7 months PO: TT, muscle repair, hip lipo. * NEW PICS!* Still happy as a clam!

Hi ladies! Man oh man... It's been awhile! I have some time so I thought I would update at the 7 months post op mark. My pics are from like 6 months plus a week or two.

At this point in time, I am thrilled that I had this procedure done. I would do it again if I had to!

Swelling: Yes, I do still swell. It is not as bad as it was in the beginning. However, if I down a few margaritas (I do salt) and then decide to totally pig out with a big unhealthy meal, my stomach looks like I am 3 months pregnant. It just is what it is. But I normally don't (well, I do guzzle margaritas), so this isn't a big issue or concern. And besides, all of that swelling is gone the next day.

I do have swelling that is noticeable right above my privates. It's right where the scar is. Is it really bad? Nah. I'm assuming it will go down when I get closer to a year or even later than that. If I smooth it out with my hand, it's all good. I am confident my body will get there eventually.

Weight: A few weeks prior to and ever since, I have made an effort to eat better so my weight has been down. At the time I took my latest pics in that aqua bikini, I was at like 155/156. I was 167 at the time of surgery. Those stretches of days when I eat like a piggy I am easily up to 160/162. So really, I feel like it's all about what kinds of food I eat. I stay away from breads, pastas. I do egg whites, salads, grilled chicken, etc... And beer and wine and margaritas. Lol. They are my weaknesses! ;)

Clothing sizes: Yeah, I've gone down. I do a size 10 now in jeans (was a size 12), but skinny jeans now actually fit. I recently bought a size 10 Ralph Lauren fitted dress from Macy's to wear to a wedding. I gotta say: Damn, I look pretty hot in it! Lol. It's white with the diagnol slight seams and it is sleeveless and the front dips down subtly. I feel like a Greek goddess wearing it. Omg. Maybe I'll post a pic of me in it when I wear it when I get all dolled up for my 40th bday in late August. Anyway, it was awesome wearing that dress without Spanx. There were no belly rolls when you looked from the side. I looked like an hourglass from the front. Man, I love my tummy tuck!!!!

Exercise: I am back to exercising. I forgot at what point I went back. Anyway, I do the No More Trouble Zones from Jillian Michaels, I run, or I swim. I really could notice changes in my body using that DVD workout. It is fantastic. Lately I prefer to swim and that is keeping my arms toned. "Ab exercises?", you might be wondering. The answer is yes. On that DVD, Jillian has ab segments and I am able to do them. I feel my muscles are getting stronger and when I stand erect and tighten my abs, I kid you not, it's like a wall of muscles under that layer of skin. I think if I actually went on one of those crazy diets (like the Reset Diet or that one where you only eat stuff a caveperson would eat), my ab muscles would be very pronounced and I'd look like a rock star. But I'm a lazy f*cker and as I've said, I like beer and booze and other not so good stuff like goat cheese and icecream. So whatevs.

Scar: The ends are getting lighter. It's like it is getting lighter from the ends on in toward the top of my privates. This will take time. I am still using those silicone strips. Love them.

Confidence: I feel like a new person. I would always look at other fit women and thought how awesome it would be to slip on a fitted tee with a pair of capris and just look so effortlessly put together. I wouldn't have to worry about pulling my tee out of my belly rolls or feel my belly sweat in the summer heat. All that stuff is a thing of the past. I feel like I can grab anything out of my drawer and put it on without figuring out if it will look okay with my chunka munka belly.

Sex: I'm not too interested in talking about this too much, but I thought I'd address it. It's nice to be on top without my belly joining my husband and me. When he puts his arms around me, he is grabbing ME -- not an superfluous extension of me. While I haven't bought any hanky panky sexy wear (I did mention the being lazy thing, right?), I like looking in at Victoria's Secret and knowing that I can now feel confident picking something out.

And finally, while I know my body is not perfect -- I got cellulite that is just here to stay and I have spider veins that worsen over the years -- I feel very pleased with what I look like because I do what I can to stay healthy and fit. My TT, for sure, helped give me a jump start and the motivation to stay on track.

