You feel "fat" and bloated because swelling resolves slowly over several months as lymphatics regrow and scar tissue softens and settles. This is even more true with liposuction.Your body accumulated fluid after surgery--this is a normal response after any operation or injury, and it takes your system weeks to lose the surgical edema, and the body 6-12 months to fully recover from the major surgery you requested.Be aware that any "extra" calories you eat now (above and beyond those you do not burn each and every day) will be accumulated in the areas of highest metabolic activity. Guess where those areas are! SO be good, eat properly, exercise frequently, maintain your weight carefully, and watch your tummy get better and better.One other thing--realize that one of the reasons you had a tummy tuck was to tighten the stretched and looser muscles and fascia of the lower abdomen. Your surgeon did that, but your intra-abdominal contents are still the same volume as BEFORE your surgery. So, if you have a surgically-created internal corset, those "inside-the-belly" chitlins are going to push somewhere. That somewhere can often be the upper abdomen. All the more reason to get a pound or two off (inside the abdomen as well as elsewhere).Be well and best wishes! Dr. Tholen
