Liposuction to Abdomen and Flanks - West Orange, NJ

Hey everybody...well I finally have the money to get the procedure that I have wanted for years now. My abdomen has always been an trouble area for me but the thing is, in high school it was never a problem!! I always had a little bit of a pooch in the lower abdominal area but it was never a concern to me until I hit college and made it onto a division 1 track and field team...then out of nowhere, appearance became a huge issue!! my teammates had muscles popping out of every part of their bodies without an ounce of fat and suddenly I became the big one on the team. it didn't matter how well I performed, it was always an issue that I didn't look the part and didn't look as good as everyone else in my uniform. to be an athlete, you have to look and feel like an athlete. that what my coaches always told me even though its not really true. being the only one on my team that was third in the nation and competed at the Olympic trials in 2012 just didn't seem to matter to my coaches because I looked too thick. it destroyed my confidence completely and then as a result I started to gain a ton of weight. I lost the motivation to be the best because it seemed as though nothing mattered unless I was thin, and that just isn't my body type. I am 5' 11 and my best competition weight is 160 but even at that weight I still don't look the part.

As of right now I have one more season left but I am the heaviest I've ever been (due to extreme depression and binge eating) and the least confident. as of now, I am 185 and need to loose 20-25 pounds before the season starts. but I want this procedure to help my confidence as I am aware it is not a weight loss method. I want to be able to wear a sports bra during practice and not die in the heat in my t-shirt. I want to be able to wear my uniform without hiking my spandex shorts all the way up to my bellybutton to hide the flab... I just want to be able to compete without being self conscious every second and having to adjusting my clothes to hide what my body truly looks like. I am hoping this surgery will help me feel more confident and give me the motivation to kick start a healthy diet so I can loose the extra 20 pounds I've gained.

Surgery is tomorrow so wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!

when I took off my compression garment to take a sneak peak at my sore and super swollen stomach my jaw dropped!! wow. its day one and there such a huge difference already. I cant wait for all this swelling to go down. I was so hard for me to put the garment back on because I just wanted to keep looking at my abdomen! I am so excited to see the finished result in a few months :) I will keep everyone posted!

ps. i'm pretty sore but I am getting around just fine! I even went grocery shopping right after the surgery :P I'm sure tomorrow will be a different story, as second and third day soreness is usually immobilizing. but boy oh boy was I woozy after I woke up from that anesthesia. wasn't the best feeling in the word, but it only took about 1.5 hours for that feeling to subside. now I just feel sleepy.

pps: the only thing I wish I had done was tell the surgeon I wanted more of a waist line. but its ok, my main concern was to lose the excessive and misplaced love handles and pooch.

Hey everyone :) so my swelling has reached its climax I think. At least I'm hoping it gas =P the soreness is basically still the same but sitting down and getting back up isn't as difficult as it was on day 1. Here's a couple pics of me in my garment. I'm too sore to take it off right now so I pulled it up as high as I could. You can clearly see there is alot more swelling now than there was on day 1. I put on the same clothes and same undies to compare the difference.

Ok guys so my swelling has gone THROUGH THE ROOOOOF!!! I know it'll eventually go away but ugh it's feels so baaad lol. I'm wondering if it's because my incisions are closed... The fluids feel like their just locked inside and keep building up more and more. My only concern is how long it will take for the swelling to go down... I know alot of people see a huge improvement after the first month but will mine take even longer now since my swelling is drastically increasing?? Bleehh this kinda sucks. But on the bright side I could finally stop taking the pain meds (made me constipated and a little depressed) cause it doesn't hurt so bad anymore :)

Heyy! So today was a little better I think. I still have a large pocket of swelling on my lower abdomen and a little on my right flank but compared to how it looked a few days ago it has definitely gone down. Also in tight clothing it doesn't look so noticeable either so I'm glad for that! These pics were taken in the morning and I definitely swelled up alot more at night but it's still some progress I think!

Ps: I am probably going to get the majority of the remaining swelling drained some time next week. Because the doctor said it was a little weird that my flanks and upper ab swelling has gone down yet my lower abdomen swelling is so prominent. So hopefully that will help!! Also I finally got my hair done hehe :D

Hey ladies! So I'm at about 2 1/2 weeks now and I'm seeing big differences DAILY. my lower abdomen swelling has significantly diminished! My upper abs seemed to have swelled up quite a bit for some reason in comparison to my last photots but it was the lower abs that was really bugging me out so I'm extremely excited! I'm looking a little like day 1 again!!

Btw I didn't get drained by my doctor. My swelling went down before I even had the chance! :D

Looks even better as the day goes on! Weird! But I'm NOT complaining! :D

Yep I'm totally stoked. I feel awesome!! And I started running on Monday and I don't swell up after either! I don't swell up until a few hours before bed but as soon as I wake up I'm awesome again!
Happiness :D

Hello again ladies!! Gunna keep this short cause there isn't much to say... except Yaaay! Things are going really smothely. Upper abs and flanks swelling and tenderness is steadily decreasing. Been running 3 miles a day with a days rest every 3 days and it's been doing wonders!! Gunna start high intensity interval training and weight lifting in beginning of august