Popularly known as a tummy tuck, abdominoplasty can help you eliminate excess skin and pockets of fat across your abdomen, while also repairing weakened abdominal muscles. But even though abdominoplasty is a body contouring procedure, it is common to wonder if there is a correlation between tummy tuck and long-term weight loss.

According to research, certain factors could highlight a link between tummy tuck and future weight loss. This includes the mechanism between your nervous system and hormonal glands, your level of hunger satisfaction after a meal, as well as your ability and motivation to maintain your overall results following abdominoplasty.

At Plastic Surgery of Michigan, double board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Andrew Lofman specializes in performing tummy tucks in Michigan for men and women alike. With Dr. Lofman’s expertise, experience, and qualifications, you can reach your aesthetic goals with abdominoplasty while also receiving guidance about fulfilling your long-term weight management objectives after the procedure.

To help you learn more about tummy tuck’s influence on long-term weight loss, here is an overview of how abdominoplasty can help with your future weight management goals.

What Is a Tummy Tuck and How Does It Work?

A tummy tuck is a surgical procedure that tones and sculpts your abdomen to give it a sleeker and stronger profile. To achieve these goals, your plastic surgeon removes excess skin from your abdomen, eliminates small pockets of excess fat, and adjusts your abdominal muscles with surgical techniques. A tummy tuck can also be performed with abdominal muscle repair that resolves weakened abdominal walls. Repairing abdominal muscles can help with concerns, such as urinary incontinence and back pain, that stem from loosened muscles in the abdomen.

A tummy tuck can help you restore your figure after going through gradual or sudden body changes due to various causes, including aging, pregnancy, childbirth, or weight loss. If you have wrinkled skin, unwanted bulges of fat, and weakened muscles across your abdomen, abdominoplasty may be a suitable treatment for you. In some cases, your plastic surgeon may combine your tummy tuck with liposuction to eliminate moderate to high amounts of excess fat from your abdomen.

Can a Tummy Tuck Help with Long-Term Weight Loss Goals?

A tummy tuck is not a weight loss procedure. Instead, it is a body contouring procedure that also repairs your abdominal muscles for a stronger profile. Tummy tucks can help you with your long-term weight loss goals by contributing to factors that help you shed unwanted weight after the procedure.

According to research publishedin Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), tummy tuck has been seen to help patients lose weight over time. The study outlined that those women who got a tummy tuck experienced “significant and lasting weight loss” after their abdominoplasty.

Further outlining the connection between tummy tuck and long-term weight loss, the study explained that even though tummy tuck is not intended as a weight loss procedure, it might contribute towards increasing the feeling of fullness after eating a meal. Over time, those patients who have trouble controlling their portion sizes or maintaining their weight may benefit from this outcome and bid farewell to extra fat. This effect may be associated to the removal of excess fat cells during tummy tuck that may influence a reduction in hunger-inducing hormones in the body.

The study further explained that this outcome might be associated with neuroendocrine mechanisms, referring to bodily functions that involve both your nervous and endocrine system. When the nervous system and the hormone-producing glands indicate to patients that they feel full after a meal, their feeling of hunger is satisfied. This can help tummy tuck patients steer clear of overeating and subsequent weight gain.

This research answers the question about the possible connection between tummy tuck and future weight loss. But if you are looking for precise advice about shedding extra fat, you should consult with a qualified plastic surgeon for a personalized consultation. A qualified plastic will help you determine if you can obtain your current aesthetic goals through a tummy tuck alone or if you should combine it with a procedure like liposuction.

What Is the Relationship Between Tummy Tucks and Weight Loss?

The relationship between tummy tuck and weight loss is a bit complex. While you can immediately lose a few pounds through abdominoplasty due to shedding extra skin and fat, tummy tuck itself is not a weight loss procedure. Instead, it is a body contouring surgery that can also help you with abdominal muscle repair. If you have significant pockets of abdominal fat that you cannot lose via diet or exercise, your plastic surgeon may recommend combining your tummy tuck with liposuction.

Research published in the official medical journal of the ASPS outlines that women who get a tummy tuck may benefit from long-term weight loss. The 2013 study explains that this result might be possible due to neuroendocrine mechanisms helping patients satisfy their hunger longer. In the long term, this effect allows abdominoplasty patients to pursue future weight loss with ease. This marks a connection between tummy tuck and long-term weight loss.

How Does a Tummy Tuck Affect Your Metabolism and Appetite?

A tummy tuck may impact your metabolism and appetite by influencing your neuroendocrine mechanisms. According to a study published in the official journal of the ASPS, women who receive abdominoplasty may benefit from having lower hormone production that affects their appetite. This could lead to the satisfaction of being full after a meal, which in turn may help with overeating habits and lead to long-term weight loss.

When fat cells are removed from your abdomen during a tummy tuck, the decreased amount of fatty tissue in your body could cause your glands to produce lower levels of hunger-inducing hormones as compared to the period before your abdominoplasty. This is also one of the reasons why the possible correlation between tummy tuck and future weight loss could work in favor of those who were obese or overweight before their abdominoplasty.

What Are the Benefits of Combining a Tummy Tuck with Other Weight Loss Strategies?

There are many benefits of combining a tummy tuck with other weight loss strategies, including the following.

