Finally decided to get some lipo...

[drgoodbody]

Well, I just finished my most intense 12 week cutting cycle and diet ever and I am still not happy with the way my lower abs and love handles look. So today I went and booked my appointment for lipo.

A little history is prolly in order. 10 years ago I was FAT, not just a little fat, but huge rolly-polly fat. I weighed about 240lbs on my 5'8" frame. I had never worked out and had fattened up over the course of about 8 years (from age 17-25). One day I woke up and said enough is enough, and from that day I have strived to acheive the best body that I can. In the beginning I dieted hard and exercised like crazy (6-7 days/week). I didn't know shit about nutrition, and nothing about supplements. Despite that, I ended up losing 80lbs over the course of about 2.5 years. At my lowest I got down to 160 lbs. I was skinny and flabby (lost a shit load of muscle and had some lose skin to boot). By then I was reading everything I could and slowly started to figure out how to train and eat. It took a long time. Over the past 7 years I have gone from 160lbs to my present state at about 195lbs with 7.5% BF. I have 5 cycles under my belt, but actually didn't start using until I was about 175lbs (with no real change for 2-3 years).

Despite all the improvement over the years and all the different diets, training routines, and supplements, my lower abs and love handles have never really gotten very lean. I think getting so porky back then added a lot of extra fat cells to my body and even when I'm dieted down, these starving fat cells are still so plentiful that I have a little fat pouch on my lower abs and love handles. Bottomline - IT TOTALLY SUCKS!

I met my wife when I was 165 and today she thinks I look amazing, but I'm still not happy. She said to me recently that everytime I look in the mirror I grab my remaining ab fat and say something negative, despite how great I look otherwise. She's right, I fucking hate it and it is all I can see at times. I've got a 2-pack and want the other 4 damn it!!!

So being the vain motherfucker that I am, and with my wife's encouragement (she wants me to be happy) I went for it today. I'm schedule to have the lipo in late April (we're taking a 2 week vacation in early April so couldn't do it then).

Procedure is about $5k including all hospital costs. Its pricey but I went with a really terrific plastic surgeon (might do some work on wifey soon too!).

Anyway, just thought I'd share this and hear some opinions from any of you who have done it.

BTW - I hate fat people today

DrG

 

[xcelbeyond]

I know what you mean bro!

I've never been "fat" per se. I've always "worked out" in some form since a Juniour in High School. I use to race off road motorcycles pretty serious at the non-pro level. So, I did plenty of aerobics and leg strengthening exercises. Try riding on top of 50+ horspower -standing for 100 milers across the desert! Best accomplishment was winning #2 position for the entire state in my class for the year.

At my worst-shape, when I first decided to body "build," I was 150 lbs and 17% BF but everyone thought I "looked in shape." I started working with a former Mr XXXXXX. I immediately dropped down to 10% BF within 2 weeks!!! He was flabergasted that I was able to accomplish this (with no prior knowledge or experience). He took me under his wing as his protoge. I've had my "lean mass" down to 128 pounds at <5% BF and as high as 182 pounds at 9% BF.

My problem ALWAYS has been the obliques and lower back. It's not until about the last 2 weeks prior to a contest that I feel they're "acceptable." Now I know that I'm my worst critic because at my first contest they gave "best bodypart" awards. The ONLY ab comparison (side-by-side against one other) they did was between the winner of Best Abs and me!!! Everyone was telling me how good my abs looked. But I was way too small - damn near a bantamweight. I swore that whatever it took, I would not ever be that small again in a competition.

xcel

 

[stackdizzy]

Dude I would do it, I had my gyno removed long ago, it wasn't really bad I was just fed up with it! Though like you have done check around and make sure you are getting the best surgoen possible even if you have ot pay more its well worth it! I see no reason why people should live with something they are not happy with when they could get it fixed, especially if they have the cash!!

 

[vitor]

Hmm

My only worry is that you are in great shape now, and this procedure is going to help you, but if you break your diet and bulk again wont all of this surgery go down the tube and be a waste?

As healthy, working out men we critizce ourselves way to much when we look great. It is like muscle dsymorphy, in this case bodyfat dismorphy, when are you ever going to be happy.

 

[Queefer]

Kudos to you buddy! I say, "Go for it dude!" I've thought about it before. With the technology today, you can probably get your belly to look like whatever you desire. I'll bet they can make your waist 2 or 3 inches smaller and your abs look phenomenal. Since you are obviously not the normal patient, sucking out 2 or 3 pounds of fat on you will make a huge difference. I'm happy for you, good luck.

 

[drgoodbody]

Re: Hmm

As healthy, working out men we critizce ourselves way to much when we look great. It is like muscle dsymorphy, in this case bodyfat dismorphy, when are you ever going to be happy.

This is my biggest concern... this morning I woke up and wanted to cancel the whole thing because I was convinced that no matter what the outcome, I'll still be unsatisfied and even more pissed for having gone thru it and spent the $.... Well I didn't cancel, but I have pre-op appt scheduled for April 1, and they said I can cancel then if I want to...

Since you are obviously not the normal patient, sucking out 2 or 3 pounds of fat on you will make a huge difference.

