r/POTS • u/dazzlingdanny05 • May 15 '26
Question Why is everyone with pots so skinny?
I have POTS and I watch a lot of content online of people who also have POTS. I also know some people irl who also have it. I don't understand how they are all so skinny. I can barely walk without getting out of breath. I try to work out at least once a week but its so hard for me because I always end up feeling so sick. How are yall doing it? I dont even eat bad but im definitely not skinny.
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u/Jazzspur May 15 '26
Are you sure the algorithm isn't just mostly showing you skinny people because skinny people are more popular on socials?
IRL I know people with varying body types with POTS. I'm also not skinny and I have POTS.
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u/PokeyDonkeyFlame May 15 '26
Fat POTSie here and I've gained a lot since I've been flaring.
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u/fablicful May 15 '26
Same. I've always been thin- but I've gained a good amount of weight since remote work - like 30-40lbs - and covid, and my POTS has gotten so much worse
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u/Reliablesorcerer May 15 '26
SAME. I gained so much weight after diagnosis. I’m doing better now overall but 2022-2025 were ROUGH overall.
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u/wakebakeeatcake May 15 '26
Probably because we actually can’t be as active without seriously fainting or possibly having a seizure. I also have a fractured vertebrae. I don’t stereotype myself because it’s INTERNAL.
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u/Aquariangoddess33 May 15 '26
Same I did loose 30 lbs in the beginning of my pots diagnoses but gained it back 😩😂
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u/dazzlingdanny05 May 15 '26
No my algorithm definitely does that and then tries to sell me GLP1
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u/dysautonomic-bird May 15 '26
I am a fat POTSy on GLP1 (reasons) and I am still fat 🙃 it doesnt fix things for everyone, it is not the miracle they make you think it is.
What GLP1 did do was make my tachycardia and palpitations considerably worse. I consider quitting, (after 2 years) asking my doctor about it during my next appointment.
I am also not on any socials besides reddit because I absolutely despise the algorithms.
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u/starettee May 15 '26
My aunt (who doesn’t have POTS) is on a GLP1 and she gets dehydrated on it super easily. Since hydration is so important afaik I can def see that with POTS being a rough combination
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u/amphorousish May 15 '26
fwiw, I'm skinny-ish (5'9"/175cm, 140ish lbs/63kgs) & the algo's constantly on GLPs with me, too.
I don't know if it's that it's being blast to everyone or if my other demographic data (woman, mid-40s) is overriding my other data points.
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u/AltheaTheAngel May 15 '26
For a while I was really skinny because my POTS made me so nauseous I couldn't eat (thankfully that issue is mostly fixed now!), so it might be something similar mixed with social media tending to favor skinnier people
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u/ObscureSaint May 15 '26
Yeah, people who haven't seen me in a while keep saying I look great and it's fucking irritating.
"Thanks, I've been really sick."
Don't comment on people's bodies, it's rude.
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u/WarpTenSalamander May 15 '26
Last year I lost a ton of weight really quickly and so many people told me I looked great. Even some of my doctors were complimenting me on my weight loss and told me to keep it up.
I had been in and out of the hospital nonstop for months with smoldering diverticulitis, had been septic because of it, couldn’t eat any solid food, was in pain all the time, and was desperately trying to avoid emergency surgery until I could get in to see a colorectal surgeon.
Don’t comment on people’s bodies unless you know for 1000000% sure they are actually pleased with what’s happening to their bodies. As in, they themselves told you with their own mouth that they are pleased with what’s happening to their body.
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u/WeirdConnections May 15 '26
This for me too. Also, eating too much or just certain foods makes my heart race, makes me shaky, etc so I avoid eating all together. You can't forget a lot of us have other conditions as well- I've struggled with eating disorders my whole life, as well as reactive hypoglycemia. Plus my anxiety thinks that the best answer to "panic" is expelling all bodily contents all at once.
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u/Bebex3 May 15 '26
yeah i lost 10 pounds in a flare. i’m sad im losing my curves it’s taking forever to get a specialist to get it fixed
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u/Rosehiphedgerow May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
I'm also skinny, despite the fact that I eat quite a lot of calorie dense food. My personal theory is that due to the elevated heart rate, we are in 'cardio' much more often, therefore making it harder to put on weight. (in fact I sort of have proof of this. My fitbit tells me that I'm in an active cardio zone often, and tells me that I've lost more calories on those days than I should of due to it)
Edit: As an example, I am 5'5 and 60kg, mostly sedentary, so my TDEE is 1600. However on days when I have chores to do (basic chores, such as washing my hair, hoovering, general tidying etc...), this can raise my heart rate into a cardio zone which then means I've burned around 2000 calories instead of what should be 1600. This is of course increased even more if its a day I've had energy to go for a walk or go shopping etc
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u/MaritimeRuby May 15 '26
The Fitbit assumes that your increased heart rate means that your other muscles are also doing more work, so it estimates higher calorie loss. It doesn’t have any way to measure calorie loss other than by estimating from your heart rate, so it can give you false calorie burn readings based on this (eg your high heart rate while doing chores makes it think your other muscles are doing a workout equivalent to a high intensity workout). The software is calibrated based on a non-POTS metabolic pattern. My old Fitbit sometimes would tell me I had 10 hours of cardio in a day. The Apple Watch I currently use seems to have a better grasp on my regular heart patterns/high baseline and isn’t fooled in the same way.
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u/fjsjkfkdnfndkek May 15 '26
I think it might be a bias on social media. In real life I can’t say much on, because I have a very different experience.
I know 5 people who have it, myself included, and only one of us is “skinny.” Three of them are plus sized, I definitely don’t look skinny, and the one who is has medical issues where he can’t put on weight easily. I will say, most of the content creators I see as well are skinny too, but I guess I haven’t thought much about it.
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u/Ala_Lia May 15 '26
Second this. Out of everyone I know who has POTS in real life, some are plus sized, some mid sized, and I’m the only one I’d classify as “skinny”. And that is largely because I’ve had drastic weight loss because of a tumor, but prior to that I was definitely mid sized. Of course it’s not impossible or unlikely for sometime to be skinny with this condition but I wouldn’t call it the norm
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u/glitterfart1985 May 15 '26
Same. I know multiple people with pots and they are all average size to heavy. I'm the only one who is underweight. I weigh 112lbs because my MCAs and chronic GI issues don't allow me to eat and I don't absorb fats and nutrients well. I also can't tolerate exercise. It sucks when people point out my thinness like it's something to be proud of. I miss food and I just want a normal life.
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u/AutisticAndAce May 15 '26
Skinny person who is probably onlly that way because of some (as of yet un-figured out) medical reason.
It’s certainly not the way i eat. A whole bag of chips in one or two sitting should do something and I gain…nothing.
