Weight GAIN and braces

[rhibee83]

Hi Everyone!

I seem to be the only person GAINING WEIGHT with braces... Everyone else I read is losing tonnes!

How can this be when all soft foods are full of fat, sugar and carbs!!??

I am trying so hard to eat well, but finding its hard to go for the healthy options with braces. I used to eat salad everyday and now can't! I can't chew lettuce! so I find myself opting for vegemite sandwiches for lunch... although lately seeing as my waist line is getting monsterious in size, i have been cooking salmon and vegies for lunch to bring in at work.

I have gained like 3 kilos since my braces went on... I feel like I am never going to get back on track and I am just gonna get fatter and fatter

I have suffered major body image issues and dieting issues for a while now, recently, after getting some help, I have seen the light and was feeling really good about food and my body, but seeing all this weight pile back on, it is starting to get me worrying again!

please tell me its not just me getting fat? lol

[debinator]

Girl you are not alone!! All those nice soft carbs are killing me!!! I am a meat eater by nature, am missing eating nuts, I have just regained the ability to eat salads (at least at home where no one can see and I am near my water pik)

I try to do the best I can- guess I'll be working out like crazy to make up for all those darn carbs. (of course my age isn't helping me with the fat battle

[TMJJill]

I'll join your club.

I'm in braces to change up my bite. My back molars on both sides haven't touched for about 3 years now. That has seriously restricted my diet. No lettuce. Nothing with "skins" like pickles or peppers. Nothing too crunchy or that is difficult to break down.

My diet ended up consisting of lots of pasta. My veggies have been cooked soft. I just avoid some foods all together. Not good. I put on about 15 lbs. Once on, I've found it hard to get off.

My orthodontist is all about whole body health. He is a holistic/biologic dentist and embraces healthy nutrition and natural treatments as part of his practice. When I talked to him about this, he told me to make sure I was getting plenty of spinach. I asked him how I was supposed to chew it. He said to just do lots of green smoothies. He even serves them sometimes in his practice. He has promoted this for the last 3 years I've been seeing him. Ironically, last year he got a new patient. Turns out out she is called The Green Smoothie Girl. She has a series of books that have veggie/fruit smoothies. She started out years ago with a blog and it grew from there.

I haven't embraced the green smoothies yet, but I'm working on it

[rhibee83]

It is nice to hear that I am not alone (not nice about the weight that we have gained lol)

I just keep reading about people losing heaps of weight and going down dress sizes and it is annoying me that i am infact the opposite! lol

Hrmm.. I am not sure I could do a green smoothie hahaha, maybe if it had heaps of yoghurt and stuff so that you couldnt taste the spinach. I do love spinach as a salad though. I was considering trying at home some cos lettuce as this lettuce is alot thicker BUT then was thinking it would be to crunchy lol. My back right molars do not meet either, so i have been munching away on my back left ones, but in saying that, i have eaten on my left side for years as i got perodontist on my right side (just a bit) and my baby tooth decayed so I could not eat on that side (that tooth has now been removed and no more decay yay! lol) but still i am used to eating on my left so i continue to do so, i guess i should try and mix it up a bit but it just feels weird trying to eat on the right let alone not having teeth meet there!

thanks for making me feel like i am not alone

[Tobilei]

I initially lost weight because I couldn't eat ANYTHING. Then I discovered that all soft foods seem to be carbariffic crap and now I seem to go up and up, then I have an adjustment and go back down by a kilo, then up and up again *sigh* (more upping than downing unfortunately!)

I've managed to keep it mostly around the same by slaving my butt off in the gym but I'm not sure even that can save me

And don't be scared of green smoothies. I've thrown bags of spinach into banana smoothies and it doesn't change the taste at all. Just make a smoothie like you always do and chuck in a couple of handfuls. I promise you won't notice (other than the colour, if you make it with banana it tends to look like swamp mud, my green smoothies are often more brown than green).

[ambraced]

For snacks try eating other forms of salads for example instead of using lettuce or an other leafy veg as the base for your salad use something like frozen peas. You can add a boiled egg for the protein, some fresh tomatoes, cheese or tofu. Tofu is good to if you want to lose wait. Although beans contain carbs too, they are digested more slowly than the carbs on bread so they are a better option. Using different beans and pulses and cheeses provides variety for your taste buds.

Usually I take a similar salad with me for lunch at work, but since about a month I'm limiting myself to 1 meal a day in the evening because I'm really bored with the teeth cleaning routine....and yes I lost weight....too much.

[peppy]

You are, most definitely, not alone...

I think people assume that because you can't chew, this equates to weight loss. However, you're right in that a lot of soft foods that are easy to eat are high in fat, sugar and carbs!

For instance, I was eating alot of chocolate in my first two weeks. I used to snack on nuts and fruit pre-braces but couldn't bite into them anymore, so chocolate was easy because you just let it melt!

I think it's the absence of healthy foods like grains and salads that makes the difference. You can still eat healtily with soups and porridge but it's hard to get variety in the early stages.

