Some research connects small, almost imperceptible lifestyle habits to weight gain.
We breast cancer survivors are quick to express gratitude for all life-saving treatments we receive.
We’re just as quick to bemoan those treatments for the collateral damage left in their wake.
While the type and severity of treatment aftermath varies, if there’s a unifying complaint, it has to be this: weight gain.
An aftermath that’s particularly egregious, by the way.
It’s enough to experience the horror and rigor of breast cancer. Must body dissatisfaction, clothes that no longer fit, and an increased risk of recurrence be part of the deal? (1)
Scientific literature confirms a connection between breast cancer treatment and weight gain, and negative body image and body dissatisfaction in survivors.
I regularly hear from survivors that the reluctance of extra weight to budge is frustrating at best, maddening at worst, and depressing as hell. (2,3)
It’s Only a Little Weight Gain
Recurrence risk aside, you could make a strong argument for “making peace” with the extra weight.
What’s a little weight gain in exchange for being alive? Is it wrong to curse how your favorite pre-cancer jeans fit differently, given that you’re even here to complain about it?
To be clear, I’m not suggesting you disregard recommendations to lose weight if you need to. Increased recurrence risk aside, overweight and obesity are connected to diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea and fatty liver disease, among other medical concerns. (4)
But with so many other issues to contend with; surgical complications, neuropathy, medication side effects, lack of energy, or brain fog from chemo and/or medications, devoting time and attention to weight loss can feel like an insurmountable challenge.
So rather than tell you HOW to lose the weight (hint: you truly need an individualized approach), I’d like to introduce you to the concept of WEIGHT CREEP.
What Is Weight Creep?
Weight creep is a phenomenon where the numbers on the scale gradually increase. It tends to happen with age. Each new decade brings body composition changes, most notably, a decrease in calorie-hungry muscle and an increase in slothful fat. (5)
For post-menopausal women (surgically, naturally or via medication), the dramatic decrease in estrogen combined with potential changes in the metabolism of fatty tissue promotes fat gain – especially in the belly and hips.
This can result in weight redistribution and body shape changes, even if the number on the scale doesn’t move much. Some research suggests that lipoprotein lipase, an enzyme critical to the efficient breakdown and use of fats from the diet may become less effective with the menopause-induced decrease in estrogen.
All of which can lead to menopause weight fluctuation. (6)
But if weight creep is typically connected to aging, what explains weight gain in younger women diagnosed with breast cancer?
There may be a few things at play.
There’s the direct impact of treatment itself. Carrying extra weight at the time of diagnosis. The reality that weight creep can happen at ANY age, especially with unhealthy lifestyle habits.
A study out of the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital followed male and female subjects over 20 years, evaluating weight changes every 4-year period. Every 4 years the participants gained an average of 3.35 pounds for a total weight gain of 16.8 pounds. (7)
Some research connects small, almost imperceptible lifestyle habits around food, activity and sleep to weight creep. This indicates that a few extra chips here, a soda there, and a string of post-diagnosis sleepless nights (which tends to make you less likely to engage in healthy habits) can all conspire to make your pants more snug. (8)
Regardless of which factors are at play, for women of ALL ages, we know weight gain during and/or after breast cancer treatment is common.
If you’re of a “certain age” and experienced weight creep BEFORE your diagnosis, contending with the EXTRA weight gain AFTER breast cancer can feel overwhelming!
How Breast Cancer Treatment Causes Weight Gain
Regardless of treatment protocol, weight gain can be either a direct or indirect side effect (9).
Chemotherapy Weight Gain:
- cause the body to hold more water (edema)
- produce fatigue (which may lead to inactivity)
- trigger nausea (which may be managed by eating even in the absence of hunger)
- drive physiological and psychological food cravings
- send women into menopause
Steroid Medication Weight Gain:
- increase appetite
- cause increase in fatty tissue in the abdominal area with long-term use
Tamoxifen or Aromatase Inhibitor (AI) Medication Weight Gain:
- decrease estrogen or progesterone levels
- lead to a reduction in muscle
- increase body fat
- reduce metabolic rate
- cause athralgia (joint pain)
Three HABITS That Cause Weight Creep and What to do About Them
With breast cancer, weight creep may be attributed to a completely different set of habits and thought patterns then research on non-breast cancer subjects reveals.
This is where our circumstances create unique weight loss challenges. But don’t give up. You can do something about it!
HABIT #1 – You decide to worry about the weight after you get through treatment. It ended six months ago.
