What concerns us immediately after lipedema surgery

Weight – comparison – expectations

Sharing with like-minded people in the lipedema community can be very helpful and reassuring. Before and after pictures encourage us to take the step to liposuction for lipedema, tips on aftercare help us to bridge the time well and the feeling of not being alone with lipedema is simply good. As helpful as the exchange in the lipedema community is, it can also lead us to compare ourselves with other sufferers after the operation. Thoughts such as “Tina’s thighs already look much firmer than mine, I can see it exactly in her photo!” or “Sandra has already lost much more weight than I have with similar initial findings.” can make us feel quite insecure and lead to us feeling under a lot of pressure and our self-confidence suffers.

I would like to encourage you to listen to yourself when you have such thoughts and reflect on whether you are really unhappy or whether you are just comparing yourself – which you shouldn’t do, because there is no reason for that.

Although lipedema unites us all, YOU are completely different from Tina, Sandra and everyone else.

Body weight after liposuction

Many patients put themselves on the scales shortly after liposuction, after all, numerous liters have been suctioned out, it is written in black and white in the doctor’s letter. You have to see that on the scales!

But when you see the results on the scales, you are in for a shock. Just as much or even more than before! How can that be?

Understandably, frustration quickly sets in, thoughts of the next diet and doubts about whether the operation was successful at all. However, you should quickly interrupt this negative stream of thoughts at this point and reflect on what is happening and that there are reasons for this. Let’s uncover the phenomenon together for once.

Fat has been removed, so sooner or later it will show up. However, you should know that 1 liter of fat does not weigh 1 kilogram as you would instinctively think. 1 liter of lipedema fat weighs about 300 – 400 grams. In addition, wound fluid as well as water is still stored in the body after the procedures and swellings are formed. All this leads to the fact that our body weight fluctuates and sometimes we even have more weight than before the operations. It can take several months for one patient to reach her final body weight, and for another patient it can take the whole year. All this is quite normal.

The number on the scale should not determine your happiness – neither before nor after the operations and also not with or without lipedema. After the surgeries you have a piece of health and control over your body back and that has the highest priority. Keep telling yourself that and be proud of what you have already accomplished.

You and your body are just beginning to become one unit, free from the shell of lipedema that has surrounded and affected you for so long. Give it a chance to finally become a home for your soul. You are beautiful, just as you are, here and now.

Your LIPOCOACH®

Pia