How to Lose Weight with Fibromyalgia and Fatigue?
Fibromyalgia weight loss. What makes it so challenging?
Fibromyalgia sufferers deal with so much every single day that often goes unnoticed by others. Not only do they experience chronic muscle pain most of the time, but they also deal with a large array of many other symptoms, making losing weight and getting into a consistent exercise routine very challenging. I understand this struggle, as someone who was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome back in 2015.
As a teenager I had always been a bit bigger than my sisters and friends and quickly developed an inferiority complex. Back then it wasn't cool to be curvy and I just wasn't having it. I quickly became very concerned with how I looked, as most young girls are, and wanted to find any means possible to lose the extra weight fast! Before I even knew it I had become completely obsessed with the subject. I took a job at a local gym and would spend my down time reading every single fitness magazine I could get my hands on (long before the days of instagram and YouTube- I am so dating myself here). I started extreme dieting and working out like crazy! And anytime a new fad diet or workout program would come out, I was the first to sign up.
All of the ultra-low-carb diets, the paleo diet, and the high carb vegan diet were on my list, just to name a few. I did P90x, TRX, and TURBO Fire consistently along with hitting the gym whenever I could. Every article I had ever read said the best way to really lose weight was to, "just push yourself hard and restrict your calories."
As the years went on I noticed it got harder and harder for me make any significant improvements at losing extra weight, especially belly fat, despite all of the training and dieting I had been doing for years. No matter what I did, I stayed the same and that loose, giggly belly fat started to get worse. At the time I had no clue that these very methods I had been using to lose weight were the very things preventing me from doing so. As I continued this obsession I took more and more jobs teaching fitness and I eventually became certified as a group fitness instructor and later as a personal trainer. I absolutely loved what I was doing, and my mental health had never been better, but physically my body started to fade and I began to feel terrible. I started to develop a lot of fatigue and before and after a workout class I would just collapse on my couch. During aerobic exercise classes my legs in particular would feel so heavy that I couldn't do many of the higher intensity moves I was supposed to teach. Over time my quality of life started to get worse. Not only had my fatigue increased, but chronic pain started to settle in. Everything started to ache! It started in my knees and ankles and then quickly moved to my hips, forearms, neck, upper back and jaw. I definitely could no longer teach and soon mostly all the physical activity that I had loved to do before just became too draining for me. My entire life style was changing right before my eyes. But what I didn't realize then was that out of those challenges something great would occur. I would learn not only how to have less pain long term, but I would discover a new, feel good way to exercise that I could sustain forever. I also made many dietary changes that I thought were difficult at first, but the results kept me motivated as I observed losing the excess weight I always wanted to, especially in the upper belly, and I was quickly approaching my happy, healthy weight where I looked and felt me best with way less effort than before. Are you curious yet? Here is what I discovered.
Simple changes that will help you to lose weight even if you have Fibromyalgia or Fatigue:
I know you have probably read all of the traditional methods for losing weight, but for those dealing with Fibromyalgia and fatigue, extra steps may need to be taken. So here are a few of my most effective tips I have tried for myself and my followers that can help you to lose weight more easily without dieting if you dealing with these conditions:
One of the hardest aspects of a new diet is having to focus on caloric restriction, am I right? After only just a couple of days we start to miss those “no-no” foods we told ourselves we couldn’t have anymore and before we know it food cravings start to set in big time. For most of us that leads to feeling deprived and just adds to our already high level of daily stress, which in itself can have its own negative effect of causing us to retain more belly fat due to a chronic increase in our cortisol levels. Eating too little too often can mess with our blood sugar levels making us feel lightheaded and fatigued, and it can ultimately cause our bodies to lose muscle over time. This is counterproductive because we need muscles for a strong metabolism. And when we go back to eating a normal amount again, weight gain happens, sometimes at an even faster rate than it did prior to our diet. So, instead of going to any extreme measures or getting back into the vicious cycle of counting calories, why not try something way more fun and effective long term? A great fist step is to start being more aware of what and how much you are eating. This means practicing portion control and eating a colorful, well balanced diet for at least 80% of your day. This will help to fill your body up with satisfying, fiber rich, nourishing foods that make you feel energized and that also won’t leave you hungry afterwards. You will naturally want to eat a little less without even thinking about it and because of this you will have some room for a few yummy treats at the end of your day if you still like.
