Prednisone: Hoping to side-step around the weight

So I have been on Prednisone for a couple weeks now and have read everything about the weight gain side effects... So I decided to take it upon myself to challenge this by dramatically changing my diet and eating routine. I have actually LOST 2 lbs and I chart my weight every day, just to stay on top of it and wanted to share a few tips. If I can pull it off the way I hope, I will come out of this with maybe an even better physique than I started, which would of course be awesome. And I know once I start tapering, that will present a whole new set of challenges, but mind over matter, I plan on getting in better shape if I can win the mental challenge.

Since coming home from the hospital, I have eliminated, completely, all fast food, red meat and I never add salt to anything that I make. Here's my eating routine as of now:

7AM: Either a bowl of cereal (cheerios or grape nuts) or some cream of wheat. Add 1c. scrambled egg whites.

9AM: banana or apple or orange

11-12: tuna or shrimp or chicken mixed with whole wheat pasta or quinoa and chopped veggies.

2PM - banana or apple or orange

4-5PM - leftovers from lunch.

7-8 PM - fish or chicken, broccoli or asparagus, maybe some home made hummus with no salt on triscuits. 2 glasses of red wine!

9-10 PM: Apple, banana, or an orange.

I commute to work on my bike every day which represents about 45 minutes of cycling, and on top of that I do the following:

Monday - Trail run - 45 minutes
Tuesday - weights for an hour
Wednesday - Trail run - 45 minutes
Thursday - Trail run - 45 minutes
Friday - weights for an hour
Sat, Sun are fun days. I might go for a leisurely ride through town or hang out with the lady friend, etc.

I also gave up coffee. I drink decaffeinated tea in the AM and like it much better. I used to drink Red Bulls like they were going out of style, but that has ended, too. Not even diet sodas. Just water and LOTS of it. If you don't stay hydrated, your body will store it like you are a camel and that causes ugly bloating.

Oh and I think this is an important trick: Pledge every day that you will NOT cheat from your diet. Not even by grabbing a tootsie roll out of the candy jar at your local dry cleaner, not a single jelly bean, not a single goldfish cracker... NOTHING. If it's processed or has sodium, just grab a carrot!

I also think that its important to let my fat man out of his cage for one meal per week. So probably on Sundays, I might indulge on a naughty skillet breakfast somewhere or a big honkin' burger for dinner and maybe dessert. But just one meal. The victory meal.

I hope to prove that you can actually get in BETTER shape, despite being on Prednisone. I hope others will join me on this quest, I can use some partners in crime for this! Especially when I have to start tapering. THAT part sounds awful. But again, mind over matter.

Hi, Wow!!! you have a strong will. During my 11 month, prednisone "addiction", I gain 10 lbs. I realized that is not a drastic change. However, i don't think weight management is an easy thing to do, while on prednisone. I'm not saying that you shouldn't try, but it's not as easy as eating healthy and exercising. There is an GIANT animal-like need to eat that comes with prednisone.

I spend every other second of my day, for weeks thinking of food or what I could eat next. Rather than one or two carrots, i could eat the entire bag and then follow it with a bag of celery sticks. I would try to load up on protein before heading out to parties and I found myself wandering towards the buffet table and grazing on cheese, crackers, olives, deli meats for an hour. I got to the point that I was driving around without money or atm/credit cards just so that I wouldn't give in to temptation to stop at the nearest store and buy food. I also had to explain to family and close friends my situation and insist that they don't offer me food, or try to be understanding of my HUGE food problem. People who saw me on a daily or weekly or even monthly basis knew that food was a sensitive issue.

I think prednisone, basically takes away that section of your brain that tells you that you are full, or makes logical decision about food .

I wish you luck with your routine, it sounds like the cycling will definitely help. However, please note that the rational portion of self control is literally obliterated while on prednisone.
One last thought of encouragement, you will get your self control back when you reduce your prednisone to a more reasonable dose and eventually the weight does come off.
Good luck.

Trust me I know what you mean. But I am pretty stubborn. Mind over matter. I will continue to lose weight. Watch me!

good luck, sounds like you've got a good direction, and healthy lifestyle. I couldn't get a grip, I loved dill pickle chips and cheesies and all sorts of other bad treats. Now I'm stuck on these candies called Campino, they're really good......Oops, I'm craving again and I'm not even on the pred anymore......hmmmmmmm.

I am also trying to avoid weight gain while on Prednisone, and have been happy with the results at 2+ months. I've only gained ~5 pounds despite being at high doses until recent weeks. I know that I will be able to lose this amount when I am better.

I also have SLE (lupus), and have been in a flare for months, so my joints are swollen enough to prevent anything but moderate exercise. I try to go to a 2-hour soft-flow yoga class once or twice a week. I also walk my puppy for 30 mins-50 mins every day.

Because of my inability to exercise hard or long, nutrition is especially important. The best tip I have is to stick to food low on the glycemic index , and to look at sodium values on food labels! It's shocking how high sodium is in processed foods.

I have also cut out high-sodium foods, red meat, most caffeine, and processed and refined products. I found these great organic chocolate cookies that I keep to treat myself, and allow myself to cheat on Sundays with one meal. I try to tell myself that if I really want something today, I'll still want it in a few days. Of course we all sometimes cave, but move on and refocus!

It can be done I am happy to report that I started on 100 mg of prednisone, was on it for a month, was on 80 mg for a month as well and actually lost weight while on those doses. I have a horrible moon face and the hump in my back for being on the high doses but I don't think you can do anything about those...

