Healthy, stable lifestyle changes before body contouring

Breast reduction is categorized as body-contouring. Obviously, there is some relationship between breast size/weight and body weight. However, small women can have large breasts and big womencan have relatively small breasts. First look at your lifestyle. Be as healthy and stable as you can. Determine why you think you are 40lbs. overweight. Is it because you gained the weight or you looked at a chart? Some people will always be overweight.

If you are as fit as you can be, your weight and total body fat are less important. Therefore, even if you are "overweight", if your breasts are too big for you, talk to a plastic surgeon about the surgery.

If you are truly overweight and you cannot exercise because of your breasts, you might consider a staged reduction, perhaps just liposuction to reduce the weight to allow you to exercise and then a more contouring procedure when you reach your goal.

Be aware that some insurance companies will refuse to cover your surgery if you are not within a certain percentage of what they think your ideal weight should be.

In general, think about fitness first, then determine how your breasts affect your life.

Most doctors will suggest that patients make lifestyle changes that can be sustained, i.e. starting to exercise regularly, stop snacking, cut down on carbs, etc.

However we live in a real world. If patients have truly done their best with respect to diet and exercise, it is simply unreasonable to insist they lose more weight.

Many patients find that after breast reduction, their ability to exercise, and their self esteem is greatly improved.

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For any procedure, it's best to be at (or at least close to) your ideal body weight for many reasons - like decreasing your anesthesia risks, getting a better result, decreasing wound healing complications, etc. Having said that, many women who suffer from symptoms due to large breasts find they have difficulty actually exercising and losing weight. While it's possible a large weight change after surgery may cause a slight change in your breasts, it's unlikely to have a significant impact. I would say if you have made a sincere sustained effort to lose weight, and have not had much success, proceed with your surgery.