Q - that's basically what the doc and nurse said. They said lipo really isn't best suited to fat people, but rather people with stubborn deposits (thanks to genetics )... So their opinion is that the outcome should be really good. I hope so...

thanks guys,

DrG

 

[drgoodbody]

Re: Hmm

My only worry is that you are in great shape now, and this procedure is going to help you, but if you break your diet and bulk again wont all of this surgery go down the tube and be a waste?

Oh, and I never bulk heavily because I gain too much fat too fast, so I'm always trying to grow without massive bulking... a tough feat, but thus far I've made ok progress, albeit slow. So I don't think heavy bulking is an issue.

DrG

 

[stackdizzy]

Vitor during surgery they remove the fat cells from that area so they cannot store fat anylonger, Though I am not sure if new fat cells can grow if they did I am sure it would take sometime! I would do it dude, just make up your mind and do it! I mean even if you only look good for a couple months out of the year, I think you would be way happier with your physique! Ya only live once why even deal with it!!!!

 

[Doc Baxter]

Lipo

I had this done a few years back. There were these really irritating spots that I couldn't seem get rid of with dieting [maybe I'd better say 'I couldn't get rid of without such extreme dieting that I was worried about losing a lot of muscle mass in the process'].

It was remarkably easy. And the surgeon used these incredibly small incisions. I couldn't find those spots today if I tried.

The pain wasn't significant at all. My girlfriend (now wife) picked up the prescription for me -- hydrocodone, if I recall correctly -- but after the first day, I didn't bother taking them any more.

Did it work? Yes and no. The results are basically what the surgeon said they'd be. It definitely cut down those problem areas. Did it eliminate them? No; they're still there, just less of an issue. The results were good enough, however, that I'd do it again without hesitating.

After the surgery, they gave me these 'compression dressings' that just put pressure on the spots where the surgeon had worked. I don't remember how long I had to wear them, but it was something like 2 or 3 weeks. They were a bit bulky -- I wouldn't want to try to wear them with a T-shirt and shorts in the middle of summer ... :|

The bad parts:

- I got really tired of people preaching things like 'Everyone should be happy with the body they naturally have.' [These are, invariably, either people who're born with incredible genetics, or people who're fat/ugly and think that society shoudl change rather than themselves.] If I did it again, I'd tell nobody other than my wife.

- My wife's health took a really bad turn a few years ago, and her hospital stays and problems took up larger and larger parts of my time -- eventually causing me to stop working out at all. I gained weight (fat) on the scale, but because of the lipo, it was more evenly distributed on me. That means that it was less blatantly noticable. I probably would've gotten off of my ass and done something about it earlier if it'd been more noticable. [This isn't a slam of the lipo. It obviously worked _really_ well.]

If you choose to follow through, I'd be interested in hearing after-the-fact how it worked out for you.

JB

 

[drgoodbody]

Thanks Doc...

Glad to hear you've had no regrets. I have a very critical body image of myself and so I'm a little worried that no matter what result I get I won't be satisfied That's really the only thing that is mentally irritating me about this. I already came to the conclusion that you mentioned above... basically I'm telling NO one that I know about the surgery - only wifey knows. And yes, the doc said I will have to wear compression bandages for 3-4 weeks post surgery. But he too says the pain is bearable and not that long lasting (a few days).

I really want to do it -- I'm so tired of dieting and trying to lose it, and the plastic surg said it wasn't going to happen without me going to an extreme which is likely unsustainable. So at this point, I'm in for it.

thanks for the feedback,

DrG

 

[Chuck999]

DrG my gal had it done a few years back and it worked well for her. I think what your doc said is about right, it's not for really fat people, just somebody who is in not too bad shape but with a stubborn area. Loni (my "sig other") is in her early 50's but literally looks late 30's or younger. She is an arobics inst. and does those womens "pump classes". She is basically built like Tina Turner, but had twins at age 20 and had a little fat around her middle she just couldn't get rid of. The lipo worked wonders. Like Doc Baxter said it may not be a 100% fix, but for someone like you (or probably any of us on this board) it should work well. The people it doesn't work that well for are the fatties who get the lipo done and keep eating and not exercising like before. It is supposed to remove the actual fat cells, but I guess if someone is eating too damn much and not burning it off the laws of physics take over and it has to got somewhere. Anyway, I've been thinking about it too - got some really small "love handles" I can't get totally rid of unless I lose too much lean muscle mass. Be interested to hear what you have to say a few months after. I'd say go for it. Your are right tho I think most of us, particularly those who don't even compete, have to watch getting a little obsessive with our bodies. Like teenage girls with anorexia but in reverse! Most guys my age couldn't imagine why I would want to be any better built.

 

[drgoodbody]

Thanks Chuck for that post. Yeah, my body image has been a mess in my head for the past 5 years or so. Once I got thru being a fat-ass, I just had a certain look in mind and wanting to get there has become a bit of an obsession. Mind you, the look I'm going for is probably much smaller than what most hardcore freaks would consider acceptable, but its what I find asthetically pleasing. Basically, about 200-210 lbs at 5'8", with BF low enough that Abs are CLEARLY visible year round (6-7% BF maybe?). I don't need or want to be bigger, because then my entire life/day will be tied to feeding and training. So, basically right now I need about 10-15lbs more LBM and to drop a few more points in BF, plus rid myself of these stubborn patches.

wish me luck!

DrG