I checked my weight day of surgery and now 5 days later it is 20 lbs less or is something wrong with my scale?

I don't think its completely impossible. I know before I left the hospital they weighed me and said its normal that weight always goes up after surgery because of the large amount of anesthesia they pump into your tummy during surgery. I went up 4 pounds, but my nurse said that it will come off quickly during the first 2 weeks, and will take with it a lot more. Perhaps what you see in the loss is mostly anesthesia weight. Maybe? Anyhow good deal, and keep it up

one week I have lost 4 lbs off my pre-surgical weight. lost 12 lbs pre-surgical. After coming home from the hospital it had shown a big gain but I don't really remember the weight. They do pump in a lot of fluids and it takes a week or so for your body to get rid of it.

Did you use the same scale to weigh both times?

Did you have a pre-op diet and lose any then?

I think those who don't have a pre-op diet or just do one day of clear liquids the day before surgery tend to have a big loss right off the bat.

I lost 24 lbs pre-op. I came home from the hospital weighing 13 lbs more than I did when I went in and by my 1 week post op appt. I had lost that plus 8 lbs.

But I know several others who had lost a lot more than 8 lbs but they hadn't lost anything pre-op.

If most of that is water, yes, it's (barely) possible.

Figure that the average daily caloric requirement for females to maintain weight is around 2000 calories a day. You have to burn the equivalent of 3500 calories of fat to lose one pound. So without vigorous exercise to increase calorie burning, you aren't going to lose more than about 2 1/2 pounds of fat in a five day period. A 20 pound loss would probably be a small amount of fat, some muscle, and a lot of water.

Thanks everyone. It may have been that the scale was placed in a different spot and wishful thinking.

I had a 25-pound pre-op weight loss and when I weighed in again a week later, I was still down another 5 pounds. (I only step on the scale every week or so. I refuse to be a slave to the numbers.) Anything is possible I suppose as I am finding everyone's experiences are obviously different.

Its possible, but it wont be 20lb of fat. You've lost a lot of water, which is what always happens when you go on a very strict diet.

Sunshine, I lost 19 pounds in 8 days post-op. It is possible!

I lost 17 in the first 7 days....so I'd say so.