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Consequences of Weight Gain After Having a Tummy Tuck

If you have sagging abdominal muscles or rolls of loose skin on your stomach, you might consider getting a tummy tuck, also known as abdominoplasty. This procedure tightens up muscles that have become too stretched out and removes excess abdominal skin and fat. You may want the surgery if you've had multiple pregnancies or lost a substantial amount of weight, leaving sagging skin. Proper care of your body and your abdominal muscles can help you keep your tighter tummy, but the effects aren't permanent if you let yourself go.

  1. Minimal Weight Gain

    • Gaining just a little bit of weight after a tummy tuck won't have a serious effect on your new stomach. After you get a tummy tuck, the number of fat cells in your stomach is lower because so many cells were removed. This means that if you gain just a little bit of weight, very little of it will go to your stomach unless you gain more than 20 to 30 percent of your body weight.

    Excessive Gain

    • If you gain a substantial amount of weight, typically 30 percent or more of your body weight, this can undo some of the positive results you experience from getting a tummy tuck. At first, weight gain happens mostly in other parts of your body. But if you consume more calories than your body burns and do so consistently, over time you'll gain the weight in your stomach, too, eventually stretching back out the skin and muscles that were tightened during surgery.

    Maintenance

    • Maintaining or even losing weight is a good way to keep the firmer stomach you gained from a tummy tuck. Some people are so inspired by a flatter stomach that they change their lifestyle habits so they can keep the weight off. You'll want to eat a healthier diet and watch your calories, steering clear of high-fat foods and calorie-laden drinks, so that you can keep a good shape and not gain excess abdominal weight.

    Pregnancy

    • If you get pregnant after getting a tummy tuck, this can lessen the effects of the surgery. A pregnancy will stretch back out the abdominal muscles and skin that were tightened, not because of gains in fat but because you're gaining more volume in your stomach area from the growth of your baby. If you think you'll want more children, it may be best to wait to have your tummy tuck until after you have your last child.

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