Weight Loss and Acne????
 

Quick background: I successfully lost 70 lbs with nutrisystem and then just watching what I ate (not counting per say), I got pregnant gained 50 back then lost it +10lbs by again just watching what I ate. I then platued for months and turned to calorie counting and have since lost an additional 10 lbs pretty quickly. I LOVE calorie counting and feel like this is the answer to getting the rest of the weight off and maintaining it.

Something I'm wondering though is that I have heard that weight loss causes all sorts of changes in our bodies and hormones. I've always battled acne in some shape or form and just recently as I've found my calorie grove and started losing very consistantly (about 2-3lbs/wk) my hormonal acne is raging, probably the worst it's ever been. I was begining to blame my increase in artificial sugar as the cause, but people keep swearing it's the weight loss. So I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this, what you did you combat it and how long it lasted. I still need to lose another 40-50 lbs so I could be in for a long acne journey, but it's worth...it would just be nice to know what to expect. Thanks!

How old are you? Are you on the pill? Are you thinking about getting pregnant again? There's a lot of factors that it could be including but not limited to the artificial sugar (just sugar consumption in the first place will cause acne in some people). What about your environment? Some people get acne in winter because they are inside so much and their skin doesn't see the sun.

A little more information could really help. How old is your child? When I had my daughter I went from having completely straight hair to naturally curly hair. It was weird.

I'm 30, my son is 17 months, I live in the desert so I get sun year round, in fact I exercise 5xs a day and almost always outside. I'm not on the pill and have not been for over 6 years (I cannot take hormones due to a blood clotting condition). We are not planning on having another child for a little while. I think that is all my info.

Well, 30 is a big year. Our bodies mysteriously change for no explained reason, that includes acne. I just find it hard to believe that your weight loss is the cause of the acne. My thought process is that it has got to be environmental as well as age. I remember 30, my body did all sorts of strange things that year.

I agree, it is so hard to say. I had bad acne until I had my daughter at 24 and from that point on it disappeared. Hormones are so tricky!

were you breastfeeding your son? When you wean, that can mess up your hormones a lot and cause acne. If that's the case, it should settle down once your hormones get back in balance.

But I could also be the weight loss, since that also does impact your hormones. I'd call your derm. and see if they have any recommendations.

Assuming you're eating mostly "clean" foods while counting, couldn't my body be detoxifing itself because I'm losing weight? So maybe my body is "pushing" out some of the toxins in my body through my skin, urine, etc.

Also, fat stores or contains (I'm not sure which, maybe it even makes) estrogen, so as I'm losing weight, I'm losing estrogen and my hormone levels are changing, which in turn could be what is making monthly hormonal acne rage. I don't think it's a complete leap that weight loss could be contributing to my condition in addition to my age/environment, etc. I mean if we can complete stop menstrating because we're too fat (which I did) why couldn't it cause havoc on my hormones in other ways now that I'm losing weight.

why are you exercising 5 x a day? THAT is messing up your hormones.... Your cortisol levels are probably through the roof, triggering your other hormones (such as estrogen, progesterone and leptin and grenalin and your adrenal gland, etc )to be all outta whack cuz your body is so stressed out....
But lets back up...how long have you been losing weight/exercising....?

Also, if you're breaking a sweat 5x a day, how are you washing your skin? Leaving the sweat on your face could lead to breakouts being worse, but so could washing it 5x a day if you're using products that are drying or otherwise messing with skin balance.

HaHa! Did I post that I was exercising 5xs a day! Opps! I meant 5xs a week. I'm not THAT motivated!

I was breastfeeding, but we weaned at 14.5 months so that was about 2.5 months ago, but it could be that my hormones are still regulating from that, 2.5 months is not that long.

Sounds like the breast feeding/weening is the issue. It takes as good six months for your body to regulate, sometimes more. You have a lot of factors going on. I, personally, never stopped having my monthly cycle when I was heavier. I had never even heard of such a thing so that is a new one on me.

Did you have regular cycles when you were nursing? Are you having them now?

I got my cycle back about 6 months post pregnancy, was regular for about 3-4 months, not regular for about 2-4 months and am now regular again, about the last 2 or 3 months. So clearly I've got some hormonal issues going on. I think I probably just need to hang tight a while longer to allow my body to adjust to the multitude of changes that are going on. I'm sure my level of stress lately is not helping either. Thank you everyone for your thoughts!

There was another thread under a different category on this site about this. A bunch of people all posted that they started breaking out when they started eating better.

It happened to me. I started eating really clean and my skin broke out like CRAZY! Its finally getting back under control.
I really think it was the toxins leaving me.

I started clean eating about a month ago and have been breaking out like I was in my teens again. I'm not talking about little pimples, they are big red violent looking zits! I googled and it seems that the three main connections to weight loss and acne are: 1) not washing your face properly after exercising, 2) your body cleansing itself and ridding itself of toxins, and 3) if you are losing weight pretty quickly your body may sense the situation as stress and acne is the result of that stress. I haven't changed anything else besides exercising and eating healthy...so I attribute my acne to my weight loss and hope that it goes away soon.

I usually get the occasional pimple during TOM and sometimes my pores get a little clogged but other than that I have been very lucky not to get acne. BUT once I started calorie counting and working out 5 times or more a week, I started to break out!!! I would get up to 4 or 5 pimples at a time! But, my body kinda evened out, its been about 2 months, and I am back to normal. I think it was due to the extra stress about exercising and food, and sweat.