Weight!

froggy1
froggy1 Member Posts: 205
I still can't figure out why I am not a size 4 with all that I'm going through! I initially lost about 15 pounds, but it has managed to creep up. Is it really crazy to think of joining Weight Watchers while on chemo? I can't imagine that I ever will be thin from cancer. I suppose I should be grateful I'm not a sack of bones, but I'm not. Even when I was first recovering from surgery, it still made me happy to be thinner! LOL Froggy

Comments

  • kikz
    kikz Member Posts: 1,345 Member
    Weight
    I have fought the battle of the bulge since I was about 9 years old. I had been losing weight (intentionally) before I got sick. I lost a lot during chemo: down 42 pounds at one point. A hell of a way to lose weight but I thought at least I'm getting something out of this. Well, as soon as I started to feel better; after chemo, surgery and more chemo, the weight has come back. I am almost back to what I was before I got sick. I'm happy to feel so well but I wish I could get my eating under control. I'll keep trying; taking each day as a new day. I am also trying to eat healthier. I have managed to stay away from fats and sweets for the most part but I guess I am eating too much of the good things.

    My oncologist sent me to a nutritionist while I was on chemo. They wanted me to eat a healthy diet but not think about losing weight. I would mention Weight Watchers because when I'm on that I eat really well. The nutritionist kept saying, "Not Weight Watchers". I tried to explain that I didn't mean I would restrict my calories, but it was a way for me to eat better. He couldn't seem to understand what I meant.

    But I know what you mean about being thinner. I was able to fit into clothes that I hadn't worn for over three years. It felt good but didn't last.

    Good luck to you,
    Karen
  • nancy591
    nancy591 Member Posts: 1,027 Member
    being thin
    I've always been naturally thin. After my diagnosis and surgery I had lost about 20lbs. I couldn't gain weight and I hated being so thin. Well now I am about 10 lbs over my pre sickness weight and jeans don't fit. Most recently though, I do have a change in appetite and food does not appeal to me at all.
  • kellyh33
    kellyh33 Member Posts: 287
    Weight
    Be careful what you wish for! Mom was 135 precancer which is about 10 lbs overweight for her height and bone structure. Now she fluctuates between 88-92 for the last two months. We keep hoping she will see 100 lbs again. Mom is now having to wear kids cloths and even then she has trouble keeping them up.
    Not quite the weight loss plan she was hoping for....
  • kellyh33
    kellyh33 Member Posts: 287
    Weight
    Be careful what you wish for! Mom was 135 precancer which is about 10 lbs overweight for her height and bone structure. Now she fluctuates between 88-92 for the last two months. We keep hoping she will see 100 lbs again. Mom is now having to wear kids cloths and even then she has trouble keeping them up.
    Not quite the weight loss plan she was hoping for....
  • kellyh33
    kellyh33 Member Posts: 287
    Weight
    Be careful what you wish for! Mom was 135 precancer which is about 10 lbs overweight for her height and bone structure. Now she fluctuates between 88-92 for the last two months. We keep hoping she will see 100 lbs again. Mom is now having to wear kids cloths and even then she has trouble keeping them up.
    Not quite the weight loss plan she was hoping for....
  • childofthestars
    childofthestars Member Posts: 251 Member
    WEIGHT
    OMG Froggy you are so right about the weigt thing, when i started this 'wonderful' journey i was slim and fit - i couldn't believe how much weight i put on during chemo, the medics just kept saying it's because you're eating more and doing less BUT I WASN'T - it was the DRUGS!!!!!!! Then since finishing chemo i have lost some weight I haven't done anything different to when i was on treatment but i still feel like SHAMOOOOO :( and i have short hair :(((
    Mx
  • Tina Brown
    Tina Brown Member Posts: 1,036 Member

    WEIGHT
    OMG Froggy you are so right about the weigt thing, when i started this 'wonderful' journey i was slim and fit - i couldn't believe how much weight i put on during chemo, the medics just kept saying it's because you're eating more and doing less BUT I WASN'T - it was the DRUGS!!!!!!! Then since finishing chemo i have lost some weight I haven't done anything different to when i was on treatment but i still feel like SHAMOOOOO :( and i have short hair :(((
    Mx

    I can second that
    I too lost 28 pounds before I was diagnosed and I loved being that size (I was 131 pounds and wearing a size 4) I used to be a runner (Half marathons and 10k's) and competed. But my cancer gave me plueral effusion (fluid around the lungs) so I had to give up run (which really upset me).

