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Many prospective liposuction or tummy tuck patients walk into their consultation with the same question: how much weight will I lose?
Sadly, many of them are disappointed when learning the answer is not much.
Liposuction and tummy tuck surgery are not weight loss procedures, and therefore, the decrease on the scale will not amount to a significant number.
Liposuction and tummy tuck are designed for body sculpting.
These procedures fine-tune a physique, removing the remaining pockets of fat and tightening the abdominal contour.
Some surgeons even recommend that patients with a significant amount of excess fat lose some of the weight before the procedure.
What Is Liposuction?
Liposuction removes unwanted fat pockets with a suctioning device.
Fat cells are separated from the surrounding tissues and gently removed through a hollow tube that is attached to a vacuum-like machine.
Liposuction can slim and tone the stomach, hips, thighs, buttocks, chest, arms, neck, and jawline.
What Is a Tummy Tuck?
Abdominoplasty restores smooth and sculpted contours to the abdomen by repairing and tightening the abdominal muscles and by trimming away excess and unneeded skin.
Why Should You Try to Lose Some Weight for Liposuction or a Tummy Tuck?
A lot of the information regarding body contouring procedures suggest that patients be near to their ideal weight to achieve the best level of results.
While this is not a requirement for candidacy, it is something to keep in mind.
Enhance Your Results
Even though cosmetic surgery can provide significant and noticeable results, it has its limitations.
The closer you are to your ideal weight, the better liposuction or tummy tuck can sculpt and create defined lines and contours.
Increase Your Safety
Risks are present with surgery, whether you have excess weight or you are a bodybuilder with zero body fat.
Unfortunately, the risk increases with the more weight that you have.
Losing weight will not only translate to more desirable results, but it will also reduce risks such as infection, bleeding, and poor circulation.
Patients can often get a good idea of whether they are good candidates for body contouring by looking at their BMI (body mass index).
A healthy BMI ranges from 18.5 and 24.9. If you are within that range, you may be in perfect condition for cosmetic surgery.
No Need for Repeated Procedures
Some patients choose cosmetic surgery as a way to jump-start their weight transformation journey.
Unfortunately, this is not always a good practice.
Losing weight may result in excess skin. Tummy tuck surgery corrects this laxity; however, it does not prevent future laxity from developing.
Losing weight after your cosmetic procedure will detract from your results, and leave you wanting or needing additional surgery to reduce the newly formed laxity.
Prepare You for Maintaining Your Results
Losing weight involves changing your diet and fitness level by swapping your old habits for new, healthier ones.
By developing and growing accustomed to a healthier lifestyle before your surgical procedure, you will be better prepared to maintain your results afterward.
When Should You Keep Your Fat?
Although you always want to be at a healthy weight (and in good overall health), there are some situations where the presence of excess fat is necessary.
Fat grafting is a two-step procedure that combines liposuction and fat transfer—moving your fat from one area of the body to another.
Fat grafting can take fat from and move fat to nearly any part of the body. One of the most common destinations for your fat is the buttocks.
What Is a Brazilian Butt Lift?
The Brazilian Butt Lift is butt augmentation through the use of fat grafting.
Fat is removed from the stomach, thighs, or hips with liposuction and transferred to various regions of the buttocks to restore volume, shape, and lift.
While the Brazilian Butt Lift is less invasive than other butt augmentation techniques, it is not appropriate for everyone as it requires patients to have enough fat to harvest.
Have More Questions?
For more information about liposuction, tummy tuck surgery, or the Brazilian Butt Lift, contact Dr. Goldschmidt by calling (216) 350-3175 or by filling out our online contact form.