actually tried a more moderate version (with lean meats and eggs, but lots of fruits and veggies) and did feel better, although the weight wasn't budging much. That was a couple years back and I had a little more support at home because my stepdaughter was living with us and on board with it for her own weight issues. I've heard and read so much more since then about the positive results, that I announced a couple hours ago that I was going to give it a try again for at least two weeks - and if there's any improvement, I can live with eating like that forever. Hubby is NOT on board and I'll never convince him - which, from experience, will make it stressful. It may cost me a relationship, but it may save my life... I still have a long bucket list ;)


  • DevotedToDASH
    DevotedToDASH Posts: 60 Member
    So you are saying that you are somehow defying the laws of thermodynamics and cannot lose weight at all and even GAIN whilst in a deficit? And your doctors are baffled by this?
    1. You need tested in a lab as a medical marvel

    and/or

    2. Get new doctors because they should not be unable to work out why you gained on a strictly controlled intake
    @VintageFeline - Evidently me and a lot of other people. This paper explains it in simpler terms (with journal references in the footnotes) better than I could. https://www.edinstitute.org/paper/2015/6/13/gaining-weight-despite-calorie-restriction

    I'm in no way saying I can't lose weight, but for reasons still unknown to me and my medical providers, the only real successes I've had with weight loss were on a 700 calorie a day diet, which got me in all kinds of other trouble medically - and that was in the midst of running around with three kids, working a full time job, and exercising an hour and a half a day. And yes, piled the weight back on for a number of reasons - some quite traumatic both physically and mentally - and of course I gained it much more easily.

    If I had the financial resources, I would be checking myself in to the Mayo Clinic hospital here in AZ to have that testing done. It's been suggested. Thanks for adding to the suggestions pile :) Oh, and keep in mind that science evolves as well - Pluto used to be a planet, life does exist on other planets (even if it's microbial) and ulcers were believed to be caused by stress. That second law of thermal dynamics supports me just as well as the first supports you.


  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    This is my second go-round of serious weight loss. The first time I lost weight, I lost 50 lbs, going from the bottom limit morbidly obese to the top limit of overweight. I was happy with myself, working out at a high level, and planned to lose even more weight. Then my lupus flared so badly I was eventually bedridden. I tried so hard to maintain my fitness and just power through the flare... there were times when I felt I was crawling around the walking path at the park, with my heartrate skyrocketing - a path I had been able to run just a few weeks before. I ended up gaining the weight back because eating was literally the only activity that didn't hurt.

    So, in that instance, losing weight definitely did not improve my inflammatory illness. In fact it did the exact opposite. It seemed like my body rebelled against being expected to become fit.

    This go round I have diabetes as well as lupus. I've lost 57 lbs so far, am no longer obese, have reduced my A1c from 11 to 4.9, and I'm terrified my lupus is going to take all my gains away from me at any moment. The dieting and exercise have definitely improved my heart rate, lipids, and other markers of health, and at the moment I'm not having a lupus flare. Fingers crossed.
  • DevotedToDASH
    DevotedToDASH Posts: 60 Member
    @rheddmobile - Dealing with the medical issues you have the way you do is awesome. Congrats on the A1c numbers. You should be very proud of yourself! My daughter has a friend who was diagnosed with Lupus when they were 22... my daughter was diagnosed with life-threatening thyroid storm a few years later and still has significant health issues. They were both struggling with dietary/ weight issues, but then adopted vegetarian lifestyles which really seems to help them over bad times and maybe even prevent flares. Keeping my fingers crossed for you too!
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    That's awesome that you've found your answers - helps me feel hopeful. I'm very familiar with much of the information you've shared, but thanks for sharing it for everyone.

    As for this -

    And, I'm sorry, but speaking as someone who has medical conditions, you can lose weight just like everyone else, you just need to learn how to be accurate in your calorie counting and logging. If you read the forum stickies, you will get plenty of tips on how to do this. It's where I learned how to do it, and I always thought it was impossible for me to lose weight and thought I'd tried everything. I was wrong.

    I've logged foods (weighed down to the gram and calories counted very accurately) for months at a time at a level (1250 kcals/day) where my PCP and RD said I "couldn't not lose weight" - and I gained or lost so slowly that I lost confidence and motivation.

