chemo and weightloss

[Terry]

So I had my first chemo today without the oxi. YEAH!!!! Sure makes the visit a lot shorter. Anyway, I was talking to them about weightwatchers. I said I've been on weightwatchers since last friday and stuck to my points religiously and actually gave myself 2 less points than I should have. They told me that after going through with all of this chemo, being thrown into menopause, steroid, etc. it was going to be a lot harder for me to lose weight and I may have to lower my points even more. That sucks, I'll be starving! I'm also quiting smoking on Thursday:( I'll miss my friends:( I mean my cigerettes by that, they are always with me and always give me comfort.

Pray for me or think good thoughts that I can get this unhealthy almost 50 year old body healthy:)

Terry

[Guest T]

Good luck Terry,
Both are hard to do. Doing both at the same time may be very very hard. Don't be to hard on yourself. When I quite smoking five years ago, I cut back first, cold turkery is impossible. Being on chemo you may not be able to get the nicotine patch. Alow yourself a certain amount of cig.'s a day for a week and keep cutting back. Say if you smoke a pack a day now cut bak to 6 a day for a week then five and so on. I stayed with that last cig. after dinner for a while but eventually just stopped buying them. If you are the type that must have one in the morning with coffe have that one then decided which one you can cut out later. Put the pack in an out of the way place, say in your car locked in the glovebox then put the keys to the car away in a box on the tip top of a closet so you have to do a lot to get them out of the car.

Good Luck my prayers will be with you.
Toni

[BrownBagger]

Good luck, Terry!

Somebody said once that the pounds you gain quitting smoking are the healthiest pounds you'll ever gain.

I would have thought just the opposite--that you'd be more likely to lose weight during chemo. That's one of my concerns--that I'll lose my appetite and waste away.

[leihei]

Are your doctors letting you do WW while doing chemo? My doctor told me to do whatever I could to not lose weight, and when I said it's ok if I lose weight due to chemo because I'm about 50lbs overweight, and he said "NO! I do not want you losing any weight". Since then I've lost about 10-15lbs just due to eating less because foods don't taste right and old favorites like Mexican food cause painful reflux. Gonna talk to him about that at my next appointment friday. I've had 8 months of chemo every other week, and my last treatment is end of Nov.

[Dori]

What about the nicotine patch? Is it contraindicated during chemo?

I used the patch to quit smoking fifteen years ago (it hadn't even been out long back then), and I don' think I could have succeeded without it. The patch made it pretty easy to quit smoking, but I had a ton of trouble quitting the patch! I don't know, but it seems like even if that takes a while to quit the patch, it might be better than continuing to smoke.

Too bad they don't have a yummy food patch to help me lose weight!

[Lee]

Terri,

All my best to you. Quitting smoking, losing weight, and dealing with chemo all at the same time may be a lot on your plate. I did all three, but not all at the same time. Chemo 5 years ago, quit smoking about 2 1/2 years ago (with chantix), and weight watcher this past year. I've gained a few pounds back (summer heat, kids, etc), but nothing compared to the weight I lost this past year. If it proved to be to much, do what you can and don't beat yourself up. Chemo is #1, quit smoking if you are ready and truly want to quit. I found I ate more when I quit smoking. If the same happens to you, don't worry about the weight now, it can come off later.

I highly recommend weight watchers. I was over 50, well into menopause, and I lost 40 pounds. It didn't happen in the 4-5 mths I expected it to, but over 9-10 months. My PCP told me it's O.K. if I lost pound or less a week, and that's how I did it. Sometimes, 5-6 weeks to lose 5 pounds, but I did lose it. I recommend walking daily.

I have faith in you, and I know you will succeed. If there is anything I can do, let me know.

Lee

[Terry]

My doc said I could use the nicotine patch and he also said I could lose weight on weight watchers because your eating healthier. He said don't be surprised if it's harder to lose weight after everything you've been through. That figures. I bet if I was aman I wouldn't have trouble losing the weight! NOt fair!

Thanks for your support everyone. I know it's going to be hard but I'll try as hard as I can. If worse comes to worse I'll have to do only one at a time. Maybe I'll do the weight watchers and cut my cigs back like GuestT said but first I want to see if I can do them both together.

Thanks everyone!
Terry

[blakeswife]

Terry, Don't get discouraged. I've heard that sometimes it's easier to "diet" and "quit" together because one distracts the other....

Good Luck with everything and let us know how it goes!!!

[helen098]

good luck on taking on all your vices at one time
you must be real strong.
yes men loose it easier I have been ona diet for a while with no weight loss and my brother lost 4 pounds in the last 2 months just because I have no junk in the house- not fair

[justsing]

Well, pounds just melt off of me on chemo, but they don't seem to be too hard to put back on when I'm off of chemo. I was on strict orders to gain 10 lbs of muscle weight over my summer chemo break because I can lose 14 lbs in a weekend of chemo and I was pretty depleted.

NO PROBLEM! I'm already up 10 and the summer ain't over yet! Most people tell me that I don't look heavier, just "buffer." I gained it by eating more interesting stuff, and playing tennis 3 hours every day. So it is a lot of muscle weight -- I hope!!!

Good luck with WW!

[Cured]

Terry, You have the strength to get through all of this, and your faith is key. I'll bet the cigerettes will be the most demanding part. Maybe it's better this way, as the nicotine and the chemo combine to make your body feel miserable.
Persevere.

The hardest part of dieting is up front as you shrink your stomach.
Several things you can try to help:
-Since we need more fiber, drinking a glass-full of Konsyl before your meal can help to fill your stomach, as well as fulfilling fiber needs.
-Consume foods with a Low Glycemic Index. Studies show that the low-index foods trigger our "full" sensation. We then do not eat as much. Ironically, high-sugar foods do not trigger the response much. See http://www.glycemicindex.com/ I have been enjoying eating lots of fruit this summer which tastes really sweet, and yet I do not put pounds on. Sugar spikes our bodies in a way which may stimulate cancer, so I avoid it.

Also, per Garbovatwin's updates, Vitamin D may help:
Ten health risks from low Vitamin D levels
http://www.emaxhealth.com/1020/83/32596%20...%20evels.html

Last month vitamin D deficiency was linked to inability to lose weight. Researchers from the University of Minnesota found a linear relationship between higher vitamin D levels and weight loss, combined with a low calorie diet. Shalamar Sibley, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota concluded from the study, "Our results suggest the possibility that the addition of vitamin D to a reduced-calorie diet will lead to better weight loss.", though more studies were suggested. The findings were presented at The Endocrine Society's 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. this year.

[PGLGreg]

Good luck with the smoking. The next surgery you have, maybe you can try my method. After over 35 years of 1-2 packs a day, I couldn't smoke for 1 week and a half after I had my LAR. (The hospital nurses are just totally inflexible about this.) Then, when I got out, it was not so hard to not start smoking again.