I'm pretty much eating normally now. The only things I can't eat are things like apples and tomato/curry based things. However, this coupled with my wheat intolerance, makes me a different person to dine with!!!!

[djss16]

I have lost 10 pound since I was braced about 7 weeks ago. I know for sure that what made me lose the weight was less snacking than anything else. I always had munchies here at work.. that are now too hard to eat or too much work to go back and brush it all off again. I also have been drinking a lot of green smoothies! I used to drink them like 3 times a week before but it has become more of a daily thing for me. I make them with bananas and lots of spinach. I cannot eat spinach in a salad because I don't like the way it tastes. I can't eat it cooked either. But when I put it in the bottom of my blender before adding a banana and milk... you cannot taste it at all! It becomes this really cool shade of green but it tastes just like a banana smoothie. You can add something else to sweeten it if you want. I usually add a protein powder that my husband has so that I won't lose more weight. I used to always eat oatmeal for breakfast... so that hasn't changed since it is soft. My lunch is what has changed. I usually opt for something really soft or a soup. I've been eating/drinking lots of soups. I also have been eating lots of yogurt... and I hardly ever touched a yogurt before. I've also been eating a lot of egg. I make me omelets with onion, tomato and cheese. YUMMY! Or just plain ol scrambled eggs with avocado on the side. I also quit drinking soda. I usually drink water and sometimes add Crystal Lite to it to sweeten it. The one thing I cannot give up are my oreo cookies!!! LOL! I dip them in milk to make them soft! I can't quit those! I make sure to brush right after tho... cause I will freak out if I don't!

Edited to add: I also made sure to buy me some vitamins because I know that I must be lacking in something with all the foods I avoid.

[isthistaken]

I agree with the others who said the weight loss was due to the inconvenience of eating. It just takes the fun out of it. And eating the same old same old got monotonous. I can't eat yogurt, the culture gives me severe pain (as do poppyseeds.) I avoid ice cream because I'm afraid of it becoming addictive. I have random weird craves that pop up suddenly, sometimes for things I haven't eaten in years. Maybe younger adults adapt more easily. I'm just like, I'll eat when it's over.....

[rhibee83]

Thank you everyone for your posts and snacking/lunch suggestions! I like the idea of egg, peas, tomato, onion etc, yum! I am going to try that, as well as some beans

I will also try the spinach and banana smoothy, if you can't taste the spinach, i will go there lol

I dont get why people aren't snacking?? Like i have always had breaky, snack, lunch, snack, dinner. It keeps my metabolsim going. And with braces i have been eating banana (cut up), yoghurt and cut up apricots, etc, as snacks, and no need to brush after them I just rinse with water. I only brush 3 times a day. I just dont get why people are skipping meals just cos they have braces? it isnt very healthy in my opinion, but each to their own

I am going away this weekend and I am sure my Nanna will make some yummy sugar loaded delights lol, so when I get back next week, the real healthy eating begins. I think I might do a few days of protein shakes for breaky or something with less carbs, just to get me back on track a bit, cos i really know its the carbs that hate me lol.

thanks again all enjoy your day!

[rhibee83]

I agree with the others who said the weight loss was due to the inconvenience of eating. It just takes the fun out of it. And eating the same old same old got monotonous. I can't eat yogurt, the culture gives me severe pain (as do poppyseeds.) I avoid ice cream because I'm afraid of it becoming addictive. I have random weird craves that pop up suddenly, sometimes for things I haven't eaten in years. Maybe younger adults adapt more easily. I'm just like, I'll eat when it's over.....

icecream is very addictive! its all I ate when i had extractions and i eat it SO MUCH MORE now, than I ever did.

[rhibee83]

For snacks try eating other forms of salads for example instead of using lettuce or an other leafy veg as the base for your salad use something like frozen peas. You can add a boiled egg for the protein, some fresh tomatoes, cheese or tofu. Tofu is good to if you want to lose wait. Although beans contain carbs too, they are digested more slowly than the carbs on bread so they are a better option. Using different beans and pulses and cheeses provides variety for your taste buds.

Usually I take a similar salad with me for lunch at work, but since about a month I'm limiting myself to 1 meal a day in the evening because I'm really bored with the teeth cleaning routine....and yes I lost weight....too much.

you only eat one meal a day!?

[isthistaken]

I'm down to one meal, dinner. That is usually a couple of eggs.

[rhibee83]

I'm down to one meal, dinner. That is usually a couple of eggs.

so your eating a couple of eggs a day, that is all?

i dont understand...

what about breakfast like oats and stuff? why can't you eat stuff like that? I could not survive on one meal a day and just cos we have braces i dont believe you only need to eat one meal a day? My metabolism would be shot and i would be throwing up from being so hungry.

[lukeaj]

I've just had jaw surgery, last week. Met with the dietitian and I have gained a pound on a liquid diet! Most people seem to be losing shed loads. Bodies work in different ways I guess