Fat with crohn’s zero motivation

[Ineedtoloseweightnow]

I need some help. I am so overweight and have zero motivation. I was diagnosed with Chrons a few years ago and of course I didn’t get the weight loss side effect. I’ve been really unwell and in and out of hospital with it. I now have been in clinical remission and am the heaviest I have ever been. I am finding it so difficult to get back on any diet and every time I try I don’t last at all. My eating habits are all screwed it’s like when I could suddenly eat I’ve now taken full advantage and can’t stop!

I desperately wanted another child but am now getting too old to lose the weight in time to return for my last embryo. I have a friends wedding in 3 months time, needless to say I don’t want to go. I look horrendous, I feel horrendous and no matter what I do I just cannot get in the right headspace and I don’t know what the hell is stopping me.

Has anyone ever been in this position and managed to overcome it and get motivated again? I know I can do it, I’ve done it before and I need this, it will massively change my life so why can’t I do it?!

I have ulcerative colitis so I know how "shitty" having IBD is!

When I wanted to lose weight I did a calorie deficit diet with my regular safe foods and it seemed to work. I've just had a baby and the weight has piled back on but I'm hoping to do that again when I get motivated!

I also have a bowel problem mine is subacute obstruction after multiple laparotomies, with me I have to avoid most fibre so a low fibre diet. This doesn't help as fibre can be filling, and some of the things on my diet sheet are e.g. custard and biscuits etc.

My DH has crohn's colitis. He's much thinner than me but does lots of running and swimming. He says intermittant fasting helps him as he finds eating causes him pain.

I remember noticing steriods can cause weight gain. They are sometimes used with Crohn's.

I also have chronic pain and am on Pregabalin which is giving me the munchies, combined with my low fibre diet this is quite tricky and I have put on some weight lately and am quite short. I'm now in the obese category.

It makes it extra hard when you have all these challenges and I do understand.

As an aside, DH has found this infusion pen called Humira brilliant for his Crohns.

I am sorry to hear that about the embryo. If the wedding is bothering you so much I would just make an excuse and not go. There is such a fuss over weddings and you can feel on show with all the photos etc. With these illnesses I was told it is important to reduce stress.

It is good that although overweight you are in remission.

Is it worth getting an expert to help you draw up a diet plan and then find a way to get some support for sticking to it? Maybe even get some therapy if there are other things going on?

I have only been able to loose weight by having support on here and by sticking to 15k steps and a reasonable amount of calories. Going too low is unsustainable for me, but it’s taken me a while to figure out what works. Normally I would do weights as well but have been told by physio and doctor not to due to issues with my back.

The other thing I find helpful is to see it as a healing process as part of looking after myself so I do other things as well, like making more of an effort with my experience and clothes.

Thank you for all the replies I really appreciate you all taking the time.

I put on quite a bit of weight after many years of ivf roughly 7lbs per cycle. I did manage to yo-yo up and down and although I was overweight wasn’t anything like now. I was on a very high dose of steroids for a long time and that obviously didn’t help! Now I get an infusion of steroids and infliximab every 8 weeks but I’m not sure from that how much I can blame that on my weight!

I seem to get to the point that I feel motivated to do something and it doesn’t last, not even a week. Definitely the fatigue and general shitty feeling I have because I’m annoyed that this is my life now. I had some therapy when I had got out of hospital the final time and it didn’t really help. It was good to speak to someone about how useless I felt and my worries but ultimately it hasn’t changed anything. The biggest issue for me is not listening to my body when I am starting to feel unwell or exhausted but I still go to work and do what I can at home it’s just like I can’t switch off or don’t want to admit I’m not as capable anymore.

I do need to go to the wedding as my dd is in the wedding party so unfortunately not an option. I did get on the scales today for the first time in months and I am actually not my heaviest ever (that was on the steroids) I’m a whole 6.5lbs lighter than that and I did think I’d be higher so that’s a bonus 🤣

Ive downloaded the nhs weight loss app I have wasted so much money on slimming world and weight watchers in the last 3 years I’m not willing to do it again right now. I’ve charged my Fitbit and I’m hoping just venting on here will help.

