Here goes my first post! About two years ago, I was pushing about 160 pounds. I'm a female who is 5'6. I was tired of being at my weight and felt uncomfortable. From then on, I decided that I needed to lose weight. In order to lose weight, I essentially started fasting. I would eat about two apples a day with some peanut butter and a glass of soy milk with cereal. My portions were ridiculously tiny and I ended up getting down to about 126 pounds. Another benefit I noticed was dramatically clearer skin. It took about 4 months before it happened.
Before this, I had always had acne, but it wasn't what I would consider deep cystic acne. I had clear skin for once and had completely forgotten about what it was like to have chronic acne. Once, I decided that I might have an eating disorder and started eating again, my skin broke out terrible. I was eating like a normal college student with pizza here and there, cereal, pasta and so forth. I tried fasting again and although fasting helps, my skin never cleared up as dramatically as it did last time? I feel like my weight has levelled off now and I'm still 125 pounds. I just eat healthier and everything balanced.
But why did this cause cystic acne? Why won't my skin clear up by fasting now?
Hi there!
The flaring of your acne is probably from the change in carbohydrates and calories. If you immediately start a diet that changes your nutritional intakes the day after you eat the amount you normally would, this can cause your body to act really weird. I'd say try to ease back into the diet, or try a cleanse! I know that juice cleanses can seem really scary and non-nutritional, but I did one after having severe acne and my face was clearer after about a week. That's always an option to try to get your acne to get back under control.
Fasting now probably won't do your skin as much good as it did then. It'll still help, but the first time will always hit the hardest. The second time you fast, your body is more used to it from the first time; it basically remembers the fast and what it had to do. Your face clearing up could have been your skin becoming drier (not too dry, but just less oily), and that always helps clear up acne.
As far as getting your current acne back under control, I would say to try the juice cleanse (look up different recipes, as well as how to ease into it) and see a dermatologist if you can. My acne flared after a menstrual cycle, and my face went from dry to oily to dry to oily, and just back and forth. I went to the dermatologist and she prescribed some Clindamycin Phosphate face wipes. They're a bit rough on my skin when it gets dry, so she also prescribed a cream with the same medicine. In addition, I use another prescribed cream called Tazorac, which has tazarotene. Both of these helped my acne, and I still use them every day to keep my face clear!
Hope this helped!! If you have ajy other questions or if I confused you in any way, please let me know!
