Steroids - put on 2 stone in 6 weeks!? Does anyone know if it'll be easy to shift?

[Zellys]

ARGH! Been on steroids for a chronic issue which flared up badly. Have gone from 10st 7lbs to 12st 8lbs in 6 weeks and am freaking out. Been taken off them ahead of surgery for the same issue (intestinal).

None of my clothes fit, have gone from a smallish 12 to, well, must be a 16. I can't do my coats up, face looks like a satellite dish.

One of the mums at the school gate asked if I was pregnant :(

Does anyone know if the weight is going to be easy to shift (because it came on so quickly?), or it's going to be a huge struggle?

I know I should just buy a couple of outfits but the thought of trying clothes on at the moment is making me want to cry.

It will come off, but not easily, just because it went on easily. The good news is that you probably have good eating habits already, so it will be slightly easier for you than some other people. Also, the intestinal surgery should help - I was on such a strict diet after mine (assuming similar issue, mine was UC) that a fair chunk came off without too much focus on anything other than recovery.

I know this doesn't sound reassuring but I spent longer than I should have feeling that the weight I gained from steroids and ill health would result in some sort of free pass (for being "blameless" in gaining it) and I wish I had realised sooner and just worked it off (I have now).

Thanks for your reply - would you say it'll come off like 'normal' excess weight would, or will I need to work extra hard?

After the surgery I'm going to be on pap for 3 weeks so that might help, but my surgery has been postponed once already so I'm nervous it might happen again.

I hear you - I have had days when I've thought "they said weight gain inevitable so I'll just eat the whole cake" :/ But I was for the vastly most part really controlled about what I ate and how much, so mostly I just feel indignant and huge. Sigh...

Hi Zellys

I'm not sure that it's really the same for everyone - for example, my experience is different to that of RunnerHasbeen above.

FWIW - I've suffered steroid related weight gain a couple of times in the past and for me, once i've stopped the steroids, the weight has dropped off really easily. Like you I was pretty careful with what I ate while on steroids and I continued on eating much the same after stopping the steroids, and I found the excess weight came off naturally across 4-6 weeks or so.

You put on weight when you're on steroids because your body absorbs more protein, so assuming your diet fulfilled your bodies needs pre-steroids, when you stop them you should be able to relatively easily burn off the extra weight as you will return to absorbing the same amounts from food as before. If it doesn't start to drop off you could try reducing your food intake just a little and that might kick start it? (Last thing you want to be doing is starving yourself while your body tries to recover from surgery!)

The "moon face" effect from the steroids took a similar time to go down for me, but I have found that the skin under my jawline has never truly snapped back to where it was, (I now have a slight tendency to a double chin/weaker jawline than I did) but I mostly look much the same as I did pre steroids!

Good luck for your surgery - I hope it is a complete success!

Erm, I put on three-four stone in six months on steroids. I never got the moon face but I did eat chocolate and crisps for Britain, and probably for a few other nations as well. Control was an alien notion to me. I lost the first stone relatively easily but it did not "just drop off". The second stone just required a bit of effort. I've got bored of effort for now so am still podgy.

I was a small 12 before being ill and ended up in some large jersey dresses courtesy of the Boden sale ;). I bought three and three only.

That happened to my sister but she didn't pig out when she was on them - she did have a really puffy face though :( Nearly all of the weight went away in not much longer than it took for her to put it on in the first place.

Can you borrow some clothes? That's what she did

Thanks so much for the replies, I feel much better now. There's a charity shop down the road so I am thinking I'll have a nose round there for some comfy clothes.

I've been advised to go liquids-only for five days before the surgery (lovely!), in case they need to do more than they're expecting, so that might shift a little? It's really nice to hear of other people who have gone through this (well, not 'nice', but you know what I mean?), since nobody I know IRL has.