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When You First Went Gluten Free, Did You Lose Weight?


Prezwilson15

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luvs2eat Collaborator

On the contrary! I was diagnosed w/in 2 months of symptoms so there was no unexplained weight loss for me. And after I was diagnosed, I was so upset at all the food I could no longer have... I OD'd on all the foods (translate carbs) I could have and gained 40 lbs. in the first year!!

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GlutenGladi8or Apprentice

I actually gained about 25 pounds. But they were 25 good (muscle) pounds. For years, my body was robbed of its ability to absorb the lean protein that I was consuming. That also goes for the multiple protein shakes that I was drinking.

While gaining those pounds I also was able to decrease my body fat percentage (hovers right around single digit these days).

I will admit, when the doctor first told me that I had Celiac and attached the word "disease" to it, my heart nearly stopped. But today, I feel blessed to live a gluten free lifestyle. I do NOT miss those empty wheat carbs at ALL. :)

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mamabear272 Explorer

I will admit, when the doctor first told me that I had Celiac and attached the word "disease" to it, my heart nearly stopped. But today, I feel blessed to live a gluten free lifestyle. I do NOT miss those empty wheat carbs at ALL. :)

I was the same way! I was pretty freaked at first but now I embrace it. I pride myself on making gluten recipes gluten-free. It's like a game for me. And the fact that I feel so much better is amazing!

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GlutenGladi8or Apprentice

I was the same way! I was pretty freaked at first but now I embrace it. I pride myself on making gluten recipes gluten-free. It's like a game for me. And the fact that I feel so much better is amazing!

I told a woman at the gym this morning that I had Celiac Disease. She said "oh... I'm SO sorry".

My reply "Don't be sorry for me, it's been nothing but smooth flying AND body building".

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chasbari Apprentice

I lost in the neighborhood of 35 pounds in the first two months gluten free. It was scaring my wife but I felt so much better. I was weak and skinny fat. I looked like a typical "healthy" American middle aged male before being diagnosed but I knew how weak I had become. It didn't help that I had rheumatoid arthritis as an excuse for my immobility, etc. I lost so much body fat that it revealed just what muscle mass I had left. Bottomed out in the low 130's. I was able to workout more and more as I healed and started to absorb nutrients. Contrary to what many contend here, I consume plenty of fats, including whole fat raw dairy and plenty of raw eggs. I am up to a very lean 150 pounds now and have never been stronger. The thing I noticed once I started adding fats like coconut oil and fatty meats was that I feel much younger uh.. shall we say.. hormonally. I eat a very low carb diet with a few servings of fresh fruit and a select group of non nightshade veggies and greens (turnip, mustard, collard.) I eat good sized meals every day and am finally not starving all the day long like I was at first.

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mamabear272 Explorer

Good for you GlutenGladi8tor!

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GFinDC Veteran

I actually stayed about the same after going gluten-free at first but did gain some lbs after a while. But my appetite changed a lot and I found I was staying at basically the same weight but eating much less food after going gluten-free. I just wasn't as hungry all the time like I Was before. I could stand to lose a few pounds now, but I never had a weight problem at all before gluten-free. I guess I Wasn't absorbing a whole lot of the nutrients I Was eating. I was kind of thin my whole life but always ate plenty of food, more than my brothers who were heavier than me. Except for my youngest brother who had Crohn's, he was even skinnier than me. Both my remaining brothers are fairly heavy now though. They are big boys. :)

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domesticactivist Collaborator

I didn't just go gluten-free - we did GAPS. I lost 20 lbs almost immediately, then stabilized. I was around 145 at 5'6 and went down to about 125. I was concerned because if I got any smaller I'd be too thin, but it seems my body was just finding a new normal. This is actually the size I was before I had kids (about 13 years ago!)

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GlutenGladi8or Apprentice

I Wasn't absorbing a whole lot of the nutrients I Was eating.

That's the beauty of being diagnosed... your body absorbs the protein and nutrient that has been lacking. If you're trying to gain muscle and just newly diagnosed, prepare for take off!

"Houston... we DON'T have a problem!"

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zentex Newbie

Three months into the gluten-free lifestyle...I have not gained nor lost a pound. In the year before I went gluten-free, I had a lot of stomach troubles and gained about 30lbs--mostly because I didn't feel good and quit exercising. I also turned to comfort foods.

