Okay to Lose Weight After Lower Body Lift?

Actually, this will not likely make a huge difference in your appearance or degree of residual skin laxity, but if you are still losing after you regain your normal activity levels, I would advise stabilizing your weight at its final, healthy level before undergoing this operation. It is a big procedure (we have done over 250 in the past 14 years in our outpatient, accredited office surgical facility), and you really don't want to have to re-do it because your skin is again too loose! 10 pounds may not be "too much" additional loss for someone with "normal" skin tone, but many of my massive weight loss patients have lost a significant amount of elasticity that does not return even after lower body lift, so there is a sensitivity to even a small amount of additional weight loss that I am concerned about (in terms of your best result).

Also, realize that your surgeon may actually REMOVE 10 lbs. of skin and fat during your body lift. I have removed as much as 31.4 lbs. in a patient who underwent outpatient lower body lift at our office surgical facility. My partner and I routinely remove 10, 15, 20, or more pounds as I have just indicated, in the course of our circumferential belt lift (lower body lift) procedures. It is much more important for you to be at a stable healthy weight so that you will heal properly and optimally! It sounds as if your schedule may be driving this wish for surgery at post-op month 22; while I understand that there are many factors regarding timing (help, time off work, vacation schedule, etc.), please do this right! You now know how! Best wishes and congratulations on your stellar loss!

Thank you for your question about whether losing weight after a lower body lift is okay. If you plan on losing weight, I suggest you lose the weight before, not after, your lower body lift. You will get the best results. Therefore, I would suggest you wait til your AC joint heals, and then you start exercising. Once your weight has plateaued, I suggest the 360 circumferential lower body lift. Therefore, I vote to lose weight before, not after, the lower body lift. I hope my answer helps clarify whether losing weight before or after your body lift is better.
Sincerely,
Dr. Katzen

When weight loss occurs following lower body lift surgery, the response varies from patient to patient depending upon a multitude of variables. When weight loss is relatively minor, the vast majority of patients don't notice changes in their bodies. In contrast, significant weight loss an result in the development of loose, saggy skin.Under these circumstances, revisional lower body lift surgery may be necessary. For these reasons, we generally recommend that patients be within 10% of their ideal body weight before proceeding with lower body lift surgery. When this approach is taken, the need for secondary revisional surgery is markedly decreased.In your particular case, it's probably reasonable to proceed with lower body lift surgery. Subsequent weight loss would have minimal impact upon your overall result. At this point in time, there's no reason to delay further.

Congratulations on your weight loss.  There should be no problem with having a body lift with a BMI of 23.  Ideally, I ask my patients to reach a stable body  for about 4 to 6 months.  Also I recommend that you settle on a reasonable body weight.  If losing 10 to 20 pounds more is difficult, then you shouldn't even try .  That is, it will not make a significant difference in your overall cosmetic results.

If you are only planning to lose another 10 pounds, it should not significantly affect your body lift.  If you were planning to lose 20 or more pounds, I would suggest trying to do that before your surgery.  Good luck!