2. But you may wonder, “how do I know what is the healthiest diet for chronic pain conditions?” This is where things can get confusing, since there is so much conflicting advice out there about what is considered the best diet for fibromyalgia and fatigue. Some say a low-carbohydrate diet is best with a focus on foods like red meat and olive oil. Others say an all plant based diet is best with a focus on foods like whole grains and fruits. So how do you know what is best for you? In my experience I have seen that not all foods are beneficial for all people and we all react to foods in different ways. So an important step to finding out what is best for you is to first test out the foods you like to eat and see how they make you feel. A good way to do this is to keep a simple daily food diary. I know what you’re thinking, “there is no way I’m going to be diligent at that. I have too many other things to deal with, right?” I promise it doesn’t need to be detailed or complicated to be effective. You just need a quick place you can jot down how you feel after something you ate that didn’t settle well with you. It could be on a notes app on your smartphone or in a small notebook you keep close by where you eat. I like to keep mine on my fridge with one of those little magnetic note pads. The key is to getting it right is that whenever you notice a certain food doesn’t make you feel well in any way, like maybe burning skin, fatigue, headaches, dizziness, etc., write it on the list. The next time you come back to try that food again see if you get the same reactions. If it happens a third time you most likely have a food intolerance to that particular food. If so it is recommend that for a few months you try to avoid that food and then slowly start introducing it back into your diet in rotation later on. Food sensitivities are very common these days but they must be addressed if you want to lose weight. If you would like more details about how to test yourself for a food intolerance at home that is a bit more accurate, I talk about it in my 90 Day fitness & wellness program here. Once you have made these dietary changes you are ready to start planning out what your specific, healthy diet should be. If you still aren’t sure where to start, a wonderful plan to is follow an anti-inflammatory diet, like the mediterranean diet, but continuing to steer clear of any of those food intolerances you might have for a while. Try to limit foods that are low on fiber, like white bread and white rice. These foods aren’t bad in an of themselves, but need to be controlled when you are trying to lose weight because they can mess with your blood sugar and spike your cortisol, ultimately making you more hungry. Try to also limit processed foods and hydrogenated vegetable oils because these foods are very inflammatory for the body which can increase pain levels.
3. Now that you know what is the best food for you to eat, another important step that can have a huge impact on your weight loss is exercise. But may ask, “what is the best type of exercise for me to do for chronic pain and fatigue that will actually gets me results, but that won’t make me crash afterwards?” From personal experience I can honestly say I understand how confusing, overwhelming and discouraging this can be to answer because it seems that there just isn’t much out there that can address both of these concerns equally. For example when you try workouts that are designed to prevent you from being in pain after, are you often left frustrated because they just are not challenging enough to get you the results you want, but then when you switch to trying workouts that are designed to get you the results you want, are you often left with so much pain and fatigue afterwards that you can not continue with them long enough to see any real changes? This is the dilemma. So what do we do? Here are a few of my tried and tested tips that definitely can help you with this problem. 1. When choosing what workouts to do always make sure they are moderate to lower intensity and that they are low-impact activities. Don’t be tempted by the fitness gurus on YouTube saying that you need to do high intensity, and or high impact training to lose that excess fat or see any real results because that simply isn’t true. For many people this type of activity can even result in more weight gain and definitely more fatigue and pain when done long term. I have a whole blog about that here if you would like to learn why this can be so harmful to many, especially if you have a chronic illness like fibromyalgia. 2. Incorporate much more gentle exercises like stretching into your daily routine. I used to think that this was a waste of my precious time when exercising, but I cannot stress enough just how beneficial this activity is when done often. Stretching can help you to not only lessen some of your pain and fatigue but it will also help you to perform every cardio or toning exercise you do with better form, resulting in less pain after your workouts and getting you way faster results! Form is everything. 3. Incorporate resistance training into your workout program at least 3 days a week to help amp your metabolism and burn more calories while you are at rest. But start off slow, even if you used to be an avid exerciser, and don’t push too hard, too fast. The best way to prevent pain is to start with body weight exercises only and slowly add in light weights over time when you are no longer feeling challenged or in pain after a routine. 4. Add in very light cardio activities at least 1 day a week and be sure to start very gently. I know the temptation is to push ourselves when we hear that upbeat, pumping music or see our instructors doing so, but you must resist this urge in the beginning because it most likely will make you crash for days after, even if you are feeling pretty good while doing it. Again always keep it low-impact and low to moderate in intensity. If you are not sure where to find these you’re in the right place! My Cocolime Fitness workouts are all designed with this criteria in mind and bonus, there are even monthly schedules for you to follow and a 90 day program designed to take all of the guess work out for you, so you never need to decide what to do each day. If you haven’t tried them yet I strongly encourage you to do one or two today. It might sound a bit weird, but after 8 years I still only workout to myself every single day because it just is the perfect sweet spot for me. I love the variety, the fun music and the gentle, yet challenging moves. I get really good results without even feeling like I am working out that hard and I never crash from doing them. Plus 1000’s of other Fibromyalgia and fatigue sufferers like myself have experienced similar results with my workouts. If you would like to read about some of them click here.
