Does diarrhea lead to weight loss? Causes & tips

How Diarrhea Can Lead to Weight Loss

Diarrhea, characterized by loose, watery stools, abdominal cramping, and urgency to have a bowel movement, is often an unpleasant and inconvenient condition. While usually short-lived, diarrhea can sometimes last for weeks and lead to dehydration and electrolyte imbalances if severe and persistent enough.

An unintentional side effect that some people with diarrhea experience is weight loss. There are a few reasons why diarrhea often results in dropping pounds.

Fluid Loss from Frequent Bowel Movements

One of the hallmark symptoms of diarrhea is passing loose, watery stools frequently throughout the day. This leads to a significant loss of fluid from the body. Since the human body weight is made up largely of water weight, losing fluids through excessive diarrhea causes numbers on the scale to drop.

For example, if you are experiencing 5-6 loose bowel movements daily, and each bout results in about a cup of fluid loss, you may be losing several pounds in water weight alone each day the diarrhea persists. The more bouts of diarrhea and the more fluid volume expelled, the faster you may witness pounds shedding.

Loss of Caloric Intake Due to Poor Absorption

Since everything is moving through the gastrointestinal tract rapidly with diarrhea, your body does not have time to properly digest and absorb calories from the foods you eat. As a result, your body cannot utilize those calories, even if you are consuming what would normally be enough to maintain your weight.

Over days or weeks of inadequate caloric and nutrient absorption, you end up in a deficit that causes weight loss. Think of it like barely eating for a period of time since your body is unable to access much of what you consume while experiencing diarrhea.

Loss of Appetite

It is very common for increased cramping, discomfort, nausea, fatigue from dehydration, and other miserable symptoms that come with diarrhea to also decrease appetite significantly. Some people experience almost a complete loss of normal hunger signals when dealing with diarrhea.

Since you have little interest in eating a normal diet during bouts of diarrhea, cutting back on calories happens without even realizing it. Even bland foods like rice, toast, applesauce, and bananas can be unappealing when you feel so sick. Reduced calorie intake means additional weight loss.

Difficulty Retaining Muscle

Finally, persistent diarrhea and the related inflammation it causes in the body can initiate muscle wasting and make it incredibly difficult to retain or build lean muscle mass. Since muscle is very metabolically active and uses more calories around the clock to maintain itself, losing muscle means your body will burn fewer calories at rest.

Some loss of muscle is inevitable with sustained diarrhea, so you end up with a decrease in basal metabolic rate. Your body uses less energy to complete vital functions, leading to increased weight loss or challenges regaining lost weight until the diarrhea resolves.

How to Manage Diet-Related Diarrhea

If you find yourself struggling with frequent diarrhea and unintentional weight loss, take a closer look at your diet. Certain foods commonly cause or worsen diarrhea, especially when consumed in excess.

Limit High-Fat Foods

Fatty, greasy, and fried foods are challenging for many people to digest even when healthy. Foods like bacon, sausage, fast food hamburgers, pizza, whole milk dairy products, burgers, and fatty cuts of meat provide more fat than your GI tract can handle efficiently.

This leads to irritation that manifests as cramping and urgent, watery diarrhea shortly after eating. Limiting your intake of high-fat foods when dealing with diarrhea can help calm symptoms.

Avoid Gas-Producing Foods

Foods known for creating intestinal gas, like beans, lentils, cabbage, onions, cauliflower, soda, apples, wheat, and dairy, can also provoke diarrhea is some people by increasing gut irritation and urgency to defecate. While completely gassy veggies is extreme, cutting back when you have diarrhea issues helps.

Stick to Low-Fiber Foods

Soluble and insoluble fiber is healthy for most people and linked with many benefits. But those struggling with diarrhea fare better removing dietary fiber almost completely while symptoms persist. Fiber, especially raw produce, seeds, nuts, and whole grains, can scrape and aggravate the inflamed digestive tract.

Sticking with low-fiber foods like white rice, bread, pasta, lean meat, eggs, tofu, plain yogurt, bananas, applesauce, and cooked carrots or other soft veggies helps calm diarrhea by giving your GI system a rest.

Stay Hydrated

While drinking too much liquid right before or after meals can worsen diarrhea, staying hydrated through the day is crucial when dealing with fluid losses from frequent watery stools. Water, diluted fruit juices, electrolyte beverages, and bone broths help replenish what is leaving your body.

If diarrhea lasts more than a few days, consider adding oral rehydration salts to your water. Monitoring your hydration status by looking at mouth and skin dryness, urine color, and other markers allows you to adjust fluid intake as needed.

Seeking Medical Care for Ongoing Issues

A day or two of diarrhea from a stomach bug, food poisoning, or dietary indiscretion often resolves on its own. But if you notice diarrhea lasting more than a couple weeks, accompanied by concerning weight loss, dehydration, severe pain, bloody stools, fever, or weakness, seek medical attention.

A doctor can test for infectious causes like parasites, bacteria, or viruses and offer appropriate treatment options. For non-infectious diarrhea causes, medications, diet changes, probiotic supplements, and other therapies help manage symptoms.

Getting diarrhea under control ends accompanying weight loss and allows you to rebuild nutrition and strength. Seek help sooner than later for severe diarrhea to help resolve triggers and reduce chances of complications.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new treatment regimen.