40 Yr Mother of 2 with Very Busy Life :-)

Here are the profile pictures I promised after returning home on Saturday. I forgot the black dress at our other place, but I think you'll prefer to see these instead:-)

Good Morning everyone! As promised a few months ago, here's my 1 year post op review. I had SL of both upper and lower abs, flanks and bra roll done a.k.a. total/full wrap exactly a year and 9 days ago from Dr. Boutte in GA. Thank God I had no revision done, cause I'd never had any intention of such and the recovery went well. Now the last 6 months have been great. In fact, I have a few things I'd love to share with you ... let's call them SERIOUS FYI's for you ladies to take note of. Can they be avoided? Ummmm, maybe. However, it's all still about your overall care and sometimes, commitment. One thing's for sure, just cause it's 6 months post op, doesn't mean that it's over. I can confidently say that it's a LIEFELONG commitment. SL is the bomb! The areas you treat are important. Your dr has to be good and finally, it's up to you being vigilant:-)

So, here are the FYI's I mentioned earlier. Pls remember them if you're contemplating SL with VL:
1. Continue to wear the corset after 6 months. Your regimen is up to you. I still wear mine to bed and during the day (under my clothes) regularly. Yes, it's still the CS411from OrchardCorset and it's the cotton fabric. I've got 2 (size 20 and 22) and I interchange whenever I like. The corset has played a tremendous part in ensuring that I have the hour glass figure I have today. It's knock-em-dead, bammm, in-your-face, figure 8 awesome!!! Hey, I'm sorry that I'm fluting my toot here :-) But, for ladies (such as ColoradoMaiden) who have been with me since day 1 and I know that we're still doing the same things, they will agree with this analysis. KEEP THE CORSET.

2. This particular issue pertains to how the clothes you wear may cause unevenness. Okay... I've noticed that when I wore jeans, my lower abs looked very uneven after I took my clothes off for a while. It bothered me initially, but I quickly figured something out. It dawned on me that it really wasn't a big deal and all it took was tweaking a few things. I know for some of you, this'll drive you nuts! The truth is... you can use your hands to smoothen out your skin or take a warm shower/bath. Your body will "return" to normal :-) . The other option you have, which is what I do now... I just wear my corset :-) YES, A CORSET!!! The corset keeps everything in place and I don't develop those funny looking lines/uneven skin when I take off my jeans. I just wear a silk undergarment then my corset. I wear my jeans and blouse and I'm done. It' easy and stress free. You should opt to doing this if you know that you're going to wear clothing that's tight around you waist and you'll be sitting. It's unavoidable if you decide not to use the corset. So, be warned :-)

3. If you're like me and didn't start a diet per se during the initial stages of your recovery, I'll HIGHLY suggest that you either start one if you're not disciplined with WHAT and WHEN you eat, or just modify you food consumption. The bitter fact is that, if you eat bad fat, your stomach will slap you in the face with it in the morning! You'll SEE your "pooch" saying, "Hey there, long time no see." Better yet, your pooch may just be freaking honest with you and say, "What the hell were you thinking yesterday?!"..... Okay, okay.... if you think I'm exaggerating, be my guest and try it:-) My stomach... I meant my pooch, has given me a few early morning sermons after I consumed the wrong stuff the previous nights. It was easy to get it back down by the next morning, but if you're not disciplined... this will something difficult and all your efforts could just go down the toilet. So, WATCH YOUR FOODS & DRINKS PEOPLE :-)

4. Don't say it!.... I know!....URGHHHHHH!.... What about my weight? Seriously?!!! I prayed you'd forget :-))) Just messing with ya'll :-) Here it goes. My neighbors, friends from church, work, gas station, name it, have all said that I look good and they want to know what I did to loose all the weight. Funny thing is that they've also begged me to share the exercise regimen I used to get this "bam" tiny waist :-))) To the world, I've dropped at least 40lbs!. To my scale, I'm 90lbs. Do I care? Nope:-) My dr's nurse laughs and says that I don't look my weight at all. My dr. made it clear that with my body type, I look fine, I'm healthy and that's what's important. She did say that if I want to loose the weight, doing it the RIGHT way is what will make the difference. The last 2 wks, I dropped down to 190lbs from 197.6lbs cause I'm on a GFCF diet with no sugars. Why? I have a child that has to be on the diet and in order for him to be successful with it, I have to join him. I do cook and the food's delicious :-) My other son even noticed the difference when he saw me (we were apart for 2 wks in case you're wondering). So, the whole weight loss thing comes in conjunction with the food consumption. I'm not saying go GFCF... PLS QUOTE ME WELL :-) I'm just giving you an update on my weight loss as promised :-)

5. Water... YESSSS, Water. it's been my best friend. I drink a lot of water, tea with splenda and no milk and I just resumed juicing frozen fruits from SAMS store using the Nutrabullet. Just watch the quantity of the fruits, cause that's a lot of natural sugars too. I don't add stuff to my fruits except splenda to sweeten it up and water only.

6. How do I feel and would I recommend this procedure? I feel blessed, happy, beautiful, healthy and I have shared my procedure with people who've asked. Many are still shocked cause they never knew I went through the recovery :-) They know it takes commitment and discipline. I know a couple of ladies who have started to save up for their procedure and they plan to commute like I did. Many others have been candid and said they just can't go through the "whole garment and corset thing." That's fine. Thank God we live in a society where there are an array of options. All roads lead to Rome, they say. We just don't know what the journeys will be like or how long it'll take.

Anyway, it's been a blast writing this blog. I wish all you ladies and men the best. To my friend in crime (I hope you remember me now... ColoradoMaiden... ) keep looking beautiful and remain healthy. To "Vivian" (you better pick-up the phone when I call), you went to hell and back after your procedure last year and wrote about it. But I know that God has been faithful and brought you of it. Keep it up :-) Finally, to all the ladies I've communicated with in one way or another, God bless you all. Stay focused, positive, honest (but not rude) and pray and all will be well. That's my belief. Have awesome recoveries and 2015!..... (I was going to take pictures right now to post, but the lighting here sucks. I'm not at home in my bathroom where I've always posted from. Nevertheless, I still look the same- Thanks)

Okay, as you can see, I didn't post my face deliberately. However, these are a couple of the individual pictures taken at the birthday party my husband and I attended at the Belagio. One of my friends was having too much fun dictating the poses (lol)...