4. Try to find ways to get more quality sleep. I know you have heard this before and are probably rolling your eyes at me right now because, let’s face it, when you have Fibromyalgia lack of sleep just seems to come with the territory and there just isn’t much that seems to help it improve either. That is why I feel that poor sleep is probably one of the worst symptoms of Fibro because when you can’t get rest you can’t recover. So what can you realistically do to improve it? One thing I have tried recently, get ready for it and please don’t shoot the messenger, is trying to eliminate caffeine. So if you’re still with me and haven’t thrown your coffee cup at the screen right now let me explain why I did so. First off I have to make it clear that I am not knocking the stuff, I mean as someone who has pretty much been addicted to coffee, i.e. caffeine, since I was about 10 years old, I completely understand the negative feelings that well up from even the thought of having to give it up. It was what helped me to get out of bed each day, put my clothes on and get some tiny amount of work done. I needed it, or so I thought. But the reason I chose to give it up for now is because I have been told by so many doctors and read so many legit articles that show how damaging caffeine can be for those dealing with things like Chronic Fatigue, Adrenal Fatigue and or Fibromyalgia. I won’t go into all of the details for you in this blog but it has been shown that our adrenal glands or some other gland in our endocrine system controlling or connected to our adrenal glands are not quite firing on all cylinders. One of the worst things we can do in this situation is to add substances to our diet that force our adrenals to work even harder than they already are struggling to do, and would you believe it, one of the worst culprits for this is not alcohol or sugar, it is actually caffeine. But let me leave you with some hope here. I thought I would be absolutely miserable, you might think the same, but when I chose to finally cut it out of my diet, would you believe it, I felt a little bit better every day! Each day I would wake up feeling exhausted as usual, but over the course of 9-10 days, as the caffeine left my system, I noticed I no longer experienced the highs and lows that I had before. I was way less irritated and anxious and I could sleep just a little bit deeper than before. And you know the weirdest and most surprising thing I noticed, I didn’t get a caffeine headache for even one day! Can you believe it? My theory is that when you eliminate something that is damaging to your body it thanks you very quickly in surprising ways. Now don’t get me wrong I still adore coffee and to help me get through I do drink a cup of decaf every morning and I love it. I know traditional decaf blends are not so good for you because of how they process them but in Costa Rica where I live that is pretty much all you can find. So instead of going crazy and depriving myself I take what I can get and whenever I go home to the United States I pick myself up some super tasty “cold water pressed, organic decaf dark roast” and I am even happier. So why not view it as a two week challenge for yourself and give it up with me? It can’t hurt and if you don’t see any changes, go back to the good stuff. You may be one of the fortunate ones who doesn’t get affected.
I hope you enjoyed learning these tips and I genuinely hope they serve you well. If you would like to talk to me personally about any questions you have regarding my workouts or programs I would be more than happy to help. I hope you have a lovely, pain free day.
Suzanne W.
