Weight gain after gallbladder surgery

On august 13, 2008 my gallbladder was removed. I was scared not knowing what to expect. The nurses in the hospital told me to go back to my regular diet, but I asked the surgeon that took it out. He told me to eat a very low fat to No Fat as possible diet. That is what I have done, I have no pain. I for the first time am regular. I wieghed 275 pounds, and I have lost down to 252pounds thats 23 pounds in just under a month. Idon't eat any pork (Idid alot before) I eat chicken, diet lean beef, and fish all of which is baked,boiled, or grilled, fresh fruit, vegetables,sour dough bread. It has been a big change for me but considering the alternative I will stick to my new way of eating. We can't digest fat so it makes perfect sense to not eat it. Good luck to all! :-) :-)

Hi Y'all. I've had my gall bladder removed for a little over a year now. At first I lost weight but then about 6 months later I started steadily gaining weight. I eat organic foods and go to the gym (with a personal trainer) 3-5 days a week. Both my trainer and the doctor say that my weight gain is due to my gall bladder removed and don't know how else to help me lose the weight. I also have friends who have had their gall bladder removed and they all struggle with weight gain. It's all very discouraging.

As far as I know, none of the gall bladder symptoms make you gain weight after a surgery. I agree with an above post which says to get your thyroid checked. The weight gain could be due to various reasons and I personally know people who have had a gall bladder removal surgery and have been losing weight ever since.

I had surgery to remove my gallbladder in 2006, when i was 16. Ever since then I have continuously gained weight... about 40-50lbs. For those of you saying that people who have gained weight after surgery because of a thyroid problem you are probably wrong. I have had several blood tests checking my thyroid and all hormone levels. They are normal. I eat extremely healthy and I am very active, a varsity tennis player for college, I exercise 6 days a week. So its not like Im being lazy and eating like a fat cow. Its because the gallbladder stores bile so that when you eat fats, there is enough bile to break it down. Without the gallbladder the bile is just slowly trickling into the small intestine straight from the liver, and its something like 8 times less efficient in digestion than a person with a working gallbladder. So gallbladderless people cant absorb good fats or bad fats efficiently and that is why weight is gained.[/enc]

I too have had significant weight gain post gall bladder surgery :'( ... Prior to my surgerry, I used to complain about my weight, and now, I wish I were that weight I complained about before...lol XD - 130 lb. I have spoken with numerous Doctors, and they just don't know what to do %-) . My weight gain is 45 lbs and climbing, with the first 40 lbs within 3 months of my surgery. I too, have tried many things since, with little to no avail. My cholesterol level is quiet high, and my thyroid panel comes back ok. It's very frustrating and I'm concerned of how this will affect my long term health. :'( :'(

I too had Gallbladder surgery a year in a half ago. After my second child I weighed 140 lbs, and since the surgery I have gained about 5 lbs every three months. Im now at 170lbs and hating the way I look! I have been eating hardly anything thinking it was my calorie intake, and every few months I have stilled gained weight! Nothing I do works and I dont want to keep getting fatter. What can I do!!

I have had my gallbladder out for 2-3 months. I have gained 15-20 pounds even though I cannot eat more than a couple tablespoons worht of meat without getting sick. I do not eat any pork anymore and I limit my beef intake to a couple times a week and small portions.

I have gone back on a low carb diet at isntance of my doctor and she has me drinking whey protein shakes 2-3 times a day. Did this for two weeks felt like c**p and gained 5 more pounds.

So. Its not the amount of fat. Not the amount of meat (for 2 weeks I also ate only veggies and fish and it got worse). Its not any hormone because I had a hormone pannel done and I have my thyroid tested every year because my mother had problems with it. I dont have anemia, don't have alergies etc. (all tested within last year).

So. Why am I gaining so much weight and how do I stop it. Both of my parents are having bariatric surgery this year and I dont ever want to be that weight. I was 192 before the surger and now I am aroudn 215. I was 185 before my gallbladder started acting up. Help!

small problem when i got my gallbladder out,i can't lose weight can any1 help,if want to hear my story about my gallbladder,i will answer you thanx :x

Had mine removed about 4 years back and was on a very healthy diet, and i did not gain weight. 2 years later I had some trauma in my life and took to eating like c**p and gained 100 pounds. I went on a diet briefly and all was good, but after I lost 25 lbs, it seemed as though my weight loss stalled and I gave up(possibly gall bladderless related). I have since gained the 25 lbs back. I started another diet this week and hope to be successful. Ive also been on Questran for the past several months to combat diarrhea. When I was eating good, I never had any problems post-op, it all started when I began my crappy diet, Questran works good though.

I find it odd that I could only lose 25lbs the last time I dieted, before my surgery I was always able to drop weight easily(and gain it easily 8) ), perhaps it was a fluke :crosses fingers:

I'm down 20 pounds in a little over 2 weeks, so I'm guessing this whole not being able to lose weight without a gallbladder is BS

I don't think it is b.s. How did you lose the 20 lbs? I had my gallbladder out 2 years ago and have continuously gained weight. I have talked about it with the doctor, but she has no answer and blows it off. I was naturally thin and ate whatever I wanted prior to the surgery. I have always ate moderately healthy, but never had reason to diet and never weighed over 110 lbs. I gained 10 lbs within 2 months after the surgery and was not eating that much due to feeling like c**p. I had complications with my surgery and was on painkillers for about a month. I was lactose intolerant for about a year afterwards, so consumed no dairy, which cut down on some fat. I have now gained about 35 lbs total and have become very depressed as a result. My entire family is thin except me. I am a genetically thin person trapped in the body of a fat person. I have been working out 3 days a week and cutting down on calories and have still only lost 2 lbs over the past 2 months. Most people lose that in a week with diet and exercise. I take digestive enzymes before each meal and fish oil in the evening. Nothing is helping. My sister just had a baby and is back down to a size 2. I used to be a size 4 but am up to a size 12. I can't even stand to look at myself in the mirror anymore and liposuction is too expensive. If I had known massive weight gain was a side effect, I might have looked into other alternatives. I will look into bile salts, but are these not found in the digestive enzymes with lipase (which is supposed to break down fat)? Does anyone have any other ideas? Please help!

