Dramatic and rapid weight loss - Does this happen with UC?

I have lost about 25lbs with a flare but did add it back and then some once my flare got under control. Also lost muscle tone :(

I was underweight before I got sick and when I flare now I lose weight like crazy.

When first diagnosed I was pretty heavy, I'm small boned and at 6 feet I was moderately to severely overweight at 220 to 240. I saw a bit of prednisone gain, but nothing very significant. I initially had a rather severe flare, but it didn’t seem to affect my weight much so I just hung in there at around 220 with a few minor flares for a few years.

Then about four or five years ago I had another severe flare. My GI put me on 60 mg/day of prednisone and went on vacation, after a couple of months of un-supervised heavy prednisone use (I fired that GI over that) I developed steroid induce diabetes. I also lost sixty pounds in three months. It took months to taper from the prednisone and a year for the diabetes to resolve. The up side is that I’ve since been able to maintain a nearly ideal weight of around 160 pounds.

I can’t afford to lose much more, but I don’t want to gain much either; so I keep a close watch on it. So far so good!

I was nice and slim before I got ill, then I felt so miserable when I was diagnosed I stopped caring so much, and put on just over half a stone, which I am now starting to lose slowly, by trying to exercise more, and of course eating well.

My first flare when I was diagnosed I went from 165 down to 128 in about a 30 day period. Even when I started to get better and my D decreased I still lost a pound a day for about another week. That was the worse I have ever been, of course I wasn't diagnosed at that point. Since then I will still lose weight but not as much, mainly because I have been able to control my flares before they get out of complete control. But I assume if left untreated I would go back to losing weight hand over fist.

I thought about this some more and remembered another thing, which is that ulcerative colitis -- no matter where it is in the colon -- is muscle wasting. Your body is constantly trying to regenerate the lining of the colon (while destroying it at the same time), which uses up tons of protein that would otherwise be used to maintain your muscle mass. Of course we tend to be inactive while flaring, too, but that's one of the reasons that we become well... weak and bag of bones like.

For the record, I have no trouble gaining weight now

never lost weight!

Mark, not only have I not lost any weight while flaring at my worst, I gained weight from being inactive and being on pred. Have trouble getting last 15-20 pounds off. My metabolism went haywire while on pred. It's been about 2 years since starting on biologics. Still have a hard time losing
Going to a functional medical doctor to try and find out what's my problem. Took 20 vials of blood today. Hormones , thyroid ,adrenals and who knows what else .

I lose weight very quickly too. Can't remember the number but im skinny to start with so just losing 4-5 pounds makes me too skinny.