2 replies to this topic

[LeeB]

I haven't been able to find much on how going through celiac changes one's body image, and I need some advice and/or support. Here's the short:

One of the first very clear but undiagnosed signs of celiac disease I had was very fast muscle wasting. I blamed stressed, change in lifestyle, etc. I grew up skinny but had gained muscle over the years of landscaping and contracting but went into an academic setting and lost roughly 40lbs in 2 years. I thought I had AIDS or hyperthyroidism. Of course no one tested for celiac disease. I'd been steering clear of gluten for a few years due to a general distrust but really got it and found out I was celiac disease about a year ago.

My lifestyle has become much more sedentary than it used to be and although I'm well within the medium weight range now, I feel fat. My energy has returned and I'm no longer sluggish, etc, and I train 4-6 times per week, but I've only seen moderate muscle gain over the last month.

I am horrified to feel like I miss my wasting body, now that I started to gain fat. (I wasn't training when I began a strict gluten-free diet). I eat very few processed foods: I've always been more of a periphery shopper. If anything, I have daily multigrain Udi's most mornings with eggs. I don't go low fat but do intentionally eat high lean protein and vegetables as the base of my diet. The more greens and beans the better!

Has anyone else experienced this? How did you cope? I was never someone who valued being really skinny but liked the muscle I'd built. Having the fat come back first and looking at my measurements makes me rather depressed.

Thank you.

Lee

[new2celiac2k12]

Well leading up to my celiac diagnosis last January, I was mostly very tired, low energy, I did not feel like you mentioned about muscle wasting, which I could only say sounds like not absorbing foods, which this did happen to me as everything I was eating was going straight through me, I also had a contributing problem with my gal bladder that was extremely sluggish, adding to the improper digesting of foods.

With not absorbing foods, it could have an effect of muscle loss, as your then not absorbing nutrients, until the villi in your small intestines go away and your system heals, then after that you should be absorbing nutrients, unless there is something else contributing.

I found out from my chiropractor my biggest weakness was milk, as I was eating regular cereal like three times a day, I'd go through 1 gallon of milk in 3 days, but it was my biggest weakness, now I can only have rice milk with gluten-free chex, or I make egg white omlets, after I just recently find out my guts love egg whites with hash browns, some green pepers, onions.

I've been on the mend from gal bladder surgery three weeks today, and I've been walking three to four miles a day, just starting to get back to some resistance bands, and some free weights, and I'm looking for some amino acid supplements that are not dairy, since I'm trying to stay away from all milk proteins, casein is found in some of the sports drinks, like EAS and others, after I was using my free weights, I've been sore, so looking for some supplements to help with the rebuilding / healing phase after work-outs, which also brings me to wonder, the more I work out, I'm starting to feel like I'm getting fatigued again, I feel more pain after using my weights, and even after walking 3 miles, or using my bike, so I'm wondering the very same thing.

I am with you as this can be very distressing, as it's extremely difficult for me to find what's causing the reactions to types of foods, and with me being 41, not once ever worrying about eating anything, and boom, it hit me like a ton of bricks, but unfortunately this is the card we were dealt, and we have to find a way to eat things that we can digest, it takes a long time in getting this figured out, hang in there, with asking questions here, and lot's of reading, with time, this can be overcome.

I have found many things I can eat, and rely on to getting back to normal, it's a big process, but I can get back to normal with what I've found, it's just taking a chance on other foods that may or may not cause issues.

[mbrookes]

The body image question is very interesting to me. We do not always see ourselves realisticly. Be sure what you see is real and not a preconcieved picture from your mind. When our bodies are changing it is very easy to not see what is really happening. Enlist someone you really trust (trainer, doctor, friend) to assess your body changes.