No gall bladder...

I've also had my gallbladder removed and I haven't had any problems. Your gallbladder being removed shouldn't be affecting your weight gain.

My husband had his out but has had the total opposite problem. He has been sick for the past 2 years and has a hard time gaining weight. He can't eat anything with much fat in it so I really don't think that having it out will make you gain weight if anything it is usually the opposite because your body cannot handle the fat like it used to.

Agreed. If anything, it's helped me lose weight because I can't handle greasy foods. I get an attack of sorts.

Gallbladders help to store bile.

I had some ill effects for a few months after my gallbladder was removed (stomach ache, sensitivity to spicy foods). But it shouldn't cause weight gain

hmmmm.....surely it's from over eating as well but I was under the impression that the gall bladder helped process fats or something....wish I had the opposite effect that some are experiencing as well

No offense but I hate it when people make comments like this. No, you don't wish you had the opposite effect! If you only knew how sick my husband has been for the past 2 years! It is not common in all gallbladder removal patients to be as sick as he was but to even say that is ridiculous! You gained weight because you ate crap you shouldn't and you didn't exercise. It has NOTHING to do with your gallbladder! This is something you have been telling yourself so you don't have to change the way you live. If it did, you would have gained that weight quickly not over a period of years.

I had mine out about 9 years ago. I don't think it is in any way related to my weight, I had the same weight struggles before it was removed. After it was removed, if I ate greasy, fried fatty stuff, I paid for it later! But it did not stop me from eating the stuff, so it was a never ending cycle of misery. Until I decided I was tired of being fat and unhealthy and started eating better, and all my digestive issues went away.

I get a phantom pain too sometimes. Like a dull ache. It doesn't hurt. But it just feels like there's a pulse right up in my rib cage. Apparently, it's normal. But, the greasy foods and foods I'm not used to eating really do trigger some sort of attack. But I don't see why or how not having a gallbladder would make you gain weight. It has absolutely Nothing to do with that, at all. If you can survive without one, it goes to show it was pretty useless in the first place.

You know what is said is you can actually create a pocket on the bile duct and develop stones again. I get the phantom pain still. I hope I dont have to get surgery again in the future.

less caloric input than output.

having no gallbladder will not affect weight loss

you just have to watch excess fat intake(but not eliminate it), but your diet should be higher in carbs and protein.

It has no affect from what I know -

My mother had hers out 15 years ago and managed to lose 98 pounds afterward.

My father had his out 5 days ago. I know he is trying to do a lower fat diet, and so far so good, but that's because he doesn't want his digestive tract all screwed up.

I had mine out 2 years ago, and haven't missed it at all. No issues with fatty or spicy foods, but I didn't eat a lot of greasy foods to start with. I got fat before I had it out though, so I can't help you on that one.

This is just some info I've gathered in my personal attempt to understand how the lack of my gallbladder plays a role...

Can you Live with out a Gallbladder, YES, obviously. Can our livers produce bile, yes. BUT

There is more to the Gallbladder then JUST STORAGE of Bile.

The question really is WHAT does BILE DO?
What systems are affected?

With a healthy gallbladder, proper amounts of bile are released into the digestive tract as needed. Without a gallbladder, there is a continuous trickle of bile into your system regardless of the presence or absence of fat. The failure to match bile output to fat presence jeopardizes one’s ability to properly digest fat and, eventually, leads to deficiencies in fat-soluble vitamins and essential fatty acids, poor cholesterol metabolism, and the absorption of improperly digested fat globules.

Bile acids are produced from cholesterol in your liver and then flow into your gallbladder where they are stored and concentrated as much as five fold. As your body senses the movement of fat into the small intestine, the gallbladder releases the bile to emulsify the fat—making it easier to absorb. As the bile continues through the digestive tract, 90 to 95 percent of it is reabsorbed from the large intestine and returned to the liver, where it is reused as many as twenty times.

The liver is a very important organ. I strongly advice one to look at how many jobs it has to do with in our bodies, besides produce extra bile that ordinary would be pulled from the gallbladder. Just the studying the liver a long and it's job in weight loss is important.

