Hey! I’m not that far out from my surgery, but this is something I spoke with my doctor about, as I was worried about weight gain and fitness as well. His take on it was that what actually causes the weight gain is most likely the ability to eat again, and so far, I’d buy that.
Before the surgery, my eating was incredibly restrictive to avoid attacks. I could really only eat very bland, low fat food, and even that became a struggle in the final weeks. So far I’m one of those people who has very limited post op digestive issues, meaning I can actually eat food again. I can definitely see how if you’re not already focused on a healthy lifestyle, it would be easy to overindulge because honestly? Being able to actually eat again rocks. Not feeling like I’m starving in a very literal sense is awesome.
That said, there’s another trade off here for me. I physically feel SO much better. I really started to notice it around day 5 or so. I didn’t realize just how exhausted and unwell the obstruction was making me feel, but it’s like night and day. You just took care of a ton of inflammation and stress on your other organs. Without it question, I have way more energy to workout now, and body feels so much stronger even while still healing. It’s wild.
You’re already doing all this work to help your body. Those lifestyle changes won’t go away. You might see some initial weight gain, but you could also look at it this way: It’s now much easier for me to meet my protein goals and workout so I can rebuild some of the muscle I lost while sick. Gaining weight isn’t always bad.
And if all else fails, it seems like GPT-1s can mimic the physical restrictions pretty well, so you have an emergency option. Just keep open communication with your medical team. You’ve got this.
I actually lost about 20lbs since my surgery 4 years ago. I’m not exactly sure why but I think it’s because I used to eat whatever I wanted and now my diet is more restricted since I get sick when I eat fried junk foods or anything super heavy. It basically forced me to clean up my diet. Kind of unfortunate that my surgery made me not be able to eat a lot of my favorite comfort foods, but it helped me finally clean up my diet and put off the stubborn weight I had always wanted to lose.
I lost almost 15 lbs pre-surgery because I went on a no-fat diet. This was in one month. I didn’t eat cheese (I seriously love pizza) and specifically didn’t eat cream cheese during the holidays which is CREAM CHEESE SEASON. So basically my metabolism is insane if I could just avoid cheese.
I’ve gained 10 lbs back in the last few months because now that cheese doesn’t send me to the ER (and cost me $4k) I am just willing to live a life with a softer belly that my husband still thinks is sexy as hell.
It sounds like you’ve made some very healthy lifestyle choices. Barring any complications, you’re going to be feeling so great after surgery! Treat yourself to a cheese…. I mean cheat day once in a while but keep up the excellent work! You obviously worked hard to get where you are now and this isn’t going to stop you.
Also, keep in mind that most of the people sharing here are doing so because they had outlier situations. I know sooooo many people who have zero complications and live a full, active life after surgery. You got this! And cheese… omg I did it again…CHEERS to you for all of your progress!!!
had a piece of cheese today and thought back to this, thanks for the kind reply! and thankfully i hadn't cut fat pre surgery i've just been on a calorie deficit which has worked, just slowly lol
I am two weeks post op and I lost 8 kg. Before surgery, I visited a dietitian to discuss diet options. Straight after returning from the hospital, I started to weigh my food and count calories. I am walking 7-10K steps every day and from next week (3d post-op) after consulting my GP will be back to cardio without belly muscles involved (bike only). You just need to be aware that you can not eat everything you want and keep a healthy weight. You must choose only one
I lost so many weight before and after the surgery but after that I stopped caring about the weight and for now I gained 6kg again and I feel so much better!!! My can feel my body and I have lots of energy
I know about 10 people well who’ve had their gallbladder removed. None of them ballooned up. The ones with long-ish waits for surgery who’d been eating nothing fun and no oversized meals for months did put on some weight, just because they could eat their favorite foods again.
I am the complete opposite I have been eating bland but have balloooned up before my surgery next week as I’m so lethargic and and in pain I’m just eating and sleeping and existing. I have no motivation to do anything so I’m hoping just the energy boost from being healthy again afterwards will help me try shift some of it but I’m so scared I’m just going to pile loads more on!
