Weight gain? Water retention? Immediately after surgery- help?

Bulldogs1717
Bulldogs1717 Posts: 47 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there

I just had surgery on my sinuses and the scale immediately skyrocketed up almost 10 lbs the day after! Is that normal after surgery? Has anyone else experienced this? I read that it may be related to anesthesia side effects but obviously not happy as it is sabotaging my weight loss goals :( thank you in advance for any insight or how to relieve this.

Replies

  • AliNouveau
    AliNouveau Posts: 36,287 Member
    I had shoulder surgery in October and I felt so bloated and gross. I bought myself all sorts of crazy juices that contained stuff to help reduce bloating and walked a lot. Eventually it went away but I felt like a giant balloon. I was later told for this surgery they pump your full of fluids to create a pocket to do the surgery and it's just your body's natural reaction to trauma.

    It'll go away. It's all just fluid.
  • babyluthi
    babyluthi Posts: 285 Member
    Bulldogs1717 wrote: »
    Hi there

    I just had surgery on my sinuses and the scale immediately skyrocketed up almost 10 lbs the day after! Is that normal after surgery? Has anyone else experienced this? I read that it may be related to anesthesia side effects but obviously not happy as it is sabotaging my weight loss goals :( thank you in advance for any insight or how to relieve this.

    Normal. It will drop off soon.

    For everyone's info for every 1litre of IV fluids=1kg gain. Never mind everything else....inflammation etc,etc,etc.

    Hope this helps:)

  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    Totally normal.

    It’s water weight that is unrelated to fat loss. Both IV fluids and inflammation will cause the scale to go up temporarily.

    I would suggest eating at maintenance while you heal, so that you ensure adequate nutrition for your recovery.
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    Ignore the scale for a while. You don't need to "do" anything. The water weight retention goes away on its own as you recover. Focus on eating for your recovery, and let that be that.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,600 Member
    Normal. It's water retention related to healing. Give it up to a few weeks to sort out.

    And please eat at or near maintenance for a while (at least two weeks, maybe a month) while healing, even if you're still trying to lose weight. I didn't do that after gallbladder surgery, while in the weight loss process, and it was a mistake. Give your body every single thing it needs to heal quickly, and well. Near maintenance calories, good nutrition.
  • ToBePriya
    ToBePriya Posts: 16 Member
    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    Unless you ate 35000 calories over maintenance, you know it's not fat gain. It's only sabotaging your weight loss goals if you let it. Relax, it will come off again.

    lol thanks for the wakeup call here. I had the same thing happen between yesterday and today.. and it's gotta be water retention... since I was just under my goal for yesterday there's no other way I could understand it.
  • maxiem7
    maxiem7 Posts: 23 Member
    Yes it happened to me after double knee replacements. I actually showed a 20 lb gain! Took a couple of weeks and I lost it and a little more.
  • 1988GodsGift
    1988GodsGift Posts: 1 Member
    I gained 10 pounds after my gallbladder surgery 3 weeks ago. I was told it was due to the IV fluid they pumped into me, and also to swelling. It only took a week for the weight to go away. I wasn't worried, since I was barely eating and was drinking a lot of water, so I knew it was just water weight. Don't worry!
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    Yep, as others have said, it’s from them pushing saline. Plus your body retains water to heal.

    You don’t need to be eating at a deficit while healing anyway, your body is using those calories to repair itself. Stay off the scale for a while if the number gets you down mentally.
  • WobblyPickle
    WobblyPickle Posts: 16 Member
    Phew! I had surgery yesterday and put on 6 pounds! Cleary as I didn’t eat much (nil by mouth), it wasn’t food related but a real wake up call to how much fluid/hydration can drastically impact what you see on the scales. Ignoring weight, I’m so bloated, won’t get jeans comfortably on so hoping for fast deflation!!
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,985 Member
    Sure, it happens after surgery. It's water weight mostly. Could be due to iv fluid, maybe the anesthesiologist has given you a steroid shot or something else that increases water weight, fasting before surgery, moving less, etc.

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