I had my gallbladder taken out in 2008 and have also gained weight. I am fed up with it and have started looking for answers and ways to help. I found this article ***edited by moderator*** web addresses not allowed and wanted to share it with anyone that is also looking for help. It talks about a low fat diet and different things to help your digestive system. It also explains why people without gallbladders need to eat this way. Hope it helps!! I am going to print this out and start eating this way and we will see what happens.

The web site did not come through. Can you print it out please.

I am replying to this post long after it was posted so it may be no help to the poster but perhaps will be so to someone. I hope so. I was also persuaded to have my gallbladder removed about 8 years ago and have gained about 40 pounds and simply can not get it off. Thyroid checks out as well as everything else, I eat less than I have ever eaten in my life but ....no luck.

But, what I would like to share, is this. A few years after my surgery, I started visiting my chiropractor again which I had gotten out ot the habit of doing well before my gall bladder problems began. He told me that his treatments would almost certainly have helped my gallbladder to begin functioning properly again and prevented my having the surgery. I could have wept. The problems this surgery have caused me are dreadful. I have developed, along with the weight gain, diverticulosis and numerous other problems which, together, have caused a lot of depression, lack of energy, etc. I didn't even have any stones. The dr. said my gallbladder was "full of sludge". So I think the chiropractor could have prevented all this. It's too late for me but for any of you out there considering this surgery, it is not. Please consider seeing a chiropractor before you give up and have the surgery.

SO I HAD MY GALLBLADDER TAKEN OUT JUST LAST FRIDAY, PRIOR TO THAT I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH GALLSTONES ABOUT A YEAR AGO WHEN I HAD AN

ATTACK.

I DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE GALLBLLADDER, I READ ALOT ABOUT IT AFTER THAT AND I READ POST LIKE THESE THAT MADE ME NOT WANT TO

HAVE SURGERY.  AFTER MY  FIRST ATTACK I STOPPED EATING FATTY AND FRIED FOODS AND THAT MAINTAIN ME PAIN FREE FOR THAT LONG. I WAS NOT SURE

IF I SHOULD HAVE HAD SURGERY NOW, I THINK I REGRET IT, TOO LATE NOW  I HAVE READ ALOT OF THESE COMMENTS ABOUT GAINING WEIGHT AND THAT

WAS AND IS MY BIGGEST FEAR..I LITERLLY CRIED AFTER I READ ALL THESE PROBLEMS PEOPLE ARE HAVING WITH GAIN WEIGHT. SHOULD I EXPECT TO GAIN

THAT MUCH WEIGHT? THE REASON I DECIDED TO HAVE THE SURGERY IS THAT EVENTUALLY I WAS PROBABLY GOING TO HAVE AN ATTACK SOME DAY AGAIN

OR HAVE OTHER COMPLICATIONS AS I GET OLDER. I AM 46 YRS OLD AND I HAD NEVER HAD SURGERY EVER, THIS WAS MY FIRST. ITS TRUE ABOUT DR'S

TELLING YOU ITS THE BEST THING TO DO AND OF COURSE THATS YOUR DR TELLING YOU AND YOU  WANT TO LISTEN TO HIM OR HER BECAUSE THEY KNOW

BEST RIGHT? THEY TOLD ME IT COULD COMPLICATE THINGS LATER WITH MY LIVER AS LIKE GETTING LIVER CANCER. SO OF COURSE THAT SCARED ME. SO I

DECIDED TO HAVE THIS SURGERY. I DID READ ALOT ABOUT THE GAIN WEIGHT THING BEFORE MY SURGERY BUT I DIDN'T THINK IT WOULD HAPPEN TO SKINNY

PEOPLE LIKE ME AND IT DOES. THE REASON I REGRET IT IS CUZ I SHOULD OF THOUGHT ABOUT IT THIS WAY>>IF I STILL NEED TO KEEP MY DIET AS I DID

BEFORE WHICH I HAD NO FATTY OR FRIED FOODS AT ALL NONE WHAT SO EVER THEN WHY TAKE THE GALLBLADDER OUT IF YOU STILL CAN'T EAT LIKE YOU USE

TO..NOW READING ALL THESE POSTS IS GOING TO DEPRESS ME AND I AM GOING TO BE REGRETTING IT FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE HAVING DONE THIS.

I WAS JUST GETTING OVER DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY AM TAKING ZOLOFT FOR IT AS OF NOW, SO NOW THIS. I KNOW EVERY PERSON IS DIFFERENT BUT

LIKE OUT OF SO MANY POSTS ONLY 2 OR 3 PEOPLE HAVE SAID THEY HAVE NO PROBLEMS OR WEIGHT GAIN THAT'S NOT ALOT. THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE DO

HAVE PROBLEMS. MY DAD HAS HIS DONE 3 YRS AGO I DON'T SEE THAT HE HAS GAINED WEIGHT, SO MAYBE 1/4 OUT OF 100 HAVE NO PROBLEMS. THAT'S

NOT A GOOD NUMBER..I GUESS I WILL SEE HOW MY JOURNEY GOES WITH THIS HOPEFULLY AND I PRAY TO GOD I WILL NOT HAVE ANY OF THOSE PROBLEMS.