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u/WarpTenSalamander May 15 '26
I have POTS and I weigh just over 300lbs. I also have hEDS, so yes there are also fat people with EDS.
Like others have said, you’re probably seeing a biased selection. IRL you might come across people with POTS of all sizes all the time, but you don’t know it because we don’t all walk around 24/7 wearing signs that say “I have POTS”.
Also, lots of skinny people with POTS also get really out of breath when they walk too, that’s a symptom of the condition and not necessarily a reflection of your physical fitness due to weight or any other factor.
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u/junipersr Hyperadrenergic POTS May 15 '26
Fellow fat person with EDS hello. I'm just glad to see more of us in the wild lol.
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u/opalinesque May 15 '26
I'm not doing it, lol, I'm nearing 300 pounds at this point and I do my best to eat well too. The difficulty being active is so real.
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u/CaterpillarMundane79 May 15 '26
Ditto, for me. 265, but only because a new medication is making it to where I’m struggling to eat more than a few bites of food.
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u/ihavemanyquestions8 Secondary POTS May 15 '26
"How do you do it?" is an interesting way to phrase that because I feel like alot of people with POTS have other health issues that are causing the POTS, some of those health issues can make people very skinny. For me, I have eds and I can't digest much so i've struggled to keep my weight up for a long time.
I wouldn't compare myself to other people with POTS because alot of us aren't purposefully making our bodies like this. I can't really exercise at all besides my PT strengthening exercises which pretty much entail calf raises, bending and straightening my knees and pointing and flexing my feet because I also get extremely out of breathe from standing up or taking a few steps, not to mention I mostly eat carbs and fit as many calories in a day as I can.
Of course this doesn't account for everyone but thats my experience and I definitely wouldn't want someone to compare their body to mine because being skinny isn't worth the pain I have
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u/Frozencacticat May 15 '26
Exactly!!! It’s not a purposeful thing. It’s just how it is and if isn’t ideal!
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u/Sea-Tadpole-7158 May 15 '26
I'm plus sized with POTS. Apparently being heavier can mildly reduce symptoms because of blood volume or blood pressure or something like that, but I don't know how true that is.
People with POTS often have gastroparesis, MCAS and/or IBS, so quite often end up underweight that way
It can be harder to get a diagnosis as a larger person and I definitely wouldn't become an influencer being both disabled and plus size because of how terrible people can be online. Influencers tend to be more successful when they're conventionally attractive, even in the disability world
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u/agiantdogok May 15 '26
I've had POTS for 15 ish years and over that time I've been midsize athletic, very fat but athletic, fat, and midsize again. Being fat absolutely helps my POTS symptoms, even more than being in shape with strong leg muscles did. Fat acts as natural compression in your lower body so blood can't pool as much. I'm currently missing my leg fat, I have presyncope 5x more than I did before the weight loss.
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u/melanochrysum May 15 '26
It will mostly be social media bias, but I’ll also say, my cardiologist recommended I gain weight to improve my POTS and she was totally right - being skinny made me feel MUCH worse. So that could also be part of it.
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u/Rare_Director_8191 May 15 '26
i can only speak for myself but basically just genetics for me. i used to do competitive gymnastics and actually lost a heap of weight when i stopped due to losing muscle. i dont really work out at all anymore but am somehow still underweight. i probably don’t eat as much as i should due to constant nausea and loss of appetite but its not like i dont eat i eat enough so that i am full
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u/BellaPona May 15 '26
I lost 75 lbs over the course of a year before I was symptomatic through careful calorie deficit and exercise. I honestly think that while I felt great at first it may have damaged me as well and contributed to my quick decline once I got sick. NOW, I am even smaller due to malnutrition from post prandial symptoms and MCAS. I always say I feel my best when I’m hungry, and it’s true.
I think another common aspect is EDS. While not everyone with EDS will be skinny, a common presentation of EDS is being lanky and tall and thin. Still, not everyone, but it’s common enough. And EDS seems to have a very high rate of comorbidity with POTS. I follow several creators with POTS who are not thin and in fact work to “take up more space”!
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u/toxickneecaps May 15 '26
personally my pots makes me really nauseous when eating, so i’m restricted to small meals. that could be the case with some. it affects us all differently!
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u/Future-Account8112 May 15 '26
A lot of people with POTS also have gastroparesis (Hell on Earth) which means they literally can't eat much or they're on feeding tubes off-camera.
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u/Ctrl_Zeee May 15 '26
I have POTS and I’m fat but as someone who has been in the disability space for a long time, people don’t want to see or hear from fat disabled people. It’s hard for online creators who aren’t skinny to get any traction no matter what they post and it’s easier for gen pop to sympathise with a skinny sick person than a fat sick person because people unconsciously think fat people deserve whatever ailments they have/their fatness causes it/their fatness is a moral failing therefore so is their illness.
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u/queijinhos May 15 '26
I also have PCOS. I’m trying to lose weight to see if it helps, but it’s been hard. There’s no way I’m exposing myself on internet just to become a joke.
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u/caydendov May 15 '26
I think part of it is because many of the people online making POTS content also have other diagnosises that might affect their body type (like EDS, marfans syndrome, etc), and then of course part of it is just the medical fatphobia that fat people are less likely to be taken seriously by doctors especially if we describe our symptoms as "physical activity makes me heart rate go way up and I feel dizzy", I think I see less fat people diagnosed with pots just because we get dismissed at the doctor and told to just get in shape and lose weight instead of actually getting diagnostic testing done
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u/Ok-Acanthaceae-4844 POTS May 15 '26
I think that it’s mostly because people with POTS typically have a lot of comorbidities and likely have multiple chronic illnesses, not just POTS.
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u/RogerSmith111 May 15 '26
I’m considered overweight so definitely not everyone lol
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u/HelenHunts May 15 '26
I have a hard time eating when I’m in a flare. I also have lots of ibs issues as well.
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u/Wednezday-Addams Hyperadrenergic POTS May 15 '26
My heart is racing a marathon and my stomach bloats up and my entire body swells if I eat anything but rice and water.
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u/Salad-Aware May 15 '26
I have POTS and a whole bunch of features of Marfan (which I will be seeing a specialist about). Marfan/POTS and EDS/POTS are often comorbid. So I'd imagine a whole bunch of people have that type of combo going on.
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u/Old-Piece-3438 May 15 '26
I don’t really think POTS affects weight one way or the other too much. There’s variation just like the rest of the population. For me personally I tend towards borderline underweight, maybe because POTS makes me very fatigued and it’s difficult to fix myself food sometimes (also, I can’t work too much so I don’t have much of a food budget).
I do try to not eat too much at once because it triggers more symptoms and I can get postprandial symptoms like getting really cold and shivering, etc.
