Happy St. Patrick's Day *** 17 months post-Tummy Tuck and 4 months post-Scar revision

Thank you. You will be happy!! All the best to you. Ask me any question. I will try to answer them although I don't go on this site all that much.

Honestly, I don't wear anything skin-tight. That's just not for me, but I wear clothes that are size small now, instead of medium. That's probably the best that I can do. I will be going to a beach destination for spring break. I bought a bikini. I may try it wear it out there. I try to live my live with no regrets, so that's why I decided to have the TT. I don't think that I am a particularly vain person, but I just wanted my body back. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life thinking about the body that I could have. I just went out and did it and I'm so glad...... My life was already blessed to begin with. The TT just enhanced it. All the best to you. I will check out your updates.

Thank you. Very happy with my decisions to have TT. Definitely after 4 children, there was too much loose skin for lipo alone. Need to have TT to remove skin also. I will check out your posts. All the best to you.

Thank you for the compliment. I have 4 children (2 that are teenagers). Even to this day, my kids do not know that I had the TT. I had surgery at 1 PM on Friday, spent the night at the hospital. By the time they woke up Saturday at 8 - 9 AM, I was already home and in bed. I told them that I injured my back ( which is not really a lie because I did have back soreness from the minor contour lipo). I couldn't lift things, walked kind of stiff, and rested in bed for the first 24 - 48 hours. By day 3, I was much better. Got up, fold laundry, did dishes, played the piano, etc. By day 4, I was driving them around short distances. To them, everything back to normal except mom is still kinda stiff from her back problems. I kept my drains (which were in placed for about 1 week), inside my clothes. I was kinda bulky but they didn't notice anything unusual. I had my TT in October, so bulky clothes for Nov didn't seem odd. My parents and siblings who live about 30-40 minutes away from me do not know because I was never "out of the picture". I made it to the weekly family get-together, as usual. Whether you are able to hide it from your family depends on whether your recovery is smooth or whether you had complications. Also, I was pretty fit going into the surgery (I weighed about 116 pounds), so after the surgery it wasn't like I had a drastic weight lost. The improvements to my body was subtle, compared to some other ladies on this site. I'll check your site out and make any additional recommendations that may help. All the best to you. You'll do fine.

Thank you for your kind words. The best thing to do to prepare for the surgery is to be fit. Continue to exercise and eat healthy up to the time of surgery. Have a positive attitude. Expect the worst, but pray for the best. It's not a walk in the park after the surgery, but I was just so happy that I made it out in one piece, that the discomfort was no big deal. Just remember that no matter how tough today is, tomorrow will be better. I have 4 children (2 that are teenagers). They never even knew (even to this day) that I had the TT. You will be fine and you will be very happy that you did it. All the best to you. If you have any questions, just send me a message. It may take a while for me to respond because I don't check on this site so often anymore.

My thoughts exactly on the fitness. I've stepped up my workout in preparation for this. I am in the absolute best shape of my life...just waiting to get my tummy in line with the rest of my body! :) My kids are 13, 13 and 10. We are telling them I am having a hernia repaired in case they feel the need to share anything with their friends. (The twins are girls and are chatterers.) I will be in touch with questions. Thanks again!

Keep a diary of what you eat. Sites like "fitnesspal.com" and "caloriesperhour.com" will help you. Best to eat 5-6 small meals per day to prevent blood sugar from dipping low and therefore you risk cheating with unhealthy foods. Eat lean protein (chicken, lean beef, and fish). For grains, go with whole grain (oats, brown rice). Eat lots of fruit/vegetable. My typical day: 8 AM: 1 bowl of whole oatmeal (with raisons and chia seeds) 200 calories. 10AM: fruit (orange or apple) 80 calories; 12 noon: 2 slices of whole wheat bread, 100 calories , with turkey slices (70 calories) and condiments. Either greet yogurt (140 cal) or piece of fruit, 80 cal; 3PM; snack with fruit (80 cal) or handful on nuts (130 cal); dinner: 4 oz of protein (chicken, fish, or beef), 200 cal, vegetables or a salad 100 - 120 cal. Trying to stay around 1200 cal. Keeping a diary is very important because it helps you see where you're empty calories are. It makes you more aware of what you are eating.

Thank you so much for taking the time to provide me with this very informative advice. It definitely helps me structure my healthy eating habits. Good luck and let's stay in touch. I'm also nearing my 1yr anniversary of getting a MM.

I'll try to stay in touch, but I only log onto this site once every 2 months or so. If I don't respond back, it just means I haven't had a chance to see your comments. Hope things are well with you.

Cardio is important but strength training is also important (crunches, planks, lunges, squats, with weights). Cardio will keep your weight in the right ballpark, but strength training will give you the sleek muscles and body that you want. In other words, if you were shaped like a pear to begin with. You will be a smaller pear with agressive cardio. But to change your physique, you need to lift weights to tone your body. 1 pound of muscle occupies 1/7th the space of 1 pound of fat. Eating clean helps to get rid of fat too!! Good luck.

The recovery from the TT was not bad for me. For the scar revision, I drove myself to/from the procedure. I picked up my child from school on the way home, and I went to work the next day. For me, it was just another day........ I ran a 5K 3 weeks later for the Turkey Trot.

That's GREAT! I can't wait until 5K season :)

If you think you will need scar revision, hold out for as long as you can so that the abdominal skin has time to stretch. So when you go for the revision, the PS can grab some of that stretched-out skin. You are only 30 days post-TT. You will see that as time goes by, the tummy skin gets relaxed.

I didn't pay anything for the revision. I thought I would have to pay $150 for use of the procedure room, but the nurse informed me that the PS was doing it as part of the original procedure. In the end, I think he wants to be happy/satisfied with his work. If he sees something that he thinks should have been done better, he is decent enough to offer it, even though it's more work on his part (with no additional compensation). I'll post some new pictures of me in a few weeks.

Ok, great. I'm sure you look awesome!

Revision was easy and laxed skin got removed, giving me better results. I'll post again with new pics in a few weeks. (Don't feel like taking pics now. )