I have spoken to my consultant about my weight they know it is an issue but they haven’t offered any support with this. They also know that before attending hospital healthy foods were causing me major issues. They did try me on exclusive enteral feeding for a while but this exacerbated everything and it wasn’t long after I ended up on my first stint in hospital.

Ideally I want to feel healthy, fit and comfortable. I will never be skinny again and that’s ok but I want to feel good about myself. If I could have another child that would just be the icing on the cake though maybe leaving cake out of this equation would be a good idea!

Apologies that’s so long 🙈

Yes I have not found them to be particularly helpful either just recommended the low fibre diet and that was it really.

I have been trying some healthy type protein shakes I liked this one as it seemed a bit more natural than some of them.

www.purition.co.uk

It does have a few tiny seeds in it but my gut seems to manage it OK. The others all seemed very over sweet which put me off for breakfast.

It does seem to be a question of finding stuff out for yourself I think with these things long term. My DH has also had no advice in terms of diet etc.

I get what you mean about adapting to the situation being long term. It's not easy.

This isn't helped by people asking if you are 'better' or comments that you should be doing "X" at the moment I have been having comments about walking more might help. Well it might help my mood perhaps but it isn't going to cure things.

I have crohns and have always struggled with my weight. I’ve told my gastro consultant in the past that if I ever come in looking underweight he will know I’m in serious trouble healthwise!

The thing I’ve found best for me is eating really low carb (almost keto). It also gives me less gut symptoms (not why I started it), and massively improved my crohns arthritis (which was the reason I started it).

Good luck whatever approach you decide to follow op.

Sorry I didn't mean that to happen - an advert. maybe MN could remove it.

Oh that is interesting about the low carb - might be a good plan

It’s been odd (in a good way). I was expecting that upping my intake of lower carb veg would mess up my stomach, but I seem to be able to tolerate veggies that I didn’t so well before when I was eating more carbs🤷‍♀️

I wonder about the low carb I did that many years ago at uni and found it worked well as I also have PCOS . I love a breakfast drink but tried to start last week and after a few days felt unwell again they just don’t seem to agree with me. If I don’t have drinks then I tend to skip breakfast and lunch as often feel nauseous in the morning. I remember though I used to take something like turkey rashers in the morning and just ate them cold when the nausea subsided when at uni. Might be a plan! Just talking about this is honestly helping me so thank you for all the input.

I do think the comments don’t help. On one hand people think I’m back to ‘normal’ and don’t see that I still have daily struggles due to steroid myopathy and the fatigue which my consultant has said unfortunately never goes away for some people. On the other hand I have overly concerned parents who still refer to me as ‘unwell’ or say you can’t do that you have enough on your plate. My boss seems to think that everything to do with my condition is stress related and doesn’t seem to understand that it’s an autoimmune disease or that I have a weakened immune system due to my medication. Not really enough awareness around I think people think it’s just like ibs.

You would think people would understand more about things like Crohn's these days. I agree the over concerned (like the parents) can also not be that helpful, I had MIL saying she felt 'so sorry' for me and I don't really like being pitied in that way.

There is a balance between giving up and not trying things and just behaving normally and doing everything.

Today I have mainly been in bed all day as felt grotty as recovering from Shingles (which I am sure is related to the other stuff as usually the elderly get it) but I am going to just try and go with the flow.

I guess the key thing is what YOU think rather than the thoughts of others. If they don't get it that is their problem. I'm trying to think of it that way anyway.

The consultant sounds understanding. My GP has been also. It has been encouraging to find some that know about adhesions and the pain and problems they can cause.

