Third Week Post Op = Gained 5lbs!

[Kat L 19]

Hi everyone!

So I am feeling very discouraged today. I weighed myself today for the first time in a week. I thought the scale would show some weight loss because I noticed that my stomach looks more flat than the previous week. To my surprise, the scale shows that I've gained five pounds in one week I'm not taking in that many calories on the puree stage, im just surprised to gain weight so soon after surgery. The first two weeks I have lost a lot of weight. The day of my surgery almost four weeks ago I was 397lbs and I am now in my 360s. But I still have a lot to lose and I just have so many thoughts in my head now, like was this surgery worth it if im just going to gain weight? I understand it may be Water weight, I have been struggling drinking my water. Has anyone else had a similar story when they first started their journey especially being a couple hundred pounds overweight? Also how do you get 64oz of water in per day so early on? I am struggling, mostly because I forget to drink haha any suggestions?

[WanderingHeart 141]

Wow! The scale does wild things. My nutritionist told me to stick to 3 meals a day and don’t eat outside of that. How often do you eat?

[Kat L 19]

I haven't seen a nutritionist yet, I believe my first class appointment is late May. I eat small meals throughout the day, I found myself hungry a lot and I usually only eat 2oz at a time. But I usually eat something every three hours. But I guess I keep more tab on it, however still being in the puree stage, I wasn't expecting any weight gain. I'm not sure if anyone can share their experience as well? I would love to know that im not alone haha

[WanderingHeart 141]

I was eating small amounts throughout the day as well, and I’m not sure how that impacted my weight loss since I only weighed myself at my two week follow up and at 1 month in.

what are you eating?

[catwoman7 11,216]

you wouldn't have gained five pounds of true weight unless you ate 17,500 calories above and beyond what your body needs. It's probably Water retention from sodium - or you may be constipated - or it may be hormone-related. At any rate, give it a couple of days and it may be gone.

another thought - it could be the infamous "three week stall" (most of us experience that - although it's USUALLY the third week post-op, it's not always - it can happen any time within the first 4-6 weeks post surgery). If that's the case, just stick to your plan and stay off the scale for a few days. It'll eventually break. It always does.

Edited May 8, 2021 by catwoman7

[catwoman7 11,216]

btw - I just did a search of this site for you on the three week stall. We're up to 17,501 posts on it. Like I said, it happens to the vast majority of us. Stalls typically last 1-3 weeks - and you're likely to encounter more as you move along on your journey.

my three-week stall was weeks 2 & 3. Didn't lose a pound. It broke during week 4 and I dropped like eight lbs within a couple of days.

anyway, here are the posts about the three week stall:

https://www.bariatricpal.com/search/?q=three week stall

[RickM 1,748]

2 hours ago, Kat L said:

The first two weeks I have lost a lot of weight.

There is your key right there - whenever you see very rapid weight change, there is going to be a lot of Water weight involved. Indeed, most of our initial loss is concentrated on water weight (it is associated with the glycogen/carbohydrate that we burn off initially,) and then we tend to pause to let things catch up before changing gears to start burning our fat reserves. We may just have a stall and not lose anything for a few days, or week or two, and we may even gain a bit as things stabilize. But they will stabilize and you will start losing again, albeit at a somewhat lower rate than before - expect that - as then you will be primarily burning your fat stores, which burn more slowly (on the order of 3500 calories per pound, versus around 2000 calories per pound when we are in that initial glycogen depleting state.)