Weight Loss and Gain with Celiac Disease

More than anything else I've wrote about, I get a lot of e-mails from people who stumble upon my post about being diagnosed with celiac, and have either been diagnosed with themselves, or think they have celiac and have the atypical symptom of not being able to lose weight like I did.

Then I get the usual question, "were you able to drop the extra weight once you were diagnosed with celiac and stopped eating gluten?"

The answer is yes, and no.

As I spoke about when I first went on Weight Watchers early in 2012 before I got pregnant, I wasn't being great with healthy habits after I was diagnosed.

Initially after going gluten free, I lost the bloat in my abdomen, and from my what my GI doctor told me, it was because my intestines were no longer constantly irritated, although it would take quite awhile for them to be at a normal state like a non-celiac sufferer. I also lost a few pounds, and was feeling good.

However, I fell into a trap of eating quite a few gluten free substitute foods. Things I thought I HAD to try, because I couldn't have the normal version, so I needed to take advantage of having a gluten free option. There were a few things, I never would have eaten the normal version of anyway, but then felt the need to have the gluten free version because the forbidden fruit aspect of things suddenly made those foods more appealing. For instance, Glutino's version of Oreos and Fudge Sticks.

Gluten Free Snacks, Source

And, although many people mistake gluten free to = healthy, that isn't always the case, especially when it comes to sweets. These snacks are loaded with sugar and butter to make up for the lack of gluten taste, and often made with Rice flour, that has little nutritional value, but is a true belly filler.

The point of this post is to hopefully answer the question for people who do come to this space looking for answer on whether you do lose weight after a celiac diagnosis, and the answer is yes, you can. However, you still have to watch what you eat (unless you're one of the very rare, lucky ones, who never have to do that) and make good choices, and keep your activity level up. But, hopefully with a healthy lifestyle, and the right diagnosis, you can be feeling better than you have in a long time. 
Pin It