Tummy Tuck and Breast Augmentation-June 21st - Birmingham, AL

I am 26, happily married for eight years, with no children. I have been overweight all my life. By the time I was in 6th grade I weighed over 300 lbs. I yo-yoed back and forth for years with my lowest weight being around 200 lbs. After I got married I shot back up to 275 and began a three year journey, resulting in the loss of over 100 lbs using Sparkpeople.com for the first 80 lbs and Medifast for the last 20 lbs (because I stalled for over 7 months no matter how hard I exercised). I am now at 169 lbs (my weight in 3rd grade) but despite diet and exercise I cannot loose the excess skin around my abdomen. It’s been almost a year since I stabilized between 175-169. Below my navel is nothing but excess skin.

Before I get judged, this is not vanity. This is grace and faith. The faith that comes from believing that (no matter how many people laughed) that at 275 lbs I believed I could do the impossible-I could loose over 100 lbs, switch careers, and completely transform myself and my life according to my dreams, that I could rewrite my fate through nothing more than will power, determination, and God’s grace. Life is the most precious gift we have and being made in the image of the creator, I believe the ability to create is instilled in each of us and it is this ability and right to transform that made me proceed. I have always been trapped inside my skin. I have never looked in the mirror and saw my true self. I don’t have low self esteem, sure there are things I would change, but I am a wonderful person (lol) and everyone loves me (lol-most of the time).

Am I scared? Darn right! Many are the nights I have laid awake (especially after watching the surgery on youtube, twice-I hate that I always go into things with my eyes open!). But, I don’t believe, I can’t believe that God and the angels let me come this far to drop me now. That said, I am scheduled for an augmentation and a tummy tuck on June 21st. I am going out of town to have it because after a few local consultations, I did not find a doctor I felt comfortable with. After nearly two years of searching, I finally found a surgeon I fell confident in. He and his staff seem wonderful, he is very skilled, accredited, and despite the fact I had to reschedule twice (when financing fell through), now that I am finally on track they’ve helped me through the whole process. I am scared, especially because my husband and I are traveling from the northeast to Alabama (I am terrified of tornados) where I don’t know anyone, but I have confidence in my choice of doctor which I hope is most important. I am scheduled for June 21st but I am considering moving it up because I am anxious to get it over with. I would love to hear about anyone else’s experiences.

Well, my financing finally came through, so I rescheduled for May 21st! OMG I am so scared(partly cause I am scared of tornadoes in Alabama-lol), but so excited! It is very surreal to think that after all of the years of wishing and hoping this would work, I am finally getting it. Any suggestions?

I am getting nervous. I wish I could just have it tomorrow and get it over with. It is so hard to wait for over a month (after waiting 15 years-lol).

I am also struggling with the size of implant to get. I know that the larger the implant, the larger the risk of complication. But, I have heard of people with only 200 cc implants getting CC and people being alright with 1000 cc implants.

I am planning on getting saline beneath the muscle (which shrinks the implant by at least 10%). Despite loosing over 100 lbs, I still weigh 169-175 lbs. My hips (with the excess skin) are still 42 inches, my waist is 32 inches and my rib cage is 36-38. I have always been larger, despite being only 5'2.

I know it sounds silly, but I have no idea what I look like under all the excess skin-I've never not had it. So, I don't even have a clue as to what I will look like afterwards. My only goal is to not have hanging skin and full breasts. The 800 -850 cc sizers looked right on my body for a nice DD to DDD look. I know this is huge (at least I keep reading this online) as most people opt for 400-500 cc implants, but it looked right under my clothes and the last thing I want is to wake up (after being nervous about having surgery the first time) and want a revision, wishing I had gone bigger.