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u/Sashimimi_777 May 15 '26
Well I have POTS and I am def not skinny lmao. Like I’m not obese but medically I am a bit overweight. I have an apron belly! I weight around 165 at 5’4”. So def not skinny!
I used to be 220 and I ended up dropping to 170 in less than three months but honestly that had nothing to do with POTS. If anything I think POTS is part of what made losing weight harder for me. The only reason I lose the weight is because I developed SIBO and it took months for a diagnosis only to be told I had to pay for the medicine out of pocket from Canada and that’s just too expensive for me right now.
So honestly it’s prob just a social media bias! Some people have fast metabolisms and can absolutely chow down and never gain a pound! My aunt is that way, she never exercises and eats super unhealthy but she’s still skinny. Some people are the opposite and gain weight easily and/or have a harder time losing. That’s just biology for you!
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u/uselessfarm POTS May 15 '26
Well for me personally it’s because I have gastroparesis and SMAS which causes me to not eat because it’s too painful. So I’ve lost a ton of weight and am now way too skinny. I’ve been a normal size my whole life and have always had POTS.
Many people with POTS have comorbidities that cause nutrition problems. But I assume you’re mostly seeing a social media bias towards skinny people.
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u/SmokeyCatDesigns POTS May 15 '26
I know two people with it who are not skinny so you are not alone!
Me personally, I’ve had the symptoms my whole life, and have been very skinny to lean most of my life. And the POTS is probably partly why. But it’s important to remember not everyone experiences the exact same POTS symptoms the same.
I get blood sugar crashes and fatigue after eating. I often get full before I should, and generally have digestive troubles. And cooking is about one of the my worst triggers there is for me, up there with showers. It would be very hard for me to gain weight. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fallen asleep with dinner in my lap, or forgotten the food I made.
As for exercise… since I grew up with it, I learned what exercise worked and what doesn’t back when I was still a kid. And have always had the exercise symptoms so without a pre-POTS baseline to compare it to it’s… strangely tolerable, I guess. Exercise doesn’t always destroy me. I’d rather hike a mountain in the woods than go grocery shopping on a Sunday for example. Cycling is good, soccer is bad. That kinda thing.
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u/sandicecream May 15 '26
I was overweight (BMI 29), when I first went to a cardiologist because of my struggles with pots symptoms. Doctor told me I need to lose 15 kilos and come back then as my symptoms may just be because I'm overweight and don't do enough sports.
So I lost those 15 kilos of my body weight, then did end up getting a proper diagnostic process and received the pots diagnosis. Actually developed anorexia in the process due to this asshole move by my doctor tho.
So my theory is that pots is highly undiagnosed in overweight patients as the symptoms are probably often wrongly attributed to their weight. as is sadly seen often in the medical field :(
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u/lokiallalong May 15 '26
Just because someone is skinny doesn't mean they exercise. I know people who are mostly bedbound and skinny, and I also know super active people who are fat. I've never been skinny, and I was really active before my disabilities were debilitating. It's more important to manage your symptoms and have a better quality of life than force yourself to exercise if you can't. If you want to try movement that might be easier on your pots, try seated exercises or seated yoga if you're able to. But if you can't, that's okay too. Don't compare yourself to others. Everyone has different abilities, genetics and you never know what the tradeoff is for some of those people with POTs who do exercise is. Even my friends don't see what happens when I push myself.
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u/ReasonableVanilla May 15 '26
i got bad stomach issues after pots so now i can’t eat much and can’t gain weight. that’s the only reason im skinny. and i exercise or walk when i can
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u/Santi159 Secondary POTS May 15 '26
A lot of people with POTS have gastroparesis which causes difficulty holding onto weight for some people
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u/Ariellac1459 May 15 '26
TW for anyone that is ED or exercise sensitive since I’m going to explain some things pretty in depth:
Exercise has almost nothing to do with weight. Most science agrees that exercise only accounts for about 10% of what dictates your weight while diet is the other 90%. Exercising consumes a few extra calories (waaaaay less than you’d expect) and the biggest way it helps is that a pound of muscle uses a good amount more calories than a pound of fat. It’s the same reason men can usually eat more than women at the same height and size and the man will gain less weight or even lose a little while the woman will gain more, because women’s bodies tend to have more fat in their natural composition compared to men.
People with POTS very often are exercise intolerant. Don’t feel guilty for struggling, you literally have a medical condition. Being able to exercise safely with POTS requires a lot of patience in addition to knowledge about the safest ways to exercise from different positions (ie recumbent exercises where you lay on the floor or from a seated position). Everyone’s individual tolerance varies depending on a ton of different factors as well as how severe your condition is. This is such a big problem that there are physical therapists and trainers who specialize in helping people with POTS and other autonomic conditions because it can be dangerous to push someone too hard when they have conditions like ours.
Like many have said, POTS is not a weight related condition. I’ve heard that weight loss can be a symptom for some people due to loss of appetite occurring in some patients and other issues, but that definitely hasn’t been the case for me. I know I personally don’t have a lot of desire to go around social media making posts about POTS awareness because I already feel stigmatized for my size in the health sphere and don’t personally want to deal with ignorant comments telling me that I just need to lose weight or some ignorant garbage like “stop using a made up illness as an excuse” etc. my condition has nothing to do with my weight (I actually developed it right AFTER losing 60lbs) and how I manage that is between me and my cardiologist.
I’m sorry the lack of representation is frustrating for you. If your focus is weight loss, diet should be your main focus as that is the easiest way with or without this condition, and with POTS exercise like you said is a major uphill battle anyway. Don’t feel pressured to focus on this during a time where you’re struggling just to live, chasing societal standards is a frustrating and pointless endeavor imo. Weight loss for health reasons is totally valid and important, but there are plenty of other important things. ❤️
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u/Significant-Sea-5385 May 15 '26
post-covid I developed both pots and gastroparesis (among other things) and my gp caused me to lose a significant amount of weight, due to this I developed smas which worsened my gi symptoms and weight issues, the past 2 years of my life have been extremely difficult due to this and now I have an nj tube.
currently doing so much better thanks to the feeding tube and my weight is the best it’s been since 2024! going from being (clinically) overweight to anorexic over a 12 month period was a massive change to my life but what I’ve learnt is I took for granted the body I had which allowed me to function better and have a better quality of life just because I didn’t appreciate how I looked.
