Tummy Tuck Patients Should Lose Weight First for Optimal Results
After pregnancy or excessive weight loss, stomach muscles become lax allowing the contents of the abdomen to droop and sag into a paunch, sometimes falling over the beltline.
You can lose fat, but you can’t lose excess skin.
This is why tummy tuck procedures have become so popular – especially with women who have had children. But in order to have optimal results, you need to be near your goal weight at the time of your procedure.
Liposuction is not the solution to remove that excess fat. Liposuction is designed to remove those stubborn pockets of fat – typically found on the flanks, stomach, upper arms and thighs — that just will not go away with diet and exercise. Even with lots of exercise.
Consequently, plastic surgeons will tell overweight patients to go home, lose excess weight and then return in six months or so to see if a tummy tuck or liposuction will then be more appropriate.
A New York Times article recommends:
- Resistance exercises – lifting light weights with many reps, lifting your own body weight and using resistance bands.
- Aerobic exercises – including swimming, rapid walking, jogging, bicycling, Aerobics classes, using treadmills, elliptical machines, etc.
Tummy Tuck patients should also ask their surgeon about a technique known as a “high lateral tension abdominoplasty.”
This technique involves the surgeon adding extra rows of stitching across the muscles at the belt line. This pulls in the patient’s sides, too.
Results? It looks like you are wearing a girdle under your skin.
Finally no more need for those Spanx!
Have you ever had a fatty area that just wouldn’t go away? Which types of exercise worked best for you? Leave a comment!
California Surgical Institute @ November 19, 2008