Weight Gain

Options
Fitnesswitness2022
Fitnesswitness2022 Posts: 8 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I gained two pounds while being hospitalized this week. Not tripping about the weight, but curious as to why I gained two pounds while being on a saline drip? Is it possible my body went into starvation mode within 4 days?

Replies

  • Lhenderson923
    Lhenderson923 Posts: 102 Member
    Options
    No. It’s water weight. It’ll drop off likely all at once again.
  • Hollis100
    Hollis100 Posts: 1,408 Member
    Options
    First, I hope you're okay now after your hospital stay.

    Scales often show different weights. Perhaps your scale and the hospital scale are not exactly in sync. In addition, while I'm not a medical professional, t seems to me you would have had something more to eat in 4 days than just a saline drip -- did you eat anything by mouth or IV?
  • Fitnesswitness2022
    Fitnesswitness2022 Posts: 8 Member
    Options
    Okay, water weight would make sense. I didn’t know your body held on to water when stressed. Very insightful, thank you for your answers! I think I eat pretty well, I eat tuna a lot? Lol. So far it’s worked for me in my weight loss journey, but any other tips would be appreciated!
  • Fitnesswitness2022
    Fitnesswitness2022 Posts: 8 Member
    Options
    Hollis100 wrote: »
    First, I hope you're okay now after your hospital stay.

    Scales often show different weights. Perhaps your scale and the hospital scale are not exactly in sync. In addition, while I'm not a medical professional, t seems to me you would have had something more to eat in 4 days than just a saline drip -- did you eat anything by mouth or IV?

    I’m doing much better, thank you! I had saline drip only for 3 days, NPO. The next day I ate oatmeal, milk, fruits, and veggies. I think stress could have been a factor?
  • angel7472
    angel7472 Posts: 317 Member
    Options
    fyi-tuna should not be eaten more than 2x a week due to high mercury content. If you really like fish (pescatarian here) try mixing it up with other choices such as cod, salmon, snapper and the like. On a weekly average I will eat sockeye salmon 3x a week. I add no salt seasonings such as Mrs Dash and True lemon and True lime seasonings.
  • Fitnesswitness2022
    Fitnesswitness2022 Posts: 8 Member
    Options
    angel7472 wrote: »
    fyi-tuna should not be eaten more than 2x a week due to high mercury content. If you really like fish (pescatarian here) try mixing it up with other choices such as cod, salmon, snapper and the like. On a weekly average I will eat sockeye salmon 3x a week. I add no salt seasonings such as Mrs Dash and True lemon and True lime seasonings.

    Ugh, thank you for letting me know! I had no idea 🤦🏻‍♀️ I’m new to eating healthy. I’ve incorporated a lot of fruit and veggies and thought getting protein from tuna was okay. I’ll try incorporating different fish in my diet. Thank you for the info!
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,410 Member
    Options
    Holding onto water due to the saline drip and due to moving less. Healing and swelling also means more water weight. Stress. You might have been given a steroid during/after anesthesia which also means more water. And finally: constipation might also play a role if you had surgery or strong pain killers.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,198 Member
    Options
    Besides what others have mentioned, healing often involves inflammation (not necessarily a bad thing - just part of the process). There are so. many. things. in a health incident/hospitalization than can increase water retention. I gained several pounds after an outpatient laparoscopic gallbladder removal, held onto it for the better part of a couple of weeks.

    You probably burned fewer calories laying in a hospital bed than you would in normal daily life, but it sounds like you ate/consumed hardly any calories. Gaining 4 pounds of fat would require eating more or moving less, to the extent of roughly 14,000 calories above your maintenance calories. If that had happened, you'd know. It didn't, so this is water weight.

    Please eat near maintenance calories, nutritiously, while you're healing/recovering. Recovering from a health issue requires calories and nutrition: Don't short change that. Time enough to resume losing weight when you're back to normal health-wise. I kept at a deficit after that gallbladder surgery: It wasn't a good idea to do that, in my case. Fortunately, my body prioritized healing, but I paid for it with fatigue and weakness later. No one needs that.

    Sending strong healing/recovery wishes your way!
  • Fitnesswitness2022
    Fitnesswitness2022 Posts: 8 Member
    Options
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Besides what others have mentioned, healing often involves inflammation (not necessarily a bad thing - just part of the process). There are so. many. things. in a health incident/hospitalization than can increase water retention. I gained several pounds after an outpatient laparoscopic gallbladder removal, held onto it for the better part of a couple of weeks.

    You probably burned fewer calories laying in a hospital bed than you would in normal daily life, but it sounds like you ate/consumed hardly any calories. Gaining 4 pounds of fat would require eating more or moving less, to the extent of roughly 14,000 calories above your maintenance calories. If that had happened, you'd know. It didn't, so this is water weight.

    Please eat near maintenance calories, nutritiously, while you're healing/recovering. Recovering from a health issue requires calories and nutrition: Don't short change that. Time enough to resume losing weight when you're back to normal health-wise. I kept at a deficit after that gallbladder surgery: It wasn't a good idea to do that, in my case. Fortunately, my body prioritized healing, but I paid for it with fatigue and weakness later. No one needs that.

    Sending strong healing/recovery wishes your way!

    I definitely have internal inflammation. You’re right, I need to focus on getting better before I continue my weight loss journey. I’ve been feeling very fatigued. I won’t focus so much on a calorie deficit during my healing process. I love this community, there is so much insight to be gained! Thanks for the well wishes!
  • Fitnesswitness2022
    Fitnesswitness2022 Posts: 8 Member
    Options
    ythannah wrote: »
    While awaiting emergency surgery last year I was on a saline drip and wasn't allowed anything by mouth for about 36 hours. I'm normally on restricted sodium so the effect of the IV was quite dramatic. I got a look at myself in a mirror and my eyes were ridiculously puffy, like nothing I'd ever seen before. Right before the surgery they wanted me to take off my rings and they would normally slide right off but I was so water-logged there was no way those things would come off my finger.

    It's just water weight from the saline.

    My face does look and feel puffier today. I thought I was just tired. Water retention makes a lot of sense. I’m supposed to be on a very bland diet the next few days due to internal bleeding. But I don’t know what to eat other than the BRAT diet. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Guess I’ll be eating a lot of carbs lol. Hope you’re doing better after your emergency surgery! Mine took a good year for me to recover from.

Categories