Gaining weight on cpap

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
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Rainmom17
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Gaining weight on cpap

Post by Rainmom17 » Sun Mar 11, 2018 9:17 am

Anyone else out there gaining weight since using cpap? I’ve put on 16 pounds since cpap starting in July - not happy about it! I eat exactly the same but seem to add pounds just looking at food.

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ChicagoGranny
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Re: Gaining weight on cpap

Post by ChicagoGranny » Sun Mar 11, 2018 9:20 am

Rainmom17 wrote:
Sun Mar 11, 2018 9:17 am
I eat exactly the same
Have you tried eating less?

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Rainmom17
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Re: Gaining weight on cpap

Post by Rainmom17 » Sun Mar 11, 2018 9:36 am

I am working on that now.
My point is, I had my weight under control before cpap. Since starting cpap, my weight has gone up rapidly despite eating exactly the same way as I was before. I’m wondering why my body would react in this way.

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Barb (Seattle)
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Re: Gaining weight on cpap

Post by Barb (Seattle) » Sun Mar 11, 2018 9:43 am

when I was placed on CPAP 21 years ago, I was excited! I was going to lose weight now (that's what the materials said)


ugh. fatter now than ever. not from CPAP...just isnt helping in my case :(
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ChicagoGranny
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Re: Gaining weight on cpap

Post by ChicagoGranny » Sun Mar 11, 2018 9:50 am

Rainmom17 wrote:
Sun Mar 11, 2018 9:36 am
I’m wondering why my body would react in this way.
If you study this, let us know what you think -
"... these overall findings then raise the question of why body weight might increase following treatment of OSA."
http://jcsm.aasm.org/ViewAbstract.aspx?pid=29469
IMO, one needs to reduce calories and increase activity level. You'll never know whether this works unless you try it.

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Re: Gaining weight on cpap

Post by SewTired » Sun Mar 11, 2018 12:14 pm

One of the theories many of us have had is that before cpap, we moved around in bed a lot more with the constant strangling of oxygen. Now that you aren't strangling, you aren't moving around so much, so using fewer calories.

Another possibility is that you have edema. That's often the cause of a rapid increase in weight when your eating and exercise has not changed. I don't understand edema to really put a theory out there about that. I have a couple of medical issues where the medicine could actually be the cause, but I find that I have more problems with edema if I am laying on my side, than on my back. I also have more problems with edema if I sit at the computer for more than an hour. I now take breaks every 30 minutes and resolved that. I can see it - I will have feet without wrinkles and find that I gained 5 pounds overnight. Obviously, it's not all in my feet.

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Cpapian
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Re: Gaining weight on cpap

Post by Cpapian » Sun Mar 11, 2018 6:16 pm

It isn't fair if one gains weight due to sleep apnea and due to XPAP use. :cry:

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jennmary
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Re: Gaining weight on cpap

Post by jennmary » Sun Mar 11, 2018 11:11 pm

I have lost 165 pounds and have kept it off for the past 5+ years.

It is far too easy for people to talk about weight loss in terms of eat less and move more. Wouldn't it be nice if it was really just that easy? I once gained 7 pounds on a 200 calorie a day, 5 day liquid cleanse diet. No joke. Weight gain, loss, and maintenance is so much more complicated than that for a multitude of physiological and psychological reasons. The over simplification of it helps no one and hurts many.

Has anything else changed since starting cpap? Are you actually TRACKING or logging your calories? How do you know you are eating the exact same? I know first hand how easy it can be to overlook an extra hundred or two calories a day unless you are actually weighing, measuring, and tracking every single thing you eat.

I did gain weight when I started cpap. But I don't think cpap was the cause. Correlation isn't causation.

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Midnight Strangler
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Re: Gaining weight on cpap

Post by Midnight Strangler » Mon Mar 12, 2018 7:54 am

jennmary wrote:
Sun Mar 11, 2018 11:11 pm
It is far too easy for people to talk about weight loss in terms of eat less and move more.
Isn't that what you are doing?
jennmary wrote:
Sun Mar 11, 2018 11:11 pm
Are you actually TRACKING or logging your calories? How do you know you are eating the exact same? I know first hand how easy it can be to overlook an extra hundred or two calories a day unless you are actually weighing, measuring, and tracking every single thing you eat

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jennmary
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Re: Gaining weight on cpap

Post by jennmary » Mon Mar 12, 2018 12:29 pm

Not at all. I am asking a question about one possible component. Not suggesting that is the only or even the main issue. There is a difference.

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Re: Gaining weight on cpap

Post by mesenteria » Mon Mar 12, 2018 12:32 pm

The abstract surmises that the weight gain is likely due to an increase in lean mass. This means muscle. Muscle is several times denser than adipose tissue. So, if you gain wait during treatment for OSA, there is a better-than-even chance it will be new muscle. Of course, if there are other variables, including a new relishing of the wrong types of foods, or more food in general, then it could very well be adipose tissue. I would guess, but haven't gone on a search to see, that success in OSA treatment would have an effect on endocrinology. It doesn't necessarily follow that it would be a salutary change, at least not in terms of weigh gain.

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ChicagoGranny
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Re: Gaining weight on cpap

Post by ChicagoGranny » Mon Mar 12, 2018 12:49 pm

I feel obligated to restate the qualifications to that original study since I posted the link. The study seems to have such severe limitations as to be worthy of ignoring:
Several limitations to this study may have influenced the results. The CPAP compliance was relatively low at 4 hours and may be insufficient to influence activity or diet. However this usage is not dissimilar to many other studies where positive metabolic and hormonal effects of CPAP have been shown. A further limitation may be the short length of CPAP treatment which was 4 months. Lean muscle and insulin sensitivity improvements have been reported but only after 6 months treatment.14 Finally, the lack of gold-standard measures to assess physical activity (accelerometry) and dietary intake (food diaries) as well as a direct measure of energy expenditure (room calorimetry or doubly labelled water) may have resulted in inaccurate assessment of these outcomes.

http://jcsm.aasm.org/ViewAbstract.aspx?pid=29469

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Rainmom17
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Re: Gaining weight on cpap

Post by Rainmom17 » Mon Mar 12, 2018 8:50 pm

Thanks for replies. Yes, I am counting ALL of my calories. I also have a Fitbit which tells me how many calories I’m burning. But that hasn’t been overly helpful because I burn many more calories than I eat every day and yet I still gain weight.
I decided to do my own Google search on the topic. Apparently it’s relatively common to gain weight on cpap. Who knew?! All I ever heard was about losing weight, so this is a surprise to me. Burning fewer calories during sleep, as one of you suggested, is a popular idea. I guess I feel better knowing it happens to others, but disappointed that it’s happening.

jjc155
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Re: Gaining weight on cpap

Post by jjc155 » Tue Mar 13, 2018 12:10 am

My appetite came back when I started on CPAP. Maybe you think you are eating the same amount but are actually eating more?

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Re: Gaining weight on cpap

Post by surf_rower » Tue Mar 13, 2018 12:06 pm

I did gain weight, but other things changed too, so it may have more to do with switching from wine to beer around the same time, and/or two surgeries that made it hard too exercise. I was a runner, rower, etc. Weight is coming off now that I lowered the beer count and eat smaller dinners. I'm a compliant TapPap user and usually sleep well. Someone in this thread mentioned that it could be that we lie quite still while sleeping now, instead of thrashing about, getting up in the middle of the night, etc. . Another thought: We probably used some energy staying awake and alert when we were sleep-deprived. That edgy-nervous thing, which is all but gone now. Good riddance to that!
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