Good luck if you are considering the procedure. I hope you are feeling and healing well if you already had the procedure done. :)

Hello TTers... So yesterday made it post op Week 8 for me. The time sure flies, doesn't it? Anyway, here's the skinny as to what's been going on:

I started back with exercising sometime last week. I have been doing Jillian Michaels No More Trouble Zones -- I have been modifying some of the ab stuff as I don't think it's advisable for me to do it. Plus, I start to feel a little strain. But I attempt some of the crunches (nothing really with my legs up working the lower abs or anything), just to feel something. And I think it's working for me as I don't hurt in my ab muscles. My legs and tush are another story. Holy cannoli! And then I got her Killer Buns and Thighs DVD (it truly is killer!) and I started back with swimming. I used to be a competitive swimmer, so that's where I feel most comfortable. I am skipping any and all flip turns as it involves my ab muscles. Thus far, I feel great while swimming. I feel like I get this wonderful stretch through my core. Plus, my arms are firming up more. Thank goodness.

I am still swelling sorta by day's end. In the morning, I am so flat and I LOVE my stomach so much!!!! Still sleeping with the binder. Old habits die hard. But I am not wearing anything during the day and I am just fine.

I went shopping for a bikini. I have not worn one since I was 12 years old. So that makes 27 years! Anyway, I scored an adorable "last season" Betsy Johnson bikini at Marshalls and I am totally psyched! I posted some pics of me in it. My husband says I can wear it now, but I never showed him pics of me from the rear. Oh boy. What a mess! Lol. So I am going to continue to work out so that I can feel uber confident wearing it on my upcoming vacation. We are going on a Disney cruise April 27 to Mexico, Grand Cayman and the Bahamas. I am so psyched!

I love trying on clothes and am having fun with it. I realize I did go down a jeans size. Again, I got lucky and scored a pair of Lucky jeans at Marshalls and they are in a size 30/10. I think they tell you to buy them super tight bc they do stretch out, so I could have tried the next size down. However, I don't need anything super tight. I just want my jeans to fit like a normal person for goodness sakes.

I really haven't felt any tingles or sensations that many people talk about in their belly region. Should I be concerned about that? I know people have talked about the "zing"ing sensations as the nerves reattach. ???

I'm still doing my silicone strips. Twelve hours of one set of strips, wash them and then twelve hours with a second set of strips. Shower, wash the strips, put on first set. Repeat. I am going to try to keep the sets going for two weeks and then discard. I was doing it for one week per set of strips and I find that they are still quite adhesive. I am using our no perfume laundry detergent (All?) to wash the strips. I like how soft and even my scar is. Plus, it covers it nicely so that when it's time for a little hanky panky, the hubs doesn't see my reddish incision line.

I hope you are all feeling and healing well! xo

Hi ladies. I am so POed right now because I just spent the last 30 minutes updating my review. Time is of the essence when you have two little ones engaged in playing Legos. *Sigh*

So here's the skinny on what's been going on...

I'm five weeks post op today. So far, I am feeling pretty good. I have some minor upper ab soreness which is more noticeable when I try to stand up after having sat for awhile. It takes me a moment or so to really stand up straight, but it's nothing that is noticeable. I just look like someone who is relaxed and not in a rush to get anywhere. Lol.

I was told to ditch the binder at week 4. My ps told me to pass up the compression garment as well. He did say to wear the binder if I go to exercise, which I got cleared for as well. I do wear my binder for sleeping at night because it's like a getting a hug without any expectation. ;) And sometimes I wear it during the day if I am at home if I have plans with friends that night. I don't know if it helps combat midday swelling, but I'm assuming it can't hurt.

Swelling. Let's talk about swelling... the bane of my existence. Actually, it's not too bad. I wake up flat and fabulous, and then by midday I have that little baby bump swell thing going on above my incision and below my bb. Whatevs. Who doesn't have that? I am just looking forward to the summer when I hopefully don't have it as much.

I have yet to wear my jeans all day. While they do fit, I do not feel comfortable wearing them bc my skin is numb between my bb and incision and I fear chaffing it. I liken the skin to newborn baby skin, it feels that sensitive. So yoga pants it is.

I didn't go down a jean size (I wear a size 12 Gap Outlet jeans), but I think I went down a size in terms of dress pants. I have a few pairs of Loft dress pants -- I'm the type that buys four or so of the same thing, just in different colors, if it fits! -- and because they sit up higher and my upper waist is not smaller, I can go down a size. Granted, I feel like Loft does that vanity sizing deal, so although I'm sporting 10s in them and will drop down to an 8, I am not fooled by the number.

