Lipedema is a chronic condition primarily affecting women, characterized by the abnormal accumulation of fat in the lower body, typically around the hips, thighs, legs, and sometimes the arms. This condition often causes a disproportionate appearance, where the lower part of the body becomes much larger than the upper part, creating a “column-like” look. It is estimated to occur in approximately 11.0% of women worldwide. This article explores what to expect before and after weight loss for individuals with lipedema, how lipedema affects the body, how weight loss impacts it, and what results you can expect throughout your journey.
Understanding Lipedema
Lipedema is a lipodystrophic disease typically characterized by a marked increase in lower-body subcutaneous adipose tissue. Typical clinical signs of lipedema include disproportionate lower body adipose tissue deposition excluding feet, pain in the extremities and easy bruising. The onset of the disease usually occurs during a period of significant hormonal changes in the female body, i.e., during puberty, after pregnancy, or during menopause. Adipose tissue soreness occurs in 89.7% of patients with lipedema.
Lipedema fat is resistant to diet and exercise. It is often painful, and people with lipedema may experience bruising, swelling, and tenderness in the affected areas. In its early stages, lipedema might appear similar to being overweight, but it is a different condition that requires specific care and treatment. Lipedema is often misdiagnosed as general obesity; however, they frequently co-occur.
Unlike regular fat, lipedema fat is resistant to diet and exercise. It is often painful, and people with lipedema may experience bruising, swelling, and tenderness in the affected areas. In its early stages, lipedema might appear similar to being overweight, but it is a different condition that requires specific care and treatment.
How Lipedema Affects Weight Loss
Weight loss for individuals with lipedema can be particularly challenging because of the way fat is stored in the body. Unlike typical fat, which can shrink and reduce in size through calorie restriction and exercise, lipedema fat does not respond well to these methods.
Read also: Managing Lipedema with Nutrition
Fat Distribution
The fat in lipedema is primarily stored in the legs, thighs, hips, and arms. This fat is often difficult to lose because it behaves differently from regular body fat. Even with strict dieting and intense exercise, this fat may not shrink as expected.
Resistance to Diet and Exercise
Lipedema fat is often resistant to traditional weight loss methods like reducing calorie intake or increasing physical activity. This is why many people with lipedema find it extremely difficult to achieve the body proportions they desire. Moreover, it was found that 95.0% of patients were not able to lose fat from the areas affected by lipedema.
Swelling and Fluid Retention
People with lipedema also often experience fluid retention, which can make the legs and arms look even larger than they are. This added swelling can make it harder to gauge true fat loss, as the fluid retention may mask actual changes in body fat.
Weight Loss for Lipedema: What to Expect Before and After
Understanding the phases of the weight loss process can help you set realistic goals and manage expectations.
Before Weight Loss: Assessing Lipedema and Preparing for Change
Before embarking on a weight-loss journey, it’s essential to have a comprehensive understanding of lipedema and your body’s specific needs.
Read also: Managing Lipedema with Keto
- Consultation with a Specialist: The first step is to see a specialist who understands lipedema. They can help you determine whether you have lipedema and how it has impacted your body. This may involve a physical exam and reviewing your medical history.
- Understanding Your Body: The specialist will explain how lipedema affects your body’s fat distribution. Since lipedema is often resistant to traditional weight loss methods, you will likely need a specialized plan that incorporates both weight loss and lipedema management strategies.
- Setting Realistic Expectations: Lipedema is not just about losing weight-it’s about managing the condition and improving the quality of life. You may not achieve drastic changes in certain areas, but the goal is to see an improvement in your body proportions and overall health.
- Tailored Weight Loss Plan: A comprehensive plan will likely include dietary changes, exercise routines, and potentially liposuction or other treatments designed specifically for lipedema. This plan will help you lose weight while addressing the unique challenges that lipedema presents.
During the Weight Loss Process: The Role of Healthy Habits
Once you begin your weight loss journey, there are some key things to keep in mind:
- Diet: A balanced diet that supports healthy weight loss is crucial. A nutritionist can help design a meal plan that reduces inflammation, promotes fat loss, and provides the necessary nutrients to support overall health. Dietary recommendations provide general information indicating diet low in refined carbohydrates, especially added sugars (particularly fructose) and refined grain products, as well as salty and animal-based products. The diet should primarily include unprocessed products, mainly plant-based, different colored vegetables, fruits (excluding juices) and fermented products, as well as use herbs for seasoning.
- Exercise: Regular exercise is important for overall well-being and weight loss. However, traditional cardio exercises may not be enough to target lipedema fat. Low-impact activities like swimming, cycling, and walking are often recommended. These exercises help promote circulation and reduce swelling, which can help manage lipedema.
- Lymphatic Drainage: One of the symptoms of lipedema is poor lymphatic drainage, which contributes to fluid retention and swelling. Specialized treatments like manual lymphatic drainage massage may be suggested to help reduce swelling and improve circulation in the affected areas.
