Con to fast weight loss: Gall Stones

HeidiCooksSupper

Another strike against VLCD, big calorie deficits, and trying to rush losing weight. If one loses weight too fast, the liver can create excess bile that can lead to gall stones. Many of us already have asymptomatic gall stones which are only found through scans for other reasons. I recently found out I do.

So, how to avoid creation of gall stones? Getting plenty of fiber through high-fiber foods, eating few refined grains and less sugar, and consuming healthy fats from fatty fish and olive oil.

Sigh. Yet again another reason to "eat healthy."

RelCanonical

Yeah, anyone remember that show "too fat for 15?" about the weight loss camp for kids? This poor kid was super young and had to have his gall bladder out because he lost weight so fast and their camp diets were extremely low in fat, like less than 20 grams a day (and that was the goal).

My mother had hers out about ten years ago. It runs in the family for my mother's side (my grandmother and aunt both had to have theirs out too), so I'm hoping to avoid that by losing weight slowly and keeping the weight off.

BuddhaBunnyFTW

I lost 15 lbs over five years and then 30 lbs over 1 year. Patience and healthy eating have helped me discover that Ifeel better happier and more energenic when I treat my body well.

nooshi713

Low fat diet, high fiber. There is no guarantee you won’t get them but this may help.

MadDogManor

I’ve lost 49 lbs in the last 22 months. Not fast weight loss. And just had my gallbladder out - full of stones.

ChickenKillerPuppy

I am 5'4" and was maintaining at 125lbs when my gall stones got so bad I had to get emergency surgery to remove my gall bladder. It was AWFUL. I was told that a fatty diet makes it worse but I wasn't even eating a fatty diet at that point. You just never know. They were plaguing me for 20 years - when I was 25 I went to the ER because the pain was so bad and they couldn't figure out what it was. The pain would escalate and then peak over like a 10 hour period and it was the worst pain of my life (now that I understand how gall stones work it all makes sense).

Because they couldn't do anything about it the first time when they would flare up (every couple years) I would just deal with the pain (barely) until it subsided. Finally, 20 years later, it got so bad I went to the hospital again. All I had to say was "sharp pain in my side" and they immediately knew. So happy to get rid of my gal bladder and not have to worry about it any more.

yirara

There are a couple of things that make getting gallstones more likely, something with 5fs I think:

being female
fertile, referring to having children
of fair complexion
fantastically overweight
and in the forties

When I lost my gallbladder due to chronic infection 3 of those were and still are rather true for me. Never been massively overweight and never lost at a fast pace. And kids are annoying

ladyreva78

yirara wrote: »

There are a couple of things that make getting gallstones more likely, something with 5fs I think:

being female
fertile, referring to having children
of fair complexion
fantastically overweight
and in the forties

When I lost my gallbladder due to chronic infection 3 of those were and still are rather true for me. Never been massively overweight and never lost at a fast pace. And kids are annoying

They sometimes replace "fertile" with "family", as in, have there been cases in the family that might point to a genetic predisposition. With that replacement, I fulfilled 4 of those

The reason I lost my gallbladder why was my yoyo-dieting: lose -510kg using a stupid low-fat, low-cal diet. Lose the will to live and stuff myself with high fat, high cal goods and regain 10-15kg...

yirara

ladyreva78 wrote: »

yirara wrote: »

There are a couple of things that make getting gallstones more likely, something with 5fs I think:

being female
fertile, referring to having children
of fair complexion
fantastically overweight
and in the forties

When I lost my gallbladder due to chronic infection 3 of those were and still are rather true for me. Never been massively overweight and never lost at a fast pace. And kids are annoying

They sometimes replace "fertile" with "family", as in, have there been cases in the family that might point to a genetic predisposition. With that replacement, I fulfilled 4 of those

The reason I lost my gallbladder why was my yoyo-dieting: lose -510kg using a stupid low-fat, low-cal diet. Lose the will to live and stuff myself with high fat, high cal goods and regain 10-15kg...

I never dieted before I decided to lose weight slowly here. And I never was really heavy; just in the overweight category based on BMI. My surgeon said me being super pale probably counts for two pale women. And he was surprised I had no children and it doesn't run in the family. Oh well.. bad luck.

ladyreva78

yirara wrote: »

ladyreva78 wrote: »

yirara wrote: »

There are a couple of things that make getting gallstones more likely, something with 5fs I think:

being female
fertile, referring to having children
of fair complexion
fantastically overweight
and in the forties

When I lost my gallbladder due to chronic infection 3 of those were and still are rather true for me. Never been massively overweight and never lost at a fast pace. And kids are annoying

They sometimes replace "fertile" with "family", as in, have there been cases in the family that might point to a genetic predisposition. With that replacement, I fulfilled 4 of those

The reason I lost my gallbladder why was my yoyo-dieting: lose -510kg using a stupid low-fat, low-cal diet. Lose the will to live and stuff myself with high fat, high cal goods and regain 10-15kg...

I never dieted before I decided to lose weight slowly here. And I never was really heavy; just in the overweight category based on BMI. My surgeon said me being super pale probably counts for two pale women. And he was surprised I had no children and it doesn't run in the family. Oh well.. bad luck.

bad luck indeed!

Regardless, I'm just happy not to be subject to that horrid pain anymore.