Gaining weight days 10 & 11 post-surgery
I had my bypass surgery on 1/7/13. On Tuesday, I got to start on thick liquids, including cream soup. Because I am gluten-free (due to celiac disease), I thought my only option was to make soup -- until I stumbled onto a bunch of pre-made deli soups at a small local chain. They are listed as gluten-free, but ingredients and calories are not listed. I've been straining them and having maybe 12 oz. per day. The last two mornings I have been up .5 pounds each day. Do you think I'm getting too many calories? Did anybody else experience this as they started to transition back to "real" foods? Thanks for your help.
During week two I went up two pounds and then back down two.
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HW: 375 SW: 342 GW: 140 HT: 5'7"
I don't see how it could be possible for 12 oz of soup to have so many calories you would gain weight. To gain one pound, 24 oz of that soup would have to have 3500 calories. What's in that soup?
It is possible, though, that the soup is high in salt and you are retaining some water. But it's also possible you need to poor, or that your weight is fluctuating a bit for other reasons. I wouldn't worry about it.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
I'll add that, so early out, I would not be eating something if I wasn't sure of the ingredients. Prepared food like that may have much more sugar or fat than you would imagine. Even now, four years out, I often ask about ingredients and nutritional information when eating out.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
Here's an explanation of the biochemistry involved:
This explanation is courtesy of Diana Cox.
A "stall" at this point is inevitable, and here is why.
Our bodies use glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble, but it is stored in our muscles for quick energy -- one pound of glycogen requires 4 lbs of water to keep it soluble, and the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2 lbs. So, when you are not getting in enough food, your body turns first to stored glycogen, which is easy to break down for energy. And when you use up 2 lbs of glycogen, you also lose 8 lbs of water that was used to store it -- voila -- the "easy" 10 lbs that most people lose in the first week of a diet.
As you stay in caloric deficit, however, your body starts to realize that this is not a short term problem. You start mobilizing fat from your adipose tissue and burning fat for energy. But your body also realizes that fat can't be used for short bursts of energy -- like, to outrun a sabertooth tiger. So, it starts converting some of the fat into glycogen, and rebuilding the glycogen stores. And as it puts back the 2 lbs of glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble. So, even though you might still be LOSING energy content to your body, your weight will not go down or you might even GAIN for a while as you retain water to dissolve the glycogen that is being reformed and stored.
