Losing weight with lipedema

Lipedema is sometimes characterized by pain and diet-resistant fat tissue accumulation in the subcutaneous tissue. This means that it is very difficult for us lipedema patients to lose fat in the affected areas through diet or exercise.

Why lose weight?

Actually, I am against talking too much about nutrition in relation to lipedema because I do not want to contribute to lipedema patients thinking that they themselves are to blame for the onset or progression of lipedema due to incorrect eating habits or their sporting activities – because this is not the case and is believed far too often by lipedema patients, their social environment and even by medical professionals.

However it may be useful to make dietary changes to reduce pain or to try to reduce “normal fat” in preparation for surgery or in cases of concomitant obesity.

How to succeed – time for change

The decision to want to reduce weight or to exercise more should not always be made for the sole reason of losing weight. Maintaining your health is always an aspect for which it is also worth breaking old, ingrained habits – regardless of whether you have lipedema, have already had your liposuctions for lipedema or are not ill at all. In order for your body and therefore your weight to change, you have to change something – and not just for 2 days, but for the long term. I therefore strongly recommend that the changes fit into your daily routine, are fun and can be combined with your family and household. Because success can be found in your daily routine!

Sports

I do sports every day – for almost 4 months now. Now, I can’t imagine my everyday life without my sports program, but that wasn’t always the case.

Finally fun after liposuctions
I only really started to enjoy sports after the liposuctions, when I noticed that everything felt much easier and that I had more power and stamina! Then I felt like trying something new and testing my new limits. I started to ride my racing bike, jog with the dog, swim a lot again and do workouts at home, in addition to my daily walks with my dog.

In addition to the weekend activities, a set routine has crept in during the week, I replay this every day – sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, sometimes right after I get up, during my lunch break or sometimes in the evening, but I never skip it. My fitness wristband helps me keep track of steps taken and sporting activity.

You don’t enjoy sports or your lipedema keeps you from doing them? Maybe you haven’t found your sport yet or you always expect too much from yourself and then lose the desire to continue.

Our tips:

Increase your workload slowly and try to be active in your everyday life: Household can be the purest cardio program! You don’t have to do 45 minutes of sweaty workouts every day to get the first results. Try 15 minutes every 2nd day and listen to yourself how you feel. Excuses do not count. Even 10 minutes on the exercise bike is better than nothing! Or ride your bike to the post office more often or enjoy the child-free afternoon in the swimming pool and swim a few laps. This is wonderful and works as a lymphatic drainage for the whole body.

Diet

Many lipedema patients have good experiences with the ketogenic diet. This means not only eating few carbohydrates (low carb), it is more about eating none at all, so that the body enters a state called ketosis. In ketosis, your body converts dietary fats into ketone bodies and uses them as energy sources. During ketosis, you also benefit from stable blood sugar levels. Want to know more about the ketogenic diet? Foodpunk and LIPOCURA®, in particular our LIPODOC Dr. Lossagk, have developed an extra lipedema nutrition program that has already helped many lipedema patients with weight loss and permanent dietary changes! You can find the nutrition program here: www.foodpunk.de

My 5 tips for successful weightloss:

1. Don’t let the home office become a food trap – eating uncontrollably in front of your laptop all day should not become a habit.
2. Try to listen to yourself when you feel hungry. Is it really hunger or are you just craving?
3. Don’t buy your favorite sweets in the first place – it’s hard, but effective.
4. Get healthy snacks like peppers, carrots and cucumber and snack on them with a herbal curd in between meals or in front of the TV in the evening.
5. Drink, drink and drink again! My favorite: jazz up water with lemon and ginger or some frozen berries.

Mindset

One of the reasons why weight loss doesn’t work out can also be the mindset. Do you put too much pressure on yourself? Do you stand on the scale every day? Do you eat nothing all day because of stress and then empty the fridge in the evening? I know many patients who were only able to lose weight and establish this connection with their body, which is necessary when they let go of these thoughts.

You think it’s not worth it to watch your diet and exercise because you are a lipedema patient and won’t lose weight anyway? Your body does not only consist of the sick parts which you mostly notice – the lipedema, but all organs and your soul you do a favor if you try to live healthy and keep fit.

In my opinion, success lies in the sum of these factors – the balance of a healthy, balanced diet and sufficient drinking, regular exercise as well as movement in everyday life and the conscious elimination of pressure and stress.

With this in mind – on to new routines and a healthier lifestyle!

Your LIPOCOACH® Pia