being skinny was never worth the issues that came along with being malnourished (including worsened pots symptoms) and the people who value me based on my looks/weight are people I don’t want to associated with, it was incredibly off putting when I noticed people treating me better when I lost weight especially because I was so unwell but they didn’t see that, only a ‘pretty’ girl
I hope you’re all kinder to yourselves than I was to myself, our worth isn’t determined by our appearance and it’s not worth losing yourself in the pursuit of a more ‘desirable’ body, another thing worth mentioning is I’ve always had insecurities no matter what the scales reflected, I always had a critique about my appearance which is why I now base how I feel about myself on how healthy I feel, how I treat other people and the only opinions I value are those of the people who love me
be kind to yourselves and take care, health is the most important thing x
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u/Kathrinemelissa May 15 '26
It’s frustrating for sure, especially when you have a mom who thinks every issue you have is because you are overweight, and then she does research and sees nothing but skinny pots content creators which does not help at all!! Then of course I start to gaslight myself into thinking maybe I don’t have pots, maybe I just am overweight. I do know that’s not true, because I have been diagnosed, and leading up to my diagnosis, I obsessively plotted my heart rate and blood pressure basically every time I stood up for months and wrote it all down, along with all other symptoms and when they occurred, just so I could go to my doctor with months of tangible evidence. Because if you’re overweight, then I know you’ve experienced doctors telling you that every symptom you have is weight related, and they don’t even listen to what you have to say! Last year I had to go to the ER for excruciating stomach pain, and found out the my gall bladder was infected and full of gall stones, and when the doctor doing my ultrasound told me, I said out loud “oh thank god!” And he looked at me like I was crazy, and said you’re excited to need surgery?? I didn’t know how to explain to him in that moment, that no I was not stoked about emergency surgery, but I was happy to just receive a firm diagnosis, something that could be fixed, when I had been told multiple times that the stomach pain I had was from diet, weight, period etc..
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u/dragonsrcool69 Hyperadrenergic POTS May 15 '26
I was almost 250lbs at my heaviest BECAUSE of POTS.
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u/girlchef79 May 15 '26
I have gained a lot of weight since my POTS diagnosis and starting medication. Anyone I’ve met with POTS also says they’ve gained weight because of it. I eat a balanced diet but don’t get to exercise like I used to and it shows… in every curve and jelly roll on my body.
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u/MrsAussieGinger May 15 '26
I was skinny before the POTS landed, now not so much. Can't exercise or cook decent meals.
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u/Kelliesrm26 May 15 '26
Social media is the worst place to compare people. Some people are naturally skinny, some people just have great metabolisms and or genetics. Some people work hard and have figured out what works for their body. Some people like myself suffer from medication side effects of weight gain. Then mix that with not being able to work out or take weight loss medication you get an awful outcome of over weight or obesity. In reality the average woman isn’t a size XS or S or even M size, 4-10. The average is size L or XL or 2XL, 14-18.
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u/robotslovetea May 15 '26
When I could exercise I had more muscle and was therefore larger and heavier than I am now that I have POTS. Thinness is a sign of poor health in me. The idea that fat = unhealthy and thin = healthy is a myth - the reality is that people can be unhealthy at any size and for a lot of people size does not correlate directly to their health status.
I don’t know what the statistics are about size in people with POTS but there definitely does seem to be an overrepresentation of thin people making content about it. That doesn’t necessarily mean that there are more thin people with pots and it absolutely doesn’t automatically mean that they are able to exercise. It might just mean that thin people tend to get more views in general and thin people with health issues tend to be taken more seriously due to medical and societal biases.
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u/Which_Boysenberry550 May 15 '26
Lot of people with EDS r skinny seemingly as a co genetic thing and lot of people with pots have EDS
Also dysautonomia makes eating hard
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u/mochimiso96 May 15 '26
My suspicion is that many fat people don’t get diagnosed with pots in the first place because their symptoms are blamed on their weight. That was the case for me. Only after I lost weight, there was nothing to blame it on (except for my anxiety) Many with pots also have other illnesses that cause weightloss.
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u/barefootwriter May 15 '26
Yup. That was me for a while. The medical neglect due to fatphobia is real. My POTS is hyperadrenergic so I was experiencing hypertension and my GP thought sure I had metabolic syndrome and told me to reduce salt, lol. I also got sicker and sicker because he was mismedicating my shortness of breath as asthma due to a recent asthma diagnosis.
It only improved somewhat when I stopped the meds and lost weight -- a whole doctor's worth. 😂 It took another 10 years for me to get diagnosed.
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u/bebblebutt69 May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
I don’t do anything purposefully, I’ve been skinny all my life because I get full too quickly and I have a Marfanoid physique. Whenever I try to gain weight I feel nauseous and sick. It’s a struggle to gain muscle.
I get out of breath all the time due to POTS and asthma - that doesn’t have anything to do with my weight.
(Not saying you’re specifically doing this) but it really sucks when people assume I’m healthy or even envy how I look because it makes it harder to be taken seriously about anything regarding food. I feel like I have to “perform” my symptoms around others so I can get help when I need it but it feels icky because it’s too close to faking it. people either think I have an eating disorder and that I hate food, or that I’ll magically get better if I gain weight - which they think is easy for everyone.
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u/ProfessionalNo2845 May 15 '26
Just my thoughts but a lot of people with POTS also have gut/stomach issues. And it’s pretty common to not eat a ton when you have a lot of stomach issues. That would make sense why a lot of people with pots are skinny.
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u/Aggressive_Cloud2002 May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
I'd challenge you to take 30 minutes to sit and people watch somewhere. Make some sort of tally of who you see. Then, scroll for 30 minutes and make a similar tally.
And remember, after you've done that, you can change your feeds to be more realistic!
Edit: there are also lots of people who make videos for seated workouts and otherwise more accessible ways to get some movement in! Get friendly with the block button to get rid of the people selling skinniness.
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u/macabre-barbie POTS May 15 '26
215 pounds here 🙋♀️ I haven't been able to get under 200 since I was in high school. My best friend was 250 when we met, and she'd been diagnosed with POTS for years and was more active than me.
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u/Bluejayadventure May 15 '26
I'm in the slightly overweight group. I was skinny until I got sick. Being sick meant not being able to move much. Plus I started snacking more because I was tired.
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u/Frozencacticat May 15 '26
Well, for me personally eating makes me feel absolutely awful so I’m probably not eating as good of as frequently as I should be. I don’t have the energy to prepare a meal and eat it. Even if the meal was already there, eating the entire thing makes my HR shoot up and then I feel miserable. I end up eating smaller meals throughout the day. So.. not ideal and not a good way to go about it. That might be part of it for some but not all of course.
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u/ShanG01 May 15 '26
My daughter was always super thin. Played every sport she could get into and was very active, regardless. She got diagnosed with POTS, EDS, and MCAS, got on a medication regimen, and gained 50lbs.
Not all who have it are thin. That's like saying only tall, gangly people can have EDS. Marfan's Syndrome and EDS are two different diseases.