As soon as I feel comfortable with the diet (and this heat wave breaks); I'll look into resuming my active lifestyle

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jmrogers31 Contributor

This is so interesting. I have been gluten free for 1 month now and the nutritionist told me to be careful because I will probably gain weight due to absorbing more of the food I am eating. All I know is I used to run religiously and even completed 2 half marathons and was around 195-200 pounds which is very heavy for a runner since I am only 5'10. After I got a bad sinus infection in January the symptoms I always had magnified and I felt horrible all the time and didn't exercise at all. Everything I ate seemed to floor me and my weight dropped from 204 to 188 with no effort of my own. Now after being gluten free for 1 month, I feel great and my weight has gone from 188 to 179. First time since college in the 170's. I started exercising again which could explain some of that. I think it is interesting that so many people lose weight when I was told not to be surprised if I started gaining weight. 25 pounds since the first of the year, not bad considering I haven't made a conscience effort to lose.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Junior Chef Rookie

I've been gluten free for 6 months and I've lost 20 pounds, without exercising! So far I'm not gaining any back, either.

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Rocketlegs Newbie

I couldn't lose weight no matter what I tried before, but since juicing and eating fruits/vegetables/meat/rice I've been losing 1 pound a day. I was 5'5" and 260 when I started so I have fat to lose. I'm going this to feel better though!

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GlutenGladi8or Apprentice

This is so interesting. I have been gluten free for 1 month now and the nutritionist told me to be careful because I will probably gain weight due to absorbing more of the food I am eating. All I know is I used to run religiously and even completed 2 half marathons and was around 195-200 pounds which is very heavy for a runner since I am only 5'10. After I got a bad sinus infection in January the symptoms I always had magnified and I felt horrible all the time and didn't exercise at all. Everything I ate seemed to floor me and my weight dropped from 204 to 188 with no effort of my own. Now after being gluten free for 1 month, I feel great and my weight has gone from 188 to 179. First time since college in the 170's. I started exercising again which could explain some of that. I think it is interesting that so many people lose weight when I was told not to be surprised if I started gaining weight. 25 pounds since the first of the year, not bad considering I haven't made a conscience effort to lose.

Just for the heck of it, you should go to a gym (or somewhere) and see if you can get your body fat tested. I wouldn't be surprise (and your shouldn't either) if you are dramatically decreasing you body fat percentage.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Cassie Getty

Yes I did! With the help of exercise and discipline. Along with the weight, I also noticed that I haven't had migraine attack for quite a long time. I use to wake up feeling dizzy and light headed but not anymore since I started with my gluten free diet. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
caligirl2001 Newbie

Yes, I lost weight. I dropped 50 lbs over the course of the first year or so. The weight loss stabilized on it's own. I just stopped losing once I reached a certain weight, even though I didn't make any further changes. I've maintained for almost 2 years now. I've seen a few other comments on here from people who said that they couldn't lose weight prior to eliminating gluten and I fall into that category as well. Once gluten was eliminated, the weight seemed to fall off on it's own until my body reached a weight that it was comfortable with. My appetite also regulated itself.

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alex11602 Collaborator

So I thought that my weight stabilized after losing 30 lbs in 3 months, but I started losing again and at 6 months have now lost 70 lbs and I'm still losing some.

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pricklypear1971 Community Regular

I haven't weighed...but I starting dropping immediately (I was also moving so very active). then I hit the gluten-free processed foods and was stationary. Now I'm losing again, don't have s scale but when I hit a new clothes size I'll know for sure.

I have a lot of personal training appts. Left at LA Fitness - I'm going to try to use them soon since the DH is disappearing and I can stand to get sweaty again.

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  • 3 weeks later...
glutengirl42 Rookie

I went Gluten Free about 3 months ago and I have gained weight. I constantly feel hungry. I've heard that many have lost weight. I'm hoping that I get this under control and lose weight as well. Hang in there. That's all we can do.

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GlutenDude Newbie

I made the mistake after my diagnosis of buying a lot of gluten free processed foods, because it was easy and I was so overwhelmed. I ended up gaining about 10 pounds the first year. It was only when I thought "healthy" instead of "gluten free" (and of course consistent exercise) that the weight started coming off. I've been gluten free five years now, I'm 46 and feel in the best shape of my life. Celiac does have its assets :)

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glutengirl42 Rookie

You are totally right gluten dude. Lots of gluten free pre-made foods are very high in sugar, carbs and fake additives to make up for the taste and lack of gluten. I'm starting the specific carbohydrate diet Oct 17th.. I'm sure I'll lose weight and feel even better on that.

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TracyandLyss Newbie

I was hoping that would be the case for me...but unfortunately I have not lost an ounce...gained about 4 pounds though. I am not 100% sure I am totally gluten-free though, I have to wait for my next blood test, since I have no symtoms!!

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  • 2 weeks later...
granolagal Apprentice

I was only diagnosed 6 days ago, and have been gluten-free for...6 days! :P As soon as I was diagnosed I've had SEVERAL people tell me "this will be good for you - you'll gain weight!". Problem is...I'm terrified of gaining weight. Right now my BMI is 19.6, and I have actually gained 8 pounds over the summer because I got so sick I wasn't able to work out anymore. So right now I'm at the maximum weight I would want to be. I really really really hope I don't gain....

