4 kids, belly destroyed, now on the flat side!!!- California, CA

So I've thought a lot over the last year about whether or not I should have waited until I got closer to my goal weight to have the surgery. That WAS my original plan but when we sold our rental I knew if I didn't do it then we'd find something else to spend the money on.
I just compared some pictures of my at my current weight BEFORE the surgery with how I look right now, and the dramatic difference tells me I made the right choice for me. I'm SO much more motivated to get fit now that I will be able to see my results! Before I has a bunch of loose skin covering up Amy progress I made and it was so discouraging! I'm loving how I'm feeling and looking, and looking forward to getting the last 20 pounds off amd putting some more muscle on!

So, it's been FOREVAH since I updated, but I just went in for my scar revision and my doctor decided to actually do a tummy tuck extension...for FREE, which is unheard of. The belly button is perfect, the incision line and scarring were great, but for some reason my body was just one of those that decided to form some weird rolls on the hips after the surgery. The standard for dealing with this would be that the surgeon would usually waive their gee but the patient would have to pay for the anesthesiologist and the facility use fee. My doctor is so awesome and such a perfectionist that she said no way, we're going to get this thing right. So I went in Thursday and ended up getting fully put under (I thought it was going to be conscious sedation). There is no muscle involved in this surgery (those are still plenty tight), just skin and fat on the hips. I got some bonus lipo, too, so yay for that! Recovery is only a week or two this go round, and it's much much easier so far!

So I've made it this far! Had a few overextending myself hiccups along the way (making up for lost cleaning time before my parents came for turkey day, paying for that for 2 days), but I can feel improvements all of the time. School starting back up helped jump start me out of "I'm afraid to move" mode. I kept feeling like I was doing something wrong, because I kept getting a lot of pain in the upper right quadrant, and I still don't know if it's normal or not. It comes and goes with too much activity.

I am trying to be good about eating since I've been so sedentary. I know at 4 weeks lots of people start exercising, but my body is screaming at me not to even consider it yet! Either I'm rationalizing or I'm a slow healer. My incision healed really fast, so maybe my muscles are making up for it?

I'll post some updated pictures soon. With the flesh colored medical tape I can hardly see my scar, and bikini underwear cover it perfectly.