I never realized why I really gained weight after SRS but today my veterinarian made me realize that after my cat will be castrated it might become fat and gain weight and my neighbor told me it's the case with his cat.

So I was just wondering, in all my existence I never gained weight no matter how much I ate but I realized after SRS I started to become fat. Does this happen to all of you or it's just me?

Do many cats take HRT after an orchi?

Maybe it makes a difference.  Just guessing.

Testosterone makes it easier to keep weight off (higher metabolism), but that just means that lowering T may make weight gain more likely. Any trans woman whose T was well controlled pre-op shouldn't see much of a difference afterward (I didn't).

Also, cats don't have issues with bone loss when they're fixed, so I think it's safe to say that people and cats are different. For that matter, none of my cats got fat after being fixed, either... 

Quote from: Jenna Marie on December 27, 2016, 12:21:52 PM
...none of my cats got fat after being fixed...

Same here!

Ms. Grace: Of course, if I'm being perfectly honest, a couple of them *are* fat now. But that's because of age and accompanying laziness...  (They are/were all over ten years old when they started to get chubby, after being fixed as babies.)

Hi E.B.,

If we're looking for a cause-and-effect explanation for why we get fat, regardless of surgical status, I believe we need look no further than the amount and type of food we habitually eat versus the calories we habitually burn during the course of our daily activities.  A change in our hormone (gonad) status can and often does alter our metabolism, either speeding it up or slowing it down.  (Sadly, slowing down seems more common than speeding up; I guess it's partially an age thing.)  What this means to us on a practical level is that, if SRS alters our hormone status, which slows down our metabolism, then we will absolutely gain weight unless we compensate for the slower metabolism.  That is to say, we must increase our activity level (via exercise for example), and/or we must decrease the amount of food we eat (especially rich, sugary, fatty foods). 

As for me, I am more lazy and sedentary now than I ever was in my youth.  I do, however, pay attention to what I eat and how much I eat.  I deny myself no culinary indulgence, but I do moderate how much and how often I eat.  Consequently I am 25 to 30 pounds lighter than I ever was as an adult pre-surgery.  (At 5 foot 7 inches, I deliberately maintain a steady weight of 142 pounds.)

In my experience, the key is to make up my mind what weight I want to be, and then control the things that are within my control (how much I eat, how much sugar and fat I consume, and how active I am.)  In this way I never, ever feel that weight gain, nor weight loss, is out of my control.

I hope this helps.

Love, Miharu

I definitely gained weight after SRS, but it took about 10 years, and it is 100% attributable to my diet and exercise (or lack there of).  Before transition I weighed 235 lbs, when I transitioned I lost 50 lbs and clocked in right around 185 lbs.  Over the years my weight went up, but when I started hanging out with friends who were younger with faster metabolisms, I started eating and drinking like they did and the weight came back.  Eventually I was back up to 222 lbs.  At that point, I became determined to lose the weight and managed to get down to 205lbs and pretty much stabilized for a year or so.  Then last October my firends and I went to Cancum for my 49th birthday, and I managed to put on 10 lbs thanks to beer and burritos.  Once we got back, I swore off beer (haven't had a drop since), I limited my diet, focusing on what I was eating and eating right, and ampted up my exercises (which had been on hiatus over the summer).  I try to run 5 miles everyday, and so far I have only missed a few days. 

As of today, I weigh 189 lbs, just 4 pounds away from my transition weight.  At 5' 15", I am super happy with this...and yes, I am a giant

This has been a huge goal for me, and can show that paying attention to what you eat and drink can have an influence on your weight.  As we get older our metabolism slows, so it means that we have more work to do to achieve our goals.  I am doing it now, so it can work for almost anyone

Hope this helps in some small way
-Sarah

I had my orchie this year and will end 2016 weighing five pounds or so less than when I started.  We have a lovely cat with a large, hanging belly panus.  Anyone who sleeps 20 hours a day, like our cat,  will likely develop excess body weight too. 

As others note, it's not the surgery, it is the intake and activity level that follows and we are all best advised to get or keep active.  Actually I love body curves and opulence and consider fat and fit to work well together

Does it also apply after a vasectomy? I gained 119 lbs after mine. I went from 180 to 299 lbs.  Now I am back down to 220. only 40 more to go. Yeah.
I wonder, did the vasectomy work or did my wife just get disgusted looking at me?  :-)

Sorry to interfere. This kat has weight issues even before getting fixed. I agree that it is a matter of calories in and calories out.


Now to slink out of the room.

As a teen I could put away two full plates of food for dinner and I was stuck at 140 pounds. As I have aged, even with activity, I find I need less that half my teen intake to maintain my weight. Surgery don't result in my weight gain when I went higher than I wanted but cleaning up left overs did. For the last couple of years, I have been eating measured portions along with evening walks and that has controlled my weight where I want it. In short, the lack of T and age can both result in weight gain if you don't monitor your eating.

I stayed at my high school weight of 160 until just a few months ago, regardless of my orchiectomy being done 22 years ago. It took being laid up for me to put on 20 pounds, which is coming back down post spine surgery.

If you stay active, you will be less likely to fall out of shape.

I usually make the joke about the neutered cat when talking about my weight gain, but the direct result feels like low energy levels.

My weight gain comes pretty much my diet being closer to treating my body like a trashcan, and being banned from working out until I hit the three month mark.

Pre-SRS weight: 69 Kg
One week later weight: 65 Kg.
Current weight: 71.5 KG

Once I regain my freedom from this initial intensive dilation regime, it's cardio time again.

Not sure, but I definitely look forward to curling up in a sunny spot and napping 15 hours or so as myself, at last.  Prrrrrrr....

  I believe the reason cats gain weight after castration is that they tend to lose their desire to ummm Cat around and become lazy. With the sharp decrease in activity coupled with abundant food, they tend to get fat.

One could argue weight gain is possible after an orchiectomy if we did the same.

    Purrrrrr

  Jeanette

My cat never became fat after his experience with the vet's scissors, but might have been because he pushed his food onto the floor and then refused to eat it or shoved the biscuits under the sofa.

In ovariectomized rats, giving them estrogen helps with weight loss and restores weight. Estrogen normalizes things in them. I think for us, some estrogen combined with a tab bit of testosterone should help keep weight off to a certain degree.

Hormones affect how fat is used by the body, if it is more easily stored or more easily used by the muscles, as energy. That regulation of fat then influences our appetite. It's not because we eat more that we get fat but rather it's because our body tends to favor fat storage so that less of it is available to us as energy and as a result, we are either lazier (if not enough food is available) or we eat more to increase our energy. Several studies have suggested this is the way it really works. We don't gain fat because we are lazy and are gluttons. Rather, we are lazy and eat more because of the way our hormones direct fat in our bodies. Important hormones implicated in this are estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, and growth hormone. One of the most crucial hormones is also insulin and the more carbs, especially refined, we eat, the higher the insulin.

I recently put my eunuch cat on a diet.  Now he's feeling frisky again but the constant begging for food is driving me crazy!!
Cats!!!!!  Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

My cats have all been skinny, and they always had food available. Me, on the other hand, I have become fat in only 6 weeks after surgery! Maybe because I stayed in bed all the time, and was ordering an enormous breakfast (free breakfast at the hotel) and then cheap thai takeaway dinner. It was so cheap that I think I ordered at least two main courses every day. So my suggestion is to do like my cats. Be active, don't stay in bed, and don't eat all the time. I am sure I will be fine again as soon as I start living like my cats.

I think having enough E in our bodies and even a little T might help us keep slim. Indulging in sweet foods, not a good thing too, once in a while, ok.