acne and extreme dieting...a correlation?

[mrelwooddowd]

I've been on PSMF for a couple weeks, and I've noticed that I'm getting more acne than I'm accustomed to. Now, I was never one for a lot of acne back in my teen years, and since I've been in my twenties it's been just one here and there (meaning...one or two per month at the hairline usually).

Since the PSMF, it's been more like 1-2 per week, and pretty much anywhere on my face they please! I'm not incredibly vain, so it's not THAT big of a deal, but I was curious if anyone knows of a correlation between extreme macronutrient unbalance, major calorie deficit, or increased intake of certain supplements such as fish oil and calcium.

The only other thing I've changed recently is going from Dove bar-soap to Dove body-wash. My jury's still out on how well it cleans, but there doesn't seem to be an appreciable difference in the way my skin feels post-shower.

Any thoughts or facts????

[Adam]

I have no written backup, but only real life experiance.

Ive noticed while dieting i will get more pimplee and more oily in general. i think it is because of the macro imbalance. Even when im not dieting every once in a while when my macro's go all haywire i notice it.

[mrelwooddowd]

Thanks Adam...I was starting to think I was all alone!

I think it's the imbalance too. I swear I scrub my face three times to get it as clean as one time used to. On top of that, it's doing no good. I have enough problems with ingrown hairs on my face, but this is getting goofy..lol.

I just found ANOTHER new one.

[Built]

I haven't noticed this, but I diet on higher fats. I wonder if this is somehow protecting my skin?

Also, and I know this is going to sound strange, but ... moisturize with a light moisturizer when you get out of the shower and avoid scrubbing your face - you can stimulate more oil in your skin with the excess scrubbing and stripping of the natural oils - it's like you're telling your face "hey, make more oil - there's none here".

And do NOT touch your face if your hands aren't REALLY clean - it just stimulates more oil and spreads germs around, making your acne worse.

[BCC]

I haven't noticed this, but I diet on higher fats. I wonder if this is somehow protecting my skin?

Also, and I know this is going to sound strange, but ... moisturize with a light moisturizer when you get out of the shower and avoid scrubbing your face - you can stimulate more oil in your skin with the excess scrubbing and stripping of the natural oils - it's like you're telling your face "hey, make more oil - there's none here".

And do NOT touch your face if your hands aren't REALLY clean - it just stimulates more oil and spreads germs around, making your acne worse.

My skin has always cleared up when dieting. Even when running a boatload of gear or natural.

Touching your face or body anywhere is one of the worst things to do for acne. I used to have a lot of pimples on my left arm and I couldn't figure it out, but I had a habit of holding my right hand on my left arm constantly. When I stopped, I stopped getting them.

[Shao-LiN]

The only times I try and touch my face are to wash it with a gentle cleanser, put benzoyl peroxide gel on, or moisturizer on it. Other than those times, I would try and avoid touching it altogether, even if freshly washed.

Built is right, though, don't scrub your face so much, especially if you mean you're doing it at one sitting. Find a gentle skin cleanser, wash it thoroughly once and moisturize. The regimen at acne.org has worked wonders for me where other "regimens" have failed. It's pretty simple to follow.

[mrelwooddowd]

hmmm...one other thing I have changed, is that I haven't washed my face with anything other than soap and my fingernails (which are NOT long) for years. Again, I've always had a pretty clear face. But recently I've been using my big scrub brush to wash all over--including my face. This brush is COARSE. When it was new, I only used on my back, and the first couple times it felt pretty rubbed-raw afterward. It's not as coarse now, and I'm sure I've built up some tolerance to it, but I wonder if using it on my face has been detrimental?

[Hatred]

Dove anything made me break out like a lil bitch back before I was even bodybuilding...use Lava you wuss.

[twm]

dove is brutal on me. i use johnson and johnson protect soap for my face and body. keeps me relatively acne free unless i'm really stressed, in which case, nothing helps.

[Manveet]

hmmm...one other thing I have changed, is that I haven't washed my face with anything other than soap and my fingernails (which are NOT long) for years. Again, I've always had a pretty clear face. But recently I've been using my big scrub brush to wash all over--including my face. This brush is COARSE. When it was new, I only used on my back, and the first couple times it felt pretty rubbed-raw afterward. It's not as coarse now, and I'm sure I've built up some tolerance to it, but I wonder if using it on my face has been detrimental?

Your face is probably producing extra oil since you are stripping it away buy scrubbing the hell out of it.

[mrelwooddowd]

The thing is, my face doesn't FEEL clean after washing it lately. I THINK it's the body wash, and it just being more greasy because of what it is. It's not the easiest thing to rinse off. But by no means do I scrub the hell out of my face.

My face doesn't SEEM any more oily either. I'm just getting more pimples than usual. I'm sure 90% of the people on WBB would like to have my acne problem, as it's very minor. I just wondered if there was some correlation between macronutrient extremes and acne.

I really don't think I've overwashed, now that I've had time to review the last couple weeks with the current suggestions. I usually keep a shor beard, and most of the acne is coming up within the path of the hair, although CLEARLY not the typical folliculitis pimples that I get normally (tis the reason I only shave every 2 weeks). So, having a beard (and I have extremely rough facial hair), I would think that it's giong to protect my skin to some degree. Maybe the beard is stopping up the follicles worse, now that the bodywash is leaving more moisturizer on my skin?

[TheGimp]

Anecdotally I find that my acne tends to flare up when on UD2.0.

[jed]

i dunno what macro balance is or anything but i had acne and i started using "proactive" face stuff and it really reduced my pimples, all i have is some blackheads and like 1 pimple every 3-4 week and i just put some medicine on it and it reduces and disapears. its pretty sweet (i got like 30 free boxes of it (-_-))

[dissipate]

www.acne.org - try this

[Unholy]

Anecdotally I find that my acne tends to flare up when on UD2.0.

Ive gotten a few pimples on my face for the first time in maybe a year and a half. And i just started UD 2.0 :(

[muscle chic]

Aveeno acne Bar Soap!!! Works wonders!!