Reply to Padame,

I try to keep my carbs down below 54 carbs per day. It's hard to do since I need to eat a banana everyday due to my blood pressure medications. However since I've been on this low carb diet, my blood pressure has been an average of 100/70. I hardly eat eggs. I eat more tofu than I can stand. I eat tons of vegies and fruit. I exercise daily in and out of the house. Everyone is different. So is everyone's metabolism.

Maybe you need to reevaluate what you are eating. Have you tried researching through some low carb diet books? Maybe check out your local library. There are so many reason why you may be gaining weight. It also depends on medications you are on. That's just a guess.

SFDora

Hi everyone,

I went to the doctor Monday. I weighted in at 167. I lost 9 lbs! My feet, knees, or back doesn't hurt anymore. That could be because of the Prednisone, too.

I've not eaten any bread, rice, white potatoes, snack foods. For breakfast, I'm eating tofu or fat free cholestrerol-free eggs (most of the time). I eat this with vegies of every type. I don't eat cereal of any kind. My doctor said if I eat wheat, I will gain weight. I also don't eat salt or sugar, except some honey in my tea. Lunch is usually salmon, shrimp, or chicken with vegies. Dinner is more of the same. I use a lot of variety with my vegetables in the evening. I find that I get full eating 3 or 4 vegies during the meal. I drink water, water, water, and more water. That is my diet so far. I try to stay away from orange juice because it's has too much acid for me and I fear oral thrush.

I hope that helps whoever asked about diet.

SFDora

Thank you for all of the information. I have been on and off Prednisone for years, I especially love the moon face and hump on my back!! This time no weight gain!!!! I eat fruit instead of chocolate and salt... at least on my good days. Keep up the hard work!

Dear All,
Boy, am I glad that I found this forum! That question is one I've been struggling with for years now. I gained about 100 lbs. while on significant doses of the stuff. After the doses were finally dropped down to around 5mg. or so, I lost about 25lbs. right off the bat. But the rest? Stuck on me like superglue!

I spoke with a doctor about my current frustration level---which has been fairly high lately, and this is what he said: "Yeah, the body can be pretty stubborn when it comes to losing the fatstores that come with the prednisone. There's not a whole lot we can do about that now. Maybe surgery. . ." Gee, he could have mentioned that EARLIER.

I personally have been about ready to give up on it all, but. . . what the heck?! I'll give it another go ahead. Some people do have the ability to lose the weight afterwards, but it's pretty tough.

Peace All,
the DragonLady

down 18 pounds since January 20. Still on the prednisone and the Humira and the Naproxen. I am looking forward to ONEderland!!!

Teresa

I love that I found this thread. I have gained about 11 lbs since being on that med. I have been diagnosed with Rhuematoid arthritis and am also on Methatrexate. My prednisone is being tampered off and I am taking 15 mgs then 10 next week. Is it still possible to lose weight instead of gaining and is the low carb diet the best to combat this? Any and all advice is most welcome.

yep- I have been on predy several times. Usually for 6-8 weeks at a time. I sually gain about 20lbs when all is said and done. Last time I "only" gained 10 but for the first half I was following the Carb Addicts Diet- I think when you are on steroids especially you really have to limit the carbs or you will crave like there is no tomorrow.
I mean, pred encourages weight gain by screwing up insulin levels so the only other way to control it is to have very low carbs
You guys are right- it IS the devil. I especially love the buffalo hump, moon face, restless legs, spacey brain and insomnia. Oh yeah, and eating like a horse! I usually eat about a third of what my dh eats, on pred I can beat him in an eating contest! lol

The low carb diet is essential. I'm not sure if I have it exactly right but I think that the effects of the prednisone don't allow your body to build muscle normally. So to counteract that you need to supplement with protien - so, a low carb, high low-fat protien(chicken breast, egg whites, many fish, etc.) is where it's at. Good luck to you.

But what if you can't do low carb because of kidney problems? I've been on prednisone for almost 2 yr and I'm still struggling to lose weight. I've had to increase the dose lately, too.

You may want to ask your doctor about the South Beach program, and how few carbs are "safe." I eat around 100 g of carbs a day, and the carbs I pick are the "good" carbs South Beach talks of - whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, non-instant oatmeal, whole wheat... This has really helped me with cravings and such on and off prednisone and other steroids.

Predisone the drug I love to hate. This drug has put me through the ringer. I started 5 months ago for acute renal failure @ 80mg a day along with about 10 other meds. The effect on my body was not pleasant. I had to take med leave of absence from work it was so bad. Pains, aches, sleeplessness nights, tongue sores, acne...the only good thing was I lost about 30lbs.
Now my doctor has started weaning me off the meds...all the weight they said I would gain is coming. I have the moon face, fat is just went straight to my belly(pants that fit last week are now snug). I've gained about 13lbs.
I'm trying to do everything just to maintain that gainage. I hope once I'm at lower doses that the weight will come back off. Right now I'm doing 30mg a every other day than next week will be 20mg every other day .....
What I find frustrating is that since I have renal failure I've been told to have a low protein and high carb diet. Most foods that would be good for me to eat are off limits to me such as spincach, broccoli, and a host of other foods..while foods you normally wouldn't not be told to eat is exactly what i'm being told to eat...lots of pasta, bread,and only 3 ounces of lean protein a day.
I have to tell you. Predisone in my experience is ****. I dont really know if I knew then what I know now if I would have allowed myself to take this medication, but when your choices are drugs or dialysis....I think I have experienced every side effect this drug has with the exception of hallucinations and depression(which if this weight keeps goind up may change).
Does anyone know once your off the drug how long it takes for the moon face to go away or when the weight loss melts away.

