You may have legitimate concerns regarding whether liposuction is a long-lasting procedure and what will happen to your liposuctioned body if you put on weight.
There are good reasons to avoid weight gain after liposuction, but if you do gain weight, it’s not the end of the world. The fat cells will, however, accumulate/ increase in another part of the body. As you age, you will likely retain a natural-looking shape after your liposuction procedure performed by Dr Michael Rich at ENRICH Clinic.
In most cases, if you stick to a healthy lifestyle, you will retain this overall shape for many, many years to come. This means your liposuction procedure holds its value over the long term.
Key facts about avoiding weight gain after liposuction
- You will not put on weight if you maintain a healthy diet and exercise regime after liposuction
- You will avoid gaining visceral fat if you do weight training as a part of your exercise routine
- You will keep your new sculpted body shape if you look after it
Remember that putting on weight is not the end of the world, but it will reduce the impact of your results.
Understanding liposuction in your body
Liposuction comes with a caveat, and that is that you have to exercise and eat well! It’s valuable to understand what you’re asking your body to deal with and that you don’t fall victim to common misconceptions about liposuction.
Liposuction removes fat cells from your body forever. Your fat cells are your little storage balloons for fatty acids that grow and shrink, depending on how much energy you are consuming (food) and what you are expending (movement).
Hormones dictate how much and where fat is stored, and these signals don’t disappear just because you take fat cells out of your body.
Your body, to balance out its fat storage requirements, will try to store fat somewhere else after you remove the fat during liposuction if your caloric intake allows it. Unfortunately, this may result in your body storing more fat around your internal organs, called visceral fat, which is unhealthy fat storage and is more common after liposuction.
Researchers aren’t sure exactly why this compensatory visceral fat accumulation occurs, but they do know exercise is the key to protecting against it.
Exercise is a solid strategy for maintaining results after liposuction, while also keeping an eye on the types of food you eat – avoid the fried fatty ones! That means eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly.
Getting fat in all the right places
Part of the suite of skills your liposuction doctor has is knowing just how much fat to remove during your liposuction procedure. Removing too much fat from an area can result in there being only skin over muscle or bone, which isn’t the goal (and doesn’t look good). Conversely, not enough fat removed can leave you without the contours you were after.
Treated areas have less fat cells to expand with extra fat storage than the rest of your body, and will gain less fat overall than the surrounding areas. It won’t be evident if your practitioner has done a good job; however, it’s important to understand what is happening to avoid any unfortunate surprises.
Your liposuction practitioner should be skilled at the baby-bear just-right approach to fat removal to ensure that if you put on weight later, it looks natural. A poorly-performed liposuction treatment that removes too much fat can leave you with indentations or hollows if you put on weight.
You will still be able to put on weight in the treated areas, but not as much as before. The fat will accumulate in other areas of your body where the fat cells are unaffected. It’s unpredictable how this will pan out in each of you, as your biology will dictate this process if/when it arises.
How to protect your post-liposuction weight
When you undergo liposuction, you lose fat, and to keep that fat off, you’ll need to maintain your post-liposuction weight. That means if you weighed 75kg before liposuction and had two kilograms of fat removed, as a guide, you need to aim for 73kg or less going forward to that shape.
A little bit of extra weight gain will be distributed around the body and won’t affect results a great deal; however, you need to be mindful – fat accumulation over time can diminish your liposuction results. Losing weight does not affect liposuction results.
Pregnancy after liposuction
Getting pregnant after liposuction is safe, however putting on a fair amount of weight during pregnancy will diminish your liposuction results.
Extra weight isn’t a major issue per se – putting on weight during pregnancy is to be expected, and liposuction will not cause any health problems. If your practitioner has done a good job, your body will look natural, despite the extra weight, but when you lose weight, the liposuction shape will be more visible. You can expect to keep your overall post-liposuction shape.
When you’re choosing liposuction, talk to your doctor about your plans for future pregnancies to see if the timing is right. To get the most out of your liposuction investment, you may need to plot it into your life plans.
How to keep your post-liposuction shape
- Follow your after-care instructions diligently
- Eat a healthy diet that keeps your weight stable and get advice from a professional if you aren’t sure
- Stay hydrated
- Do weight training exercises to build muscle and keep visceral fat at bay
- Get checked regularly to ensure you are in good health
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