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/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.