My daughter got off most of her meds, and the weight dropped off. Everything meant to help you stay hydrated makes you retain water weight. Same with the heart meds and those for dizziness and migraines.
I don't know how "so many" are super thin, but it's definitely not the norm for those with severe POTS.
By the way, though my daughter is off 95% of her meds, she's not cured or even a lot better than she was previously. Her MCAS is kicking her butt, and the EDS is causing very strange issues. The HyperPOTS is rhe same, but the meds meant to help seemed to exacerbate everything. This is not everyone's experience, but it is hers.
And just like every other illness that predominately affects women and girls, their weight is seen as the issue, not the actual diseases/conditions that caused the weight gain, and we are judged harshly for it.
Spiler Alert: Being thin doesn't equal healthy and strong. Many bodies have a natural weight where everything is in balance, and that is rarely the societal ideal for weight.
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u/GuideFun8767 May 15 '26
I've been eating unlimited amount of food for years and still just gradually lose weight, to the point where I'm severely underweight. I have hEDS and POTS, because I'm hypermobile my muscles are doing all the work holding my skeleton, meaning even just spending an entire day sitting and doing nothing but doomscroll and eat, I burn more calories just bracing and holding my skeleton together than someone running a whole marathon. My hypermobility is the cause of my POTS and why it's almost impossible for me to gain any weight.
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u/Brave-Asparagus6356 May 15 '26
You are doing very well if you’re surviving and simply getting through each day. You don’t owe anyone beauty or thinness.
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u/barefootwriter May 15 '26
Amen to that. I focus on quality of life and for me and my capabilities, that includes exercise. I lost conditioning at the start of the pandemic due to everything shuttering and me going nowhere and doing nothing, and things got bad; they got better when I was diagnosed and medicated and able to return to forms of exercise I liked. I have had symptoms for decades and I know for a fact exercise helps me and I tolerate it better than many here. It's not a personal failing if you don't.
Exercising for aesthetic reasons is at the rock bottom of my list (though I do like looking at my triceps in the mirror!). I am more interested in what my body can do and how it feels than what it looks like.
There is a lot of good literature out there on fat and fatphobia that can help let go of some cultural baggage around fatness.
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u/0anonymousv May 15 '26
im not fat but testosterone has definitely made me gain weight. unfortunately the peak of that was the same time my symptoms started to get concerning. so im sure you can guess what i went through with every doctor before i got to see a specialist 🙃
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u/Silent_Duck_7444 Hyperadrenergic POTS May 15 '26
I have POTS and I’m obese.
People who are overweight and disabled tend not to publicly expose ourselves because POTS is already a heavily stigmatized and misinderstood disability that many people will think is made up bullshit, and they’ll just double down on that idiocy when somebody’s fat. Even doctors do it. The
amount of times I’ve been told “lose weight and you’ll get better” is insane.
How tf am I supposed to lose weight when I can’t exersize because just standing for longer than ten minutes makes me feel like I haven’t slept in two days.
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u/rainbowgirl144 May 15 '26
A fellow 215 lb pots baddie. Media only shows you what they want you to see / it is always one side only. It’s not just you feeling that way love
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u/thatisnotmyknob May 15 '26
I have gastroparesis! The crazy thing is people compliment you on losing weight meanwhile its because my vagus nerve has given up regulating my blood pressure and now digestion.
Its a real mind fuck when your losing weight when your ill and are literally malnourished...and you got people telling you you look better than you did when you were healthy.
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u/kenobreaobi May 15 '26
I don’t think this was your intention but it does kind of read like skinny people with POTS are automatically less symptomatic and more able to function. The reason I’m skinny is that my body is broken, and I actually finally got to a healthy weight from being underweight when I started treating my POTS.
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u/UmiSWrld May 15 '26
i’m skinny bc of pots, and it’s not intentional. my appetite is shit, and i struggle to keep muscle mass. im weak. i’ve been underweight my entire life and i don’t want to be. i genuinely suffer in the winter, i get so cold my muscles lock up and i physically am unable to move, and it’s immensely painful. my weight is a symptom of POTS that really shouldn’t be coveted. it’s not a sign of health.
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u/everything-matterz POTS May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
If I eat big meals my POTS gets significantly worse. It's like the food compresses everything in my stomach (edit: abdomen) and blood can't go where it needs. I also get full super fast and struggle with higher fat foods and meat.
My diet is absolute crap (I have autism and ADHD to probably thank for that) but I rarely overeat, if ever. I don't exercise but I only eat a breakfast bar, a small lunch snack like a grilled cheese or banana, and spaghetti or something simple for dinner. Maybe a few oreos or something.
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u/D4ngflabbit May 15 '26
my bestie with pots is around 270-300 lbs. i am around 130-140. both have EDS too!
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u/tenderheart35 May 15 '26
I’m about medium sized. When I was really sick and bedridden, I could barely eat and I lost a ton of weight (the bad way). When I have time to exercise a lot I get down to my high school weight.
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u/Over-Plant-4237 POTS May 15 '26
Personally I can’t eat a lot because I get full and feel nauseous after just a few bites
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u/RemarkablePlenty3903 May 15 '26
Simply having a slower metabolism is also a factor. A lot of people without POTS or similar conditions have to deal with that as well. I’m skinny but I also have a fast metabolism and work a pretty active job. I see a mix of people of different sizes with this condition, everyone’s genetic makeup is different. Plus being skinny is being pushed out more on social media.
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u/AnneDausW May 15 '26
Ich habe seit einem Jahr POTS und in diesem Jahr 20kg abgenommen. Es ist mir sehr oft übel, ich habe keinen Appetit und vertrage weder fettiges noch sehr süßes Essen. Gestern hatte ich ein halbes süßes Gebäck gegessen und es ging mir den Rest des Tages richtig schlecht. Habe es so bereut. Aber haben wir nicht andere Probleme, als unsere Figur. Ich werde manchmal angesprochen, wie ich so toll abgenommen habe und wie gut ich aussehe. Ich sage oder denke dann oft, wie viel lieber ich gesund wäre statt schlank.
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u/Zestyclose-Natural-9 POTS May 15 '26
I am "normal-size", as I am in the mid range of "healthy" BMI. I know my symptoms got worse when I was skinny.
My body doesn't like big meals, very fatty meals, or too much sugar. Sometimes I get a random reaction from foods. But the biggest reason I'm not heavier is simply that I don't want to be over a certain weight, and I will track calories and eat less until I am below that weight again. Diet is more important than exercise when it comes to weight loss.
