Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

Wow, it's hard to believe it's been one year since my abdominoplasty (commonly known as a tummy tuck). This was a procedure that I put a lot of thought into and was something I waited 5 years to do. I have absolutely no regrets doing it, as I gained so much more confidence since then.

For 5 years after my incredible 150 pound weight loss, I worked hard trying to tighten my abs. I did everything, from machines that heat the skin as a way to tighten, special creams, wraps, you name it, I did it. It wasn't just the ugliness of the skin that bothered me, but also the irritation that went along with it. I would get itchy and irritated in that area. I also hated the flopping sound it would make when I ran as I would feel embarrassed by it.

It's been a few weeks since I updated about my abdominoplasty. It is now 6 weeks post op and I am feeling great! I feel back to normal and back to working out. However, it feels as if I'm a beginner, despite making significant gains for months.

I know I will rebuild the muscle, but I feel like I lost so much by not working out. I have the sagginess in my arms again so I need to build up. My goal is to get back to where I was pre-surgery by January.

After three weeks, I'm realizing how much I miss working out. The first week or so, I thought of it as a much needed vacation from the daily grind. Now I worry about losing muscle mass.

I still have one drain in and that's part of the reason I haven't gone to the gm yet. I hate the thought of working out with a drain. The drain will supposedly be taken out on Saturday. It was originally going to come out this past Tuesday but the fluid output ended up increasing again. The output needs to be at a certain threshold before it can safely be removed. This way, I can avoid fluid buildup in the belly.

It's been over 2 weeks since my abdominoplasty. I can honestly say, I haven't been in any pain from it. I especially love sharing that I never took one pain killer, not one! It's not very common to not have any pain killers but I didn't need them. I did opt for a local anesthetic called Exparel to offer additional comfort after the procedure, but after that wore off, I was feeling OK.

I seem to be healing well. It takes time but I'm taking care of my wounds. I'm not doing any exercise yet, aside from doing some shopping or walking the dog. It will be great to workout again though. My only fear is that I might lose some muscle mass. Hopefully it's not too much muscle. I also hope it doesn't take me too long to get back into my workout routine... but only when the doctor says it's time.

As I am about to have an abdominoplasty this coming Thursday, I was thinking back to the beginning of my weight loss journey. After many failed attempts at losing weight, what stuck for me was a lifestyle change. It's always been about health for me when I lost the weight. Any other time I tried to lose weight, it was never about health.

What started out as a journey to avoid blood pressure medication became something that turned my world around completely. Here I am, with a blood pressure taken a few days ago of 118/72, at the dentist. I felt so happy as I realized that my blood pressure stabilized on it's own... I never took any meds that my doctor prescribed for hypertension.