Can I ask what others' experience has been with weight gain (or lack thereof) following an ileostomy?
I had my ileostomy coming up to a year ago (it will be a year in May). This was after suffering from an acute attack of severe ulcerative colitis.
Before the illness, I was about 75 kgs. I'm 5 ft 9, so I wasn't a muscle man to start with, but was a fairly respectable weight.
After the operation and a combination of the illness, loss of appetite, and NHS food, I was down to 55 kgs. Not at all a healthy weight!
I had the summer off work to recover, come to terms with things, and put on some weight by eating as many high-protein meals as possible. I also drank the Fresubin Energy drinks which the NHS prescribes, which are high in protein. By the time I went back to work (August, so within 3 months), I managed to get myself up to 64 kgs, still underweight compared to what I'm used to, but getting toward normal.
The problem is that since returning to work, I haven't been able to smash the 64 kg barrier. In fact, I caught the dreaded winter vomiting bug that did the rounds two months back and was knocked down to 60 kgs. I weigh myself every week and since then it's been gain a kilo, lose a kilo, gain two, lose one the next week, and the end result is I'm still hovering around the 60 kgs mark.
Is this a normal experience? Is there a magic solution to putting the weight back on following an ileostomy? I always try to go for high-protein dishes when I can and I keep drinking a Fresubin drink every day, but it just doesn't seem to be happening for me. Any suggestions?

This is a remarkable community of 40,920 members.
You will get real advice from fellow ostomates who truly understand you - things you won't find in the books.
And it's not all about ostomy - there is friendship and relationships too.
Privacy is very important - your profile is not visible to the outside world.
NewlifeVictoria
Dear Everyone 😊🙏🏻☮️❤️👼😊🌈☀️🌹🤗👩🏻☀️
Hello! Hope your all, having a great start of your day! I have to say this place has been helpful in many ways and the people here, seem very real and mostly helpful in anyway! I usually don't bother anyone really and try to figure out different things on my own, but that is with common sense, but with experience definitely helps and I read stories and I have my own stories and it's been so much and it's nice to have friends here, who understand same kind of situation 😊
I think it's great when people help each other and who is helpful in different ways! I appreciate anything advice etc... Thank you all and very happy this site is here ! I hope you have a good day/night! I'm trying to figure out how to take care of me more then I used to as I think of others more then myself! I'm hoping your all having a great summer! Let's all help more and give a high 5 and all help and get together! 😊☮️❤️😊🌈☀️🌧
Victoria
Learn about some strategies that can make it easier to talk about your stoma.
Learn the results of our ostomy sleep survey.