I'm still on it after over 2yr. I don't notice the moon face as much anymore but I still have weight to lose. My problem is sarciodosis(lungs), high blood calcium and the resulting kidney damage. My doctor told me I would need it for life. I went up in dose earlier this summer and am afraid I will have to go up again. Sure wish there was another way.

Hi-

I am really glad I found this forum. I had been "trying" to lose weight for a long time now. I was diagnosed with pemphigus vulgaris an autoimmune disorder in 2005. Off and on meds til this last flare put me back on prednisone for couple of months now and the weight gain is too much. The side effects are staggering and I am now being forced to finally deal with my weight.

I am also taking imuran and immunosuppressant and caught a cold. Down to 25mg pred now from 80 flare this past August. At first doing ok cause I could work out, but due to the cold I was floored and just had to sleep and couldnt exercise. I gained like 20 pounds! I'm now at 148 but am used to and feel most healthy and beautiful at 125.

It took a while to do all this signing up with fitday, 3fc blogs and on the forums- but I need to begin understanding the numbers part and monitoring more. Sodium blew me up like a puffer fish and moon face got me too. I have managed to fight the acne this time- anyone interested in the products I use (combination of prescription and healthfoodstore natural cream) email me personally. I use Nu-Salt in place of salt. I drink tons of water a day and have to take naps, multi-vitamins/herbal supplements to deal with all theside effects.

I was starting to look like a linebacker and getting that hump in my back- really scary along with the moon face. With the holidays coming up and family- I am determined to not be so bloated and not to eat and gain.

I work out with the original old Firm tapes and think now I have to do this everyday. I worked out yesterday and my body wasnt so swollen and puffed up looking- what a relief!

Everyone stay strong and keep at it- have a wonderful holiday- off to work out now...

I was put on prednisone briefly this past spring because they thought I had ITP. My platelets are almost dangerously low and the doctors were convinced I had ITP so they wanted to put me on a much larger dose for two months. I argued that I was almost certain that what I have is not ITP and insisted on further testing. The subsequent testing determined that I did in fact not have ITP at all. That made me angry. They were more than willing to subject me to two months of that **** and then, when that showed no improvement, they were going to remove my spleen. Nice.

The two weeks I spent on the prednisone was enough for me, thanks. Insomnia and an appetite that increased threefold were not things I was happy about. Thankfully I wasn't on it long enough to get the moon face and the other niceties that seem to accompany prednisone use.

So here I am eight months later, test after test (cat scans, two bone marrow biopsies, IGIV infusions, etc.,) and they still have no clue why my platelets are so low. I have noticed that since I started eating right and working out everyday that my count seems to hover above the danger zone where they are forced to give me platelet infusions.

I just hope they can get it together and figure out what's wrong with me before it kills me. Seriously.

KJ

Same here. I went without weighing/being weighed for a long time, and found that I went from 145 lbs to 210 in a matter of months. No wonder my back hurts. And it's in weird places. My pants size at 145 was 9, and a few years earlier, not on prednisone, I weighed 165 and wore a size 14. Strangely, at 210 I wear smaller pants than I wore at 165 lbs (size 12)! That's because it's all in my middle/face/back I suppose. Moon face like you wouldn't believe. I scream and run when I see a camera. "Buffalo hump" and distended stomach. Of course a bit in my legs and arms, but apparently not much. Oh, and my boobs have gotten HUGE. Probably contributes to the back pain but it disturbs me a lot less than the buffalo hump. ^_^

It really depressed me a lot because I had been jogging and lifting and exercising a lot,and at 145 I was in the best health of my life. A year and a half later, I'm in the worst health of my life. I used to be able to eat anything, but I'm starting to watch everything now that I'm still on prednisone. It also messes with my moods, disorders my thoughts, and kills any semblance of willpower I might have. Without it, I have no problem eating well and exercising and so on, but even if I were not on it anymore I've gained so much that it's a huge problem now. People don't even recognize me anymore. Heck, I don't recognize me... For now I'm still taking walks as much as possible (can't run or walk too much due to back pains from weight gain), lifting weights, and just as importantly, weaning myself off soft drinks (which I used to be able to drink without gaining weight) by drinking stuff like crystal light, green tea, and water.

Yeah, it's awful. And I crave sodium, which needs to stop. Well, I need to stop giving in to the cravings, anyway.

But anyway, good luck to anyone else trying to lose it. I'll be watching my carbs and sodium. [*sigh*]