Me, Crohn's Disease, and why remission has made me fat

amygaspard

amygaspard

New member
I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease 4 1/2 or so years ago after struggling with digestive issues for years. In case you don't know, it's a chronic illness where your immune system attacks your digestive system, causing inflammation and ulcerations that could be anywhere in your digestive tract. For me, this is my small and large intestines, mainly. Fun stuff! I've had some awful flares. My most recent one was about a year long and ended this past June. I had been in so much pain for so long and had started to have a love/hate relationship with food. I love food. I obviously need food. But in my flare, food equaled pain. Lots of pain. Not eating caused hunger pains. There was no relief. My GI (aka "tummy doctor") was working with me, and we were trying to find the right medicines, but each of them would take time to kick in, if they would kick in, so it was a slow, horrible process.

Finally, thanks to some serious drugs (I'm on an immuno-suppressant and Humira), I'm in remission! And I can eat whatever I want without pain! So I ate everything.... and have gained 25 pounds. I know a lot of people here have a lot more to lose, but this is a lot for me, and I feel like it needs to stop now before things get worse and I have to lose even more. My ideal weight is 125 pounds. I was at 130 when I was sick (I lost 10 pounds- the only upside to being that sick! Not my ideal weight loss solution, though. I don't recommend it.) and am now at 155. I have a very small frame, so the difference is really noticeable. I was wearing a size 6, and now my size 10 pants are feeling tight. :( It's time to make a change!

I think the problem I'm having is that I'm only going half-way. I'm a muncher. I work as a nanny and there's junk food and sweets everywhere and when I'm tired, I want to just munch and munch. So I'll do a great job all morning of not munching, then reward myself by going crazy at lunch. Then I'll get mad at myself and do better all afternoon, and then snack on stuff in the evening when I'm tired. I know myself. I need to make a plan and stick with it to the letter. When I give myself an inch, I take a mile. If I allow myself to have just a little candy, I end up not stopping. So I need to just never stop.

I want to stay around 1200-1300 calories a day, with one cheat meal per week. I'm allowed no more than one small drink a night, and that's already easy to stick with because if I drink more, I'm putting myself at risk for liver damage while on one of my meds. No liver damage for me, thanks. I'm a runner who's trying to very, very slowly get back into the game. I have a history of joint injuries and before July, hadn't run in about a year. So I've been doing a run/walk combo 3 days a week, and doing some body weight exercises to build muscle strength (especially in my lower joints) 3 days a week. I can't count on those things to help me lose weight, since they aren't burning many calories just yet. Those are part of the long term plan. The food is my weakness right now. I'd like to lose around 2 pounds a week.

My plan for tomorrow:
Breakfast: cottage cheese and fruit combo- 100 calories
Snack: apple (50ish calories), cheese stick (90)
Lunch: boiled egg (70), 1/2 orange bell pepper (25?), cheese (110)
Snack: rice crackers (110)
Dinner: shrimp w/ cocktail sauce (100), some kind of fruits and/or veggies
Bedtime: Vodka with cranberry juice (?)

Don't try to convince me not to drink. I'm allowed one measly drink a night, and I enjoy every little sip. I couldn't drink at all when I was in a flare. Open wounds in my intestines + alcohol= HORROR

I'll let you know how I did tomorrow! Remind me that no matter how tired I am, I CAN do this. I'm finally in remission, and I want to be happy with myself, and this is the only thing keeping me from that. I NEED this. :)
 
You can totally do this! You have the right mindset and that will go a long way. Your exercise will build, you don't want to do too much too soon. Sounds like you have a well thought out game plan.
 
Thanks! I'm no stranger to eating well and exercising. I'm just eating too much, too often. I know what I need to do, I just haven't been doing it. Time to commit! I just hope I can stay strong...
 
I did pretty well today! I had to convince myself a lot during the day that no, I don't need candy or chips or any other kind of treat. I allowed myself one 90 calorie rice krispy treat and chewed a lot of sugarless gum and drank a lot of diet coke. I know, I know, it's not super healthy. But it'll work for now to keep me from doing worse. I ate healthy foods for meals and wasn't ever really, really hungry. And I did some strength training tonight. And then I got a little weak and had too many potato chips. But I'm ok. It's a step in the right direction and I'll try to do better tomorrow.
 
Mmmm... rice krispy treats. That was one of the treats I allowed myself a long time ago when I first lost a lot of my weight. I might have to go buy some. I hope you've been doing well the last couple of days! :)
 
I'm rating my eating as a 6/10 the last few days. I've been doing ok, but I definitely could do better. I'm still reaching for things I don't need. However, I had a great work out last night and was noticing that I have pretty decent thigh muscles! And the day before, I had a great run! There's this big hill on my typical run that I call "the beast"- it's steep and long, and I feel more like I'm hiking up it than running. But my last run, I felt like that hill got easier and I got faster! So even though my eating habits aren't where I want them to be, I do feel like I'm building a good foundation. There's just still a lot of room to improve. Tonight I'm going to a fun get-together, and I know there's going to be treats. I am aiming to be strong and control myself around them. Last time I went to one of these, I ate way too many brownies...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top