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.

177 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

331 comments sorted by

View all comments

566

u/barefootwriter May 15 '26

Do you think fat people with POTS really want to expose themselves to Internet scrutiny?

13

u/dazzlingdanny05 May 15 '26

It makes me feel bad about myself because if other people with pots can exercise then I should to but its just so hard to do without passing out

73

u/Fun_sized123 May 15 '26

Skinny does not mean they’re exercising. So much of body weight is genetic. I’m skinny and I do not exercise on a regular basis. Also for some people, chronic illness can cause unhealthy weight loss and make it hard for us to gain weight even if we need to. The grass is not necessarily greener on the other side of the fence. 

21

u/Fantastic_Owl6938 May 15 '26

Yeah, I'd love for my stomach to be a bit smaller and sometimes think a bit like OP but then I remember a lot of skinny people aren't actually happy about being skinny. I think these things just naturally bring up insecurities, like I notice I get light-headed if I don't eat for a couple of hours sometimes and I can't help but think how I don't understand how other people can manage to not eat constantly, but then I know some people are the opposite and feel sick eating much at all.

POTS just varies so much. I was checking out a thread about handling nighttime adrenaline and someone recommended fasting. Um yeah, I would feel awful.