54, Fit, and Fabulous - Carmel, IN High Lateral Tension Abdominaplasty New pics!

I have three wonderful children all vertical c-sections with my last baby weighing more than 10lbs. Needless to say my muscles and general abdominal region ain't pretty. I was a stay at home mom and poured all of my time and talents into my family but now I have the time and the freedom to focus on my health. I am extremely overweight but always active. But the last 6 months I've actually started to loose weight. So far I've dropped about 50lbs by changing my diet and becoming more focused with my exercise. I will try to give detail info as to what is working for me and what I am doing. Right now I'm tentatively scheduling my TT for late September. Up until 6 weeks ago I would lift weights 2-3 times per week (full body) with cardio 3 times per week.

The weight was coming off but the muscle definition/body fat reduction was really sloooow.... ( I use the bodybugg for daily calorie burn and the Omron Fat Analyzer to monitor fat loss muscle gain.) I switched /hyped up my workout routine by switching to Chalean Extreme for weights in the morning (3 times per week) with cardio alternate mornings and 6 evenings. In essence that's 3 zumba classes, 1 kick boxing, and some turbo jam. It's a little intense sometimes but the heavy lifting with Chalean has really started to develop my shoulders/guns/ and tone/muscle up my butt. When I google 54 year old female bodies, there just aren't any African American -or others for that matter -examples of what we can achieve so I'm creating my own image. Ooops there is one check out (Ernestine Shepard.) Yes I want the belly to be gone but I want the guns, glutes, and gams before the tuck! As the weight comes off for me it starts at the top and works it's way down with the belly, butt, and thighs being last. I sometimes giggle at my self in zumba as I shake what my mama gave me. There's a little extra wiggle right now but it is tightening up. I'll update from time to time but I wanted to encourage those that want to loose 50 or more lbs. I'm excited about reshaping my body. Oh right now I'm just shy of 5'6" 235 lbs with a body fat right at 33%. I can see my fat pockets sitting right on top of the muscles. I'd like to see what I look like at 180lbs. I may go lower. Pray for me! I like the Serena body pic in my icon.

I've been very concerned about loose skin and body fat percentages so I'm providing a couple of links I find interesting.http://www.leighpeele.com/body-fat-pictures-and-percentages
http://www.bodyfatguide.com/LooseSkin.htm
This next link is a response that I received from a retired surgeon whose work I admire. He answered my question in detail about weight loss, body markers, etc and when to see a ps. His sight also has videos of how the skin is suppose to move as well as post op years down the line.http://www.abodybeautiful.com/forum/index.php/topic,664.0/topicseen.html

I'm adding two more links you may find interesting. this first link shows women of all different body types, height and weight. It's an excellent site. http://www.mybodygallery.com/

The second link is to an pictorial of about 10 professional athletes in top form, low body fat percentages etc....and they look nothing like Hollywood's standard of a beautiful body.http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/07/30/magazine/803BODIES_index.html