After having a Tummy Tuck, when will the muscle tone in the abdomen return to normal?

I reccomend first that patients who have had tummy tucks wait at least three months before trying to strengthen their cores after the surgery.  Next I am a fan of short crunches vs long jerky sit ups.  Windmills are great for obliques and squats can help too.  I however, do not like pilates or hyperextension yoga poses which try to stretch out the core.  We worked to hard with the tummy tuck to tighten and shorten your abdomen. As always ask your plastic surgeon their opinion.  Good luck. 

Abdominal tone will not return on its own; it has to be built up with exercise.

Tummy tucks do of course tighten the fascia, or deep layer.  However all this does is reduce the abdominal bulge.  It does not strengthen the abdominal muscles.  That is up to the patient.

Rather than just do situps, it is best to consult with a competent physical trainer on how to build up the core.  Usually the surgeon will the go ahead 6 to 8 weeks postoperatively.

most surgeons answering these posts are fine surgeons and this issue should not come up, but make sure your intended procedure will involve tightening of the full fascia all the way to the breast bone.  I have seen many patients over the years who did not have their fascias tightened during a tummy tuck, a shame since the surgeon has the fascia open and could easily have tightened it, and now the patient has a persistent bulge.

Also there are full tightening tummy tucks now that can be performed through low or minimal incisions in the right patient.

 

The muscles in the front of the abdomen go from the bottom of the rib cage to the pubic bone and contract vertically. Down the middle there is no muscle, and during pregnancy this area stretches so the muscles become separated and pushed to the side. Exercise will not pull them back to the middle, so a tummy tuck typically does that with sutures. Afterwards, the usual exrecise routine is needed to restore muscle tone since the surgery only re-aligns the muscles.