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meinelse Rookie

Went gluten-free in July and have dropped nearly 20 lbs--before that I had been steadily gaining weight because I was so sick and wasn't active at all. I think I have gained muscle mass as well because I'm able to do yoga again and move around a bit. I am worried about falling underweight now though--I'm always starving, and I can't eat much because I have hypo and a nightshade intolerance, too. Pretty limiting. I think the weight loss is partially just from those restrictions, I can't just grab a snack off the shelf or drive through McDonald's. But I've wondered whether it is also related to some other changes in my body (absorption, reduced swelling, etc). The reduction in abdominal swelling was the first thing I noticed, I dropped a full pant size in a very short period of time, but I'm also losing weight and dropped almost another full pant size since then. I feel like a skeleton!

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  • 3 weeks later...
K-Lea Newbie

I haven't eaten gluten/wheat for 6 weeks now. I dropped 8 lbs. before I went gluten free because I was sick. The sickness is what prompted me to go gluten free. I expected to gain the 8 lbs. back once I was no longer sick, but the sickness stayed away and so did the pounds. It is my best guess that I would have lost them on the gluten free diet had I not lost them due to sickness first. I am glad to lose those pounds because I had gained them in the past year. That being said, I don't have many other extra pounds to lose (maybe 5 or so). If I lose more than that I will be concerned.

