It looks like you're new to The Community. If you'd like to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Login Here Signup Here Signup using FacebookThen I would like some help with an issue i’ve been wondering, dealing with since last year. I have been underweight my whole life, nothing ridiculous (about 5’ 4” around 110), it’s just always been that way. My mom was small and didn’t reach 100 lbs until she had kids. I was able to eat anything and everything and never gain weight.
I say “was” because last year I went to college and for some reason I started to gain weight and I mean a lot of it. I went from being 105-110 to about 125. I didn’t drink and still don’t so I know it wasn’t accredited to the usual freshman 15.I was however on birth control and accutane but both of which I no longer take and haven’t in over a year. I eventually started doing an extensive exercise routine to help keep the weight at bay.
I have always had slight health problems and am pretty sure I had candida (before going mainly raw) from all the antibotics I took growing up.
I am still not my normal size anymore and I was wondering if any of you had a similiar experience and what was wrong with you?
I just missing being the size I use to and having my clothes fit, even with raw I still am not my normal size (1) compared to (3-5). Any suggestions for what might be going on and how to combat the problem? I would really appreciate it and thanks in advance!
Comments
You don’t mention what your slight health problems are.. but perhaps get your thyroid checked. Sluggish thyroid can be responsible for quick and unexplained weight gain… there are other symptoms as well, though.
You don’t mention your diet either.. I have heard of a person who ate a jar of almond butter every day and wondered why he was gaining weight by going raw.
More info needed.
The birth control pills and accutane play a part in messing up your hormones and liver respectively, and are likely culprits in unexplained weight gain. Good for you for getting off of them.
My health problems usually had to do with my stomach. I would get excruiating stomach pains but the doctors never knew what was wrong with me. Thats when I looked into candida and so many of my symptoms matched that I was sure it’s what I had. Sometimes I had pain in my chest that would spread to my arms.
My diet is a green or fruit smoothie (with no fats) in the morning, and then I snack throughout the day on various stuff, vegetables, fruit, some raw dips. I didn’t really mention my diet because my point was that before I could eat anything, and this was on SAD and now I have to be extremely careful with even good fats, and this all happened in less than a few months. It’s just like my metabolism went haywire at age 18 and had no reason for it.
I agree with Elizabethh that the birth control pills and accutane could have messed seriously with your metabolism/hormones and liver.
It might also be interesting to keep a diet and exercise log. You might be surprised when you ‘do the math’.
I was 95 pounds in high school (I am only 5’1” though). I also gained the freshman 15 once I went to college. I attribute that to dorm food and being less active. In HS I did after school sports so pretty much worked out for about 3 hours a day almost every day, including summer. All of that stopped once I got to college, and I was also subjected to eating dorm food rather than home cooked meals (not to mention beer and late night pizza!).
Were you involved in sports in high school that you stopped doing in college? And did you prepare your own meals or were you eating in a dining hall? Those factors and the BCP can attribute to the weight gain.
Unfortunately, we can’t all eat whatever we want all the time and expect to stay skinny :(
I was a theatre kid in high school and the same in college. i was probably slightly more active in theatre in high school (doing more run crew) but like I said I took up to exercising everyday once I saw the weight increase and that still didn’t help much, it got me in pretty good shape but I didnt really lose any weight or return to my regular size. It just kept things at bay. I should mention I did accutane twice and the first time I did it I didn’t have any problems with weight. They do your blood work every month while on it and I never had anything show up. With birth control still affect my hormones even with being off it so long? I was only on it for 5 months.
I did have to eat dorm food but towards the end of my first semester I was eating a lot of salads and fruit. Like I said I think something had to change internally because my food choices never mattered before when it came to my weight. I still eat healthy though, regardless of weight because I know it’s the best thing for my body. I was just hoping someone had a similiar experience, had been diagnosed with something and wondering how they cured it specifically with their diet.
Well. Its just a thought. But I dont think that at 18 years old we are completely finshed growing. At 18 I was a size 7. I didnt really gain any weight after that ( until I had my kids:) but my hips kept getting bigger. I dont think I could ever possibly get into a size 7 again even if I lost all baby weight plus some. My hips simply arent the same size they were and not all due to having children. I think our bodies continue to change into our 20’s. Not to say we grow 2 more inches taller, but at 22 my hips were bigger than they were at 18 but I had not gained much, if any, weight really. It was the bones that grew, not the fat. IYKWIM. Jaclyn.
hi there lyn-doe,
i am so sorry you have to deal with this. i too felt my body was under siege during and post college and it has taken a WHILE to recover (and still going). i too took accutane and birth control and know first hand… it did help clear up my skin, but to the detriment of my overall health. not quite the holistic approach i would have gone for if i had known any better.
i have really become enlightened about all this in retrospect, esp. after having a conversation with a colon therapist the other month. all these problems can be traced back to the colon. it is our bodies only escape route for poisons and when it becomes clogged up with inappropriate foods then our body resorts to other forms of EVACUATION… i.e. the skin!
