The Preop

Step 1- book the procedure...check! 

Step 2- pay the deposit....check!

Step 3- wait...and wait....and wait....

My surgeon's next available operative day wasn't until 2 months after our initial consultation, and it seemed like it took forever to arrive! So I just kept myself busy, continuing to push myself to achieve greater fitness goals on my bike, tread and strength. I continued to work on my diet and overall hydration as well, incorporating more plant-based foods and cutting out meat and as much dairy as possible (all my personal choice.)

As a side note, I do think that someone's underlying state of wellness plays a huge role in how well they heal and recover from surgery. Having a super strong core overall helped me be able to utilize my posterior and lateral core muscles to support myself in those first few days postop when your anterior abdominal wall is completely (temporarily) unavailable! My lower back muscles kicked in big time, as did my arms, when I slowly started to move around more and lift heavier things around the house (laundry basket, dog, child, you get the idea!)

One other preop measure I took to optimize my healing was a daily supplement called Juven (the one specifically designed for "wound healing"). It was recommended by my sister, who works as a hospital nurse and has seen it used in hospitalized patients who are recovering from surgery or fighting major wounds (thanks sis!). It has collagen and some particular amino acids all meant to support the healing process, and I ended up buying it on Amazon (just search "Juven for nutritional wound healing"). There were a ton of great reviews for this stuff, from other people who had used it for their own cosmetic surgeries...so I figured why not give it a try? I started taking it 10 days preop, the full recommended 2 servings per day.

I know you've all been wondering what I looked like preop...so here you go! These were all taken with my abs completely flexed (early morning, fasting) right after my morning workout and then getting dressed for work (this was just before Christmas haha):

I feel like I looked pregnant whenever I would wear a tight fitted dress or shirt as above. For me, getting rid of this pooch was worth a surgery. Did I look a lot better than I had been right after having a baby? Heck yeah it did. But was I content? No, I was not. And that was enough reason for me to proceed!