Weight gain on Stelara?

UB, glad that you checked in & other than the weight gain things seem to be doing well for you. I read a lot of your posts when you were having such a terrible time.

I have no experience with Stelara, hopefully someone will see your post & respond. I think a lot of the weight gain came from eating foods that you could not eat for so long. I remember doing the same thing after not being able to eat much & then fear played a huge role for me.

Take care.

You can google “basal metabolic rate calculation” to better determine your resting calorie needs.

You may find that 1,200 calories a day is close to your basal metabolic calorie needs, and one reason that your weight is holding stable rather than decreasing.

Also, it takes time for the scale reading to tread downward. The body has unique metabolic mechanisms that work to maintain our set point. As a person begins to diet by reducing calories, the body responds by reducing its metabolic rate. Meaning, that the body now needs fewer calories to maintain the status quo. The well-meaning diet and calorie intake reduction is essentially sabotaged by the body lowering its basal metabolic rate.

There is a silver lining. Keeping to the diet over 4-6 weeks will begin to show effect as the calorie reduction and basal metabolic rate better align.

Maintaining muscle requires a higher level of energy calorie burning than maintaining fat/adipose tissue. As you exercise and replace adipose tissue with lean muscle, your basal metabolic calorie needs will rise. You will burn more calories at baseline per day which will support your diet efforts in seeing a downward trend to your weight on the bathroom scale.

6,500 steps a day is a positive effort in activity. However, 6,500 steps a day will not contribute to a large calorie off-set. Aiming for 10,000 steps is a healthy target encouraged by nutritionists. You can google “daily activities and calorie expenditure” to get an idea of different activities (walking, watching television) the approximate calorie expenditure per unit time.

You are off to a positive start. Try not to be harsh and critical of yourself. You lack of seeing downward trending in the scale is likely due to your body lowering its metabolic rate in response to your reduction in calories. This is most often a temporary effect. Do not let the stable scale reading discourage you. Keep faith that results will begin to show in your favor.
Karen

Thank you all. I did my fair share of binging over the last year. Going from such deprivation to feverish eating in which I enjoyed every morsel was just so nice. I realized I was eating out of self preservation though. I believe Stelara to be contributing to the weight gain since I haven't lost a pound.

I emailed my coordinator but I suspect she has no info from the Stelara makers. Often times I feel these folks to be behind when it comes to side effects but I also found some rumblings about weight gain on forums.

Thanks Seashell. My BMR is 1366, so I'm eating less calories than that!
I've taken as many as 8700 steps but am finding that 10000 is near impossible especially when I don't work. Thank goodness for my dog as she gets me out! The weather over this past week is dreadful, so my steps have been reduced to 3000. Stelara is also doing a number on my joints, first knees and now shoulder making yoga impossible. My stamina isn't what it used to be either. I used to be able to jog and do zumba but I think years of chronic illness have taken it;s toll even though I'm in remission. I tried a ballet boot camp and ran out of the room vomiting and was seriously close to passing out. Just couldn't hack it. I must say 2 weeks on this very strict diet is rather boring. I need more variety and am hungry all the time. My stomach growls! Loudly! But I haven't cheated at all. Another 4-6 weeks? That's a tough one for me to stomach! LOL

A Sellers: sorry you've joined the "F-club". I've suffered from PG too and as bad as that was fistulas nearly broke me. I suffer from PTSD because of them.
IT's hard for me to say how long Stelara took to work because I wasn't traditionally flaring due to the high about of opiods I was taking....upwards of 60mg/day due to seton pain. I was hospitalized for 6 weeks and it was incredibly traumatic. I was only going once/day, completely normal when I started Stelara and gradually reduced pain killers. I think I was off them completely by August 2017 (went through withdrawal) and then I had another abscess form the end of Aug. Instead of a seton they put in a pen rose drain which was as painful but only lasted 2 weeks. I couldn't even get off the couch, bend over etc. Things were quiet until March 2018 where I suddenly had another abscess. It burst over night and didn't require any further intervention. It was after a 3 hour drive. I simply cannot sit for long periods which is why I want them repaired. No one in Canada repairs them unless you are in clinical remission, but now that I am in remission, they've said it's unnecessary. Grrr. This contributes to my depression and fear this is going to happen again....

So overall, Stelara has been the most helpful drug I've been on over 20 years for my IBD! I do continue with IVIG which keeps the PG at bay and helps the crohns.

Post Edited (U B Tough) : 1/31/2019 6:47:48 AM (GMT-7)

UB tough:
If your nasal metabolic rate is 1326 and you are taking in 1100 calories a day, you have a meger 200 calorie deficit a day if the arthmetic of your metabolism is accurate. Walking 3,500 steps a day will not contribute a large calorie consumption.

It takes a 3,500 calorie deficit to equal one pound of weight loss.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Celebrate that you are healthier than you were over those many agonizing months. That is far more important than the number on the scale.

I have a friend who uses the Weight Watchers program. She swears by it. It combines sensible eating with support and mentoring. No calorie counting. You might look into Weight Watchers.
Karen

I have been on Stelera for a couple years. I have not experienced any weight gain, in fact I have lost weight. I contribute the weight loss to having a very limited diet for 6 months because on diverticular narrowing, then an ileostomy for 3.5 months, and finally an ileostomy reversal. I do watch my calorie intake very closely because at one time I weighed 70 ponds more than I do now and I don't ever want to go back there. Hope you can find something that works for you.

Hi UB.

How tall are you, because 145lb doesn't sound very overweight?

I'm 5,0" and feel slightly overweight at 125lb but my weight has stayed steady since my last surgery in 2015. I'll never naturally be a sylph: I come from short Irish peasant stock and look like short Irish peasant stock too. But I can't be bothered dieting. I think about it occasionally, then I lose the will to live at the thought of calorie-counting and drop the thought.

I went through all the obsessiveness with food and calories when I was really underweight a few years ago (due to Crohn's of course). I think a large part of me is scared of going back to those eating disorderly ways. I would have to starve myself, as you are doing, to lose weight again.

Now I like the feeling of eating enough to feel full. Not stuffed, but decently full and enough to keep me going for several hours without feeling hungry or thinking about food.

Sorry if this is a horribly obvious question, but have you considered the gym? Just losing weight or walking a lot doesn't give you a good body, as I found out: I became skinny-fat and not much else. To actually have a well-defined body with a flat stomach etc. you either need to have the right genes or hit the gym and spend a lot of time working out.

UBTough sorry I’m so slow. My symptoms have been horrible urgency, blood and a mix of regular and diarrhea Bad rectal pain and little draining and that’s how we found the multiple fistulas. Now I’m constipated. Not sure if the Stelara is kicking in and maybe the pain meds are constipating now. Then again sometimes I feel great. Years ago I had a rash breakout with black necrotic centers. In hindsight I wonder if that was related. I’m sorry you have a similar situation. I will keep the ivig in my mind for later. I really think your weight will eventually adjust! Give it some time. Weight training should raise your base metabolic rate, I find that’s easy to do if I’m having a rough day because I can take it slow and take breaks.