It does take a lot of will power!!! I stopped eating chips, did not drink soda, ate organic and snacked on fruits and vegetables. Everyday is still a struggle but just saying that yes you can keep the weight gain down on pred

I'm impressed with your will power. I ate food like there was no tomorrow. Embarrassed my husband at a restaurant on our anniversary. They brought out the salad and I asked them if that was all there was to it. Then I started to eat and said "MMMMMM" loudly after every bite. I only gained about 10 pounds when all was said and done, so it wasn't too bad.

One girl that used to post here used to dream about even eating her dryer lint.

haha! I do the MMMMMMM thing loudly after every bite as a normal thing. I have ALWAYS been a huge eater and can't imagine it getting worse.

But once I start dreaming about eating lint, I will know I have a problem!

I have actually once already done the weight loss thing dare I show you ( here it is ). I think I can do it again, I chart my weight, track my consumption, time my runs, and take progress photos. I am crazy like that.

Here's the 12 week results from my last dieting efforts. I am back to 198 right now so I am not totally starting over, but this is going to be a good challenge no doubt.

Wow! I really don't think you have anything to worry about! Talk about will power! I was the opposite though! I didn't start gaining weight until I was on it a while. I was tapered over the course of 2 months or so! I gained 15 pounds!!!! GRRRR! Of that, I have lost 12, so I am basically back down to my original weight! Yes...the pred can be so mean sometimes! I especially had trouble because I LOVE to eat anyways! mmmm! So, the pred just made me a ravenous beast with an excuse to binge all the time! hahaha! But, you sound like a very active and fit person, so you should be fine! Me on the other hand.....hahahaha

Okay, first of all, where is your head and second, how long ago was the first picture taken?

GLUB!

By GLUB, I mean, the sound of a big audible swallow, as in, hot picture!

I lost 7 pounds the first 3 weeks I was on prednisone. Didn't start gaining weight until I'd been on it for over 2 months--then I gained 20 pounds over the next 3 months. Not because I was overly hungry, but because I was so mad at my body for putting me through a pred taper and weekly CBCs that I ate to punish it.

I was on pred for two years. I lost weight at first too because I had a lot more energy. Then I gained a little but not more than ten lbs. For me pred eliminated the 'I've had enough to eat' feeling and I was always hungry, never satisfied. Normally I don't like to eat a lot at one time. On pred I couldn't go more than an hour without dying to eat something. I kept the weight gain down by always having food with me that wasn't too bad to eat, like rice crackers or eggs or candy that took a while to eat like gummis. If I didn't have anything I'd buy something that more unhealthy. Even though I didn't gain that much weight I did get the dreaded fat re-distribution, a roll around my waist I didn't used to have. None of my skinny pants will ever fit again. But I can still wear regular clothes in my regular size. Erica

I cut my head off intentionally, I actually hate being in photos, but I am also motivated by them when I'm doing the body transformation thing, so I just cut it off at the head! Those photos were all taken in a 12-week period. The middle photo at 6 weeks and the last one at 12 weeks. I had a "professional" after photo taken too, but it was way too cheesy for my taste.

All my life I have been known as the guy who could eat massive amount of food. My college room mate used to always say, "Man you can really put down some groceries".

Since being on Prednisone (I'm on my 3rd week now), I haven't noticed a change in my appetite, and my girlfriend thinks I actually seem LESS stressed than before. The only symptom as of yet, has been the inability to really zonk out at night. I used to be such a heavy sleeper. Now it feels like I am sort of "half" sleeping. Which I don't really care because I am fine during the day. But I am bracing myself for a change.

But my diet has changed drastically since being out of the Hospital. So far I am clean from the following items that I used to be addicted to:
* Candy - Skor Bars, Red Vines, etc., I used to have a hard time driving past any mini mart without stopping in to grab something. Now I keep an apple or a carrot handy.
* Coffee - Haven't had a single cup in the past 3 weeks. I used to have at least 2 coffees per day. Maybe this is why my stress level has dropped despite being on Prednisone.
* Red Bull - on top of the coffee, I used to have about 1-2 red bulls per day. Those are gone forever as well.
* Diet sodas. Really all I drink now is water and a couple glasses of wine at night.
* Fast food. It's just not appealing to me anymore. My health is suddenly a lot more important.
* Anything that is not a natural grain. Nothing enriched.

In the past week, I have eaten nothing but raw foods, nothing processed. I had a single piece of pizza reluctantly last Monday and it just didn't feel right.

I think our diets are all about habit. If you simply make a commitment to cut the above items out of your diet, cold turkey... it will be hard for the first week or two, then it becomes second nature. The items above are not even considered anymore for me.

I think even with raging hunger, there are things you can do to suppress it. I will down and entire nalgene bottle of water and eat a banana. The weight of that alone can make you feel satisfied and your mind can get off the subject of eating for a while.

I also understand what tamar said - sometimes we will eat out of anger. I am so guilty of that, but I am charting my weight on graph paper and I will use that as motivation and the progress photos of my physique also keep me focused on the goal at hand. A good ride on my bike really helps with my mood.

Finally, exercise. I try to work out first thing in the morning, every AM. I know that if I put it off for the afternoon, there is a good chance I will get busy and it won't happen. So I make it an AM priority, right up there with brushing my teeth. And I do it before I turn on my computer.

That's all for now!

Wow - I didn't realize such a change could be made in only 12 weeks. Good for you!

I didn't do that bad. I'm off pred now. btw...how long does it take for my body to get back to "normal" after? It seems I teeter a couple of pounds either way from where I was before diagnosis. I didn't eat that much more than usual. I haven't made any changes though, not eating the healthy things I know I should. Gotta work on that! Thanks for the inspiration!