Massive sympathies from a fellow Crohn's sufferer. Like others, I have found my health improve a lot from fasting 14-18 hours a day. I usually eat between 11am and 6pm only. The daily bowel rest lowers my inflammation. And it certainly keeps my weight down! How about setting yourself a goal of trying it for, say, 20 days and just seeing whether it helps you at all?

I don't know much about Crohns and whether there are specific foods you should avoid. Can you tell us a little about your current diet? And what kind of exercise do you do, if any?

My usual diet advice is to avoid faddy diets and keep it simple, as in

"Eat food, not too much, mostly plants".
Plus plenty of lean protein to fill you up.

Avoid/reduce UPF, refined carbs, sugar, alcohol.
Try to eat healthy foods that look appealing, as in rainbow colours.
Check if a Mediterranean diet might work for you.

Exercise at least 30 minutes to an hour 4-5 times a week.
Try to exercise with weights, i.e. dumbbells (start with 2-4 kg)
Walk as much as you can.
Take the stairs rather than the lift.

Short and easy workouts on YouTube that might suit you include
Lucy Wyndham Reed
Rebecca Louise
Growingannanas

Eugh shingles are horrible I hope you feel better soon. That was one of the situations I had recently in work I was working with children who were known to have chicken pox and hadn’t been told. Due to my meds there is a risk of contracting shingles so I was pretty pissed off. I definitely thing due to our immune systems it’s something we are more susceptible to.

That’s a good way to look at it. I feel as if my confidence has gone and I isolate myself a lot whether that is a lockdown issue or a Crohn’s issue I don’t quite know!

Thanks you this might be something I could do as not eating doesn’t bother me at all I’m used to it. The problem can be when I have t eaten and start I then don’t eat well as I’m too hungry to wait to prep but with some planning and a menu in place this might work for me thanks. When I was getting diagnosed my gran said no way have you got that you’re too fat! Tbh I didn’t really think you got overweight people with Crohn’s but I now know that’s not the case!

So tbh it completely depends. I used to be vegetarian and when DH is working they would still be my go to meals. However I do find peppers, onions, carrots, lettuce, corn, turnip and possibly some others cause me issues. Not all the time but when they do it then puts me off trying for quite some time.

With regards to exercise I used to walk daily and do treadmill or exercise videos on YouTube plus 30mins with my weighted hula hoop. Since being out of hospital when out walking I fainted which gave me the fear, the therapy helped for this and I now am walking again. The first time I tried my treadmill since I struggled really badly I think I expected to be back to normal too quickly which was silly. I need to try again and not be too hard on myself better a couple of minutes and build up than nothing. I can’t do stairs anymore due to the muscle wastage from the steroids, at work I try to take them a few times a day (when I have more time) in the hope that I can increase this. Things have definitely improved but I don’t have the strength with the push on the way up so use the bannister to pull if that makes sense 🤣

I will definitely check those videos out thank you for sharing. I think what I need to do is stop being so hard on myself, take it one step at a time and celebrate small goals. Amazing how speaking to complete strangers can help you start to see things in a different way. Thank you to everyone 🥰

I think you would do well with Lucy. She she is really calm and gentle - perfect for people who can't get on with loud and/or fake enthusiasm. Her workouts are generally quite short, so you can start off by doing just one or two a day and work up to doing more.

Working out with weights/dumbbells can be very empowering - and raises the heart rate just as much as cardio. Rebecca Louise has several easy 'starter' workouts - try them with light dumbbells, say 2 or 3 kg:

Ageless Arms
Bingo Wings
Best Arms

Growingannanas is excellent. A bit more advanced, but you can modify and go at a slower pace. She does HIIT, both with weights and without. She is really lovely!

As far as eating is concerned: can you eat limited quantities of healthy foods that you really like - so that you look forward to each meal, without the need to eat mindlessly between meals.

And, as others have suggested, try intermittent fasting and see if it helps with your Crohns.

I like yoga with Adrienne op it is free and quite gentle and easy. I know what you mean about struggling with everyday tasks. I have not managed getting a showed today but may try now before bed.

*shower