• Moderate to high fat reduction. Whereas tummy tuck may only remove a small amount of fat cells, procedures like liposuction can reduce higher amounts of fat.
• More prominent results. Getting a direct weight loss treatment in conjunction with your tummy tuck can heighten the overall results of these procedures and make the outcome more noticeable.
• Reduced recovery time due to combined procedures. Simultaneously receiving multiple treatments, such as liposuction with your tummy tuck, may reduce your overall recovery time in comparison to getting these procedures separately.
• Shorter timeline to see more significant outcomes. By getting your weight loss and tummy tuck treatments at once, you can obtain pronounced results in a reduced timeframe.

Can a Tummy Tuck Improve Your Physical and Mental Health?

Besides its aesthetic benefits of delivering a toned, sculpted, and sleek abdominal profile, a tummy tuck can also provide you with multiple benefits for your physical and mental health.

Correcting Posture

When your abdominal walls are weakened, your spine does not get an ideal level of support and might cause you to bend a bit forward. A tummy tuck with abdominal muscle repair can help resolve this issue to improve your posture.

Reducing Back Pain

Weakened abdominal muscles, excess skin, and unwanted fat can put pressure on your spine and lead to back pain. By resolving these concerns and improving your posture, abdominoplasty can help you find relief from back pain.

Relieving Urinary Incontinence

Weakened abdominal muscles can put unnecessary pressure on your bladder and lead to urinary incontinence, especially after childbirth. When you get a tummy tuck with abdominal muscle repair, you can find a resolution to urinary incontinence caused by weakened abdominal muscles.

Resolving Ventral Hernia

Weakened abdominal walls increase your risk for ventral hernia—a condition where your intestines protrude through your abdominal tissue and cause pain discomfort. A tummy tuck with abdominal muscle repair can prevent and resolve this concern.

Enhancing Your Self-Image

Wrinkled abdomen skin and unwanted fat across your abdomen can lead to self-image issues and prevent you from wearing revealing or form-fitting clothing. A tummy tuck can resolve your aesthetic concerns and help enhance your self-image.

Boosting Your Confidence

The aesthetic concerns from excess abdominal tissue and fat cells can take a toll on your confidence and lead to mental health issues, such as depression. When you effectively resolve these concerns through a tummy tuck, you can obtain a significant confidence boost.

Besides the added advantage of the connection between a tummy tuck and long-term weight loss, these benefits go a long way toward making abdominoplasty such a sought-after procedure.

What Factors Influence Long-Term Weight Loss After a Tummy Tuck?

Various factors are associated with tummy tuck and future weight loss. These include but are not limited to the following possible aspects.

• Removal of excess abdominal tissue. The immediate removal of excess skin and fat cells can help you shed a few pounds right away.
• Reduction in hunger-inducing hormones. When fat cells are removed from your abdomen, it may trigger neuroendocrine mechanisms that improve your metabolism.
• Improvement in satiety. The removal of fat cells may also play a role in how hungry you feel after a meal. This may help curb overeating habits and might prevent you from putting on unwanted weight.
• Motivation to maintain results. When you embrace your rejuvenated figure and feel more confident, you may feel a renewed motivation to maintain the results and put a greater effort into adopting a healthier lifestyle.
• Ease of performing physical activities. If you cannot adopt your ideal level of physical activity due to issues like bad posture and back pain, your tummy tuck can resolve these concerns and help you take on regular exercise for weight loss and management.

How Can You Maximize the Weight Loss Benefits of a Tummy Tuck?

While the association between tummy tuck and future weight loss requires extensive studies to be proven further, you can still maximize the weight loss benefits of a tummy tuck through the following activities.

• Combining your abdominoplasty with a weight loss procedure. You can get a tummy tuck along with targeted weight loss treatments, such as liposuction, that remove a higher amount of unwanted fat cells from your abdomen.
• Adopting a healthy diet after your tummy tuck. To continue losing unwanted fat, you can start consuming a healthy diet and exercise regimen that works according to your lifestyle while helping you reach your ideal weight range.
• Getting regular exercise after your abdominoplasty. Proper exercise can work wonders toward ensuring healthy metabolism and helping you bid farewell to unwanted fat long after your abdominoplasty.

What Should You Expect During a Tummy Tuck Consultation?

When you reach out to a qualified plastic surgeon to explore your tummy tuck options, you can expect a detailed consultation to discuss your concerns and assess your eligibility for the procedure.

At the Plastic Surgery of Michigan, double board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Lofman provides you with a hands-on consultation that prioritizes your comfort, health, and goals. During your consultation with Dr. Lofman, you can expect to go through the following steps.

• Discussing your overall concerns
• Answering questions about your medical history
• Outlining your expectations from the procedure
• Receiving a physical examination
• Discussing the possible outcomes and side effects of surgery
• Receiving personalized advice about combining tummy tuck with other procedures
• Determining a general outline of preparing for your abdominoplasty
• Acquiring a detailed breakdown of costs and possible financing options for your surgery
• Clarifying questions that you may have in mind

During your consultation, Dr. Lofman will also provide you with a detailed explanation about the correlation between tummy tuck and long-term weight loss. When you get research-based advice from a qualified provider, you will feel more confident in going ahead with your abdominoplasty.

Contact Dr. Lofman for Your Tummy Tuck in Michigan

To obtain the best possible results from your tummy tuck, it is crucial that you get the procedure from a qualified plastic surgeon who has sufficient experience in performing abdominoplasty. With double board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Lofman, you can rest assured that you are getting your tummy tuck from a highly seasoned specialist who takes care of your comfort while delivering positively striking results with his knowledge, skills, and experience. Do you feel ready to embrace a stronger abdominal profile? Request a consultation online or call us at (248) 540-2100 to schedule your appointment.