When fats from food enter the digestive tract they stimulate the secretion of a type of hormone called cholecystokinin (CCK) in the upper part of the small intestine – the duodenum. This, along with the stomach’s secretion of hydrochloric acid, signals the gallbladder to release some of its approximately 50mL of bile into the gut to help aid in digestion of those fats.

Bile is a lovely dark green/yellow-brown fluid and contains about 10% bile salts. The bile acids (salts) have a strong relationship to hormonal regulation as they share many of the same synthesis pathways as hormones. This is why people with hormonal problems, especially women with estrogen dominance, are more susceptible to gallbladder problems. The more hormonal stress on the body the lower the bile acids which in turn disrupts normal hormonal metabolism. It’s not a coincidence that many women have their gallbladder removed at the same time they have a hysterectomy.

Speaking of hormones, just a few years ago it was demonstrated that the gallbladder also plays a role in insulin regulation and that β-like cells that produce insulin in the pancreas also occur in the gallbladder. Insulin is also metabolized by the liver and can therefore have an effect on the bile salts – so diets high in refined carbohydrates and those with insulin resistance will also be more likely to have troubles with their gallbladder.

Bile also increases the absorption of fats and especially the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. We all know the push for vitamin D by every doctor and health food store today. Consider that if you have an unhealthy gallbladder then your absorption of vitamin D, as well as the other fat soluble vitamins necessary for good health, will also be impaired. So just because your vitamin D level may be low as revealed by a blood test, doesn’t mean you should go vitamin D supplement-crazy; that’s not necessarily addressing the problem.

Bile and Cholesterol
A small percentage of bile is cholesterol but the majority of bile acid is made from cholesterol; actually about half of the cholesterol our body makes per day is used to make bile acid. These bile acids are recycled from the intestines and back to the liver and gallbladder.

High Fiber diets are good at keeping us feeling full but our livers need a break now and then. High Fiber absorbs the fat and the bile and is eliminated. I choose to drink lots of water and juice some of my greens/nutrition to help. Also, I've added in some foods that help.

There are a number of foods and supplements that can stimulate the production and flow of bile,
BUT seek a doctors advice before start any supplements.

It couldn't hurt to Try in moderation:
• Red beets and beet top, adding to a juicing regiment. Or mixture of beets and carrots, and use the beet leaves as you would spinach. It's a good way to add a little sweet to salads / juicing / green smoothies but watch the over all grams of sugar for the day when using beets. Beets are rich in betaine, which stimulates liver cell function and provides a protective effect for the liver and bile ducts. Beets belong to the same plant family as spinach, and they are just as nutritious, even though they have never received the positive publicity that spinach received.
• Artichokes. Leaves from the artichoke plant contain caffeylquinic acids, which promote bile flow
• Sauerkraut and sauerkraut juice. When used regularly, sauerkraut and its juice will promote bile output.

I fail to understand how the medical community and others can say that it's not affecting those of us with out a gallbladder, no matter the reason for removal. Granted most of the time poor nutrition causes Gallbladder issues in the first place or rapid weight loss again goes back to nutrition. The thing is if we've OVERLOADED the system in the first place, that doesn't mean that the system wouldn't have worked under proper conditions.

It would be like buying a 240V electrical appliance and jury rigging the system to work on a 120V plug. It might work for a bit but at some point it will probably fail. When it does burn out do I blame the appliance or the fact I didn't follow manufacturer instructions?

The thing is our bodies don't come with manuals, and the bodies systems are so intertwined with each other. There are so many factors in metabolism: stress, sleep, nutrition, hydration, calories, fitness, sugar levels, hormones, age, sex... and so on. Yes, some play a bigger factor then others but that doesn't mean each doesn't have to run at the right voltage for you. The thing is that everyone is different and we all need our own personal operations manual. I have been studying different aspects of what is affecting my body as a whole in hopes to create a operations/ user manual that can get me to a healthy weight and more importantly just healthy.

I know the lack of a gallbladder is a factor. The thing is I try to focus on the bigger factors. I have to remind myself to master those big things first. Like working out regularly and choosing my calories based on nutrition. Then work on fine tuning my diet to aid in bile production and health aids for my liver. Although, cutting grams of sugar/day, choosing healthy fats/watching fat grams/day and adding water are the 3 easiest ways to help the whole system work better.

sorry - kinda all over the place.