I had a masive ventral hernia repair with abdominal reconstruction in Feb 2017. My bmi is 31 and I have a deepseated fear of my viceral fat pushing the repair open again. The proceedure was done at Emory with a gastrointestinal surgeon taking care of hernia and a plastic surgeon doing the abdominal reconstruction with component separation and a mesh overlay. How strong is this repair? Would aches after exercise be due to nornal muscle soreness? I'm trying to reduce my bmi and strengthen my core.