Arm Lift - the First Part of a Massive Overhaul - Frankfort, IL

I have always had larger arms. I became overweight in jr high and have been obese since then. I had gastric by-pass 5 years ago and lost 150 lbs. I felt great but my body looked horrible. I became depressed because I felt like I looked worse than I did before I lost the weight. Having surgery seemed like it was too expensive to even consider. I have slowly gained 50 lbs back in the 5 years since the bypass. Then I started watching a show on discovery about people who had plastic surgery to help thier self esteem and it clicked. I needed to find a way to have it done. I am going to take out a loan against my 401k. It's a large investment but I figure I spend more than that on a car and my body is more important than a car. It's harder to justify the cost when I could use that money to help my family and use it for the kids. I just know that I need it to be happy and proud of myself. I think that I will be a better role model for my kids with the surgery.

I am starting my transformation with my arms - they are very large and droopy. It's hard to find clothes because of thier size - my body is a size med/large but I have to buy 2x to fit my arms. I hate going swimming because everyone can see them. I really try to make sure no one see them. Luckily the longer sleaves came back into style because it used to be very hard to find summer clothes with arms.

I had consults with two PS in the area and I am going with Dr. Gelman. He has a lot of experience with massive weight loss patients and made me feel very comfortable.

I am scheduled to go in for my arms on 4/15/13. I will wait 4-8 weeks(depending on healing) to have the stomach done, then breasts lifted and possible thigh lift.