Welp, i'm down to 100 lbs now, so i'm getting a colonoscopy next week :( now i'm getting sharp pains again after spending a couple hours getting in and out of a car.

God knows how you coped that long! I am suicidal after 8 months! You must be a determined strong person! Thank you for the brilliant post. I call mine the little s****.
I will keep you posted.
Jackmaniac good luck, let us know. We are gonna be tiny weeny sticks soon!

Rachel - have you tried eating more often during the day? Planning meals 5 or 6 times a day means more opportunities for calories. If you sit down and plan a normal amount of calories of healthy fissure-friendly foods, make sure you have those foods on hand, and eat according to plan, you might find your body weight improving.
I've been around the block with weight loss and eating disorders for a long time. (Some eating disorders are caused by things other than wanting to be thin - I'm not accusing you of having anorexia nervosa! "I have a fissure and I'm afraid to eat enough to keep me healthy" is a whole different type of eating disorder.) If this is what's going on with you, the best treatment for most people is to plan meals carefully, and follow that plan. The food plan should be based on meeting your nutritional needs. If you need help with that, going to see a certified nutritionist is often very helpful.
If you don't know how much calories, fiber, etc, you are eating in a day, I suggest keeping a food journal somewhere online like myfitnesspal.com. The computer will tell you how many calories you are eating and how much a person of your size should be eating to gain weight. You can also start to understand what foods you need to eat more of in order to keep your calories high. For example, nuts are crazy high in calories, especially walnuts and pecans, which we can eat safely. Dried fruit is very caloric.
I've been eating a lot of smoothies, in addition to solid fissure friendly foods. A banana, almond milk, coco, and 2 tbsp of peanut butter makes the most delicious smoothy ever, IMHO. Its also more than 300 calories. (There are those nuts again...)
I've been loosing weight, too. I've struggled with being larger than is healthy for me, so the weight loss isn't a problem with me. However, I've only lost about 5 lbs since my fissure when from bad to worse. Before things got really bad, I was trying to loose weight. I've lost 36 lbs since this started in October. Now I'm not trying to loose, but the fear of fissure pain is keeping me away from foods that cause me to gain, like pizza. That being said, if I wanted to, I could get myself to gain weight. All I would have to do is just keep grazing on food all day.
I hope this helps. If you want more information on non-fat-phobic eating disorders, I'd be happy to share. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia get all the attention, but there are a variety of ways that our eating can get all messed up.

I'm very, very overweight (330lb/24 stones/152kg) should my incredibly painful AF now bring me the prospect of weight loss? If so, it's a bonus at least, for me personally. I'm on miralax (movicol here in UK) and nitro and a stool softening diet of high fibre veg, fruit and smoothies etc. Although I'm over weight, I've always enjoyed varied meals, big portions and great nutrition. Yep, I've had a few pizzas and eaten rubbish in my time but that's never really been my primary consumption so it hasn't been a chore to eat more of my favourite foods like aubergines, sweet potatoes and loads of veg and fruit. I'm pretty new to the AF game and after a pizza last week and a BM the following day that left me almost passed out in the bathroom, I'm never doing pizza again. I do get the food 'fear' pretty regularly, but I feel so miserable with AF, my usual comfort (food) is now a complex one! Any advice from fellow obese AF sufferers? Could my obesity be exacerbating my AF? Is reducing the amount you eat helpful? I have about 1-3 BM's a day..is this normal? I've never had constipation, always an active bowel- is this part of my problem? Or should I eat less to have less BM's? Eurgh. Fat, confused and sore :(

coconut wrote:Rachel - have you tried eating more often during the day? Planning meals 5 or 6 times a day means more opportunities for calories. If you sit down and plan a normal amount of calories of healthy fissure-friendly foods, make sure you have those foods on hand, and eat according to plan, you might find your body weight improving.
I've been around the block with weight loss and eating disorders for a long time. (Some eating disorders are caused by things other than wanting to be thin - I'm not accusing you of having anorexia nervosa! "I have a fissure and I'm afraid to eat enough to keep me healthy" is a whole different type of eating disorder.) If this is what's going on with you, the best treatment for most people is to plan meals carefully, and follow that plan. The food plan should be based on meeting your nutritional needs. If you need help with that, going to see a certified nutritionist is often very helpful.
If you don't know how much calories, fiber, etc, you are eating in a day, I suggest keeping a food journal somewhere online like myfitnesspal.com. The computer will tell you how many calories you are eating and how much a person of your size should be eating to gain weight. You can also start to understand what foods you need to eat more of in order to keep your calories high. For example, nuts are crazy high in calories, especially walnuts and pecans, which we can eat safely. Dried fruit is very caloric.
I've been eating a lot of smoothies, in addition to solid fissure friendly foods. A banana, almond milk, coco, and 2 tbsp of peanut butter makes the most delicious smoothy ever, IMHO. Its also more than 300 calories. (There are those nuts again...)
I've been loosing weight, too. I've struggled with being larger than is healthy for me, so the weight loss isn't a problem with me. However, I've only lost about 5 lbs since my fissure when from bad to worse. Before things got really bad, I was trying to loose weight. I've lost 36 lbs since this started in October. Now I'm not trying to loose, but the fear of fissure pain is keeping me away from foods that cause me to gain, like pizza. That being said, if I wanted to, I could get myself to gain weight. All I would have to do is just keep grazing on food all day.
I hope this helps. If you want more information on non-fat-phobic eating disorders, I'd be happy to share. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia get all the attention, but there are a variety of ways that our eating can get all messed up.

