The key to long-lasting results relies on dedication to looking slim.

So you decided to get a tummy tuck, and everything went smoothly, literally and figuratively. Great! Congratulations! Getting your body the way you want it is not only a confidence booster, it’s… well it’s pretty much just a confidence booster. Let’s be honest. What it can do is give you a viable shortcut to what looks like good health, but if you don’t properly maintain your food intake and stress and hormone levels, you could gain weight in the very area you’ve just “lost”.

“It’s Not a Cure All”

Dr. Daniel Golshani, a Double Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, agrees that weight gain is always a possibility, tummy tuck or no tummy tuck. And abdominoplasty is not a cure-all.

He mentions that “we have fat cells superficial to the abdominal wall and inside the abdominal cavity. Weight gain will stretch the skin and will stretch the muscles to allow for the fat cells to grow, so you lose the benefit of the muscle and skin tightening.”

Thinking Long Term…

With this in mind, tummy tuck patients have little to worry about if they plan to incorporate a solid lifestyle of exercise and healthy eating. Over-eating or falling back into poor lifestyle runs you the risk of losing that muscle and skin tightening effect you paid for. You can incorporate moderate exercise and start retraining those abdominal muscles roughly 6 weeks of recovery. Prior to that, walking and light exercise, such as elliptical or cycling is safe to start just a week after surgery.

There’s one positive aspect of weight gain after abdominoplasty, but men don’t apply. Women can, and should, gain weight if they become pregnant post-tummy tuck. If this happens, women can have a completely normal pregnancy and the tummy tuck procedure, if done properly, should not affect the quality or term in any way.

That being said, tummy tuck results can be permanent, with no weight gain, but it’s up to you!