Weight loss after surgery?
By oregonmomma on 25 Sep 2011
I am starting to reach the end of my rope and am finally considering actually doing the sugery. Since I was a teenager I have known I needed to have a breast reduction, right now I am a 38 H and was an J when nursing. I am now 39 and it's time, I have so much pain now, I've been carrying them so long. I've been trying to loose weight now for the last year but the size of my breasts makes it very hard and painful to work out, even wearing 2-3 bras. My question is mostly about loosing weight. I need to loose about 60 pounds (I'm 5'8") and I sure as heck plan to get into shape after the breast reduction. What happens to my breasts? I am thinking of going to a "D", I am small around, and with the 38 I have to go to the foundations store's to have them darted in because I am smaller but finding something in a 36 is about impossible in my size, so I alter the 38's. It's possible after I loose weight I'll be down to a 34 (which is what I was once upon a time). So a D now will turn into a DD I am thinking if I go down to a 34? I have large hips and am very hour glass shape, so going down to a C just feels like I will be so out of balance with my bottom, I haven't been a C since I was 14 years old but not getting enough taken out at surgery seems wrong. I am going to make an appointment with my OB/GYN in the next month or so and get a referal to a plastic surgeon. I really need to know what to ask in advance about the sizes and loosing weight. Did anyone go through the surgery THEN loose weight? What happened to your breasts? A really long time ago someone told that you have to pick a weight because if you loose or gain your breasts will be wonky, but that was over 10 years ago and maybe surgery is different now? Thank you SO much, I am SO excited to have found this board!
Thanks for posting this. I was on these pages in June so your journey was one that I followed (if you know what I mean) and it is great to get an update. I totally know what you mean about the tummy, I woke up from surgery and wondered who had put it there!
H
Thank you so much for the information and tips! I am really feeling a DD and that is what size I'm going to discuss about. I called and my regular appointment for my yearly GYN appointment isn't until January, I'm thinking I'll just get through the Holidays and then tackle the breast reduction after the first of the year.
Aitchcov: once I counted from JJ down to DD, it is fairly shocking to realize how big they are now or how exciting they will be at DD (well, exciting to me;)).
So glad to hear so many women so happy with their breast reductions!!
I defintely think overweight women can benefit from breast reduction. Having smaller breast has inspired me to want to lose weight....plus I can see my flabby stomach more! If you can lose the weight before the surgery, that's great. If not...you still can have great results. I love my new smaller breast!!!! I think that maybe I should have chose a DD....because now I prefer padded bras to make me look fuller.
I did ask my doctor if he thought I should try to lose weight. He told me that I was young and healthy and I could definitely benefit from the surgery. He estimated that he would remove 5 pounds and I would be a D or DD cup...and I would see a significant difference. He was so right!
Iowa71 will take some pleasure from this idea too hopefully.
H
When it comes down to it, I'm really not doing it for aesthetic reasons (although perky boobs are a very exciting prospect), I'm doing it for health reasons, they are just too dang heavy to carry around anymore and they are causing too much arm, shoulder, and back pain. While I don't want them too small, I also want to eliminate the pain but I'm thinking DD's would be good, that way when I do loose weight I could go down to a full C or D at the least (I would think).
You explanation makes sense with regards to the amount tissue removed and how much of it is fat tissue. I guess maybe they don't know until they go in but it is a really good question to ask the doc since I would be going down 5 sizes.
Does that make sense.
Maybe someone else will jump in and explain it better!
I was a 36HH and have gone to a 36DD/E (this is UK but same sort of thing) The tissue they remove is a mixture of fat and glandular. The fat cells will not return as they have been removed if you see what I mean.
The remaining fat cells will increase and decrease in size as you lose or gain weight. So a weight loss will mean your boobs remain in balance with your shape.
Some people have more fat removed than glandular tissue and vice versa so it is probably not scientifically accurate.
This is my understanding only and I am not medical. :-)
After reading more on the board and reviews, it looks like breasts still loose and gain after reduction surgery? For some reason I had it in my head that my breasts wouldn't loose any in cup size if I lost weight. They usually don't, or maybe they are just so large I hardly notice it one way or the other. I just want to be pain free and be able to buy a bra off the rack at regular stores, the ones with seas of bras waiting to be tried on. I haven't been able to buy a bra in a regular store since I was 18 years old.
I talked with my husband more about cup size and he feels like if I am getting it done I should take more out, more like a full C, I just can't wrap my mind around small breasts I guess, and I don't want to look out of balance, I just don't know. I guess I will need to talk to a plastic surgeon about all this. I am thinking about talking to them about doing it early next year, that way I can make a goal of loosing half the weight (30 pounds) by my surgery.
Going bra shopping on Wednesday! Dreading it as always but I've been in so much constant pain for the last month that I need to try and figure something out, maybe I should just go with 2 bras everyday (under-wire and then a sports bra on top), I am waking up in the middle of the night with upper arm aches more and more.