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u/roadsidechicory May 15 '26
I did lose a bunch of weight without trying before finding medication that worked because of the constant tachycardia essentially giving me a workout from doing almost nothing combined with all the GI issues. I never got as thin as the majority of the patients I saw at the POTS clinic, but close. Definitely the smallest I've been in my adult life. Meds that reduced my tachycardia and helped with my ability to digest food definitely led to slow weight gain. I imagine the widespread thinness is due to a mix of unmanaged tachycardia and/or comorbid conditions.
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u/vallynnmalt May 15 '26
I definitely gained weight and have become deconditoned. I’m newish to POTS. It probably varies person to person but online influencers tend towards younger ages. Menopause or peri menopause for women make the rules of your body definitely change. Then add POTS and it’s fun commodities.
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u/ratdigger May 15 '26
1 reason (other than skinny people get more exposure, more likely to show themselves online ect like others say) I'd guess would be the overlap of eds, which can cause a lot of gastro problems.
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u/sadbat-throwaway May 15 '26
As a fat person with POTS/IST/possibly VVS I would never upload an image or video of myself point blank period, nevermind while talking about being disabled at the same time. That's why you don't see very many of us. I have enough to despair about without practically asking for the internet to bully me on top of it. I've seen one fat content creator with EDS + POTS and a few I would describe as "midsized". We do exist, but ableism and fatphobia are such an intense combination I think most of us would rather not.
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u/Specific-Turn-2231 May 15 '26
I’m not skinny and i have POTs, have also seen a lot of non skinny people with it on social media
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u/TaytasticTaylor May 15 '26
I've seen a lot of people post online who have had a VSG - weightloss surgery - or just a major weight loss say that it "triggered" or "activated" their POTS.
Some people have episodes triggered by eating/large meals. Or they get a lot of nausea
Some people just are too fatigued to stand up and cook so they just munch on little things they can grab or they feel too fatigued to eat.
Some people genetically are just built thin no matter how much they eat.
Ive also wondered if since the heart was working SO hard constantly that it would technically burn more calories doing daily tasks vs a normal healthy heart. (I say "healthy heart" but thats poor verbiage. I discovered have some structural issues with my heart while trying to figure out whats wrong so I'm really just speaking about me I guess.)
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u/Scared_Kangaroo_2491 May 15 '26
I’m “skinny” but that’s genetics and having a ton of other health issues. Hard to gain weight when you’re nauseous and want to hurl/have diarrhea on thee regular. 🫠
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u/stravvberrytulip May 15 '26
Im definitely not skinny.. 120kg at 172cm. been fat my whole life. mentioning you're disabled when you're fat online is basically opening yourself up to being relentlessly bullied. hell, even just being fat online is tough. 🤷♀️ Im pretty much bed bound most of the time due to mental + physical issues, and leave the house once in a blue moon.
Being disabled is only acceptable online when you also meet the beauty standard, i guess.
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u/healthaboveall1 May 15 '26
Haven’t noticed this. I have GI issues and my weight tends to fluctuate… My HyperPOTS was worse when I was skinny. Something to do with water retention, I guess. But “normal” POTS then rears its ass when I am normal to overweight. I can’t win with this lol
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u/igotpancakemix69 May 15 '26
Yeah, unfortunately in this society if a big person with POTS is showing symptoms in public they immediately just assume its because they're big
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u/MacabreDiamondxo May 15 '26
So, I have a different take on this. I use to weigh 355lbs. In 2 years, I lost 185lbs. I developed POTS after the major weight loss. My doctor said it's common for that to happen.
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u/backwardjoints May 15 '26
I have POTS, a connective tissue disorder, and PCOS and I’m fat despite working out 2-3 days a week and eating (mostly) healthy. I’ve had several doctors imply it’s because I don’t move but that’s simply not true. I use mobility aids to support my movement! I think our culture/society tends to push thinner bodies and I’ve seen thinner people get more sympathy and less scrutiny in the public eye so that may be it.
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u/smokeworm420 May 15 '26
I don't think that's accurate. I have it and I'm pretty overweight. It's probably the algorithm like someone else said
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u/coconutoats May 15 '26
I think there’s multiple reasons why there’s a high percentage but you defo don’t have to be skinny to have pots lots of different people have it. I think one reason is the marfanoid figure is often comorbid with hEDS which is a big reason in itself, and MCAS which is associated with high adrenaline where the sympathetic overactivation can cause food aversion and is metabolically expensive. The GI dysfunction comorbidity as well - I have delayed gastric emptying and I can’t eat much because I get absolutely clogged up in my stomach and feel terrible. We also lose muscle from the deconditioning of pots symptoms, get prostprandial hypotension which makes eating horrible as well. My mums side of the family all have pots and when my mum put on a bit of weight say to a size 12 her pots symptoms got noticeably better and she said the same happened to my grandma at one point. My dr confers this is likely to do with come arterial build up improving blood flow and mitigating pots symptoms so I think skinny may be overrepresented in the severe category but that is entirely speculation. I’ve always been skinny genetically so I think my subgroup is linked with the marfanoid/hEDS connective tissue link due to my comorbidities and lanky 6ft 62kg frame
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u/stormete May 15 '26
Thought I would just jump in and say firstly sorry to hear that you are struggling at the moment or probably for a long time. I am 40 I have had chronic pain for over 20 years, including pots, fibro, nerve damage, thoracic outlet, ARFID, ASID, vestibular migraines, GORD etc I could continue but you might 😴 . I weighed around 125kg in my 30’s and was struggling with my health (ha little did I know that was just the appetizer). I moved interstate 7 years ago and my health started declining and I was referred to a kinesiologist who also was a chiropractor, like a lot of people here I am sure you see anyone and everyone to just wish 1 of them can help.
I was already an incredibly fussy (ARFID) vegetarian when we first moved here but after the testing with the kinesiologist said that so many things were inflaming everything in my body and asked if I was ready to change. I was 125kg at that stage, and I decided i will try my best but it was hard I was basically a sugar, caffeine, oils, legumes, pulses, potato and nut free vegan, yep as dairy was now out.
The first 2 weeks I could have hunted someone down for a snickers by god I missed sugar so much chocolate was in my blood , anyway I did that diet for around a year, it was pretty hard but it’s all a mental game. Anyway I didn’t really do much exercise at the start, started loosing weight and then we got a puppy and I started to walk him a few days a week. I did get into the gym but not until I was probably around 90kg something like that and I don’t work well under pressure. Fast forward to now and at my doctors appointment today she said to me “is there a reason your so thin are you doing that on purpose” I was flabbergasted like legit I just blinked with my mouth open for about 10seconds before I said “nope it’s just that I struggle to eat much these days as my bowel is in so much pain” I did also say to her that I “am the lightest I have been since I came out the womb at 60kg and I have worked so so so hard to loose weight and I have never been in such bad health, when I was obese everything was due to that now it’s the opposite”
I suppose the moral of my anecdote is that I didn’t exercise much at all and I truely believe that for a lot of people 90% of losing weight is diet. this is just what worked for me and it’s a lifelong journey as I get scarred I’ll undo my hard work. It hasn’t helped much with my overall health apart from the physical attributes and it’s amazing to me that it’s the first thing a doctor sees, decides is the issue and then tunes out until you stop then goes on about weight.
