Hey everyone I will try to keep my sob story as short as possible, but basically when I was in high school I had pretty bad acne on my forehead. (and always JUST my forehead?) A couple treatments of minocycline seemed to take care of it and I haven't really had it since spring of my senior year which was in 2011, aside from the occasional stress-related breakouts. All of a sudden early last month it flared up again looking like it did back in highschool on my forehead and I came to the conclusion that it may have been my change in diet? I recently started weight training and have been on a very high protein diet and added the following to my daily intake - Boost brand protein drink, pure protein bars, four hard boiled eggs, and whey protein powder. Now it seems like when I was only drinking the boosts and eating the pure protein bars my skin looked okay, but once I added the hard boiled eggs and whey powder it started to get really bad. Right now I'm going cold turkey with everything and so far my skin has completely cleared up since I did so this week. But I'd still like to be able to find a way to go back to weight training and continue bulking up. I do have an appointment with my dermatologist early in september but I've seen a lot of other people have issues with this after I googled it, so any insight from anybody on here in the mean time will be greatly appreciated. Is there a certain ingredient in these things I should avoid?
I think the eggs are definitely a factor because I've always noticed dairy products have had that effect on me. I'll go out for ice cream one night and wake up broken out the next. I've read a lot of people get breakouts from dairy as well. But would the powder, drinks, and bars also be a contribution? Does anyone have anything else to suggest so I can continue training?
These things always have terrible timing, because I was almost at that point where all of my scars from high school were faded, and now they've made their way back..
Hey everyone I will try to keep my sob story as short as possible, but basically when I was in high school I had pretty bad acne on my forehead. (and always JUST my forehead?) A couple treatments of minocycline seemed to take care of it and I haven't really had it since spring of my senior year which was in 2011, aside from the occasional stress-related breakouts. All of a sudden early last month it flared up again looking like it did back in highschool on my forehead and I came to the conclusion that it may have been my change in diet? I recently started weight training and have been on a very high protein diet and added the following to my daily intake - Boost brand protein drink, pure protein bars, four hard boiled eggs, and whey protein powder. Now it seems like when I was only drinking the boosts and eating the pure protein bars my skin looked okay, but once I added the hard boiled eggs and whey powder it started to get really bad. Right now I'm going cold turkey with everything and so far my skin has completely cleared up since I did so this week. But I'd still like to be able to find a way to go back to weight training and continue bulking up. I do have an appointment with my dermatologist early in september but I've seen a lot of other people have issues with this after I googled it, so any insight from anybody on here in the mean time will be greatly appreciated. Is there a certain ingredient in these things I should avoid?
I think the eggs are definitely a factor because I've always noticed dairy products have had that effect on me. I'll go out for ice cream one night and wake up broken out the next. I've read a lot of people get breakouts from dairy as well. But would the powder, drinks, and bars also be a contribution? Does anyone have anything else to suggest so I can continue training?
These things always have terrible timing, because I was almost at that point where all of my scars from high school were faded, and now they've made their way back..
All i can say is that its great that your skin is responding to certain thing that you are eating, with that said half the struggle is finding your own triggers and it seems that you have found yours. Finding the correlation in skin and diet defiantly something that majority of people try to persue, however cannot quite put a finger on what it is, however if your are finding that dairy and eggs etc are breaking you out there are alot of protein powders on the market that free from these. As tedious as it sounds I would recommend creating a diary of what you are eating, and your response to these foods, all the best mate
Dairy and Whey Protein definitely exacerbate acne. Alot of muscle building supplements have other things in them that promote testosterone and can make your acne flare quite significantly. Dairy has hormones from the cow's pregnancy and can affect your hormones as well. It took me a while to figure this out.
I used to be a gym rat and drank protein drinks everyday. My acne was at its worst then. I stopped working out for a while and didn't drink any protein shakes. I still had persistent acne, but definitely not as bad as when I was taking protein. I started working out again, took whey protein, and within a week, my acne flared up like crazy. This was years ago though. I still work out, but just eat meat for protein within 30 minutes. I am finishing up my second course of Accutane and am 99.9% clear.
