Weight Gain

My weight going into surgery on April 14th was 165 lbs. I’m now within a pound of that starting weight!

In high school, I played soccer, lacrosse, hockey and was co-president of the math club; I weighed about 173. Freshman year in college I kept in shape playing rugby (and working on advanced quadratic equations*) until I broke my cheekbone and stopped playing. I remember at some point in college stepping on a scale and seeing 199. I’m pretty sure that’s the most I’ve ever weighed.

One of the symptoms of PSC and ulcerative colitis is weight loss because of the body’s inability to absorb nutrients. As my disease progressed, I fluctuated between 140lbs and 170lbs, never really getting back to my high school weight of 173. I’m very excited to have made so much progress returning to a healthy weight. The nurses and surgeons have warned us that many transplant recipients become a little too portly after a year and need to be reminded about portion control. I don’t think I’ll have that problem.

Some statistics:

Over the 37 days in the hospital, I went from 165lbs to 142 lbs for an average weight loss of 0.62lbs per day.
The first night I was home, my weight dropped overnight to 138 which was mainly due to fluid loss.
In the days since leaving the hospital, I have gained an average of 0.39 lbs per day.
I weigh myself daily and the linear trendline match, e.g. the R² (coefficient of determination) value, is 0.954.