    Once I started on chemo I was goven steroids which I was told gives you a great apettite and causes you to put on weight. The body stores all the fat in lots of different places and it is hard to lose it. Thus I am now 159 pounds and am in a size 12 which consist of baggy tops and leggings.

    Yes I feel like Shamoo too and feel I have been de-feminized as I am over-weight, lost my lovely hair, eyelashes and eyebrows. But it will all get back to normal eventually when you come off treatment

    Tina xx
  • fellinimom
    fellinimom Member Posts: 12
    kikz said:

    Weight
    I have fought the battle of the bulge since I was about 9 years old. I had been losing weight (intentionally) before I got sick. I lost a lot during chemo: down 42 pounds at one point. A hell of a way to lose weight but I thought at least I'm getting something out of this. Well, as soon as I started to feel better; after chemo, surgery and more chemo, the weight has come back. I am almost back to what I was before I got sick. I'm happy to feel so well but I wish I could get my eating under control. I'll keep trying; taking each day as a new day. I am also trying to eat healthier. I have managed to stay away from fats and sweets for the most part but I guess I am eating too much of the good things.

    My oncologist sent me to a nutritionist while I was on chemo. They wanted me to eat a healthy diet but not think about losing weight. I would mention Weight Watchers because when I'm on that I eat really well. The nutritionist kept saying, "Not Weight Watchers". I tried to explain that I didn't mean I would restrict my calories, but it was a way for me to eat better. He couldn't seem to understand what I meant.

    But I know what you mean about being thinner. I was able to fit into clothes that I hadn't worn for over three years. It felt good but didn't last.

    Good luck to you,
    Karen

    Weight
    I can relate to Karen. I lost close to 30 lbs after my surgery and came into the holiday season at the thinnest I've been as an adult. I only wanted to put 20 back on, but have surpassed that number and now my clothes are getting snug. I'm going to try to do a bit of WW to help with the healthy eating and to try and stabilize my weight through the rest of my treatments. It's disheartening to see my weight go up with each visit to the clinic. I know most of it is a combo of lack or exercise (I love to ride bicycles, but can't because I'm on coumadin) and the steroids I take before each treatment.
  • Hissy_Fitz
    Hissy_Fitz Member Posts: 1,834

    I can second that
    I too lost 28 pounds before I was diagnosed and I loved being that size (I was 131 pounds and wearing a size 4) I used to be a runner (Half marathons and 10k's) and competed. But my cancer gave me plueral effusion (fluid around the lungs) so I had to give up run (which really upset me).

    Once I started on chemo I was goven steroids which I was told gives you a great apettite and causes you to put on weight. The body stores all the fat in lots of different places and it is hard to lose it. Thus I am now 159 pounds and am in a size 12 which consist of baggy tops and leggings.

    Yes I feel like Shamoo too and feel I have been de-feminized as I am over-weight, lost my lovely hair, eyelashes and eyebrows. But it will all get back to normal eventually when you come off treatment

    Tina xx

    I lost a lot of weight
    I lost a lot of weight post-surgery, and at first I was delighted, but then my weight just kept going down and I began to get a bit concerned when the size 4's began to look saggy. I guess we women are never happy. I put on 40 pounds, between the steroids and not getting any exercise. Like Tina, I'm in a size 12 and not liking it. I have taken off 10 pounds of it in the last month or so, but mostly I think that was due to the post-Christmas crud, which has ruined my appetite. I am hoping to rid myself of the other 30 pounds in the near future. I promised myself I would be back in single-digit jeans by the first day of Summer. We'll see....

