Prednisone bah! but losing lbs once off it?

fortysixpounds · August 2011

Hi everyone,

This is my second attempt to lose weight this year. My first attempt was a car wreck, two weeks in, I needed a surgery and got put back on Prednisone grr but Im off it again 3 weeks and 2 weeks into my second attempt to lose these 46lbs. Now I am finding that everytime I come off of it I lose 10lbs quickly then get put back on prednisone and thats that cancelled out. My priorities change and weightloss goes to the back of the queue. I think I need a change in attitude :noway:

Anyways What I'm wondering is this: If I lose the prednisone weight fast, do I gain it back twice as quickly?(when I stay off prednisone) The first ten pounds usually fall off with very little effort, I always lose my appetite a week after coming off that drug and it falls off. I've never gotten past 10lbs because I always end up back on steroids and it all goes back on. but I am determined to change my attitude and lose this weight regardless of what I get put on. I'll just keep gaining and gaining otherwise and run diabetes risks in the future. I don't want to go down that road. I need to get back into my healthy BMI range.

So Q1: Does initial weightloss stay off?
Q2 Im increasing protein, reducing carbs and sodium, Am I going about this the right way?
Q3 What weighloss pattern should I expect after the first 10lbs, is it slow to lose?
Q4: I need to ask: with the prednisone, they say it changes the redistribution of fat to the neck and abdomen and changes the metabolism. Can anyone tell me is this a permanent change or does it reverse to how you were pre-prednisone?

Many thanks :bigsmile:

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melusinagr · August 2011

I've been off and on Prednisone for my entire life because of lupus, and while I can't answer most of your questions specifically, I *can* tell you that metabolic changes can be reversed and you can lose weight and keep it off.

fortysixpounds · August 2011

Oh that's such a relief to know! Thank you. I was worried that the changes were irreversible

I have to say well done to you managing to lose weight on it. That is some feat! What an inspiration

bootstrap7 · September 2011

I know this topic is more than a month old, but I'm on prednisone right now so thought I'd chime in just in case anyone reading can benefit from what I've learned.

I got really sick in the spring, and my disease caused me to lose about twenty pounds over the course of a month or two. I went on prednisone around the beginning of June and was on it for about three months. I had heard about all the terrible side-effects, and once I started experiencing them I more or less gave up on trying to get fit and figured I'd get in shape once I was off the drug. (I exercised as much as I physically could in my condition, but pretty much ate whatever I wanted.)

While on prednisone I gained back all the weight I had previously lost due to my disease, and yes some of it was on my face and back of my neck (like a buffalo hump). When I got off the drug, I attempted to start getting back in shape, which is when I joined MFP and started counting calories... but I was only off the drug for about three weeks when my disease came back, causing the doctor to put me back on prednisone. I was so angry and upset about having to go back on the devil-drug that I turned my anger into determination to fight the side-effects....

So far I've lost about fifteen pounds within a two/three week span WHILE ON PREDNISONE. If you want to find out how I did it, keep reading.

My goal is basically to give the drug no building blocks to work with as far as packing on the fat, and though I've only been back on the drug for a couple of weeks, so far it's working. I am eating a VERY strict, super healthy, super low-cal diet. The way I am able to stick to it is by eating the exact same thing every day so I don't have to think or make any decisions. (If I did, it would give me too many opportunities to make the wrong decisions!) That and knowing that this is short-term until I am either off the drug or at my goal weight makes it easy to do. Here it is my diet:

Breakfast: protein shake (made with plain soy milk) and a banana
Lunch: 1 can of Amy's Organic soup (various flavors)
Dinner: 1 cup of chicken & veggie stir-fry (recipe below) and 2/3 cup of brown rice

If I get extra hungry or feel I need more food for the day, I add a snack of 1 plain rice cake topped with peanut butter & a couple spoonfuls of applesauce, but this isn't very often. (Peanut butter always satisfies my cravings!)

I don't have time in my day for cooking, so I fix up a big batch of stir-fry on Sunday night (ten frozen chicken tenderloins, two bags of mixed frozen veggies, juice from two lemons and a bunch of garlic powder) and portion it out into serving-sized Tupperware so I just heat and eat when I get home.

My daily total is under 1,000 per day, but the food is so nutrient rich that I really don't feel deprived, and I have tons of energy. I've actually been feeling amped every day as opposed to the fatigue that normally comes with the dreaded predisone. I do get a bit hungry between meals occasionally, but I'm so busy at work that I just plow on through, and I NEVER feel a low blood sugar crash like I would if I was eating other types of foods... MFP tells me I'm eating too few calories and that I need to eat more, but as long as I'm seeing results I like, I'm sticking with the plan.

On Saturdays I go off this diet and eat whatever I want basically as long as it isn't going overboard, which increases my calorie intake for the day. This helps me mentally stay in the game during the week, and it also helps send the message to my metabolism to not go into starvation mode. (Last Saturday I had an spinach & egg scramble with a side of instant mashed potatoes for breakfast, a falafel & veggie pita for lunch, and movie nachos with half a bag of skittles at the theater for dinner.)

