zzroged
4mths post TT & Breast Lift & 2 mths post Arm&Thigh Lift pics
Aug 17, 2011
Yup - time is flying by and I'm almost 4 months post TT (with muscle repair) and breast lift and 2 months and 1 week post arm & thigh lift. I've put some pics below to show how I look today - I'm very swollen in the pics (up about 2 inches on my waist and hips) - I took this pics just after I did a hard pilates reformer class this morning which makes me swell)I was cleared for exercise last week and whilst I am delighted with this, I've found it harder to get back into than I had anticipated - though to be fair, I've not done any exercise (with the exception of walking) for 4 months now - so in reality I should have expected a slow start back - heh - you know I was soooo missing my exercise - I guess I forgot that I would lose fitness in the interim :-( and I have to confess that I'm finding it really frustrating.
In the gym, I've lost quite a lot of my fitness and am having to go back to basics with my running (I've started the C25k programme again so that I can increase my running incrementally) and have had to reduce the amount that I'm lifting quite a lot. At pilates - whilst my ab muscles are still strong, they are not as strong as they were prior to my surgery and I know that I'm not able to do some of the moves with as much control as I was able to do previously - plus I've had to modify some of the moves as I can feel my scars pulling which is uncomfortable - particularly in my thighs and arms. I also get weird feelings with my ab muscles - they are numb so I can't always feel that I'm pulling my muscles in, plus then I can almost feel where he has done the muscle tightening - so it's a bit weird - I don't think I can 'pop' anything - but it still feels like I could explode and rip everything open (which would be somewhat unpleasant to say the least !).
Anyway - 'slow & steady wins the race' - so back to basics for me and then I can build up. On the advice of my pilates trainer, I've decided to go to pilates mat classes for the next month so that I can concentrate on building my ab muscles and let the rest of my scars heal and stretch out a bit more before I go back to pilates reformer - which works on pulleys and weights. I'm somewhat not pleased about this - as I worked really hard before my surgery to get to level 3 on the reformer (which is the top level my studio does) - but I know it's the right thing for the long term - so will swallow the advice and go back to basics (aaaarrrrggggghhhhh - frustrating).
On a positive note - I treated myself to some nice new gym kit - I got medium yoga pants & bra capris from Victoria's Secret (size Medium - yay !) and also some compression capri's and running tights from Fila which are great at giving support whilst you are swollen. So whilst I hardly have any clothes that fits me - I have some great gym kit - well surely you've gotta look your best when you are your most sweaty !
Anyway here are the pics - I still have swollen thighs and am hoping these will shrink down a bit at the top, and also hoping that my arms will shrink down a bit - they still feel very swollen and delicate. Whilst I don't have to wear my compression garments - I wear my sleeves when exercising and wear my shorts at night to reduce the swelling overnight. I'm also still using the silicon strips and various lotions & potions on my scars - which are currently going through the 'red' healing phase !
PS - If you are considering surgery - you might want to ask for removal of the 'side bra fat' - which I still have & should have asked to get removed - I left it to my surgeon to decide if I needed it or not when he did my arm lift -after surgery he said not - to be fair it only shows when I wear a bra - his answer - not to wear one ! (and to be fair I could do that now I have pert boobs!) and also note that a thigh lift doesn't reduce your saggy knees - so now I need a kneee lift (only joking !!)
