How You Keep Fat From Dying With BBL, Should You Eat Fatty Foods?

      Keeping pressure off of the areas of fat transfer is beneficial to maintaining the overall volume. Kenneth Hughes, MD

Dear SweetPeaches,Fat viability depends a lot of surgeon technique. The fat has to be placed back into the buttocks as soon as possible so that it has a greater chance of survival. It has to be placed carefully so that not too much fat is placed in only one area. In most cases 30-40% of transferred fat will be lost after few months. 
Daniel Barrett, MD, MHA, MS 
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery  
Member, Am. Society of Plastic Surgery

BBL outcomes are entirely dependent upon graft viability and survival. The greater the survival, the more successful the outcome. These grafts are very pressure sensitive as pressure decreases local blood flow which then potentially compromises the graft take.
The recommendations for prolonged sitting/unrelieved pressure will vary from one physician to another. I generally recommend avoiding prolonged sitting for a month or so (with strict avoidance for 2 weeks post op). Occasional rest periods for sitting using a specialized pillow with escalating frequency and length are progressively integrated as a patient heals. I recommend patients work towards 1 hour total of seated resting per day by the 4 week mark.
Outside of the recommended offloading and pressure restrictions, patients need to aware that they should expect some measure of fat resorption (anywhere between 30 and 50%) irrespective. Maintaining a healthy diet is important as is avoiding exposure to nicotine, however, these are secondary to limiting pressure.
As always, discuss your concerns with your board certified plastic surgeon (ABPS).

Thank you for your question. This is a very common question before and after BBL. Even under the most optimal circumstances, around 30% or a little more of the fat will be lost. His is to be expected. Fat viability is dependent on many factors some of which are controlled by your plastic surgeon in the operating room. There are however, some things that you can do to ensure better graft take. We suggest that our patients not put any direct pressure on the graft site for 3 weeks. This can be avoided by placing a cushion under your thighs while sitting. Eating fatty foods will not contribute to increased graft survival. Follow your plastic surgeons post op instructions very carefully and I'm sure you'll do great.

First and foremost you need to follow all instructions that your doctor gives you post op. What we know is that a certain amount of fat volume will be lost no matter what the patient does. Even if you do everything right, you are going to lose ~30% of the fat volume. More can be lost if you put undo stress on the fat such as nicotine use, strenuous activity early in the post op period and weight loss. Eating fatty food will just lead to high cholesterol and possibly weight gain but not necessarily weight gain in all the right places.