Exercise or Liposuction? (photo)

I usually recommend a healthy lifestyle, exercise and weight loss first, prior to any consideration for body contouring.  Certainly, you would want to get down to or near your ideal weight in order to obtain the best results.  This lifestyle should consider after your surgical procedure in order to maintain the benefits obtained from this modality.  

I would try diet and exercise first, if you haven't done so already.  However, looking at your photos, it appears that you would be a good candidate for liposuction of your stated areas, as those aforementioned areas can be difficult to get rid of.  An evaluation by a plastic surgeon may help you decide what option(s) you may have to help you achieve your desires.  Hope that this helps!

Good luck!

Thank you for your question and the additional photos.  The areas you are concerned about, abdomen and flanks, are a common concern for both men and women.  Ultimately, the decision to have surgery must be made only after you have had a lengthy discussion regarding the risks and benefits of surgery with your surgeon.  I would suggest you have this discussion with a board certified plastic surgeon, as they have gone through rigorous training in the esthetic aspects of body contouring.  The photos that you included suggest the areas of your concern should be amendable to body sculpting with liposuction.  I would suggest you consider the procedure be performed with a laser-assisted liposuction device called Smartlipo Triplex.  This technique provides additional skin tightening along with the fat cell reduction.  You can certainly achieve excellent results with a structured diet and dedicated exercise regimen.  It is important to understand the fundamental differences between liposuction and exercise as it pertains to fat cells.  A fat cell is similar to a balloon.  Just like a balloon, fat cells are an expandable reservoir.  Instead of holding air, a fat cell stores fatty acids that have accumulated through food intake.  Dieting causes the release of the fatty acids within the fat cells. You can think of dieting like letting out the air in an intact balloon.  With liposuction, you are physically destroying and removing the fat cells.  You can think of liposuction like popping the balloon.  Once you have destroyed or removed the fat cell, the fat cell is gone for good just like if you popped a balloon.  Liposuction should be used to decrease the amount of fat cells in the areas that have an abundance of fat cells compared to the surrounding areas.  Regardless if liposuction is performed or not, diet and exercise is always required to achieve the best results.  I hope this helps.  Best wishes!