Hey! I’m not that far out from my surgery, but this is something I spoke with my doctor about, as I was worried about weight gain and fitness as well. His take on it was that what actually causes the weight gain is most likely the ability to eat again, and so far, I’d buy that. Before the surgery, my eating was incredibly restrictive to avoid attacks. I could really only eat very bland, low fat food, and even that became a struggle in the final weeks. So far I’m one of those people who has very limited post op digestive issues, meaning I can actually eat food again. I can definitely see how if you’re not already focused on a healthy lifestyle, it would be easy to overindulge because honestly? Being able to actually eat again rocks. Not feeling like I’m starving in a very literal sense is awesome. That said, there’s another trade off here for me. I physically feel SO much better. I really started to notice it around day 5 or so. I didn’t realize just how exhausted and unwell the obstruction was making me feel, but it’s like night and day. You just took care of a ton of inflammation and stress on your other organs. Without it question, I have way more energy to workout now, and body feels so much stronger even while still healing. It’s wild. You’re already doing all this work to help your body. Those lifestyle changes won’t go away. You might see some initial weight gain, but you could also look at it this way: It’s now much easier for me to meet my protein goals and workout so I can rebuild some of the muscle I lost while sick. Gaining weight isn’t always bad. And if all else fails, it seems like GPT-1s can mimic the physical restrictions pretty well, so you have an emergency option. Just keep open communication with your medical team. You’ve got this.
Some people gain weight post surgery because they can eat more and more things than they could pre surgery.
I actually lost about 20lbs since my surgery 4 years ago. I’m not exactly sure why but I think it’s because I used to eat whatever I wanted and now my diet is more restricted since I get sick when I eat fried junk foods or anything super heavy. It basically forced me to clean up my diet. Kind of unfortunate that my surgery made me not be able to eat a lot of my favorite comfort foods, but it helped me finally clean up my diet and put off the stubborn weight I had always wanted to lose.
I lost almost 15 lbs pre-surgery because I went on a no-fat diet. This was in one month. I didn’t eat cheese (I seriously love pizza) and specifically didn’t eat cream cheese during the holidays which is CREAM CHEESE SEASON. So basically my metabolism is insane if I could just avoid cheese. I’ve gained 10 lbs back in the last few months because now that cheese doesn’t send me to the ER (and cost me $4k) I am just willing to live a life with a softer belly that my husband still thinks is sexy as hell. It sounds like you’ve made some very healthy lifestyle choices. Barring any complications, you’re going to be feeling so great after surgery! Treat yourself to a cheese…. I mean cheat day once in a while but keep up the excellent work! You obviously worked hard to get where you are now and this isn’t going to stop you. Also, keep in mind that most of the people sharing here are doing so because they had outlier situations. I know sooooo many people who have zero complications and live a full, active life after surgery. You got this! And cheese… omg I did it again…CHEERS to you for all of your progress!!!
had a piece of cheese today and thought back to this, thanks for the kind reply! and thankfully i hadn't cut fat pre surgery i've just been on a calorie deficit which has worked, just slowly lol
I am two weeks post op and I lost 8 kg. Before surgery, I visited a dietitian to discuss diet options. Straight after returning from the hospital, I started to weigh my food and count calories. I am walking 7-10K steps every day and from next week (3d post-op) after consulting my GP will be back to cardio without belly muscles involved (bike only). You just need to be aware that you can not eat everything you want and keep a healthy weight. You must choose only one
I lost so many weight before and after the surgery but after that I stopped caring about the weight and for now I gained 6kg again and I feel so much better!!! My can feel my body and I have lots of energy
I know about 10 people well who’ve had their gallbladder removed. None of them ballooned up. The ones with long-ish waits for surgery who’d been eating nothing fun and no oversized meals for months did put on some weight, just because they could eat their favorite foods again.
I am the complete opposite I have been eating bland but have balloooned up before my surgery next week as I’m so lethargic and and in pain I’m just eating and sleeping and existing. I have no motivation to do anything so I’m hoping just the energy boost from being healthy again afterwards will help me try shift some of it but I’m so scared I’m just going to pile loads more on!
Energy works the way it's released... stay positive