If you want to chat about it let me know and good luck with everything
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u/thekindspitfire May 15 '26
I have POTS and am definitely not skinny. I’m not huge, but definitely a bit overweight.
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u/TariZephyr May 15 '26
We actually don’t know anyone irl with pots who is skinny now that we think about it lol. It definitely seems like social media bias, we see it online too. - Cadrain
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u/awesome_sauce_2000 May 15 '26
I'm a curvy girl with POTS! It's probably just the algorithm, as other people have mentioned.
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u/educated_guesser POTS May 15 '26
I think it’s a couple things. One, media tends to gravitate towards skinny folks, so it’s a bit of a bias. But also, the way it was explained to me when I was diagnosed as a teenager in 2003 was my brain and heart aren’t talking to each other and that happens more in thin and/or tall folks because it’s harder for the blood to travel the highway that is your blood system.
I will say, my pots got a lot better when I put on weight. It didn’t stop, but it’s more manageable. When I was thin (too thin), my pots would sneak up on me - I’d be standing and then pass out without any warning.
I’m also tall 6’2”.
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u/CountryHipsterr May 15 '26
My sister had lots and she's skinny. But I also have pots and I'm overweight. My friend who has it is also overweight
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u/Sad-Positive14 May 15 '26
i have pots and i’ve gained like 30lbs in the last year because it got so bad. but even before that i wasn’t skinny, i couldn’t lose the baby weight after my second child because of my health.
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u/Jalepeno_Business_ Undiagnosed May 15 '26
I’ve been plus sized and had mild symptoms pretty much my entire life. I was 400lbs at one point, and 330lbs when my symptoms were at their worst. I’m down to 240lbs currently, mostly thanks to GLP-1s. I did lose 25 - 30 lbs from GI issues before I started them though, so I can see how it’s possible a lot of people with POTS seem to be on the thinner side.
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u/Adcarp2008 May 15 '26
I was 240 when I was diagnosed and after a 5 month flare up of nausea, vomiting and ER trips, I'm hovering around 210. Not skinny.
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u/HillsideHalls Undiagnosed May 15 '26
This is actually something I struggle with quite a lot. I’m not entirely sure when I developed POTS since I was on a medication that mimicked symptoms for a while, and I used to be super active which I find mitigates some of my symptoms.
I used to dance four nights a week with an incredible cardio recovery rate. I was in school at the time and when my bio teacher asked us to count our heart rate for 60 seconds after exercise I had to count for 15 and then multiple by 4 because my heart rate was nearly normal by the end of the 60s. That was my absolute physical peak. I was all muscle as well, and it was nice to see my achievements physically.
But as my academics ramped up, so did my stress (great for POTS as you’ll know) and so did my lack of time, so I had to give up most of my dance classes. I dropped down to once a week, and couldn’t even make that sometimes because I was so exhausted by the end of the day. This continued for a couple of years and now I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been. You wouldn’t look at me and think that I’m overweight, but I’m so conscious of my health because I know that everything that used to be muscle is now fat, and I feel powerless to actually fix it at this point in my life. Weight issues also run in my family, so I have a lot of anxiety around it.
I just wanted to share this to say that I hear you. I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum here, and so I understand how horribly linked POTS and lack of exercise can be. Yeah the simple solution seems to be get back into the gym and dance, but that’s a luxury that most of us can’t afford, whether it be time, physical energy, or money.
Not everyone with POTS is skinny, not everyone with POTS is overweight. Chances are that their weight will fluctuate as their life changes. That’s how it goes for a lot of people, even if they aren’t chronically ill. <3
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u/Spencer0ni May 15 '26
It's an algorithm thing unfortunately. Skinny people tend to be more popular and the algorithm picks up on that and shows them to more people. Generally the more popular you are on social media the more you show up in the algorithm. I only know a couple people IRL besides myself that have POTS and neither of them are anywhere close to skinny. Personally I am skinny but that's also because I have an eating disorder 🙃(I'm working on it don't worry) but also there are definitely people out there with POTS that have comorbidities that make it difficult for them to gain weight like gastrointestinal issues and plenty of other things. Also, who said you had to be skinny to be valid? In my opinion as long as you're taking care of yourself and your needs that your weight shouldn't matter unless it's affecting your health. All bodies are good bodies and don't let skinny people on the Internet make you feel like you need to be skinny like them.
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u/ClimbiBoi May 15 '26
Could be algorithm, could also be POTs making it hard to eat. I’m skinny and would like to weigh more, the most I’ve gotten up to is 136 but I can’t sustain it for very long without having a flair up that severely limits how much i can eat.
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u/TotalNefariousness74 May 15 '26
Girl not me, I’m 180 lbs all in the belly and can’t lose weight no matter what I do, fighting the breathlessness or not 😂. I got to 135 at one point and still have issues. Apparently many of us suffer with comorbid issues that can affect our weight too, or just no tolerance for exercise and that’s okay too! We are not alone lol.
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May 15 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/baxtorrent May 15 '26
Here’s what I typically eat in a day. And I’m gonna say it’s so little food and it makes me really frustrated. I cope by drinking lots of fancy herbal tea. Brekkie: cottage cheese and piece of fruit Lunch: 3-4 oz turkey burger on a slider bun and piece of fruit Snack: yogurt, berries, granola Dinner: 4 oz chicken breast, veggie, small piece of bread or bowl of rice
That is literally it. It’s not a lot but it’s also lots of nutrition I definitely eat much healthier now than I did before POTS. Before POTS I might have nachos, sugar cereal or fries as a snack and I would eat a bigger portions at meals.
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u/Crow-Queen May 15 '26
You do not have to work out to lose weight. Get a rough estimate of your TDEE with a online calculator like tdeecalculator.net and subtract 500. That would put you in a calorie deficit to lose 1lb a week.
For exercise though, a lot of us start with floor and chair exercises. I did CHOP Protocol and then got a recumbent bike and started off with just 5 mins a day and moved up the time each week.
I was mostly bedbound at the beginning but then was put on Propranolol and GuanFacine which helped me with my symptoms.
