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Gaining To Much Weight After Going Gluten Free.

abemads

By abemads
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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abemads Newbie
abemads
Posted

I have a question related to weight gain after going gluten free. I am a 33 year old male, and today I weigh about 84 kilos being about 180cm tall. This January I was diagnosed with celiacs decease. Before the diagnosis I lost 15kg. The symptoms that lead me to go to the doctor started shortly after a lengthy and successful diet. That meant that I was pretty lean when my symptoms started, so the 15 kilos I lost was mostly muscle. My arms, legs and neck grew thinner.

About a month after my diagnosis my appetite went crazy. I was eating lots and gaining weight fast. Now I understand that this is a direct reaction to having been malnourished. I've gained back the 15 kilos I lost, unfortunately some of it as belly fat :-(

The problem is that now after more than 6 months gluten free my weight still goes up.

Even though my job is a desk job I’m pretty active. I go to the gym three times a week,where I do cardio and lift weights. Most weeks I will also go jogging or hiking during the weekend. As far as diet is concerned, I try to eat pretty healthy. I stick mostly to wholefoods, and only eat a minimum of processed foods, this includes gluten free products such as breads or pasta. I try to limit the amounts of fat I eat and I never have any problems eating the recommended amount of vegies. Sure I sometimes eat treats but honestly if the composition of my diet is causing me to gain fat, then the entire western world is doomed to obesity. I eat healthier than most.

With regards to portion size all I can really say is that I eat according to appetite. If I eat a smaller breakfast then I’m starving before lunch, my current breakfast portion gets me to lunch hungry but not starving. This is true for all my meals and snacks (fruit mostly), I’m hungry when I eat and don’t eat until I’m hungry again. I realize that I must be consuming more calories than I use, but that’s not what my body is telling me.

So in short I’m gaining weight/fat even though I’m physically active and eating a balanced diet. What should I do?Will my weight plateau after a while? And if so then when?Or is this something I should actively counter? The problem seems to be that if I only eat the amount of calories I burn, then I will fell uncomfortably hungry.

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AlwaysLearning Collaborator
AlwaysLearning
Posted

I'm with you when it comes to listening to my body when it comes to how much I eat.

I had lots of cravings (though not for anything specific) before I started to get my vitamin deficiencies sorted out, and though I'm still working on them, have definitely seen a decrease in my appetite since getting some of them on track.

lexibrowning Explorer
lexibrowning
Posted

I gained a lot of weight when I went gluten-free too.  I realized that I was basically pigging out on the things I COULD have because well... they felt like a delicacy.  I realized I was consuming a TON of calories a day and most of them consisted of things that were crap for my body.  So I stopped pigging out and am keeping track of my calories now and making sure I eat my fruits and veggies daily.  And lots of water! That's really important!

 

Also (and I'm not sure if this is really true or not), I read online and my doctor also told me that when you are an undiagnosed Celiac for so long, you are obviously malnourished and so when you stop eating those things and allow your body to start absorbing what it needs, it kind of goes crazy for a while.  Again, don't know if it's true, but it did make sense for my weight gain.  

 

My body has since then gotten pretty much back on track and I've lost half of what I gained now.  Good luck!:)

frieze Community Regular
frieze
Posted

cut way back on carbs, and don't short change the good fats!

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