Most women who have hysterectomies report weight gain of about 2 pounds after the procedure. In fact, at least 60% of women have weight gain at 1 year after surgery. While most women report losing weight, a significant minority report no weight gain at all.
Weight gain isn’t the only reason a hysterectomy results in weight gain. There’s also a whole lot of other reasons for women to gain weight post-operatively. It’s often due to hormonal changes, increased blood loss, and fluid retention.
After talking to gynecologists, I think many women are worried that weight gain is an issue. They also think they are losing weight, but that it is still possible to lose weight post-hysterectomy. I disagree. I think weight gain is the primary reason a hysterectomy results in weight gain. And while I agree that most women report weight gain, I think that it is possible for women who have a hysterectomy to lose weight.
The weight gain is likely due to the amount of fluid and blood lost. But the fact that I can lose weight post-hysterectomy suggests that the hysterectomy itself isn’t necessarily unhealthy. The real risk is that the hysterectomy may be causing more fluid to be lost, which in turn may cause some women to become dehydrated and gain weight.
I have been on the other side of the coin, with a hysterectomy and gaining weight. At first, it seemed like I was gaining weight all over my body, but after a while that weight seemed to go down rather than up. But I also gained back weight that I had lost.
Your body adjusts to a change in its weight as it adjusts to a change in its size, but the amount of weight you lose can make a big difference in your overall weight. For instance, if you lose weight (say, by losing a lot of water weight due to anorexia) you will see your body change shape and the muscles and organs used to control weight more easily.
The idea that you might lose weight because you are losing weight is called the “water weight hypothesis.” This is what’s behind the idea that it’s better to eat a lot of food or exercise to gain a lot of weight rather than just eat what’s in front of you. This is also why people who exercise more than a certain number of times a week tend to gain weight more than people who only exercise once a week.
A lot of the reasons behind this theory is that the body is designed to hold some water. The more water a muscle and organ can hold, the more fat and muscle it can hold. If you lose too much weight, the body is able to hold less water, so it needs less to store.
The other important reason is that the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. Most people have a “normal” BMI, so in a normal BMI the difference between how much your body is storing and how much you’re burning is relatively small. But if you’re very overweight, the difference can be huge.