Anyone lose weight and inches of their waist after going Gluten Free?

Does it take time for the waist to decrease due to decreased swelling in the abdomen?

How long did it take and how soon did you notice the change?

I don't know about inches off my waist, but I did loose 12 pounds after going gluten-free. I feel like my waist got smaller, because my clothes fit better. However, I never actually measured my waist. I noticed the change within about 4 weeks.

Since March 11 of this year I've lost about 28 pounds after going gluten free.

I lost 4 lbs and 2 1/2 inches off my waist in the first week that I went gluten free. I deflated like a balloon!!

I have lost 10 lbs since going gluten-free. And I have gone down 1 pants size. My goal was to start back to working out July 1st so we will see how it goies after that. I have about 20 more lbs to lose.

My abdomen was quite large as of the end of June 07. I started the Celiac diet on 7/1/07. Since day one, I lost 5 inches in my waist and 2 inches from my abdomen. To keep in mind, before I started the diet I looked at least 6 months pregnant (I looked like this for the past 4 months). I understand your frustration!

Good luck!

Ok people, NOT FAIR!

I began bloating over 2 months ago (just when I started working out more and eating less candy of course) -- so badly one particular night I almost took myself to the hospital (think blueberries and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). Although I didn't have gas or diarrhea, and only occasional nausea, several people thought it was celiac.

I've beenGF for a week now and NO CHANGE to the bloating! I feel a little better, have only been nauseous once since, but my stomach is NOT shrinking. Sorry to use all caps, but i'm really frustrated! The swelling at best has gone down to what used to be the very worst bloating I'd experience during my period, but it's rarely that good, and by the end of the day I'm back up what is now my normal state where my stomach actually begins to hang over my pants (5'4", 118lbs - an overhanging belly doesn't make sense)

If anything, I feel like the swelling in my stomach is just spreading to my thighs and back the longer this goes on (is it just me?). As each gluten-free day passes I think i must not be gluten intolerant, but either way I just want to get this darned bloating down!

Any suggestions?? I'm going nuts!

I'm one of the exceptions. When people ask me what the symptoms of celiac disease are... I always say, "Unexplained weight loss..." as I look down at myself and add, "Um... I didn't GET that one."

Granted, my celiac disease was diagnosed very quickly... only had symptoms for about 3 months and was diagnosed w/ blood tests.

Then I totally OD'd on the foods I was allowed to have to make up for all those I could no longer have... and gained another 20 lbs!!

I'm a good 25 lbs. over what I'd like to weigh (and we're not talking bikini weight here... just normal for my height and age... and have been trying to concentrate on exercise and strength training.

I found I'm sensitive to more than one thing so I had to eliminate dairy and only eat gluten-free grains on occassion and avoid corn. But my stomach is much less pouchy now! And I'm finally losing weight again. However, if I start eating stuff I react to, my belly shows it (and my intestines get unhappy).
So give it time and try to find out if there are other foods causing you issues.

Some of us that didn't lose weight after going gluten free might be interested in a study.

It was done in 2006, and showed that 81% of Celiac's going Gluten Free......gain weight!!

fabulous - more good news.

Hm. Well, there's comfort in knowing i'm not the only one, and I'll take it! Someone mentioned having reactions to other foods also - I'm good with milk/dairy (had a latte yesterday - sooo yummy), but I'm wondering if maybe beans or peanuts are contributing. Since going gluten-free i've been eating black bean salads, and replacing what used to be my afternoon snack (wheat thins) with trail mix.

it just takes so long to figure it all out - i'm not sure irritability is a real symptom of celiac, as much as just the result of being so annoyed by it.

Well, does anyone know of any little tricks - besides diet (since I 'grow' about an inch every morning between waking up and eating breakfast) - that could help the bloating? Someone mentioned in another post that drinking lots of water and eating salty foods helped -- !!! -- don't know how that works when salt helps you retain water -- and Gas X is worthless.

