33 Years Old, 240 Pounds Lost, 33 Inches of Skin to Lose!

After losing 240 pounds through diet and exercise over 2 years, and completely changing my life to insure my weight loss was permanent by becoming a personal trainer and nutrition coach, I had done all I could with exercise to tighten and tone the skin left hanging around when I went from a 61 inch waist to a 27 inch waist. I had 3 consultations with 3 different plastic surgeons, and felt the most comfortable with Dr Bruce Mast in Gainesville, Florida and underwent the lower body lift in May 2014. I was quite surprised at how minimal the pain was, considering I had the incision that went all the way around me to lift the buttocks, outer thighs, pubic lift and tummy tuck. My surgery was performed at an outpatient center, and I went in to surgery at 7:00 am, and was out by 1:00 pm, and home by 4:00 pm. I had two drains left in place that were emptied twice a day but there wasn't a lot to empty thankfully, and the drains were removed within my first week postop. I had a problem with swelling in my legs and abdomen after I decided to be up on my feet day 3 after surgery to show off how good I felt, which landed me in compression stockings and bed rest for a week, but after that I was allowed to slowly resume working back into my normal routine. I ran for the first time 3 weeks after surgery and began working back into my full training routine. The only complaint I have is the stretching feeling in the new belly button but its slowly becoming less obviously sensitive as I continue working it. Its great to finally wear low rise pants without the muffin top effect from the lose skin!

First picture is before I lost weight. Second picture is 4 days post op and you could see I was quite swollen. Third picture is 2 weeks post op with swelling going down and last picture is close up at 6 weeks post op.

I'm 6 months post op since I had my lower body lift done. I did end up having bilateral brachioplasty and breast augmentation done 8 weeks after my lower body lift, so my recovery period was extended before I was released to resume physical activity. My surgeon is very pleased with my progress and the fading of my scar. I've been rubbing it twice daily with coconut oil mixed into Eucerin lotion, and it's fading nicely. I've resumed my full time position as a personal trainer and boot camp instructor, back to running 17 miles per week, muscle training, cross training and no pain or swelling. I still wear compression when I am weight training but otherwise I am completely out of compression garments. I still have some numbness along my incision but overall it has been well worth it to rid myself of the 33 inches of skin that hung around me. I couldn't have ask for a better surgeon to finish my last leg of my weight loss journey!