Plastic surgery is usally very motivating and patients see the changes afterwards and usually want to keep going with their diet and exercise, but we all lapse and fall into bad habits and sometimes need a bit of help. Diet is really 2/3 of the issue with weight gain. Getting a nutrionist and finding out what you eat, how much, when, etc. is very important. Exercise is also important and getting a trainer is helpful in showing what kind of exercise will burn the calories, etc.
Fixing those issues will drop the 10 lbs right off, especially the diet. I have many patients that "go to the gym" but really don't know what to do at the gym (in terms of which machines, how to target specific muscle groups, etc.) and they lapse into eating burgers and fries all the time and wonder why they are gaining weight.
It is also very important to point one that in a standard routine tummy tuck (abdominoplasty), there is usually not ANYTHING done to the fat in the upper abdomen because of concerns with blood supply that can jeopardize circulation to the skin in the lower abdomen. There are some techniques that are more aggressive involving lipo in the upper abdomen at the same time as the tummy tuck but it is more risky and most of us don't do this. A tummy tuck removes the loose skin from the pubis to the belly button and often there is some liposuction on the flanks and hips, but not much to the upper abdomen for this reason. What results is often a disproportion between the upper and lower abdomen. The lower abdomen is usually flat and straight and the upper abdomen will often be a bit thicker and still have much of the fat it had prior to surgery.
I tell all my tummy tuck patients that at 3 months after the surgery, we often schedule ahead of time a 1 hour completion liposuction procedure that will contour out the rest of the upper abdomen to bring it "back into balance" and complete the procedure. So even with all the exercise and diet in the world, it is very likely you will still have some upper abdominal fullness unless it is addressed with focal lipoplasty by a plastic surgeon.
I hope this helps!