My general observation is that those who are overweight before being diagnosed seem to lose weight on the gluten-free diet. Those who are underweight before dx seem to gain. A dear friend of mine was just diagnosed a month ago. She was overweight before going gluten-free. She has been gradually melting away. I seem to be packing on what she has been losing Prior to my dx, I was 127 pounds (I'm 5'8"). I dipped down to a dangerous 105 lbs when I was hospitalized. After going gluten-free, I ballooned up to 142! This is the heaviest I have ever weighed! I know its a healthy weight, but after 3 years I still have a hard time accepting it. I'm glad I'm healthy, but I wish I had my old 127 back

lost 20 lbs... getting worried was 135 now 115 I cut out all junk in my diet since becoming a celiac.. I hope it's just a better diet and nothing more serious. will consult Dr.. in a few month unless I drop even more..

Went from 128 to 102. I'm 5'9" so it's pretty depressing, everyone thinks I have an eating disorder.

I went from 183 to 162 the first month. Have lost 10 more lbs in the last 3 months and went from a 16 to 14 in clothing. I can actually see my toes again.
Yellow Rose

I lost about 5 lbs in my first month and inches off my waist (not sure how many). My bloating stomach definately decreased, even though I still feel bloated at times. Just eliminated dairy yesterday and it seems to be making a difference already.

My mom saw me yesterday for the first time in over a week and she said "Your really losing weight and your bloating is so much better." That was so nice to hear!

I've only been gluten-free about 6 weeks, and despite some occasional mistakes where I get small amounts of gluten, I have lost 6 lbs and don't know about the inches. I still have a fair amount more to lose, but it is a relief to see the scale go the other way, as well as no longer having the internal tickings of when Things Are Not Right.

How do you know you are good with milk & dairy? My primary response to it is bloating and you have that. I've certainly read the comments of many others who react to dairy with bloating. Just saying it might be worthwhile to try going going dairy free and see what happens. Even if you aren't sensitive to casein, many gluten intolerant folks find themselves lactose intolerant, at least until the gluten-free diet heals their villi. The villi are what enables digesting the lactose. And what is a major symptom of lactose intolerance? Bloating.

I also can't see how salt would help. If I have much sodium over the course of a day, I bloat up. And Gas X never worked for me, either.

Have you tried a food diary? There may be something you are regularly getting that causes the problem. Do you have anything with sorbitol or mannitol in it perchance? Those things often cause bloating. How about carbonated drinks? If you suspect particular things, like beans or peanuts, the only way to know for sure is to cut them out and see what happens.

I find that ginger, in the form of tea, crystalized ginger, or supplements, helps me. Mint tea is nice, too.

I hate to tell you, but coffee can cause bloating in some people. Is that something you have between waking up and having breakfast? Do you have it during the day?

I am losing weight also. But I really don't want to. I am 5'4" and weighed 126 about 4 weeks ago. After four weeks of eating Gluten Free, I am now 118. It is kinda scaring me because I don't want to lose anymore. I have disovered however since I am not eating nearly the amount of carbs (I really can't tolerate alot of the gluten-free breads) that I am eating more protiens. I guess this can be the contributing factor. Also, I have heard about several people gaining weight when going gluten-free. Have you seen the amount of calories in the GL bagels, muffins, snacks etc. If you are eating those, I bet you would gain weight. In any case, I have not found that balance yet.

I have gained weight, if I ate any less I would be eating dust.

Does any one know why its hard to loose weight after being diagnosed, I am getting tired of people telling me I look healthy.

that would be an intresting study indeed, as to why some gain, and some lose, or some stay the same. the only thing I can think of is you are loseing becasue your overall diet have improved, I found I was overweight becasue My body was craving foods that I wasn't getting even when I ate them, so I ate SSO MUCH, trying to get a little amount of Nutrition in a huge diet. and maybe for the people gaining, maybe you were "underweight" because of lack of nutrition, and your body was starving!! and now that you are getting it (nutrition), your body is putting it away, it is going in to starvation moad/protection

Newly diagnosed celiac and have really dropped some weight since being g.f. I was 189 some 6 months ago and am now 163! At first everything was great, but as the last 10 pounds have been shed, I'm getting a bit concerned. Is there a point that we can expect to level off? Those have gained weight, do you still feel bloated or nasuea?

