I am considering liposuction. What kind of fat do I have? (Photo)

Dear richardrogers,
it is hard to tell for sure without an examination. If you are considering surgery, I would suggest you consult a board-certified plastic surgeon. Only after a thorough examination, you will get more information and recommendations.
Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

Thank you for your question. Based on your pictures you appear to be a good candidate for abdomen, laterals and love handle liposuction to improve your body contour, also, I suggest you gynecomastia correction with chest liposuction.

It appears that you have a significant amount of visceral fat. This fat is in your abdomen around your organs and cannot be suctioned with liposuction techniques. The only way to address that his with weight loss. You might get some improvement with liposuction on the flanks, however the abdomen will not be flat after liposuction. Best wishes.

An examination is needed to be certain, but you probably have internal and external fat. If you eat and your abdomen swells, you may also have some food allergies that cause your colon to swell.

From your photos it appears you have both subcutaneous fat and visceral fat. The visceral fat appears to be what is predominantly responsible for the contour of your abdomen. This is not able to be addressed with liposuction, but rather through weight loss.

The very best way to assess the visceral VS subcutaneous fat is to examine the stomach in two different positions. One is when you stick out your belly and the other is when you suck it in. The difference between the two is a good indicator of your visceral fat content.The Gold Standard for superior liposuction results requires use of the advanced technology of ultrasound-assisted VASER liposuction. As an official trainer of VASER liposuction, I perform full body liposuction cases every week. VASER liposuction has been the only modality that has consistently resulted in outstanding liposuction outcomes. VASER liposuction ensures a smooth contour regardless of degree of excess fat by virtue of being able to remove any and all remaining fat comprehensively and uniformly. If skin redundancy is observed, Renuvion technology can be simultaneously applied to tighten your skin to optimize your overall contour outcome. A Skype or FaceTime consultation with a VASER specialist will help you get an accurate recommendation and pricing.

Respectfully,
Arian Mowlavi MD, FACS
Realself 100 Hall of Fame Inductee

Based on your pictures I would say you have a typical male fat distribution with a typical proportion of visceral to subcutaneous fat for an average male.
Men tend to have a higher percentage of visceral fat compared to subcutaneous fat than women but either gender can have different fat distributions.
To measure the thickness of your subtitanious fat simply take your fingertip and gently push against your skin until you feel the underlying muscle wall. around your mid abdomen I’m guessing your fat layer is about 1/2-1 inch. With Liposuction you can expect 75% of that to be removed.
When you go to assess the thickness of your subcutaneous fat layer by gently pushing your fingertip into your skin until you feel the muscle well you’ll also know where your muscle wall is. Have flat muscle wall should be a bee line between your pubic bone and your sternum. if your muscle wall bulges from that virtual line and that represents the bulging of visceral fat which you clearly have.
The most effective and best option for you without question is weight loss. With sufficient weight loss the need for liposuction will go away because it will take care of both your visceral fat and subcutaneous fat at the same time.
Liposuction alone will still leave you with a bulging abdomen and unless done well could potentially leave you with an abnormal fat distribution and other issues that come with poorly done Liposuction.
Delivering consistent quality liposuction results is more difficult than most people believe in the chance of finding a plastic surgeon who has truly mastered this procedure is more difficult than most people believe. almost all plastic surgeons will tell you they have experience and are good at Liposuction. Afyer having answered 14,000 questions on real self, have practice plastic surgery for 25 years the last 10 years being a devoted exclusively to Liposuction and fat transfer I feel otherwise.
Losing a weight it’s almost entirely related to how, what, when and how much people are eating.
Exercise is excellent for physical strength med exercise by itself tends to not be affective at the losing weight in comparison to changing eating habits.
The following is a pre-written summary I put together a few years ago after personally having lost some weight and having interviewed a few thousand patients struggling with weight loss.
Perhaps you’ll find it useful.
A few thoughts on the weight loss.
While liposuction is generally not prescribed as a treatment for obesity most patients who get liposuction are somewhat overweight.
From having met thousands of people interested in liposuction I have had ample opportunity to talk to many people about their struggle with weight.
A few repeating patterns seemed to emerge.
Perhaps the most common one is people not eating frequently enough. Losing weight by not eating is a fallacy. In reality we tend to over eat when we eat after having gone hungry for long periods of time. This was my personal issue and when I addressed it by eating frequently I lost weight(60 lbs)
Another common misunderstanding is the relationship between weight and exercise. Most patients are not successful at losing weight by exercising without changes in diet. In my opinion weight is 90% diet and 10% exercise. Exercise has to do with fitness and good health and certainly can help with weight loss. Exercise also helps us feel better about ourselves and that's key in successful weight loss.
Think of diet and exercise as two separate entities with two separate purposes. 
That said I encourage everyone to exercise on a regular basis. 
The majority of people get hungry from working out and tend to over eat afterwords. Sometimes feeling justified to do so after a strenuous workout. 
The number of calories burned during a typical workout session is far less than people believe.
Any successful weight reduction program has to be based on permanent change. Any temporary diet plan will ultimately fail if not followed by permanent changes in behavior. This one is fundamental.
Understand the role that insulin plays in obesity and what causes insulin surges. If you read the late Dr. Atkins book(old school now called ketogenic diet) you will learn that his obsession was with controlling insulin much more so than with eliminating carbohydrates.
Learn what glycemic index and glycemic load's are. Avoid eating meals that give a high glycemic load. This is somewhat similar to saying avoid eating large carbohydrate based meals though understanding what foods constitute as bad carbohydrate meals is critical. This will be learned after mastering the concepts of glycemic index and glycemic load.
Here are my rules to keep weight under control. 
1. Never go hungry
2. Never eat a large meal. 
3.  Never, never, never eat a large meal when your hungry.
4. Avoid large carbohydrate based meals with a high glycemic index.
5. Don’t expect exercise to get your weight down. Don't blame the lack of exercise or the inability to exercise for not being able to maintain a healthy weight.
6. Step on the scale every day after you get out of the shower in the morning.
7. Accept weight fluctuations. None of us stay at the same weight or continue to go down in weight.   Don't beat yourself up if you gained a few pounds. It's the long term, rest of your life, progress that matters.
I hope that is of some help.
Good luck,
Mats Hagstrom, MD