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    • cristiana
      Thank you for your post, @Nedast, and welcome to the forum. It is interesting to read of your experiences. Although I've not had TMJ, from time to time I have had a bit of mild pain in my jaw, sharp stabbing pains and tingling in my face which appears to have been caused by issues with my trigeminal nerve.  I read that sometimes a damaged trigeminal nerve in coeliacs can heal after adopting a gluten free diet.  I try to keep out of cold winds or wear a scarf over my face when it is cold and windy, those conditions tend to be my 'trigger' but I do think that staying clear of gluten has helped.  Also, sleeping with a rolled up towel under my neck is a tip I picked up online, again, that seems to bring benefits. Thank you again for your input - living with this sort of pain can be very hard, so it is good to be able to share advice.
    • Julie Riordan
      I am going to France in two weeks and then to Portugal in May   Thanks for your reply 
    • Nedast
      I made an account just to reply to this topic. My story resembles yours in so many ways that it is truly amazing. I also suddenly became lactose intolerant, went a little under 10 years attributing all my symtoms to different body parts, never thinking it was something systemic until much later. I had the same mental problems - anxiety, depression, fatigue, etc. In fact, the only real difference in our story is that I was never formally diagnosed. When I discovered that my myriad symtoms, that had been continuous and worsening for years, all rapidly subsided upon cessation of consuming gluten, I immediately took it upon myself to cut gluten out of my diet completely. I live in America, and had lost my health insurance within the year prior to my discovery, so I could not get tested, and I will never willingly or knowingly consume gluten again, which I would have to do in order to get tested now that I have insurance again. But that is not the point of this reply. I also had extreme TMJ pain that began within months of getting my wisdom teeth out at - you guessed it - 17 years old. I was in and out of doctors for my various symptoms for about 5 years before I gave up, but during that time I had also kept getting reffered to different kinds of doctors that had their own, different solutions to my TMJ issue, an issue which I only recently discovered was related to my other symptoms. I began with physical therapy, and the physical therapist eventually broke down at me after many months, raising her voice at me and saying that there was nothing she could do for me. After that saga, I saw a plastic surgeon at the request of my GP, who he knew personally. This palstic surgeon began using botox injections to stop my spasming jaw muscles, and he managed to get it covered by my insurace in 2011, which was harder to do back then. This helped the pain tremendously, but did not solve the underlying problem, and I had to get repeat injections every three months. After a couple of years, this began to lose effectiveness, and I needed treatments more often than my insurance would cover. The surgeon did a scan on the joint and saw slight damage to the tissues. He then got approved by insurance to do a small surgery on the massseter (jaw) muscle - making an incision, and then splicing tissue into the muscle to stop the spasming. It worked amazingly, but about three months later it had stopped working. I was on the verge of seeing the top oral surgeon in our city, but instead of operating on me, he referred me to a unique group of dentists who focus on the TMJ and its biomechanical relationship to teeth occlusion (i.e. how the teeth fit together). This is what your dentist did, and what he did to you was boderline if not outright malpractice. There is a dental field that specializes in doing this kind of dental work, and it takes many years of extra schooling (and a lot of money invested into education) to be able to modify teeth occusion in this manner. Just based on the way you describe your dentist doing this, I can tell he was not qualified to do this to you. Dentists who are qualified and engage in this practice take many measurments of your head, mouth, teeth, etc., they take laboratory molds of your teeth, and they then make a complete, life-size model of your skull and teeth to help them guide their work on you. They then have a lab construct, and give you what is called a "bite splint." It looks and feels like a retainer, but its function is entirely different. This is essentially a literal splint for the TMJ that situates on the teeth. The splint is progressively modified once or twice per week, over several months, in order to slowly move the joint to its correct position. The muscles spasm less, stress is taken off the joint, as the joint slowly moves back into its proper position. The pain reduces each month, each week, sometimes even each day you go in for a visit. The joint has to be moved in this manner with the splint BEFORE the modification to the teeth begins. They then add to your tooth structure with small bits of composite, to keep the joint in its proper place after it has been sucessfully repositioned. Subtracting from your teeth, by grinding down bits of your natural tooth structure, is done very conservatively, if they have to do it at all. This process worked for me - after six months, my face, jaw, neck all felt normal, and I had no more pain - a feeling I had not had in a long time. It also made my face look better. I had not realized the true extent that the spasming muscles and the joint derangement had effected the shape of my face. The pain began to return after a few months, but nowhere near where it had been before. This immense reduction in pain lasted for a little over two years. The treatment still ultimately failed, but it is not their fault, and it is still the treatment that has given me the most relief to this day. Later on, I even went about three years with very, very good pain reduction, before the joint severely destabilized again. This field of dentistry is the last line treatment for TMJ issues before oral surgery on the TMJ. There aren't as many denists around who practice this anymore, and the practice is currently shrinking due to dentists opting for less espensive, additional educations in things like professional whitening, which have a broader marketability. Getting this treatment is also very expensive if not covered by insurance (in America at least). My first time was covered by insurance, second time was not, though the dentist took pity on me due to the nature of my case and charged like a quarter of usual pricing. Most cases seen by these dentists are complete successes, and the patient never has to come back again. But occasionally they get a case that is not a success, and I was one of those cases. A little over a year ago, I began seeing the second dentist who keeps my TMJ stable in this manner. The first dentist retired, and then died sadly. A shame too, because he was a truly amazing, knowledgable guy who really wanted to help people. The new dentist began to get suspicious when my joint failed to stay stable after I was finished with the bite splint and his modifications, so he did another scan on me. This is ten years after the first scan (remember, I said the surgeon saw "slight" damage to the tissue on the first scan). This new scan revealed that I now no longer have cartilage in the joint, on both sides - complete degeneration of the soft tissues and some damage to the bone. The dentist sat me down and had a talk with me after these results came in, and said that when he sees damage like this in cases like mine, that the damage to the joint is most likely autoimmune, and that, in his experinece, it is usually autoimmune. He has sent patients with cases like mine to Mayo Clinic. He said he will continue to see me as long as the treatment continues to offer me relief, but also said that I will probably have to see a dentist for this type of treatment for the rest of my life. He is not currently recommending surgery due to my young age and the fact that the treatment he provides manages my symptoms pretty well. I still see this dentist today, and probably will see this kind of dental specialist for the rest of my life, since they have helped with this issue the most. I did not inform him that I am 100% sure that I have celiac disease (due to my complete symptom remission upon gluten cessation). I didn't inform him because I thought it would be inappropriate due to not having a formal diagnosis. I was disappointed, because I had believed I had caught it BEFORE it had done permanent damage to my body. I had never suspected that my TMJ issues may be related to my other symptoms, and that the damage would end up complete and permanent. Luckily, I caught it about 6 months after my other joints started hurting, and they stopped hurting right after I went gluten free, and haven't hurt since. I of course did the necessary research after the results of the second scan, and found out that the TMJ is the most commonly involved joint in autoimmune disease of the intestines, and if mutliple joints are effected, it is usually the first one effected. This makes complete sense, since the TMJ is the most closely related joint to the intestines, and literally controls the opening that allows food passage into your intestines. I am here to tell you, that if anyone says there is no potential relationship between TMJ issues and celiac disease, they are absolutely wrong. Just google TMJ and Celiac disease, and read the scientific articles you find. Research on issues regarding the TMJ is relatively sparse, but you will find the association you're looking for validated.
    • trents
      Welcome to the forum, @SuzanneL! Which tTG was that? tTG-IGA? tTG-IGG? Were there other celiac antibody tests run from that blood draw? Was total IGA measured? By some chance were you already cutting back on gluten by the time the blood draw was taken or just not eating much? For the celiac antibody tests to be accurate a person needs to be eating about 10g of gluten daily which is about 4-6 pieces of bread.
    • SuzanneL
      I've recently received a weak positive tTG, 6. For about six years, I've been sick almost everyday. I was told it was just my IBS. I have constant nausea. Sometimes after I eat, I have sharp, upper pain in my abdomen. I sometimes feel or vomit (bile) after eating. The doctor wanted me to try a stronger anti acid before doing an endoscopy. I'm just curious if these symptoms are pointing towards Celiac Disease? 
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