I went gluten-free in April 2007, and have lost some weight (can't tell you exactly) but the loss has increased in the past month or two.

Also I still have times where I really bloat, but also now have some times when all that goes down.

Dmack,

One thing is that the healing takes a long time. 1 week is very short when it takes 1-2 years for adults to heal.

I agree with the dairy possibly contributing.
You could try eliminating all grains, dairy, legumes and nightshades for a week, just to see what happens. If you are better, instead of adding them all back, add them one at a time. This is a lot of work, but it is very very helpful to determine what impacts the bloating.

Surely that reflects the number of celiac sufferers who were underweight to begin with, due to malabsorption and D. I lost 10 pounds quitting WHEAT and DAIRY, and another 5-10 quitting gluten.

As to the bloating issues - try quitting dairy (first and foremost, especially if you also have constipation). Also nightshades, garlic, sugar. I get bloated if I eat potatoes, or if get to eating too much sugar. I also get yeasty if I eat too much sugar. (Too much sugar here, by the way, means like two teaspoons a day - I need to eat none.) What else? corn and soy are big ones. Not chewing one's food or eating too much per meal. Swallowing air while eating? Not sure on that one.

I know what you mean. Have you tried counting your calories? I realized at one point I was getting about 1200 calories a day...so I ate more. Carbs and grains have a lot of calories, so when we lose those, it's hard to eat enough. Veggies are calorie light.

Anyway, I added potatoes (which i since had to cut out since their night-shadiness was bothering me) - and that would keep me up - quitting them too me down...weight wise. Now I eat millet bread every day to up the calories.

Good luck. By the way, I'm 5'9 too and about 120 at this point - have you been checked out to be sure there is nothing else going on?

That's how I feel. I've lost 17 lbs (and counting.) I'm assuming that it's just the diet. I do work out, but no more than I did before. It's unsettling to lose weight so quickly. I got a complete physical a month ago....everything looked fine. I'll be interested to see where this levels out.

Rho

Last week I found out I am going to be going gluten free the rest of my life. I also put on 10 lbs in the last month. It has only been 5 days actually but the weight gain was getting worrisome on top of everything else. I hope you all are right about the weight loss, of course I might actually have the energy to do something about it now!

I've never had a gluten problem before, but then I got pregnant (miscarried), which triggered my allergy. I gained about 10 pounds, not knowing what was going on. I got so sick, I lost 10 pounds from not eating. But then my older sister got diagnosed with celiac so I got tested, and found out I was. So I stopped eating gluten and kept losing weight. I've lost 30 pounds total.

Since I went gluten-free on September 2nd, I've dropped one pant size. My weight has only dropped a few pounds, but I think that is because I'm gaining muscle mass as I lose the fat. (Muscle weighs more than fat, so you can actually put on pounds as your body gets slimmer.) I really need to start working out to accelerate the process.

well here is my story. i was dx when i was 3 with celiac disease but as i grew up i never stuck to the diet. so almost 17 years later here i am ready to do something about it! i have stuck to my diet for about 1 1/w weeks and i have lost 7lbs! i am 5ft 2in and i weighed around 140 and i now im around 133. i hope to be back down to 117 before xmas! 15 more pounds to go!

It seems to me that the ONLY proven way to loose weight and keep it off---- is to go Low Carb, like the Atkins Diet ( done correctly, not the extreme)---- I've never been very overweight-- but since going low carb, or in my case just LOWER CARB( than my normal HIGH CARB diet---)
I've lost the extra weight and now am at a normal weight for my height-- 5' 8"----, size 8
---
My doctor said she thinks the Atkins diet is NOT harmful when done correctly. And it can help prevent Type 2 diabetes.

THe Atkins DIet book is worth reading.

I have lost 34 pounds in eleven months on the gluten-free diet. I definitely had weight to lose. That's for sure. When I found out I had Celiac i decided that if i was going to have to cut all that stuff out of my diet, i would be real careful what i reintroduced. I only have dessert as an occassional treat. O no longer overeat and i feel better. I also cut out breads, even gluten-free ones. I eat very healthy now.

