How Much Weight to Lose Before Body Lift?

There is no magic number of pounds you need to lose before a body lift.  The most important thing is to have reached a stable weight.  I have typically found with Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, vertical gastric sleeve and duodenal switch that most patients lose their weight at approximately 10 to 12 months.  Lap-band patients tend to maximally lose their weight at approximately 20 to 22 months.  This is a gross generalization, but appears to hold true for most of my patients.  After you have lost your weight and your weight has been stable within 5 pounds for approximately 3 to 4 months, then I believe you are ready for a body lift.
Based on your individual height and weight, I would estimate with a Roux-en-Y procedure you could lose over 100 pounds.  Though as mentioned above, the most important factor is to have a stable weight for approximately 3 to 4 months after your significant weight loss.
 
Thank You,
Dr. J. Timothy Katzen

For a female who like you is 5'9", you would have to get your weight down to about somewhere between 170 and 195 pounds. That would put your Body Mass Index at between 25 and 30. While BMI is not an absolute indicator of candidacy for body contouring surgery, it is a good guide. However, even if you lose a certain amount of weight, it is no guarantee that you will be a candidate for a lower body lift (Although there is a good chance that you will!).

There's no question that being close to your ideal body weight improves the results from body lift surgery. It also decreases the potential for complications with this type of surgical procedure. For these reasons, we prefer that patients be within 10% of their ideal body weight at the time of surgery.Unfortunately, reaching an ideal body weight is easier said than done. The vast majority of patients are unsuccessful at losing this additional weight. It's also important to realize that even when patients are overweight, they can potentially benefit from body lift surgery. We, therefore, evaluate every patient on an individual basis.We encourage patients to lose weight before surgery and prefer that their weight be stable for at least six months. In someone who currently weighs 285 pounds, it's not unreasonable to lose 100 to 120 pounds prior to surgery. We realize that some patients will have difficulty losing weight. We, therefore, encourage patients to be in a supervised weight loss program. Even with that help, some patients will be unsuccessful in their effort to lose weight. Even without optimal weight loss, many of these patients will still potentially benefit from body lift surgery.It's important to realize that weight loss following body lift surgery can affect the final result. This could even result in the need for revisional surgery. For these reasons, it's important to thoroughly discuss this issue with your plastic surgeon.

Good question.  There is no magic number.  Generally, though, your weight loss should be complete; i.e. you should be at a stable weight for at least 6 months, preferably 12 months.  This weight should be your best sustainable weight--which I define as the weight you can reasonable expect to maintain with a healthy lifestyle.  This may or may not not be your medically ideal weight or the weight that you were hoping to achieve, but is the weight you can maintain.  When you are at this goal weight, the surgeon is not trying to hit a "moving target" and you will get better overall results.

I would personally recommend for you to first go with a bariatric specialist  or a nutritionist so they can adequately guide you in the correct and healthy way to loose weight. After the specialist has guided you and you have accomplished what he has recommended you can afterward see a plastic surgeon so he can evaluate you and let you know what would be the best choice in regards to plastic surgery. Hope this helps. 

The simple answer to your question is that there is no specific formula that gives a particular number. Even BMI indexes are only a rough guide as they can be grossly misleading in people who have good muscle mass and athletes. I would tell you that having a stable weight is the most important factor for you to consider after losing your weight. Without a picture it is hard to be really specific for you, but loosing 100lbs would be sufficient for your height. I often see patients who have had barriatric surgery and have lost so much weight that they are literally skin and bones. This is too much weight loss as there is little one can do to give them a nice shape but remove excess skin. A bodylift is an extremely powerful procedure to give you back your natural shape and if there is still some fat you will be very pleasantly surprised by the result.

There is no ideal amount of weight loss required to have a lower body lift. In my practice, I wait for patients to be weight stable for at least 3-4 months. The main reason for this is that if you continue to lose weight you will continue to have skin laxity in the future which will compromise your result. As each person body i different I do not have a BMI cutoff, but I generally like patient to have a BMI < 33 to be considered a good candidate for a lower body lift. Body lifts can take up anywhere from 8-15 lbs off depending on the amount of excess skin and fat that will be removed. Good luck with your continued weight loss. Don't rush into the surgery, it is worth the wait.

 

There are general guidelines in regards to which patients have the least amount of complications and the best overall results who are about to go body contouring surgery. Most patients that are considering body lifts have significant amount of excess skin along the lower trunk and upper thighs. This is usually a result of massive weight loss either due to diet and exercise or a bariatric surgery. A general target of body mass index, which relates your weight to your body surface area, should be less than 30 and no greater than 35. In your case, your BMI is 42. He would need to reach 200 pounds to be below 30. I think this is a good target to reach prior to considering body lift surgery.

    There is no question that  the best results are obtain in cases when patient lost the majority of there weigh .   Nevertheless remember no all the patient can loss the desireble wight so when  they get  stable in the weigh loss or the redundat skin si causing medical problems, surgery  shoud be concider.    Tha can includ Body lift, Arm lift or othe surgeries related to after weigh loss  Thak You

tryin2bsexi,

There is no ideal weight for a body lift.  First, your weight should be stable (because loosing more weight will counter the benefits of the body lift).  Second, you should have lost enough weight that now you have significant excess skin around your waist .  Having only a little bit of skin excess does not warrant such an extensive surgery such as a body lift.

A key consideration in all of body contouring procedures after massive weight loss is that you are trading excess skin for excess scars.  You need to consider if it's a worthwhile trade.  (In our opinion it certainly is if you have a lot of excess skin!)

Sincerely,

Martin Jugenburg, MD