"The best part about life? Every day you have a new opportunity to become a happier version of yourself." -Unknown
I was born with a congenital heart defect so I haven't always been healthy. I come from a long line of strong women though who persevere through everything life throws at them. These women, while inspiring, were also obese, something I hoped as a child I could avoid in adulthood. All of my childhood I was a super skinny twig of a girl. Once I hit puberty, I started filling out and when I graduated high school, I was a comfortable size 10/12. After marriage, I became the one thing I never wanted to be: obese. I am 5'1" and was 208 lbs and a size 20 at my heaviest. I was miserable. I hated looking in the mirror because I no longer recognized myself. I hated shopping because I knew if I had to buy a larger size, I was going to get upset. I hated even window shopping because I knew I'd see so many cute things that I wanted but couldn't buy because it wasn't in my size. I hated the person I had become.
One day, I woke up and decided to do something about it. I joined Weight Watchers and in my first several months, I lost 40 lbs! I was finally on the right path. After I hit that 40 lb. mark, my husband and I finally found out that we were expecting our first child...after 7 years of trying to start a family. We were elated but I was so scared to see the weight gain on the scale again. While I did regain all the weight that I lost with the pregnancy, I gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Shortly after, I hopped right back on Weight Watchers to continue my weight loss journey. I ending up relosing the 40 lbs. I had previously lost plus an additional 20 lbs. I now vary from a size 6 to a size 8.
Flash forward to now: After having 2 more kids, I managed to maintain my weight loss, give or take 10 lbs and keep it off. 11 years of being at a healthy weight is such a feat. But as anyone who has lost a significant amount of weight plus having babies know, with the weight loss comes loose skin. The majority of my loose skin was on my abdomen. While I was happy to have lost the weight, I still struggled with my self image in my abdomen area. When I sat down, the skin flopped on my lap; I had to tuck my skin into my pants; I had to make sure I properly cleaned that area to avoid weird smells in the folds (yes it happens).
I started following fitness pages on Instagram and got off my butt to go to the gym to "tone up". I was hitting the gym regularly but the reality was, no amount of workouts could fix the loose skin on my abdomen.
I made the decision to consult with a board certified plastic surgeon to discuss an abdominoplasty (aka tummy tuck) to determine if it was really something I wanted, if it was affordable, and above all, if it would make me happy.
From the beginning of the consultation. this surgeon understood my desires and goals and gave me the best options for me. I left with a surgery quote in my hand and what seemed like at the time, a very out of reach goal. I went home to discuss it with my husband who, as always, supported my decision no matter what it was.
As a working wife and mom to 3 kids, I always put everyone's needs and desires above my own and don't usually do much for myself. This led me to spend the next 4 months mulling over if the surgery was right for me. Finally, I decided this is what I wanted to do; this is what my body needed to be whole again and what my heart and mind needed for complete happiness. I called the surgeons office to pay my down payment to schedule the date of my surgery: April 12, 2019.
Surgery came and went and the recovery is in progress. I am now 10 days post-op and while I am still recovering, I feel like this was one of the best decisions I could have made for myself.