you might want to look up colon hydrotherapy and see if it would be something you could do. natalia rose has a directory of places all over the world on her website.
also, BREATHE! if you have developed a thyroid issue because of the meds (i did! but i’m completely off ALL MEDS now and i’m fine… there is no reason to worry!) then worrying is not going to help. in fact, worrying NEVER helps. it’s easy to say, challenging to practice. but worthwhile for so many reasons.
more important than diet is your overall sense of wellbeing…
I have candida also- it is likely that this is connected to the yeast situation. Also, it takes a long time (in my case, years) for BC pills to leave your system particularly if the liver is compromised as it would be from both the Acctane and the Candida. I definitely recommend doing a cleanse including colonics if possible. The Body Ecology Diet is a good book to read to learn more about healing from Candida. It’s possible to remain raw on the B.E.D. because her objections to raw are easily overcome and the recommended diet even for omnis is 80% land and sea veggies. Hope that helps- best of luck.
Thanks for all the info everyone!
I have read Natalie Rose’s book but to be honest colon hydrotheraphy scares me a bit.
Pianissima- did you develope a thyroid issue from the meds? did you eat anything in particular to help the healing process?
FiddleMama- I will definitely be getting the book from my library and having a look at it. Any cleanse that you reccommend? I can’t do a juice cleanse becuz I dont have a juicer and cant really afford to buy one right now. I did the raw divas 7 day detox and that seemed to help a bit but as soon as I started to eat anything that wasn’t strictly greens, veggies or fruits, such as avocados or nuts I gained weight.
there is a thread on what foods to avoid if you have thyroid. Your sudden weight gain sounds fishy. There must be a reason for it. I wish I knew where that thread was … thyroid is all but too common in women.
i don’t think there is anything wrong with you being a size 3-5. maybe your still growing and maturing and that’s the way your body is meant to be. anorexics have that mentality. they want to stay how they were when they were younger and do anything to stay that weight. for example, they want to stay the way they looked at 15 when they are 25 years old. not saying that your anorexic. but sometimes it’s better to accept your weight as long as you’re living a healthy lifestyle. i am 100 pounds and 5’2 and i wish i could gain weight. i read natalia rose’s book and thats why i tried the raw food diet. she didn’t have the salt water cleanse in there though. i tried it for the first time today. i’ve heard good things about it. i’ll find out. i’m scared of trying new things but i plunged in and tried it. it eliminates things in your intestines. that’s for sure. i put 2 teaspoons of sea salt in 4 cups of warm filtered water and drank it on an empty stomach. then i will try the lemon juice cleanse.
Im definitely not anorexic. I love food and health way too much to even be linked with that. I dont mind weight gain, what I mind is that its not uniform weight gain and it creates almost a lumpyness to my skin in some areas despite how healthy I am. I was more concerned that the instant, out of the blue, intense weight gain was more of my body’s way of telling me something was wrong. I just wasnt sure what, thats why I asked. I use to think I wanted to gain weight, but not like this, in this way.
well i don’t know what it could be,maybe you should see a doctor if it bothers you so much. do you have any other symptoms?i bought a juicer for $10 at thrift shop and saw a dehydrator for 4 but didnt buy it. i should’ve but, o well.
You can make juices with a blender. Just blend up the veggies or fruit with a little water (if necessary), then squeeze it through a nut bag, just as you would almond milk.
I would rather not go to a doctor, one because its very frowned upon by my religion (im a christian scientist, not to be confused with scientologist) and two because Im sure they will either tell me they have no idea whats wrong or put me on meds which I refuse to do. I will keep a look out for some good deals on juicers and dehydrators. Been checking craigs list and ebay but nothing cheap enough yet. Thanks for the ideas everyone.
Lyn-doe~ Check out www.freecycle.com for your area and post a “wanted” ad for the equipment you are looking for. All stuff posted on that service is FREE!!!
Lyn-Doe~ to answer your question…I can’t personally recommend a fast or cleanse because I’m nursing my 5 month old and I want to do as little de-toxing as possible while my milk is his main source of nutrition. I think Natalia Rose’s book might be a good one for you also- I think it’s called the Raw Food Detox Diet.
Try adding one food at a time. I’d start with avocados. They’re full of the very best kind of fat that all of us need. My strong suspicion is that the weight gain is due to your meds and every day you’re one step away from them being out of your system.
Do you exercise? That could be a reason… Maybe you’re just really thin naturally, so you don’t need to excercise. Then there’s this sudden weight gain. It could be a mixture of thyroid and not exercising to keep a tight body. But if you do exercise and eat healthily, then there is def a health issue at stake here.
Lyn-doe – I also have been skinny pretty much all my life. I weighed about 104lbs and ate whatever I wanted. I wanted to put on some weight but couldn’t..people even thought I had an eating disorder! The last couple of years I have been putting on more weight then I wanted. I now weigh 120 and recently found out I am hypothyroid but I haven’t started medicine because I would much rather treat it naturally. It could be your thyroid and I think some people have discussed on here before about what foods to eat and to avoid. It might be worth looking into!!