Have you ever wondered why you lose weight while you have colon cancer? It’s a common question we get asked by patients as they go through treatment. While medicine can be very effective at treating their disease, it can’t keep the weight off forever. That’s why it’s so important to learn how to maintain your weight gain during treatments for colon cancer.
Cancer-Causing Foods
If you’re already eating the right foods, you don’t need to change what you’re doing. You just need to make sure you’re eating the right amounts. When you’re eating foods that are high in fiber, you’re effectively filling your stomach, which can prevent the portion control that causes you to lose weight. Additionally, eating the right foods can help your body fight cancer more effectively.
On the other hand, if you’re eating foods that are high in fat and sugar, you’re telling your body that you’re OK with storing energy as fat. And while it’s great to want to look like a celebrity or Olympian, storing energy as fat is not the ideal state for your body. If you’re already eating the right foods, make sure you’re not overdoing it or avoiding what helps you maintain your ideal weight. Instead, you can experiment with how much fiber and fat you need in order to feel satisfied.
Radiation Therapy Can Be A Challenge
Radiation therapy is a common treatment for colon cancer, and while it can be extremely effective, it can also be a challenge to manage weight during and after treatment. The biggest challenge in most cases is staying hydrated, as you’ll be required to drink a lot throughout the treatment. As you may expect, this can be hard to do with colon cancer if you’re already dehydrated due to the disease. If possible, you should drink sufficient amounts of water throughout the day to avoid any negative consequences.
Another challenge is sticking to a diet high in fiber and low in fat if you’re undergoing chemotherapy. Chemotherapy kills off not only cancer cells, but also healthy cells. As a result, you’ll lose weight even if you’re consuming the right foods. But you should not feel bad about losing the weight. Instead, you should look at it as a sign that you’re healing and that your body is adapting to the treatment.
Radiation therapy can be hard on the body, and it’s not uncommon for patients to gain and then lose a lot of weight. This is because not only is your body adapting to the treatment, but so is your taste in food. The key is to not let the weight you gain be hard to maintain. Instead, make sure you’re eating the right foods and getting the right amounts of sleep and exercise. This way, you’ll not only be able to maintain your pre‐cancer weight, but potentially even improve your health and well‐being.
Anatomical Changes Due To Age
Anatomical changes due to age can also play a role in why you lose weight with colon cancer. As we get older, our bodies begin to lose muscle mass and fat percentage. This can result in an overall weight loss, regardless of whether or not you’re a person of normal weight or overweight to begin with. But it’s important to remember that it’s not always due to fat loss that older people begin to appear heavier. It can be due to a loss of muscle mass as well. If this is the case for you, make sure you’re not neglecting your muscles through disuse or weakness. Instead, get out and exercise as much as you can.
Additionally, as we get older, our sense of smell deteriorates. This is why when you ask someone if they can detect the difference between regular and diet cola, they will almost certainly say no. While your taste in food may change due to the disease, your sense of smell will not. To truly benefit from dieting when you have colon cancer, you’ll have to overcome this issue. Luckily, there are medications that can improve your sense of smell, so you don’t have to give up tasty foods just to lose weight. Talk to your doctor about which medications may be suitable for you and your specific situation.
In summary, there are many reasons why you might lose weight with colon cancer. The key is to not feel bad about it and to work hard to get back to your pre‐cancer weight. But above all, make sure you’re doing everything you can to avoid the disease in the first place.