Do I Need to Lose Weight Before Liposuction?
Liposuction is a great way to remove fat from specific areas of the body. At Dr. Ken Smart’s practice in Frisco, TX, we offer advanced liposuction techniques and a fully accredited surgical center onsite to produce attractive body contouring results. However, many patients wonder if they need to lose weight before liposuction. In this blog post, we discuss weight loss before liposuction and when it may be necessary.
Achieve Your Goal Weight
Before undergoing liposuction, we suggest that you reach your goal weight. Your goal weight should prioritize your health and ensure that you are getting proper nutrients. With this in mind, your cosmetic goals can also be considered when determining your goal weight. Eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly can help you get closer to the body contours that you desire.
Unfortunately, some patients have areas with excess fat that they just can't seem to address with diet and exercise. This is when liposuction can be an excellent option for patients.
Liposuction Is Not a Weight Loss Method
It is important for patients to know that liposuction is not a weight loss method. If you have excess amounts of fat throughout the body or are considered overweight or obese, you may need to lose weight before undergoing liposuction. You may consider discussing your weight with your primary care doctor, in addition to undergoing a consultation with our board-certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Smart. Together they can help you calculate a goal weight that will enable you to safely undergo liposuction and achieve the results you desire.
Liposuction Contours Specific Areas of the Body
Liposuction is a surgery that is designed to remove pockets of fat from specific areas of the body. In many cases, excess fat is removed from the stomach, flanks, hips, buttocks, thighs, or under the chin. In all of these areas, smaller amounts of fat are removed, typically 10 pounds at the most in fattier areas.
In addition, we don't want to operate on multiple areas of the body in one surgery to avoid a longer and more uncomfortable recovery period. In most cases, Dr. Smart performs surgery on one or two areas of the body at a time at our Frisco surgery center. This enables us to perform the surgery safely and produce excellent results.
Maintaining Your Body Contours After Liposuction
One of the reasons it's so important to reach your goal weight before liposuction is to make sure that you can maintain your diet and exercise goals in the long-term after surgery. Since you will not be able to exercise heavily for up to six weeks after surgery, you should maintain a healthy diet to avoid regaining weight. As Dr. Smart approves longer and heavier stretches of exercise during your post-operative appointments, you can work toward maintaining and even further improving your body contours.
In most cases, patients can resume light walking in the first two weeks after surgery, they may engage in more moderate activity during recovery weeks two through four. By week four, with the doctor's approval, patients may be able to adopt a more strenuous exercise routine. By six weeks after surgery, patients should be able to resume their normal exercise schedule.
Contact Dr. Ken Smart for a Consultation
To find out If you are a good candidate for liposuction, contact Dr. Smart’s practice in Frisco today.
