Must You Eat Less After Lipo, Regardless of Healthy Diet Before Lipo, Because of Having Less Fat Cells?

Question

I have been reading online studies regarding weight gain after Lipo. I am a little confused! Is it true that regardless of a healthy diet with exercise before lipo, that you will need to eat less and or exercise more because you have less fat cells than before the surgery? Does the fat removed fight HARDER after surgery to come back, regardless of diet and exercise? If a woman ate 1200 calories/daily before lipo, would she have to reduce calorie intake because of less fat cells afterwards?

James E. Chappell, MD · Answer

The best thing you can do is eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly, and count calories.  I do not care what anyone says, if you don't put excessive food in your mouth you cannot gain weight (transient water weight and medical conditions/problems aside).  Liposuction will tend to change the distribution of where the fat goes, so if you do not want to discover the next greatest place your body feels like depositing fat, do the above.

Gerald Minniti, MD, FACS · Answer

Hello Lidia,

	Absolutely not, you do not have to eat less.  The media has presented a single paper that showed patients gaining intra-abdominal fat (around the organs) in people who had liposuction.  More recent papers refute this, and state that a moderate diet and exercise program allowed liposuction patients to maintain their new fat distribution. 

	Unfortunately, after having liposuction surgery, many people maintain a calorie positive diet that they had prior to liposuction, and this is what is most problematic.  Your body does not fight to gain fat back.  From what we know about the physiology of fat, the opposite is true.  The more fat we have the more our bodies want to preserve and even gain fat.  The less fat we have, the less our bodies want to preserve it.  This is probably some vestigial (old) biologic function that is no longer useful in modern man.

	If you are considering liposuction surgery, you should meet with qualified surgeons that can guide you with nutrition and exercise as well.  It all goes hand in hand.

	Best of luck!

Robert W. Kessler, MD, FACS · Answer

The liposuction procedure will permanently remove fat cells from the areas treated. The long term effects of the surgery do not alter your metabolism so adhering to a well balanced diet with proper exercise will allow you to maintain the results you achieve.

	I hope this was helpful. Good luck

Kenneth Hughes, MD · Answer

If you can maintain your weight, then you will not gain additional fat just because of liposuction.  The areas that are liposuctioned are less likely to become large, and any additional increases in fat weight will redistribute.  To be sure, all of the effects of liposuction on lipid metabolism have not been worked out.  Kenneth Hughes, MD Los Angeles, CA

Shaun Parson, MD · Answer

Thanks you very much for your question.  Conventional medical teaching says that by the time you are 8 years old you will have developed all of your fat cells unless you become obese in which case you will develop more cells.  After liposuction you will see an overall decrease in the total amount of fat cells.  You won't make new cells as long as you maintain a healthy diet.  If you burn the same number of calories that you take in you will not gain weight.  If you burn more calories you will loose weight.  1200 cal/day is a good guess for the number of calories.  You can then see how your body behaves.  If you maintain your weight then this is a good ca/day level for you to maintain your post-operative weight.

Must You Eat Less After Lipo, Regardless of Healthy Diet Before Lipo, Because of Having Less Fat Cells?

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Must You Eat Less After Lipo, Regardless of Healthy Diet Before Lipo, Because of Having Less Fat Cells?

Answers (8)

Answer: Effects of Liposuction on Metabolism

Answer: Effects of Liposuction on Metabolism

Answer: Best diet following liposuction.

Answer: Best diet following liposuction.

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Recommended reading

Everything you need to know about Liposuction

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.