Straight up eggs should be fine as a protein source, however, chicken or beef is probably the best for building muscle and keeping the acne away.
Good luck to you man.
Hey everyone I will try to keep my sob story as short as possible, but basically when I was in high school I had pretty bad acne on my forehead. (and always JUST my forehead?) A couple treatments of minocycline seemed to take care of it and I haven't really had it since spring of my senior year which was in 2011, aside from the occasional stress-related breakouts. All of a sudden early last month it flared up again looking like it did back in highschool on my forehead and I came to the conclusion that it may have been my change in diet? I recently started weight training and have been on a very high protein diet and added the following to my daily intake - Boost brand protein drink, pure protein bars, four hard boiled eggs, and whey protein powder. Now it seems like when I was only drinking the boosts and eating the pure protein bars my skin looked okay, but once I added the hard boiled eggs and whey powder it started to get really bad. Right now I'm going cold turkey with everything and so far my skin has completely cleared up since I did so this week. But I'd still like to be able to find a way to go back to weight training and continue bulking up. I do have an appointment with my dermatologist early in september but I've seen a lot of other people have issues with this after I googled it, so any insight from anybody on here in the mean time will be greatly appreciated. Is there a certain ingredient in these things I should avoid?
I think the eggs are definitely a factor because I've always noticed dairy products have had that effect on me. I'll go out for ice cream one night and wake up broken out the next. I've read a lot of people get breakouts from dairy as well. But would the powder, drinks, and bars also be a contribution? Does anyone have anything else to suggest so I can continue training?
These things always have terrible timing, because I was almost at that point where all of my scars from high school were faded, and now they've made their way back..
I think there are too many variables going on there to know for sure.
There have been studies into increased testosterone that may aggrovate acne. Weight lifting will increase testosterone to facilitate muscle growth.
I am not saying this is the issue but it is possible,
As for all the protein supplements. Why so many? Bring that down to one or two protein bars/shakes a day. Get the rest from wholesome nutrient dense foods.
Hey, why does this guy get so much responses and I get none? Is it because he has a profile pic that you think is cute? I even wrote the most important parts of my post in bold! And what do I get? Just some lurkers that read my post and leave saying nothing. This is the thread I started: .
Hey everybody, well now I'm starting to think that wasn't the cause because I haven't worked out or had anything like that at all and now my forehead is covered in cystic acne... I'm not stressed about it since I see my doctor on Tues. and am going to give accutane a try. (oh boy) but thank you everyone. Once I get the prescription I will resume finding a good workout diet. 
I'm a girl, and when I drank protein shakes too supplement my lack of meat intake, my skin got 10x worse.
What I learned is that if you need to up your protein intake without breaking out, try making ALOT of meat soup along with vegetables and grains, its easy on your body to digest and it comes from a natural source. I heard bone broth helps too. Its just a tip
Oh, it is so hard to tell what your triggers are. And you may have more than one! I think what it comes down to (especially with cystic acne) is INFLAMMATION. Stress, dietary factors, new meds... something or some things in your life are causing inflammation. As someone who has lived with cystic acne for over ten years, I have noticed the different sources of inflammation, and feel like I am finally on the road to recovery, although my skin is nowhere near perfect yet. First I identified dairy as a trigger. As soon as I eliminated it, I saw improvement. But it didn't last. Then I tried raw food. Worked great for a couple of days, then the acne came back. Then I decided to go gluten free. Temporary results (even though I felt better).
I believe these results were temporary because I was still eating in a way that promoted inflammation in my body. But in the last month, I have seen some pretty significant results, and I think this is the real deal because I should be breaking out in painful cysts (period time), but I'm not. And I believe this is because I am eating for BLOOD SUGAR BALANCE. Protein and fat with my carbs, low sugar, and eating frequently. I am loving it! And I work out too. My performance has not suffered and I feel plenty healthy.
So now I am gluten free, dairy free, and blood sugar spike-free. You may want to try it! What is your diet like now?