- Compression Garments: Compression garments are often recommended to help manage swelling and support the legs and arms. These garments can improve circulation, reduce fluid buildup, and help maintain the results of your liposuction or other lipedema treatments.
- Patience: Since lipedema fat is resistant to traditional fat loss methods, it’s important to be patient with the process. Gradual changes will occur over time as you follow your tailored plan. Be kind to yourself and acknowledge even small improvements.
After Weight Loss: What Results to Expect
After consistent effort with your weight loss and lipedema management plan, you’ll begin to see positive changes in your body.
- Reduced Swelling: As you lose weight and improve circulation, the swelling in your legs and arms may begin to decrease. You will likely see a reduction in the overall size of your affected areas. Although lipedema fat may not disappear completely, the visible swelling will reduce, making you look and feel better.
- Improved Shape and Contours: While lipedema fat is resistant to weight loss, liposuction targeted at lipedema fat can help remove some of the stubborn fat. This can result in a smoother and more even appearance. You will likely notice a more contoured shape in your legs, thighs, and arms.
- Better Quality of Life: One of the most important results of weight loss and lipedema management is the improvement in your overall health and quality of life. Reducing swelling and inflammation can help ease pain, improve mobility, and reduce the risk of other health complications associated with lipedema, such as joint issues. Pain, disfiguration and reduced mobility are strongly associated with lower quality of life and deterioration of psychological functioning.
- Sustained Results: If you maintain your healthy habits and continue with regular exercise and a balanced diet, the results of your weight loss journey will be long-lasting. However, ongoing maintenance, including lymphatic massage and compression garments, may be needed to manage lipedema symptoms.
Dietary Strategies for Lipedema Management
An appropriate dietary strategy can slow the progression of the disease by inflammation and pain reduction, decrease tissue fluid content and improve quality of life. However, nutritional management should include body weight and body fat reduction through a tailored and caloric restriction diet.
A study involving 108 women diagnosed with lipedema compared a low-carbohydrate-high-fat diet (LCHF) with a low glycemic index medium-fat-medium-carbohydrate diet (MFMC). Both diets were applied for 16 weeks, with a 15-25% energy deficit. Both diets characterized by high proportion of anti-inflammatory nutrients, such as monounsaturated (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The diets were characterized by antioxidants, vitamin C, beta-carotene, and dietary fiber. The diets included foods rich in magnesium, such as cocoa, dark chocolate, nuts and seeds, as well as vitamin E: nuts, oil seeds, and vegetable oils. Additionally, spices such as cloves, garlic, ginger, rosemary, oregano, thyme, pepper and turmeric were added to the diets. Patients were instructed to avoid salty foods to limit dietary sodium intake and to drink a minimum of one green or black tea daily.
The LCHF diet was designed to maximally reduce the intake of processed foods and products rich in saturated fatty acids and to increase the intake of products typical for the Mediterranean diet, such as: vegetables, fruits (berries), nuts and seeds, olive oil and oily marine fish. The MFMC diet had a low glycemic load and a high proportion of low and medium glycemic index products. Products with a high glycemic index were completely excluded from the diet.
Read also: Review: Lipedema and Keto
Additional Treatments for Lipedema
In some cases, weight loss alone may not be enough to address the full extent of lipedema. For individuals with more advanced lipedema, additional treatments may be necessary.
Liposuction for Lipedema
Liposuction is a specialized procedure designed to remove lipedema fat. Unlike traditional liposuction, which targets regular fat, liposuction for lipedema removes the resistant fat while preserving the appearance and function of the legs and arms. This procedure can dramatically improve the body’s shape and contours. Dr. Jaime Schwartz performed a series of lymphatic sparing liposuction and Manual Lipedema Extraction procedures to treat her severe Lipedema.
Lymphatic Drainage Massage
This therapeutic massage can help reduce swelling and improve circulation in areas affected by lipedema. Regular sessions can reduce the pain and swelling associated with the condition.
Compression Garments
These garments are designed to reduce swelling and provide support to the areas affected by lipedema. Wearing them consistently can improve your overall comfort and enhance the results of other treatments.
Personal Success Stories
One woman, diagnosed with lipedema, lymphedema, and venous insufficiency, lost a significant amount of weight by switching to a ketogenic diet and understanding her food sensitivities. She also experienced major non-scale victories like getting off all her prescription medications, clearing up her brain fog, increasing her physical fitness, and traveling internationally. What has been special about her weight loss on keto is that she lost weight in her legs too. She had previously lost more than 100 pounds doing calorie-restriction diets and extreme exercise, but even when she lost weight, low calorie diets made little difference in her lipedema legs.
She also noted improvements in her physical fitness, being able to walk faster and run 8-10 miles a week. Furthermore, she experienced improved dental health since cutting out sugar and carbs.