Thankyou, i am trying now to eat more in the day, and space out smaller meals, rather than a too big meal at night. I will try the smoothie it sounds delicious.
I have become scared of eating in fear of the AF pain.I know this is ridiculous, but it has really messed with my head! I am scared of any hard BM, go in next Thursday to have Botox, just hope this can help me get out of this horrible pain. How are you doing??

I went through a stage of not wanting to eat. I don't think I even finished a meal for months. I just used to look at food in a totally different way.... Like it was the devil!!!lol
I have now eased up a bit, and can actually face most foods.
Omb

coconut wrote:Rachel - have you tried eating more often during the day? Planning meals 5 or 6 times a day means more opportunities for calories. If you sit down and plan a normal amount of calories of healthy fissure-friendly foods, make sure you have those foods on hand, and eat according to plan, you might find your body weight improving.
I've been around the block with weight loss and eating disorders for a long time. (Some eating disorders are caused by things other than wanting to be thin - I'm not accusing you of having anorexia nervosa! "I have a fissure and I'm afraid to eat enough to keep me healthy" is a whole different type of eating disorder.) If this is what's going on with you, the best treatment for most people is to plan meals carefully, and follow that plan. The food plan should be based on meeting your nutritional needs. If you need help with that, going to see a certified nutritionist is often very helpful.
If you don't know how much calories, fiber, etc, you are eating in a day, I suggest keeping a food journal somewhere online like myfitnesspal.com. The computer will tell you how many calories you are eating and how much a person of your size should be eating to gain weight. You can also start to understand what foods you need to eat more of in order to keep your calories high. For example, nuts are crazy high in calories, especially walnuts and pecans, which we can eat safely. Dried fruit is very caloric.
I've been eating a lot of smoothies, in addition to solid fissure friendly foods. A banana, almond milk, coco, and 2 tbsp of peanut butter makes the most delicious smoothy ever, IMHO. Its also more than 300 calories. (There are those nuts again...)
I've been loosing weight, too. I've struggled with being larger than is healthy for me, so the weight loss isn't a problem with me. However, I've only lost about 5 lbs since my fissure when from bad to worse. Before things got really bad, I was trying to loose weight. I've lost 36 lbs since this started in October. Now I'm not trying to loose, but the fear of fissure pain is keeping me away from foods that cause me to gain, like pizza. That being said, if I wanted to, I could get myself to gain weight. All I would have to do is just keep grazing on food all day.
I hope this helps. If you want more information on non-fat-phobic eating disorders, I'd be happy to share. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia get all the attention, but there are a variety of ways that our eating can get all messed up.

I second this. I've been making sure to eat snacks in between meals like pecans or filberts, dried prunes, figs, apples, etc. and eating smoothies (avocado, blueberries, almond milk, banana) for breakfast now with pecans on the side. I lost about 5 pounds at first, but I've finally gained it back and I've kept it constant by doing this. I can't eat too much for actual meals, but I make sure to plan them and that they are varied and something enjoyable so I don't feel like I'm just afraid of eating or finishing my food. Once you can get in a regular eating habit then it's not so scary, as long as they are foods that you know will come out soft.

I spent my day obsessed with my tail end. What I ate, where I went how I went there everything revolved around this condition. I had to literally get my head out of my ass. I went from a size 14/16 to a size 4 in 3 months. When my coworker saw me she cried because she thought I was dying. I am up to 145 now a little more than a year since 3 surgeries.Just handle the physical part and the weight will come back. Wish I could have stayed in size 8 but have settled in a size 12 and seems to be my weight. I worked hard and had to give up alot to get here but life is good again. Hang in there!Do what you have to do and things will get better.

Thanks sterling bird, I am doing the smoothies now and snacking inbetween my lunch and evening meal. Did you have the LIS then? I am size 8 at the mo, but did get into some jeans I hadn't worn for 3 yrs! Eek.

So pending some biopsies and genetic testing, it looks like my weight loss is ulcerative colitis related :/ I think I'm still going to keep my fissure diet though. It did seem to be helping; any ulcer regardless of where it is up there in my mind still needs that softness to heal.