    This confuses me... the same calorie amount causes you to gain OR lose slowly? That makes no sense. It would seem you have to be confusing your water retention with fat gain. (As has been pointed out, a person's fat loss can easily be masked by water retention, even a substantial amount.) But ultimately, if you can lose at 1200, albeit more slowly than you might like, you can lose.

    How many calories do you eat when you're not restricting? If you were gaining body fat on 1200 calories, it would seem the weight would pile on at an outrageous rate at a normal calorie level.

    I realize this was not the issue you posted about. Usually, posters will attempt to clarify an issue like this for the benefit of others who may casually read it and think, "Oh, see there- not everyone can lose weight!" I don't think we know everything there is to know about weight loss, but in the vast majority of cases (like, really vast), the problem boils down to very ordinary, fixable issues. Hope you can find a way to progress. :)
  • DevotedToDASH
    DevotedToDASH Posts: 60 Member
    try2again wrote: »

    This confuses me... the same calorie amount causes you to gain OR lose slowly? That makes no sense. It would seem you have to be confusing your water retention with fat gain. (As has been pointed out, a person's fat loss can easily be masked by water retention, even a substantial amount.) But ultimately, if you can lose at 1200, albeit more slowly than you might like, you can lose.

    How many calories do you eat when you're not restricting? If you were gaining body fat on 1200 calories, it would seem the weight would pile on at an outrageous rate at a normal calorie level.

    I realize this was not the issue you posted about. Usually, posters will attempt to clarify an issue like this for the benefit of others who may casually read it and think, "Oh, see there- not everyone can lose weight!" I don't think we know everything there is to know about weight loss, but in the vast majority of cases (like, really vast), the problem boils down to very ordinary, fixable issues. Hope you can find a way to progress. :)

    If what you're asking is whether I know how much of my excess weight is fat - no. Average calorie intake is typically between 1500-1800 calories with occasional splurges (a dinner out with wine or dessert once a month). Because of my body habitus (and what I'm supposing is lipoedema) biometric impedance is not accurate since it bases water composition on what registers in the legs (or arms if they're doing arm-leg studies) and mine definitely carry more water than the rest of my body proportionately. I don't float easily in water, which I've been told indicates more water than fat, but to my knowledge, only full body imaging like MRI or DEXA would give really accurate results. The radiation risk isn't worth it to me. I once asked a physician how much excess water weight I was likely carrying around and they guessed about 45-50 pounds... nothing like the 3-4 lbs most women intermittently gain or lose.

    To clarify the 1200 calories and losing slowly or gaining - it most definitely depends on exactly what I'm eating, what time of year it is, what medications I'm on, and at that point in time, what time of the month it was, as well as what my last meal was. Summer heat is an automatic 10-15 pound weight gain. SSRIs or beta blockers can add another 10, but I occasionally need them to deal with PTSD. And while I hate pointing to sugar again, eating a protein bar is the same as eating half a candy bar and can cause me a 5 lb water weight gain that doesn't go away in a week. Imagine a life with a full schedule and without any processed or fast foods and perhaps you'll get a better understanding of what I am trying to figure out.

    Let's be honest. When people look at an overweight person, they're not considering whether it's water or fat that's making them "fluffy"... and when I get on a scale or try to do something that my size doesn't allow me to do, I just want to be a more normal weight. Figuring out how to get there in a world where the "rules" don't work for you isn't fun, but I will figure it out. Hopefully, eating clean and vegetarian will help - or at least provide me another thing to cross off my list of trials and errors.
  • 100catscrazy
    100catscrazy Posts: 16 Member
    JLynRN wrote: »
    I definitely believe my weight contributed to my development of Hashimotos....

    I too have Hashimoto's but I don't think my weight contributed to my development of the disease. I was diagnosed at age 20 at around 120 lbs. I also have an adrenal tumor, not caused by my weight but since it causes an increase in my cortisol and some other hormones it does cause weight gain by Cushing's disease. Not exactly inflammation, but it can be resolved by surgery. As soon as it gets large enough for my insurance to cover it.