“The extra weight can wait,” you said.
It took everything you had to get through treatment. The disruption, appointments, emotional upheaval, turmoil and chaos left you with enough focus and energy to handle only things screaming for immediate attention.
Ignore them and there were immediate consequences.
For example, skipping a doctor appointment because you didn’t feel like driving would result in immediate consequences.
But weight gain? There’s no immediate consequence.
Your body’s felt crappy for so long you’ve accepted it as your “new normal”. Yoga pants and t-shirt’s are your new wardrobe; who cares that your clothes don’t fit? You feel so tired that take-out has become your new personal chef.
And NOTHING bad has happened.
Yet.
Solution: Forget your body. Start with your mind. What belief prevents you from taking care of yourself? Is practicing self-care and self-love not yet automatic? Are you self-sabotaging your healthy behaviors?
While you may have some physical limitations, becoming more active could lead to a noticeable improvement in how your body feels.
When you FEEL better, your thinking is more likely to be positive.
Start with gentle activity like yoga, stretching, walking or light weight lifting. See if you don’t feel better physically, which encourages healthier eating habits as well.
HABIT #2 – You don’t feel like exercising, nor do you particularly enjoy doing it, so you reward or justify your workouts with food.
Scenario #1 – REWARD: You reward yourself with a coconut milk mocha latte and a scone. Every, single, time you work out.
The latte and scone calories add up, sometimes clocking in higher than the number of calories you burned. The scale doesn’t budge, your clothes still don’t fit.
Scenario #2 – JUSTIFICATION: You went for a 20-minute walk and did a few walking lunges. You decide to eat second helpings at dinner because you “worked out”.
Solution: Let me be clear. There is NOTHING wrong with having your favorite latte and bakery treat.
Nor are double helpings against the law. But you’ve got to use perspective and put food in its proper place. It’s “fuel”, not “payoff”. Gift yourself a NON-FOOD reward like a movie, a book or that handbag you’re coveting.
And if you use your workout as permission to eat? Stop.
You don’t need to earn the right to fuel your body. You can nourish yourself without doing penance.
HABIT #3 – Planning is not your thing. Your treatment was so structured, you now just want to “wing it.”
I know. Planning feels restrictive. Like one more thing you HAVE to do.
You just want to coast for a bit.
You don’t need to write a week’s worth of menus or create elaborate monthly meal plans. But a little planning makes everything about feeding yourself (and the people who live with you) easier and healthier.
Grazing on snack foods or zipping through the drive-through is simple. But at the end of the day, do you REALLY want to live on that? I don’t think you do.
Solution: Meal “assembly” can save you. Fill your fridge and pantry with frozen and fresh cut up, ready-to-eat veggies and fruits. Microwavable brown rice and quinoa. Seasoned lean meats and fish. Pre-cooked hard boiled eggs and packages of cooked beans/peas/lentils (white, black, garbanzo and kidney beans, lentils and split peas).
Pull together meals and snacks from the items you have available. Most only require heating up or taking straight from the fridge to plate.
Please SHARE THIS post with other women in the hormone-positive breast cancer community!
And let me know in the comments below; have you experienced weight creep as a result of breast cancer? What did you do about it?
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Thanks for reading my blog post!
Most survivors of hormone-positive breast cancer get anxious when they think about what to eat after finishing treatment, so I’ve created the Peaceful Plate program to help survivors eat with peace, not panic.
When you eat with peace, you feel free to enjoy your food again.
Ready to eat with peace?
Click this link and watch my 2-minute Peaceful Plate program video!
Click here and grab a copy of my * FREE * The FIVE Foods Survivors Should Eat
Follow me on Instagram @hormone.breastcancer.dietitian
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your dietitian or doctor for guidance specific to your needs.
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SOURCES
- Weight Gain After Breast Cancer Diagnosis and All-Cause Mortality: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
- Physical and psychological outcomes among women in a telephone-based exercise intervention during adjuvant therapy for early stage breast cancer.
- Influence of Body Image in Women Undergoing Treatment for Breast Cancer.
- Health Risks of Being Overweight
- How to Stop Gaining Weight Try these tips to stop ‘weight creep’ as you get older.
- Differences in Adipose Tissue Metabolism between Postmenopausal and Perimenopausal Women
- Changes in Diet and Lifestyle and Long-Term Weight Gain in Women and Men
- TV and soda: small habits cause weight creep
- Causes of weight gain during cancer treatment