Why does steroids make you gain weight

Eating nourishing food and getting regular exercise is easier to do when you are feeling well. Therefore, it will be easier to do both things when the health problem that led to the prednisone treatment is either resolved or under good control.

A physician can recommend the best diet and fitness plan that works for your particular lifestyle and health conditions. Unfortunately, there is no easy road to weight loss. Although many diet plans and pills promise quick weight loss, a healthy lifestyle is the best way to lose weight.

Weight loss should be slow and steady. This gives the best chance of losing the pounds permanently. In addition, keeping a nutrition and exercise journal may help you lose weight and keep you motivated. Many factors contribute to weight gain while taking prednisone. These include water retention, increased appetite, and decreased physical activity.

You can prevent weight gain or lose excess weight by eating a low-sodium, low-calorie diet and being physically active every day. Talk to your doctor about your fitness plan and ask them if a physical therapist may be right for you. Not everyone will gain a lot of weight while taking prednisone, but most people will gain some.

The good news is that as you stop taking prednisone, the weight gain will stop too. Gaining and losing weight tends to be something that happens to some people with IBD. It can be a struggle to stay at a healthy weight when your condition and treatment cause your weight to fluctuate. If you have IBD, try to maintain as healthy a diet as possible to receive enough nutrients to nourish your body. If you are undergoing prednisone treatment, talk to your doctor about any concerns you have about your weight.

Your gastroenterologist and nutritionist can help you develop a plan to maintain a healthy weight for you. We're providing tips on how to take better care of your gut. Lakhan SE, Kirchgessner A. Neuroinflammation in inflammatory bowel disease. J Neuroinflammation. John Hopkins Medicine. J Physiol Lond. Dietary sodium and health: more than just blood pressure. J Am Coll Cardiol. A practical guide to the monitoring and management of the complications of systemic corticosteroid therapy.

According to the Hospital for Special Surgery , rapid withdrawal of steroids may cause fatigue, joint pain, muscle stiffness, or fever.

Your doctor may be able to prescribe a different corticosteroid , like budenoside. Additional reporting by Jordan M. By subscribing you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Health Topics. The key is movement instead of sitting. Finding a workout buddy can also help keep you motivated- sarc warrior Gretchen found that by teaming up with her friend to start working out, she had more confidence and accountability.

Not to mention, it also makes exercising more fun! Once you have decided on an exercise, follow the chart below, remembering to only increase the level when you feel comfortable. Always talk to your doctor before starting a new exercise regimen.

If you want to explore alternative medications other than prednisone, try sharing our FSR Treatment Guide with your physician. Created by our Scientific Advisory Board , this protocol details numerous medications that can be prescribed for sarc, including off-label therapies.

A lot of doctors find resource this useful for choosing a treatment method other than long-term use of steroids like prednisone. Read more about treatment options. Wellness Prednisone and Weight Loss Dealing with weight gain cause by prednisone is hard, here are some diet and exercise tip help combat this side-effect. Sometimes this can be set off by injuries or a surgical procedure. Because of this, make sure your doctors always know if you have been treated with steroids in the past, especially in the past year, so they can be on the alert for the development of adrenal insufficiency at times such as a surgical procedure.

Long-term steroids can suppress the protective role of your immune system and increase your risk of infection. Steroids may increase your risk of developing ulcers or gastrointestinal bleeding, especially if you take these medications along with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs NSAIDs , such as ibuprofen or aspirin. If you are on low-dose aspirin for heart protection, your physician may want you to continue this when you take the prednisone, but might consdier adding a medication for stomach protection during the course of steroids.

Steroid therapy can cause thinning of the bones osteopenia and osteoporosis , and increase the risk of bone fractures. At the beginning or before your steroid therapy, many patients will be asked to have a bone density test, especially if the steroid dose is high. If density is low, the bone density study It will be repeated in the future to assess the effectiveness of measures you will be using to prevent bone loss.

Steroids affect your metabolism and how your body deposits fat. This can increase your appetite, leading to weight gain, and in particular lead to extra deposits of fat in your abdomen. Steroids, especially in doses over 30 milligrams per day, can affect your mood. Just being aware that steroids can do this sometimes makes it less of a problem. Sometimes, this side effect requires that the steroid dosage be decreased. When the steroids are absolutely necessary, sometimes another medication can be added to help with the mood problem.

Make sure your family knows about this possible side effect. Because cortisone is involved in regulating the body's balance of water, sodium, and other electrolytes, using these drugs can promote fluid retention and sometimes cause or worsen high blood pressure.

Since cortisone is involved in maintaining normal levels of glucose sugar in the blood, long-term use may lead to elevated blood sugar or even diabetes. It is possible that steroids may increase the rate of "hardening of the arteries," which could increase the risk of heart disease. This risk is probably much more significant if steroids are taken for more than a year, and if taken in high dose.

By Theodore R. Understanding corticosteroid side effects With long-term use, corticosteroids can result in any of the following side effects.

Increased doses needed for physical stress Steroid use for over two weeks can decrease the ability of your body to respond to physical stress. Self-care tips: Discuss this possibility with the surgeon or dentist, etc. Your physician or surgeon may not feel you need to take the extra steroid at the time of surgery, but if they know you have been on corticosteroids they can watch you more carefully after surgery. Self-care tips: If you get symptoms like these when you taper your steroids, discuss them with the doctor.

Your physician will work with you to continually try to taper your steroid dose, at a safe rate of decrease, depending on how you are doing.