Question:
family members of post op patients gaining weight

hello- i am doing a survey. how many spouses/family members of post op's have gained weight since the surgery?? we have noticed in my household my husband has gained weight while i am loosing!! i would like to do this for a month, please reply to my email ([email protected]) but wls survey in the subject line. i will post the results. thank you, gale = )    — gale C. (posted on April 6, 2003)

April 6, 2003
This has come up before, often post ops cook better foods and family member loose some weight. With me and Jen both post ops, our dog Susie is getting the nick name chubby butt. Puddle on the other hand hasnt gained anything. She like some people are just naturally more active.
   — bob-haller

April 6, 2003
Just a thought, perhaps its from other family members eating all the leftovers that the wls patient would have normally have eaten. Say were I cook enough for me, the dh, and our three growing kids I assume I would still cook that much and the family would eat what I (post-op) would be unable to eat. .
   — Jennifer M.

April 6, 2003
I'm 3+ months post op (12/23/02) down 67 lbs. My husband has lost weight since my surgery. Both of us have drastically changed our eating habits. He no longer does pop, sweets, chips, lunch meat and has given up chocolate. There's no sugar or junk food in our house. His blood pressure is down along with his weight. We've been together 30 years.
   — debmi

April 6, 2003
My husband started eating all of my left-overs and I swore he would gain a lot, but he was a work-out-a-holic, so he only gained an itsy-bitsy amount:~)
   — Cheri M.

April 7, 2003
Yes, my husband has gained 20-30 lbs since my wls surgery on 4-9-02. He has always been a big guy but, now weighs about 320. He is having wls surgery on 4-16-03. I hope this does not affect my children now! RK -130lbs
   — Robin B.

April 7, 2003
My husband too eats my leftovers. Especially in restaurants where he eats his entire meal and 1/2 of mine. If it wasn't for the fact that he works out 6 days a week, he would gain. As it is, he occasionally gains even with that workout schedule and then he must cut out something, like desert for a week, and he is back down there-disgusting, isn't he?! He has never had a weight problem and is one of the most disciplined people I know.
   — Cindy R.

April 8, 2003
I have a friend who has a theory called the "Fat Continuum" which holds that there is a certain amount of fat in the world and it never goes away, but gets redistributed as people gain and lose weight. As I have lost 275 pounds, I have screwed over many friends and family members because they seem to be picking up all my old fat. I feel I did my part for years by being super morbidly obese and it's now their turn. Even my beautiful sleek, muscular boxer dogs have become "Chunky Butt" and "Tubbo" respectively as they too have gotten heavier. Seriously though, I do notice that people seem to be getting heavier, but I sometimes wonder if that's because I'm so much more aware of those things now. Before I would have just ignored it or never even noticed, or it could just be the "Fat Continuum" at work.
   — Traci H.