    Carlene
  • froggy1
    froggy1 Member Posts: 205

    I lost a lot of weight
    I lost a lot of weight post-surgery, and at first I was delighted, but then my weight just kept going down and I began to get a bit concerned when the size 4's began to look saggy. I guess we women are never happy. I put on 40 pounds, between the steroids and not getting any exercise. Like Tina, I'm in a size 12 and not liking it. I have taken off 10 pounds of it in the last month or so, but mostly I think that was due to the post-Christmas crud, which has ruined my appetite. I am hoping to rid myself of the other 30 pounds in the near future. I promised myself I would be back in single-digit jeans by the first day of Summer. We'll see....

    Carlene

    Carlene
    Thanks for the reply. You sure look nice in your picture! 'Not sure where that is in your journey.
    It's funny with this cancer. Every doc visit I have to do the two things I hate most in life-get weighed and have an internal exam! LOL As if the cancer isn't enough. I know they calibrate the chemo on weight, so there's no getting out of that. I never have them tell me what it is! I tell them if I ever get to 125 they can tell me! Ha!
  • Hissy_Fitz
    Hissy_Fitz Member Posts: 1,834
    froggy1 said:

    Carlene
    Thanks for the reply. You sure look nice in your picture! 'Not sure where that is in your journey.
    It's funny with this cancer. Every doc visit I have to do the two things I hate most in life-get weighed and have an internal exam! LOL As if the cancer isn't enough. I know they calibrate the chemo on weight, so there's no getting out of that. I never have them tell me what it is! I tell them if I ever get to 125 they can tell me! Ha!

    The photo of me was taken
    The photo of me was taken last Spring - toward the end of my first line chemo. I had not yet started on the year of Taxol maintenance, which I have now completed.

    I think the chemo takes a toll on us in many ways. My thyroid went completely belly-up, I have had to have lots more dental work done than ever before, and I still don't feel like the "old me." Maybe in time, all that will go away.

    Carlene
  • kikz
    kikz Member Posts: 1,345 Member

    The photo of me was taken
    The photo of me was taken last Spring - toward the end of my first line chemo. I had not yet started on the year of Taxol maintenance, which I have now completed.

    I think the chemo takes a toll on us in many ways. My thyroid went completely belly-up, I have had to have lots more dental work done than ever before, and I still don't feel like the "old me." Maybe in time, all that will go away.

    Carlene

    Carlene
    It's funny that you said you still don't feel the old you. I feel so much like the old me (except for the aches, pains and nueropathy) that I can't believe I even had that monster in me or that it may come back. Of course the weight is a constant battle but I have been trying really hard. Not just to lose weight but to eat better because it can't hurt. I wish we could all wake up tomorrow and the whole thing would be a dim memory or better yet a dream that didn't really happen.

    Karen
  • beth1465
    beth1465 Member Posts: 63 Member
    Can't stop gaining!
    Wow, I got on here to see if I could find some posts about gaining weight, so this is just what I needed! I weigh more than I ever have right now. Right after my surgery I was down about 15# which was really nice! Over the past year I've gained 30#! It makes me sick! I try to eat healthy and exercise as I can but it doesn't seem to matter, the scales keep going up. My MD is not concerned, she just doesn't want me losing wt. I feel like a cow, my hair is at an "awkward" stage in growing out...I'm just really frustrated with how I look right now. And summer is coming...great...
  • Mum2bellaandwilliam
    Mum2bellaandwilliam Member Posts: 412
    kikz said:

    Carlene
    It's funny that you said you still don't feel the old you. I feel so much like the old me (except for the aches, pains and nueropathy) that I can't believe I even had that monster in me or that it may come back. Of course the weight is a constant battle but I have been trying really hard. Not just to lose weight but to eat better because it can't hurt. I wish we could all wake up tomorrow and the whole thing would be a dim memory or better yet a dream that didn't really happen.

    Karen

    @karen
    Your comment about waking up and this all being a dream ( nightmare!!!) I have had these thoughts so many times In the last few weeks, I keep pinching myself and hoping that I am gong to wake up from this!!!!, no such luck :( xx