For exercise I go for a short, leisurely bike ride in the morning (to give my dog a run before work) and a long, 45-minute walk in the evenings (on nights when I can). When I start tapering off the prednisone again, I will turn this walk into an actual workout.

I take melatonin every night before bed to fight the insomnia (another side-effect of prednisone) and to get restful sleep, and it's also working like a charm.

So far I am very happy with the results.... I feel healthy and strong and am watching the weight melt right off. Let's just hope I can keep it up until I go off the drug for good. (With the results I'm seeing, though, I don't see myself straying any time soon.)

bootstrap7 · September 2011

P.S. Feel free to message me or add me as a friend if you anyone has any questions or want to hear about the longer-term results! (Or if you just want a motivation buddy and/or want to chat!)

fortysixpounds · September 2011

Less than a 1000kcal a day?

I was averaging about 60-80mg of prednisone daily and there was no way I could have stuck to those calories. Initially in the first few months on the drug I didn't even notice the gain but by the third year it was impossible to ignore. Once I cut down to 15mg and below there was a noticeable drop in my appetite but over that and my appetite climbed with each mg. No way I could have limited myself on my normal dose, no matter what I ate I felt like I hadn't eaten in days! It literally felt like starvation.

bootstrap7 · September 2011

I would have said that in the past too, even NOT on prednisone. I have always had a very difficult time limiting my food intake. But for some reason so far on this specific diet, on this specific go around, it is working for me. There is something about this particular combination of food that just works.

It could be partially that my dosage is lower than yours was... I'm on my fourth week at 40mg right now.

But so far I have not felt too hungry between meals and have been completely satisfied... I think it's mostly due to the fact that the food I am eating is packed with nutrients - mostly just fruit, veggies, and protein with a small serving of healthy carbs per day - so it gives me everything I need for my body to function without having to use up energy to digest foods that are unhealthy (processed food, chemicals, fatty food, sugars, etc). It's almost like a cleanse - I'm sure now that I'm not putting anything in my body that is unhealthy (no alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, chocolate, etc) it is busy getting rid of all the toxins in my body, which also gives me more energy. Plus, watching the scale drop almost a pound a day is plenty of motivation to stick with it.

This week I added salad to the lunch/dinner choices, topped with a hard-boiled egg, 1/4 cup of black beans and a low-cal dressing along with 2 Wasa crackers.... I just ate that for dinner - it all totaled 264 calories, and I'm stuffed.

I could probably up my calories by quite a bit if I wanted to maintain my weight rather than lose, but right now I'm happy with the daily weight drop, so I'm sticking with it.

fortysixpounds · September 2011

I really do wish you luck.

Make sure your eating enough, especially if you're on it long-term, prednisone can rip your stomach out over time. I did not put on any weight in my first year on it or my second. It was after that but I'm really sure when although a lot of it seems to have been fluid retention.

I hope that this works for you and I wish you the best of luck :flowerforyou:

marquesajen · September 2011

I don't really know, as everyone is different, but my brother was on prednisone for awhile and gained a bit of weight, muscle mostly, but his face got very chubby. Once he went off of it his face thinned out and he went back to being more his pre-pred size. However, if you've gone off it and then on, then off I don't really know

nlivingston8 · August 2013

Ok. So I have been on low doses of prednisone for years. When I first went on it I was informed that not only does the drug increase your insulin production, but it also increases the hydrochloric acid in your stomach as well as making your body physiologically crave fatty foods (this comes from my doctor). They suggested things like taking it in the morning and eating many small meals in the day. For me it took a while to get used to. Good luck!

kagomemeow · April 2014

I was wondering, I was on prednisone for a week, and I started a 1200-1300 calorie diet while I was on it. It's 2 weeks since I started dieting, and I've lost around 15 lbs. I've measured myself, and it is genuine weight loss, not merely water weight. Usually, when I diet, I lose around 10 lbs a month. Is it possible that the prednisone sped up my metabolism, and it's still faster, even though I'm no longer taking it? Does it work like that? The prednisone did give me lots of energy (but sleepless nights).

fortysixpounds · August 2014

wow this is 3 years ago

how things have changed in my life since I opened this topic!

I was wondering, I was on prednisone for a week, and I started a 1200-1300 calorie diet while I was on it. It's 2 weeks since I started dieting, and I've lost around 15 lbs. I've measured myself, and it is genuine weight loss, not merely water weight. Usually, when I diet, I lose around 10 lbs a month. Is it possible that the prednisone sped up my metabolism, and it's still faster, even though I'm no longer taking it? Does it work like that? The prednisone did give me lots of energy (but sleepless nights).

unfortunately in my experience prednisolone adds weight quick so when you lose initially you lose big but then it quickly tapers. I see this was about 3 months ago I hope your journey is going well :flowerforyou:

Prednisone bah! but losing lbs once off it?

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