I did measure my waist (I tried to do the true waist measurement) both pre TT and post TT at my current week, week 5. Before I was at a 38.5" and now I am a 33.5" first thing in the morning. Not too bad, eh? I am very happy about that. I hope this continues to improve. That would be awesome!

My weight did go down as a result and is holding steady. I was a 167 pre TT and now am at 159. Despite being at my lowest weight, I still feel like a lard ass. Oh well. I am flirting with hiring a personal trainer to write me some workouts to tone my arms, ass and legs and also to incorporate some light ab work. My doctor said I can start doing some of that, just "don't do a million crunches." I did not find that statement to be very helpful. I have a penchant for exaggerating, so to me 50 crunches = 1,000,000 crunches. I don't know if he is being literal or if he is exaggerating.

I did try to go exercising once. I walked around my Y track for 40 minutes. However, it felt like a total sham. I felt like one of those women I make snarky comments in my head about as I jogged past them for the gazillionth time. You know -- the kind that wears "street clothes" to work out in and the kind that "power walks" like she just got summoned from the waiting room to see her gynocologist. Oy. I guess I will be a lot less judgmental in the future while working out because geez Louise, this getting back into working out thing is freaking hard!

In terms of appointments, I go back to see my doctor in six more weeks -- so sometime in March.

I did start scar treatment at week 4: silicone strips. I am following some Amazon reviewer's suggestion and am rotating two sets of strips in the course of 24 hours. So I wear one set for 12 hours, then I wash it, shower and put a clean set on. At the end of 12 or a little less hours, I clean that set and wipe my skin down and put on the other set for the night. While I have nothing to compare my progress to, I am exceptionally pleased with how my scar is looking. If I run my fingers over it, it feels flush with the surrounding skin. There is one or two parts of the scar that look whisper thin. My hope is that the entire thing will look like those parts. We shall see. For my bb, I am using Mederma. I think that is looking A-OK. I'm happy with it. It's a little dark when I try to look in and the surrounding part where the dissolvable stitches are is kinda red. But no oozing or anything like that.

I still brace myself when I feel a sneeze coming on, but it doesn't really hurt anymore (not too much anyway). I still find myself rolling out of bed although I realized that for the first time last night, I actually did sit up by myself. I am sleeping on my side but have yet to roll on to my belly. I probably could. Maybe I'm just lazy?

I still think this was the best thing I ever could have done for myself. I feel more confident getting dressed in the morning -- even if it's just yoga pants and a fitted shirt. The operative word there is "FITTED." ;) I find that I am making more plans to get together with friends because I don't feel like a big sloppy fat mess with my belly hanging out. I realize most of that was probably psychological and that it probably didn't look THAT bad.

Someone in the December TT board likened this experience to being pregnant. I feel the same way. It's like when you are pregnant for the first time, you are all freaked out and you research and analyze EVERYTHING. There is conflicting information about breast feeding, bottle feeding, using a pacifier, not using one, co-parenting, using Ferber's sleep conditioning methods... Everyone thinks his/her ideas are the best, the most ideal. As do the myriad board certified plastic surgeons on here. Some swear by drainless, others require drains for up to months and then want you wearing a binder for a minimum of six weeks. And then there is the experience of it all: with pregnancy, you might walk around with radiant hair and skin, while your one friend looks like complete [RS bleep] with pubescent pimples covering her face. You find you wind up puking the first 12 weeks, another friend loves being pregnant so much she is actually considering becoming a surrogate, and yet a third friend starts upchucking at week 10 and doesn't stop until the baby pops out.

I feel like there is some stuff you can do to prepare for the best experience of a TT: you make healthy food choices and healthy lifetstyle choices (exercise, not smoking, etc...) and you select a board certified plastic surgeon. However, the reality is that it's just a crapshoot. The only typical experience with this surgery is that "results are atypical." Everyone's experience is different. Just ready yourself and hope for the best. Your fellow TTers on here are wishing the best for you, too. :)

Posting some pics of my scar now. Feel good, everyone!!! xo :)