For a different point of view, you may be interested in the research findings from the National Weight Control Registry. This records people who have maintained at least a 30 pound weight loss over a year. Here is a link to a list of their abstracts:
http://www.nwcr.ws/Research/published%20research.htm

Here is a summary of what these people did:
http://www.healthcastle.com/weight_registry.shtml
No Atkins there.

Also look at what the slender and healthy people of the world eat.

Re: Type 2 diabetes --
http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-research/...-vegan-diet.jsp
Again, look at those areas of the world essentially without this disease and what they eat.

(This is the same diet used effectively by Drs. Esselstyn and Ornish, both of which have been published as peer-reviewed studies, to reverse heart disease, that is actual shrinking of arterial plaques. No other diet has done that. People who eat this way rarely get heart disease.

There is a new metastudy about cancer prevention, but the site where I had the link isn't working right now.)

I know of no long term study of either the effectiveness or safety of the Atkins diet. I believe it is being done now by the Atkins organization. Of course, I seriously doubt they will compare their results to something like the McDougall (low fat, vegan) diet, but only to the general population or modified SAD (Standard American Diet) eaters. There are some good things in the revised Atkins diet vis-a-vis the SAD (like no trans fat or refined carbs and lots of green leafy veggies each day), which will make it hard to tease out the effect of the other recommendations on health.

I have found this, however:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?d...;indexed=google
The conclusion of this study: "Prolonged consumption of diets low in carbohydrates and high in protein is associated with an increase in total mortality."

For a different view of Atkins & weight loss:
http://www.drmcdougall.com/med_hot_obesity.html
http://www.drmcdougall.com/med_hot_highprotein.html

Obviously, I have a different POV as to what constitutes a healthy diet or how one should lose weight. I tried a high protein diet years ago and got terribly sick and I know others that experienced the same thing more recently following Atkins. With my diet, well, I'm at a size 0 and have maintained that for a long time. I've also eliminated several health problems. My husband has also lost weight and improved his health. Other successes: http://www.drmcdougall.com/stars/index.html

People will have to look at the evidence and make up their own minds. This subject cannot be adequately covered by short posts on a discussion board For what I think is an excellent online lecture by a dietician, watch:
http://vsh.voip-info.org/Eisman.html

OK, my link is working now. The cancer study is over 500 pages or something like that. I've yet to plow through that.

But here is the summary:
http://www.dietandcancerreport.org/downloa...LFOLD2_WCRF.pdf

For those with lots of time on their hands or the desire to look at the evidence on any of these recommendations:
http://www.dietandcancerreport.org/downloa...pert_Report.pdf

I think that whether or not a low-carb diet works for a person depends on their metabolic type. Protein types will do well; carb types will not. It's probably a good place to start with any eating plan. I think I'm protein type. I can't stand to miss a meal (get cranky or tired); think about food all the time; crave the dark meat (even if I "think" it's gross); etc.


Dr. Mercola has a test, but it is not free...I think it's 27.00, and it's not out yet. I pre-bought it, because I think there's a lot of sense in what he's saying. He didn't invent the "Metabolic Typing"....there is a book, maybe Eat Right For Your Metabolic Type...something like that.

No one thing is good for all people. Or as Hippocrates said, one man's food is another man's poison. Women too.

With regard to being overweight wtih gluten senstivity, I have had a hard time accepting that I could be a "bigger girl" and have a gluten sensitivity. After all, "aren't people wtih this allergy supposed to be underweight?" I would tell myself. The more I read, it seems that many, many people have been chronically bloated and HELD ONTO food b/c of SLOW DIGESTION rather than food passing too fast and weight loss? I'm also wondering if not absorbing or processing correctly can cause people to overeat / crave foods in order to get enough of what the body needs. This is my new theory, and I'm wondering if I'm thinking correctly on this?

Regardless, I'm wondering if a gluten sensitive can be a cause of having been overweight the majority of my adult life (since about age 19)? Input?

I am 5'8'' and weight almost 190.

A healthy weight for me was about 150. 140 would be fabulous on my frame and with my "athletic" build.