Weight loss from illness...will it stay off?

I came down with a lovely stomach virus on Wednesday.  The only thing I was able to eat all day was a couple of plain rice cakes. Yesterday, I was able to eat about 1000 calories.  According to the scale my weight dropped 5lbs literally overnight.  Probably tmi ahead but I only had 4 to 5 bm's in those 2 days (which I had gone that much total in probably 2 weeks prior to that) and no vomiting.  I did consume 2 ltrs of water both days but as mentioned above hardly consumed any calories.  Do you think it is possible to keep that 5lbs off?  Or, do you think the likelyhood of my gaining it when I am able to eat "normal" again is pretty high?  Thanks for any input.

 Heather

Hello Heather :)

I myself have been sick this summer, and lost 15 lbs.  Though every body is different, mine decided it didn't want to go into a low-calorie intake any longuer, and kept every calories I'd eat...  It did take me lots of time to get back into exercising though (long illness), and that might not have helped.  When I started exercising, I got into a plateau for about two weeks. And started back to my initial weight + 2 lbs !  

I'd suggest you to keep on exercising and drinking lots of water.  Give your body lots of fiber, and good calories, keep away from sugar and empty-calories for a while, at least until your body decides it's okay to loose weight again and stops keeping every calorie intake '' just in case food might become rare again ''. But you haven't been on a low calorie intake for very long, so you might be more successful in keeping the pounds off : )

:) Hope it helps!

Hey there,

I felt compelled to reply b/c I had the stomach flu for about 3 days in June and lost about 6 pounds and in a twisted way kind of liked having lost it so easily! You are losing mostly water (dehydration) and a little fat and muscle due to the slowing of your metabolism from lack of activity and not eating as many calories as you should be (b/c obviously you're puking them up). You can, however, use this misfortune of being sick to your advantage and use it as a platform to reprogram yourself to eat in a way that will get your metabolism going like crazy and  you can keep it off. 

Start eating small meals (around 300 calories each) frequently throughout the day, starting early in the morning and eating about every 2.5-3 hours stopping about 3 hours before you go to bed. Stay away from starchy things like bread, rice, pasta, and potatoes unless of course that is all you can keep down at the moment- the important thing for you right now is simply eating again and eating frequently. Fruit, veggies, lean meats, and whole grain pastas and breads are the way to go if you can (literally) stomach them. Start walking a bit every day until you feel 100% and then add in your weight training and cardio like you were doing (I assume) before you got sick.

You will most likely gain the weight back and then some due to your now incredibly-slow metabolism if you go back to eating "normally" (hate to break it to you) but give this a shot and good luck! 

 

I lost about 9 pounds in 12 days while being sick...fortunately, I was doing my best to keep my nutrition and calories up (between fruit juice, soup, and ginger snaps I came up to 1200 most days) so I didn't end up in really bad shape and I was able to keep it off by continuing to count calories...I was also 40 lbs overweight at that point so that might have been part of what allowed me to keep it off.

I agree with everyone here.  I actually had developed a disease and was not able to eat for the longest time because of it so I lost like 50 pounds and once my doctor got me on the correct medication, i gained some of it back.  But losing all that way has allowed me to realize that I can lose it and keep it off and it is wonderful now.  I only have about 20 more pounds now to get down to my goal weight.

You'll probably gain some of it back, but not all of it, if you count calories. This is because you can't really lose 5 pounds in 2 days; your system is emptied right now and the scale doesn't know whether it's weighing body tissue or undigested bits of food.

But if you continue to count calories and eat modestly, you'll keep off the portion of the weight that was actual fat loss, and continue to lose.

I did exactly the same thing, only my loss was only 3.5 pounds. And, YES, it stayed off and it gave me the incentive I needed to get this cc thing going! I had only started here the day before I got sick and only had 634 calories that day, 900 something the next!

Hang in there.....I was really discouraged because after a week that was the only weight  I had lost, but today --- another pound!