Working out after a Breast Reduction

alana926

Ok, so on friday July 15th i will be having breast reduction surgery. I was wondering if anyone can give me an idea of what to expect and how long did it take you to get back to full work mode after surgery. I will also like some tips on trying to at least maintain my weight and not gain. Thanks in advance

Mandam1018

Bump, having my surgery in about a month so curious as well. Good luck to you!

cheri0627

I had the surgery almost 10 years ago now. I wasn't into working out back then, but I can tell you a little about my recovery timeline.

Be prepared to hurt in the first few days. Take whatever pain pill your doctor prescribes. You won't be doing much of anything. The real pain does fade within a few days as your body starts to heal. You will probably be restricted from lifting your arms above your head for a week or two. (You don't want to tear those fresh stitches!) You will not be able to lift any real weight (more than 8lbs) for at least that long, maybe longer. The longer you wait to do these things, the less likely you are to accidentally open at the "T" and the less likely you are to have scarring.

I was on some restricted movement and weight for longer than most people because I had a bad reaction to my stitches and many of my stitches were removed early instead of dissolving on their own.

I was able to go back to work after about 2 weeks. I was back to my normal activities in about 6-8 weeks. (Again, as I said, I had issues with my stitches which slowed down a lot of my healing.)

I would definitely talk with your surgeon about what (s)he thinks as far as when you'll be working out and whatnot. Remember, it will still depend on your body and what it wants, and not what you want. You may be back to a light workout in 2-3 weeks or you may take longer. And what the surgeon says today may be different than the reality post op. You may heal a lot faster than expected, too.

I still say that BR surgery was the best thing I ever did for myself. (Well, I think finally taking care of myself, really losing weight and working out is a very close second, but I don't know how much of that I could be doing now if not for the BR.)

Best of luck to you both!