Hello all …
I wanted to talk to you guys about IBS and weight. Either you gain weight or lose weight with IBS. I have found that many people that suffer from IBS in particular, gain weight .. that’s just something I noticed from being apart of many different IBS and GI support groups. However, I have found myself to be the complete opposite of most people; I lost weight from the get go. I lost so much weight that mom thought I might have some eating disorder such as anorexia (Mom denies that she mentioned that once).
Pre-IBS symptoms, I was at regular weight for a preteen, just right, not too big and not too little (I was approximately 45kg which is about 100lbs) . That all changed once I started experiencing symptoms. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, my first symptom was vomiting; it didn’t matter if there was food in my tummy or not .. anything and everything came out in the opposite direction of traffic !
With vomiting comes dehydration and weight loss. CRAP .. here I was at regular weight going down hill at a fast rate … I got so skinny that I felt weak and cold all the time.
In high school, I gave up on going to doctors because I felt like I was a guinea pig to them .. just a medication tester until something worked for me. I found that to be crappy. So I gave it up and decided to try my damn hardest to gain weight so I don’t disappear!!!
All my teachers were so worried for me that they joined my battle against my weight loss from the get go without me asking anything of them. Whenever any of the teachers saw me (whether they taught me or not), they would give me something to eat or drink. I was even allowed to eat in the middle of class sometimes. Mission fatten Mariann was in full swing !
Unfortunately, 3 years of weight gain effort didn’t bring any immediate results. I graduated high school at a low low weight of 40kg sometimes going down to 38-39kg (90 lbs). That seemed crazy to me because I was trying so hard , eating anything and everything any time of day… snacking was my middle name. I didn’t care what kind of food I was eating as long as it had calories! Ugh so frustrating.
Anyways, since then mission fatten Mariann was still on the go. However, once I got into university my perspective on food changed to the better. Instead of eating anything and everything anytime of day, I was looking into eating more healthy food items… more salads .. less bad fats .. less fried food .. less caffeine .. less sugar .. no fast food .. & along the way I was keeping a list of food items that triggered chronic bowel pain. In addition, I tried not to stress about how thin I was .. which was hard because people were always brining it up to me ( a story to be told another time.)
I remember my first baby weight gain as if it was yesterday .. I didn’t really weigh myself at home because I didn’t want to be disappointed in a place that should be filled with encouragement and joy. So, I always waited until my regular doctor visits to see if I gained anything. It was at one of those regular checkups that the doctor told me I weighed 90.25lbs .. a weight gain of .25lbs .. I went out to nan to let her know what I weighed and I just said I weigh 90lbs ; the doctor spoke up and said don’t forget the quarter. At that moment I realized that I was taking the .25lbs for granted .. since then I reminded myself that any weight gain for me will be a blessing.
Once I let go of all my fears with regards to IBS and weight loss , I gained control and took charge of my own life .. instead of IBS calling all the shots. I didn’t start to notice serious weight gain until I was in the second term of my 3rd year of uni: I had gradually gained 15-20lbs .. I don’t remember weighing myself much in my 2nd year because that was one of the roughest years I’ve been through with IBS. So it came as a shock when I jumped from 95lbs to 110lbs. What’s more shocking and what I take most pride in is that I was able to maintain a weight of 110lbs all through my senior year. To top it all off.. by the time I graduated university, I was at a healthy weight of 55kg (120 lbs).
If you are keeping track, that’s a total weight gain of 15kg (30lbs) .. to this day it’s shocking to me how the hell that happened.
I am baffled that it took me about 8-8.5 years to see any significant weight gain.
I am still at a weight of 120lbs which is my ideal weight for my height. In other words, every part of me looks proportional to the other.
The one thing that stuck with me most is the saying “ you look healthy now” … you have no idea how many times I have heard that over the past 2 years … It’s not a bad thing for people to say that; it just puts things in perspective .. such as looking at an old photo and saying “oh my god, I can’t believe I looked like that or did that”
Makes me take more pride in my weight gain. I consider it to be one of my greatest achievement.
If you are going through anything similar , please stick with it and hopefully you’ll gain/lose weight sooner than later.. but it’s never too late to start!
Please comment below with your story 🙂
Enjoy life to the fullest flavours.
Stressed baker, xo
Stressed Baker Blog 