Tummy Tuck with Hip Liposuction - Plymouth, MN

Hello! First off I want to say thank you for those of you who have written about your experience here on realself.com. It has been very helpful! I am a 5’9” 168 lb., 33 year old mother of 1 child who was born in 2010. I am only having 1 child due to various reasons, but my only took a toll on my tummy. Stretch marks and excess skin galore. It probably didn’t help that I was moderately overweight (190 lbs.) when I got pregnant and 225 lbs. when I checked in at the hospital to have my baby! In 2010, I lost my baby weight very quickly due to breastfeeding and got back to a smaller size then I had been pre-pregnancy (around 175 lbs.). In April 2011 I got married but shortly thereafter gained weight back and was back up to 190 lbs. again. My tummy was huge! In August of 2011 I made a pact with my husband, if I got to my goal weight (168 lbs. – the top of the BMI for my height for healthy weight – hey you have to start somewhere) and stayed there for 1 year, he would support me if I would choose to have a tummy tuck procedure. By following a healthy lifestyle, it took 3 months to hit my goal of 168 by November 2011. I maintained my healthy lifestyle and per our pact November 2012 scheduled my first surgery consult and surgery was scheduled for January 29. Well life happened, and I took a new job, needed to delay my surgery until I got things settled down. Plus I enjoy horseback riding, and didn’t want to be laid up in the summer.
I'm scheduled for a tummy tuck with hip liposuction on November 20th in 1 week with Ness Plastic surgery. My procedure is 1.5 hours away from my home in Plymouth, MN. I’m a planner by nature and have child care, etc. all lined up. I had done a lot of research on plastic surgeons and picked Dr. Ness out of many doctors. I have the support of my husband and my wonderful friends who are going to help me out to support me along the way in this journey. The most insightful things I’ve gained from on here is to not to under estimate the amount of pain you will be in and expect to be depressed from self-inducing yourself in the misery. I’m a little nervous, but all in all I’ve mentally prepared myself to be miserable afterwards and have been researching this for a long time. I’ll post pictures and updates when I can. Thanks for reading! I can’t believe in 1 week I will be under the knife!

See my before photos. I've done a ton of strength training just have a little "overhang"