Down 70 lbs and before/after tummy tuck pics

Hello to my fellow MFP's I wanted to post my before and after surgery pics. My journey started a couple years ago when I started losing weight. I was at my highest of 235 and I am currently at 165 now, a loss of 70lbs!!! Like some of you out there I got unlucky in the genetic department and found that the more I lost weight the worse I actually looked because as you can see in my pics after having 2 pregnancies and 2 c-sections I stretched out horribly and my skin lost all it elasticity. SO my only option to get rid of it was to have surgery, otherwise known as a Tummy Tuck. I had some other medical factors that made it "medically necessary" as well, an umbilical hernia, about a 4 in. muscle separation that needed repair and back problems.

I know that surgery isn't an option for everyone and some people are so completely against it but as I say to each their own. Honestly I wouldn't recommend this surgery to anyone and really only to the people that have a severe case for the simple reason that it is a HUGE surgery with a long recovery time and there can be complications. I was one of those people. When I cam out of surgery I was feeling fabulous, had gotten up and moved around a bit even. Then about 4 hours later things started to go down. My blood pressure dropped dangerously low and I started to bleed internally. I was then taken into emergency surgery again where they stopped the bleeding and gave me a blood transfusion. Since then things have gone well for me, and I am recovering well just VERY SLOWLY! I am the exception to the rule most people have the surgery and go home the same day. I don't want to scare people but I do want to be honest and realistic.

I know for some of you it can be very frustrating that no matter how much weight you lose you feel like you will always have that belly. Well a good rule of thumb is that if you stomach STICKS OUT then it is a good bet you will be able to tone and flatten it but if you have a lot of stretch marks and your belly HANGS DOWN then no matter how many crunches you do it wont go away.

Now that I am seeing my new body I am of course ecstatic about my results. i I know I will never have a beautiful stomach or ever be able to wear a bikini and look like a model. That was not the point of the surgery for me. I needed to do it for the medical reasons but also to get rid of that "fold" that made it look like I have a second butt in front.

Please don't take this post as an advocacy for plastic surgery. This is just my own unique story and journey that I went on and I wanted to share with others that might be in a similar situation. I will always tell people that eating right and exercise should always be the way to lose weight and get healthy. I believe surgery should only be a LAST resort. Having said all of that, lol here are the pictures!

The after pictures are post-op 2 weeks and there is still quite a bit of swelling. I have been informed there will be for about 6 months. I plan on taking pics about every 2 weeks to see the progress.

At my highest weight - 235 August of 2006


The merged pictures are night before surgery and 2 weeks post op:
front view


side view