Damn. That hit hard. The nurse re-weighed me. They had to remix my infusion to match my body weight.
Ouch.
Multiple Myeloma Weight Gain
Contents
There are lots of ways to gain weight because of multiple myeloma. Dexamethasone is a steroid. If you weren’t using it to cure cancer, you might be using it to gain weight and muscle.
Coming off of a stem cell transplant (SCT), my oncologist warned me that I would basically go back through puberty. Oily skin, acne, improved sex drive… Oh, yeah. Increased appetite.
Eating Too Much Food
There are a lot of things, and I mean a LOT, that I can blame on my new cancer. The weight gain might, kind-of, sort-of, be the cancer’s fault. I did come back with a voracious appetite after spending 90 days after my SCT nervously swallowing single bites and waiting to see if they’d make me feel like throwing up. But, in the end, I’m overweight for the same reason most people are overweight. I ate too much.
The Multiple Myeloma Diet
When I first was diagnosed with multiple myeloma I asked my doc if there was a diet I should be following. After all, at first blush, it looked like someone with myeloma had just 5 to 7 years to live. When you’re only 46 and you’ve got two kids still in school, you need all 7 of those years. I was willing to eat a sucky diet if that would help.
Unfortunately, my doc told me, “You already have cancer. Eat what you want.”
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There is no way to get enough iron in your diet to overcome the anemia you get from chemo. The doc told me that the chemotherapy was like dropping atomic bombs on my system. Eating more iron was like passing out umbrellas.
The good news is that myeloma life expectancy can be way longer than 7 years. And getting to eat what you like during those years of life is a good thing too.
Too Many Calories
You can read all the books you want, and check out and follow all the weight loss gurus you like, but in the end, the reality of the human body is that if you put more calories in than you use, it will turn the excess into fat. If you don’t pay enough attention, one day the nurse has you get up on the scale and it says 229. Then she resets it and has you try again because your last weigh in, a few months ago, said 209.
Resetting the scale didn’t help.
It’s not a secret. I’ve noticed that my shirts that used to be loose fitting are now snug. I can’t even button any of my shorts without putting the waist band “under” the fat around my belly. When I bend down to tie my shoes, part of my body that should be separate come into mushing contact.
I’ve gained weight. A lot of weight. It’s embarrassing. It doesn’t feel good. There will be no “Before” pictures.
Losing Weight With Multiple Myeloma
So, here we go. I have to lose weight while taking elotuzumab and dexamethasone, both of which will be fighting my in the other direction.
The good news is that I don’t necessarily need to do anything extreme. I know exactly where my weight gain comes from. I eat out a lot. Sometimes I eat lunch and dinner out.
There are ways to dine out and lose weight. That isn’t how I eat out. When I roll through the drive thru at Arby’s, I eat like I finally made it to the end of a long journey. Not only do I get a roast beef meal, but I get another roast beef sandwich on top of that. When I eat at home, I make one sandwich, and maybe I eat some chips. Even a lot of chips won’t add up to a box of curly fries.
So, eating out less, and not eating late night Oreos.
I don’t know where I picked up this habit, but I like eating Oreos and dunking them in milk at night. If I do it at a regular hour, my family is still awake. My wife is there to judge me. My kids are there to think they need Oreos too.
So, I wait.
After everyone has gone to bed around 10 pm I wander over to the pantry, pull out 8 or 9 Oreos, pour a small glass of milk and enjoy my snack.
Sometimes you deserve something nice, but I was doing this a few times every week. That’s too much.
I mean, that’s 500 calories right before bed. They say that a five hundred calorie a day deficit will cause you to lose a pound a week. I’m sure the reverse is true too.
So, I won’t be going out to eat, and hopefully the number the nurse gets off the scale next week isn’t in the 230s.
Exercise
If there is one thing that multiple myeloma has beat down on for me it is my physical strength and endurance. I can’t do much of anything without getting winded, and I can’t remember the last time I tried to run.
We’ll start easy: 10,000 steps every day.
It doesn’t sound like a lot, but 10,000 steps is a hearty amount. You can “accidentally” get 7,000 steps by wandering around and doing errands and stuff. You won’t get to 10,000 steps without either a fairly large endeavor, or deliberate intention. Either way is a good way to use up some of those extra calories and build strength and endurance back up.
Here we go.
I’ll keep you updated.
Update
Here is where I’m supposed to tell you how great I’ve done and how well everything worked out. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened. I blew up to 250 lbs. I’m not even sure how it happened.
I joined the local recreation district gym and I’ll be going at least twice a week, so hopefully that helps. The reality is that I don’t want to change my eating too much, so I’m hoping building back some muscle and doing some exercise will be all I need.
Good luck to you all. Brian out.