Weight gain

[player]

For me I have become more sedentary since starting CPAP. I am spending a lot of time trying to sleep, laying in bed, and sleeping all day. I also will get up at 9am after only 4 hours sleep, eat breakfast, then shortly after go back to bed and sleep until 3pm.

Now that I am getting sleep I have started exercising (long walk dally) and will try to cut back on my eating. I am fatter than I have ever been though.

[DocWils]

Mark, all that thrashing around at night does not burn up sufficient calories to make a difference. It has no effect on your set-point at all. You have to do 22 minutes full on aerobics to burn off just 139 calorie, and even that is a bit illusory - it really takes a lot more, estimated up to almost an hour for most people, but we calculate it based on ideal factors in the lab that don't apply in the real world, alas.

So a bit of thrashing, which adds up to a burn equivalent of climbing two flights of stairs twice, really doesn't do enough to make a difference, nor does the cessation of the thrashing. As I said, we looked into this, and the science is firm enough. There is no way that simply getting a good night's sleep is the culprit - you are not fully aware of how much more you are eating, or there are other factors involved, but nutritional scientists world wide agree that the main factor in claims to gain weight without altering diet is that the diet is altered or underestimated by the patient. Plain and simple, and our studies here back that up.

[storywizard]

what an interesting thread!

I have gained weight, and that is because I am still not getting refreshed sleep after 4 months of therapy, I am in emotional pain therefore I eat....lol

I would love to blame CPAP for that weight gain, way to easy a target...I have recognized that pain from arthritis and primary insomnia are likely the key issues in my lack of sleep/weight gain equation. Working on the pain and insomnia will take a while, meanwhile I will start looking at what I eat and why I want it...

I really wish CPAP had been a success for me in how I feel, but it was not to be...just yet.

thanks for being here..

Storywizard

[parkerdt]

I sleep better.
Food TASTES better.
I eat more.
I am up 12 lbs since May.

Gotta break the cycle, somehow

Dave

[sonicboom]

+1 parkerdt

[Louis R.]

I am sleeping great the past year since I got a new mask. I feel great but the problem is that I have gained over 20 pounds in less than a year and no change of eating habits. I am noting that hundreds of posts have been mentioned where they have also gained excessive weight after using the C Pap for a year. I sure like being awake all day but very angry due to the weight gain as I look terrible and have poor self image now. Some trade off. Does anyone have any ideas?

I know how frustrating it is to deal with weight gain that seemingly is the result of CPAP. I started the other thread called "weight gain from water retention". The reason that I believe it's from water retention is that since I started CPAP I rarely get up to pee at night, and my wife who is knowledgeable about medical issues says she sees signs of bloating. I gained approximately 11 lbs. in a month and a half. I never have seen weight gain like this... I could see one and two pound gains from one day to another at times. The same weight gain occurred 7 1/2 years ago when I had tried CPAP unsuccessfully.
After a visit to my sleep doctor, and a visit to my primary doctor I still don't have (nor do the doctors) any idea why the weigh gain. I had a full workup and blood test and cardiogram and x-rays.
Also, I can tell you definitively that my diet had not changed, my sodium intake had not changed (I cook at my house). I have self prescribed one of my wife's Lasix (once a week) and would loose an amazing 4 to 5 pounds a day.

I'm still working on what can be done to correct the CPAP and water gaining issue with members of this forum (you may have read the thread mentioned). I will be posting my SleepyHead data for analysis and possible clues.

I would like to stay on CPAP since the benefits are real good this time around, with the only negative being weight gain.

Good luck!

[kally]

well I am up so damn early now than what I used to be that I want a lunch at 11 and another at 1. I don't think I have gained weight, but then I am on a fairly strict plant based diet for medical reasons.

I was very much hoping I would lose weight doing this.

[Sleepster]

Untreated sleep apnea increases hunger (we need the energy in the food because we're tired from not sleeping) which results in weight gain. When we get a CPAP machine we figure we've got that hunger issue beat so we ought to lose weight. I figured I didn't watch what I was eating. Big mistake. I gained 20 lb and have only now lost it. I'm back where I was, which is still overweight, just not as overweight.

I feel better than I can ever remember feeling. One of the advantages of the memory loss that comes with age, I suppose.

[DariaVader]

I have gained weight since getting my cpap. I have been blaming it on the decrease i made to my thyroid meds after seeing my tsh levels sink too low and tachycardia increase. I dropped it too low, and have yet to see my TSH levels at the right spot. last check it was 10 expected result is something like 1 to 5 and i would like to see it at 1.5-2

[friedspam]

I cruised along at 285-300lbs for years, all of a sudden was at 350. This was about the time I finally went to the doctor about my wife's contention that I was gasping for breath all night and she was tired of listening to it. She was right, I had a severe case, registered a 146 at my sleep study, the doctor told me I was a ticking time bomb who shouldn't be driving myself away from the clinic, that was around nine years ago. Despite my hopes that with renewed energy I would lose weight, I've stayed about the same weight, I do enjoy life more, have enjoyed cooking and BBQ Smoking and increased my interest in activities, unfortunately I have continued to put about the same number of calories in as I burn to maintain my unhealthy weight. I'm 5'-8" so my BMI is off the charts.

Anyway, I don't blame my xPAP for doing anything other than saving my life, my weight I blame on eating to much food and not burning enough calories to account for what I eat.

Mike