TLH Worried about weight gain

I had a radical hysterectomy 8 days ago and I have been so worried about gaining weight. I was able to keep both my ovaries but I have read so much online about gaining weight even when you keep your ovaries. I am only 28, I just lost 70 pounds prior to my surgery and I'm so worried about gaining it back. After 6 weeks I am going to start working out again but I read its still hard to keep the weight off. Has anyone experienced weight gain after surgery when they have still have ovaries??

Hi,

I had a little weight gain, just 2 kilos, mainly I think from the enforced lack of activity following the operation. Now that I'm less tired and able to exercise more I'm hoping the extra weight will fall off. My belly is still swollen, which doesn't help, but it's just a question of time and patience. I think if you stick to a balanced diet and take some very gentle exercise - it's very early days for you, you need to take it easy for the moment - there's no reason why you should gain much weight.

Good luck with your recovery!

Christina

I have the same fear. I had a total hysterectomy via Davinci on 5/14. Since I came home, all I want to do is eat, and not healthy stuff, either. I feel like I need to get a handle on it before I lose control, but right now it's just one more thing to stress over. Good luck to you. Be as easy on yourself as you can.

I am happy to report that there actually has been a weight loss in my case. I lost 7 lbs the week before surgery from stress, 7 lbs the week after surgery from lack of appetite and my 3 or so pound uterus for a total of 14 lbs. During recovery, I gained 7lbs back so I was still down 7 lbs. (Do I have you confused? ) And then through continued exercise and watching what I eat, I lost another 10 last summer. I am presently using My Fitness Pal and have used the Web MD Personal Tracker in the past to track my exercise and calories. I have 10 more lbs that I would like to lose and I will get there eventually. So long story short, having a hysterectomy while keeping your ovaries does not cause an automatic weight gain. It really is all about calories in and exercise to use them up. Good luck on your journey.

Thanks everyone for the responses and encouragement! I'm glad to hear about someone losing weight after, it gives me hope! I have been using fitness pal too, since my surgery I have been inputing my calories and staying under my goal so I'm hoping that this will help until I can work out again.

What did your doc say about exercise right now? I'm not sure what type of surgery you had.

I had a DVH and my doc cleared me for walking after 3 or 4 days. On the days I have energy, I walk on my treadmill or around my block. I'm 5 weeks now and can do about 1.5-2 miles at a time - 3 or 4 days a week. My biggest problem is my hormones tricking me into eating garbage. I am logging my calories again so I can keep my eating in check.
My weight has yo-yo'd back and forth between 10lbs but right now I'm sitting on the same weight I was before surgery. I'm not going to panic about the scale yet, just try to stay with healthy habits.

I guess I will have to check with my doc at my follow up appointment on Tuesday because I am in no pain I had my procedure laparoscopic and I feel like I could do some walking. I have had no a,ppetite which has been an issue because I breastfeed too so I have to force myself to make sure I get enough calories but I make sure I eat very healthy, I'm more worried because I get no physical activity.

If you feel like walking, please do so. I walked around the block which was 1 km 4 days after surgery. I was fit going into surgery and felt actually quite good one day post-op after they got the nausea under control. Recovery is not meant to be spent in bed! You need to listen to your body and do what you can without over doing it. That is the thing to watch out for.

Congrats on your 70# loss! That's terrific! I, too, am afraid of gaining weight. I normally go to the gym 6 days a week and that's just to maintain. I teach a class too so it doesn't look real good if the instructor is overweight. i'm going to start walking on the treadmill, maybe a mile, then building on it. I won't lift or do any heavy duty ab workout, but i think i can slowly add cardio. I see my dr wed, so i'll check with him to make sure i can do a little more. He said 4-6 wks, but i think i'm doing better than expected.

Thank you! I think that is gonna be my plan too, once I get the okay I'm going to start slowly and build my way back up to my normal workout