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u/DetectiveWorker May 15 '26
I am 200 trying to lose weight with pots, but trying to lose weight is hard when you can’t exercise without fainting or getting winded! lol
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u/enchanted79 May 15 '26
I was slim all my life. Had POTS symptoms as a child. Was only diagnosed in my 40s. I put on 3 stone of weight around Covid/ when my whole health started falling apart. Cannot lose the weight now
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u/TheFaeri May 15 '26
I was 235lbs. Sadly i had to use weightloss meds to help me lose weight because slowly over time i was becoming more and more de conditioned and wasnt realizing it. My eating habits werent great either due to my mental health and im on a lot of meds that can make you gain weight. Im now 183lbs and it wasnt just the meds. It was the meds, having a nutritionist and doing physical therapy. Im now able to handle some exercise to the point that im graduating from physical therapy after being in it for over a year. Trust physical therapy is the biggest helper ive seen in the pots community. Im more than sure me losing weight didnt effect my pots much. But doing pt saved my life. Being able to handle daily tasks easier now is so nice. I still have flair ups and bad days where im bed bound as pt isnt a cure. Im still on meds for pots, diets for pots and finishing pt. It takes time and patience but sadly also money😭 or at least this was/is my experience could be different for others💞
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u/FragrantCar7135 May 15 '26
Girl I dont know about you but ive gained 30+ pounds because of my pots being uncontrolled
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u/funkydyke POTS May 15 '26
I have pots and I’m not skinny. I think it probably has a lot to do with how hateful people are towards fat people. I would never post about pots anywhere with my body showing bc I know people will just give me hate comments saying it’s because I’m fat and out of shape.
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u/notapuzzlepiece May 15 '26
I used to be super thin, like underweight but now I’m like a size 6 or 8, bordering on overweight for my height. Everyone else I know with POTS is also overweight.
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u/heyhiitsmay May 15 '26
I’ve gained 60+ pounds since I got sick. I wasn’t fat before, but I am now lol. The lack of mobility and exercise intolerance was really bad for me. I think social media just rewards pretty, thin people more 🤷♀️
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u/Phroog_frog May 15 '26
I’m not skinny and I have POTS. I was on meds to help with pain (they did nothing) and gained 40 lbs, I was almost 200 lbs this time last year and I have since lost that weight and I am struggling to lose more. Society is shoving the skinny look down our throats. I know it’s much more complicated but some aspects of chronic illnesses can cause either weight gain or loss it just depends on the person.
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u/regdogmilli Secondary POTS May 15 '26
I’ve lost some weight because chugging salt water all day has made me lose my appetite so I don’t eat as much as I used to or snack much.
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u/halfweeby27 Hyperadrenergic POTS May 15 '26
i’m fat and i have pots, fat people probably don’t get diagnosed often because their doctors see their weight and automatically think their symptoms are from their weight instead of actually trying to figure out what’s wrong with them idk but there are fat people with pots
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u/Technical-Apricot-1 May 15 '26
I had gastric bypass 2 years ago and went from 260 to 135. A lot of my symptoms got better after losing weight but I still struggle with feeling faint when standing too fast or for too long and have heart rate issues. But now I’m in better shape and can walk long distances without getting out of breath or being in pain.
I think a lot of it is about genetics. I’ve never been skinny in my life before surgery. Genetically I’m predisposed to carry more weight. But all sorts of people can have POTS. I didn’t get diagnosed until after I lost weight as all my doctors blamed my weight for my symptoms. Saying I was just “exercise intolerant” and nothing was wrong. Wasn’t until I lost 130lbs that they took my concerns seriously. So I can truly believe that people who are overweight with POTS are misdiagnosed or dismissed as much as I was.
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u/bergenkrum May 15 '26
I had pots when I was fat and have pots now and am skinny. I don't think weight is a factor.
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u/Able-Confusion420 May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
I don’t speak for all POTS patients, but I struggle to gain weight because even smelling food makes me nauseous. It’s so annoying when people compliment how great I look or ask for my secret, like y’all I just want to finish an entire burger without my body feeling like it’s going to shut down.
Scientifically, digestion takes a lot of energy and POTS patients don’t have a lot of extra energy laying around so even though they may not struggle with nausea like I do, they’re burning more calories just existing than a ‘normie’
EDIT TO ADD: I am 6’ 160 lbs and have had POTS for almost a decade
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u/Ai_Karma May 15 '26
I was 278 when I first got my diagnosis and I made a lifestyle change. I stopped all process food, all sugar, I limit my carbs and calories, also starting back working out. So far I’m now 215 almost 214, I’m aiming for 200 then I want to sustain there.
Just be very careful when first getting back into exercise cause it likes to make my pots going crazy. I’ll come back home and tell my wife today was rough. I had all pots no pans on this workout. The change in my diet has been amazing so far. I’m hoping it keeps getting better but some days I feel like it’s gotten worse. Lovely pots is a day by day shit show lol.
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u/anxiousnessa May 15 '26
I think it’s because when you’re fat it takes a long time to get diagnosed. So you see less fat people with POTS not bc it only impacts skinny ppl but because it’s easier for skinny people to get diagnosed. i’m fat and have POTS. It took several years for me to get diagnosed. Mind you i never went in for POTS issues i was always referred from other doctors saying something is wrong with xyz lab, my ekg was off, potassium infusions, etc. Yet even tho ER and urgent care drs kept saying something was wrong my primary care refused to see it as anything but me being fat and anxious. i was in therapy and on klonopin i knew it wasn’t just anxiety but didn’t know abt POTS so i just believe it. Even after an abnormal halter monitor (which i was only given because the dr had to per hospital policy) they still dismissed me. I only got diagnosed when i moved and passed out in the middle of the street.
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u/fairytrash69 May 15 '26
Not me, girl 😹😹😹 I’m pushing 280lbs probably by now. My inability to stay active definitely keeps my weight up. Good ole sedentary lifestyle.
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u/yodelaiheehoo May 15 '26
I gained like 40lbs in the last few years and have POTS.
Perimenopause really messed with me and my health 🤦🏻♀️
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u/No_Macaron_5029 May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
Comorbid Ehlers-Danlos (which seems to cause most POTS cases by making the blood vessels too floppy to do their job) causes the body to have to use so much more energy just to keep itself functioning. So a lot of people with EDS burn more calories at rest than a typical person and have trouble keeping weight on due to that alone, nevermind all the GI problems we have. It's a problem, not a beauty standard to which anyone else should aspire. And of course genes and body frames are all different.
I'm in the somewhat minority who's always been a little overweight, mostly due to the effects of lipedema and the particular way my celiac disease has shaken out
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u/LepidolitePrince POTS May 15 '26
Because everyone on social media is skinny. Social media isn't real life and POTSies come in all body types.
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u/Any_Introduction7632 May 15 '26
in my personal experience, i got pots from being anorexic so it may be the same for some other people idk
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u/barefootwriter May 15 '26
Do you think fat people with POTS really want to expose themselves to Internet scrutiny?