Surgery booked with Karidis 8th Nov

[Swarley]

Thanks Chopper - yeah looking forward to Summer!

2 months post op.
Fitness wise I'm doing fine now - I can do everything I used to do at the gym - just lighter weights on the bench press until I build my stength back up.
And I'm back to doing kickboxing classes a few nights a week.
Took a punch in the chest the other night, which hurt like hell - but otherwise no complaints.

I won't bother posting new photos as they look almost identical to my last post.
The dent in my side is slowly filling out - but still quite visible.
Swelling in my chest goes up and down - seems to be at it's worst first thing in the morning, and when I get home from work.
A quick massage session and it goes down - also doing a decent cardio workout at the gym seems to help.

As requested, here's some pics of my flanks:
Before I started trying to loose weight (December 2010)


The weekend before surgery (Novemeber 2011)


Today (January 2012)

[NeedToLoseWeight]

Thanks for posting them up mate.

I don't think you needed the flanks done tbh they looked perfect before, as they do now as well. I guess as a result of this you won't put much of your fat allocation on your flanks now. Mine actually look like your before pick. The rest of me is pretty skinny, just bad genetics in the fat allocation I guess.

Good to know you're recovering so well. I actually have all of the money I need for the surgery now. Will be using my student overdraft of £1000 and then pay them back later in the year, just want to get the surgery then worry about anything else later. Just need to get some exams done with and book the consultation, and hopefully get surgery the same week if they let me.

[ChestMan]

Swarley, looking at you pre-op photos you lost quite a bit of weight and it made some significant differences. I know you have mentioned kickboxing on one of your posts, but what was the key to your success in losing the pounds?

I have my appointment with Karidis booked on Monday, but I'm also considering signing up with an expensive personal trainer to see if that makes a difference, as I've been never really been able to shift the fat from the chest or flanks...

How much weight did you lose? Do you know what % bodfat you were you/are now?

[Swarley]

Hi breastman,

I think it was a combination of getting my diet right, and the quality and quantity of exercise.

I started going to a local kickboxing club a few nights a week in December 2010, but I didn't do much about my diet, so I only lost a couple of pounds in December & January (although I did get a stomach bug over xmas, so that probably accounted for some of the weight I lost).

Kickboxing is tough. One of the guys there wore a heart rate monitor which worked out he was burning 1500 calories in a 1 hour session. At first, I could only handle one class a week (it took 6 days for my legs to stop aching). But progressively I got fitter and within a few months I was able to do 4 classes a week.

In February 2011, I signed up for personal training sessions at my gym, and with the advice of my trainer, I improved my diet a bit.
I started doing 3 sessions a week in the gym with my trainer, and doing 3 - 4 kickboxing classes a week.

By April, I'd lost 2 stone, but between april and july I hit a plateau and only lost another couple of pounds.

By this time, I was getting on really well with my trainer - he's a top bloke, so one day when we were training outside the gym (there's a big hill he liked to get me to run up and down), I had a chat with him about my moobs, how frustrated I was that I was doing loads of exercise but not loosing much weight, and that the moobs hadn't changed, and I said that I was thinking about surgery.
He took that as a challenge, so we stepped up the intensity of the sessions, started doing 4 sessions a week, and had a very detailed talk about my diet & portion sizes etc and worked out a meal plan.

Since then, this has been my daily diet:

7am:
2 eggs (scrambled or fried - in a dry pan with no oil)
1 cup black coffee
multivitamin tablet

10.30am
half a skinless grilled chicken breast
half a cup of veg (peas / sweetcorn /brocolli / cauliflower)

1pm
half a skinless grilled chicken breast
half a cup of veg (peas / sweetcorn / brocolli / cauliflower)

3pm
Gym session

5pm
1 bottle lucozade sport light

7pm
kickboxing class

8pm
1 scoop low carb protein shake with water
100g unsalted shelled pistachio nuts (you can buy these in 100g bags in sainsburys - in my local store they're in the home baking section).

10.30pm - go to bed.

The only exception was Friday, when there was no kickboxing class - so instead of the protein shake and nuts, I'd have a steak with peas & brocolli for dinner with 2 glasses red wine.
That was the only alcohol I'd have all week - you can buy those airplane size bottles of wine in sainsburys, which is a serving of 1 glass. They're more expensive per glass than buying a whole bottle, but I found it was a great way to avoid the temptation of having an opened bottle of wine around all week.

So basically there was no carbs, no processed meat, no dairy, and no fruit.
No fish either - but only because I don't like fish.
 
I actually found the diet really easy to stick to - I was never tempted to snack, and I always planned ahead to make sure I never missed a meal and got hungry (which is when I make bad decisions).
And, the more I exercised, the less I found myself craving certain things - quite often I used to come home from work and have a strong craving for pasta & cheese, or sausages etc. Instead, I just got a generic feeling of being hungry, and that would go away as soon as I ate something.

Also, I made sure I was drinking loads of water - I'd usually drink 6 or 7 litres a day (3 litres of that was during, or just after the gym & kickboxing sessions).

Between July and November, I lost another 4 stone - with most of that happening in September and October.

So my total weight loss between December 2010 & Nov 2011 was just over 6 stone.
My BF% in February 2011 was about 40%, and just before surgery it was 16%.

I lost another stone in the month after surgery, which I think was mostly muscle loss from not exercising, because I put it back on the month after that without much change in my BF% - which is now about 13%.

Hope this helps.

[ChestMan]

Hi Swarley,

Thanks for posting all of this information - very helpful. 6 stones is massive achievement. I struggle to lose more than 3- 4 pounds when I put effort in. Given your determination, I reckon if you carry on you could get pretty ripped - good work.   Your diet seems very similar to a diet that I spoke to a trainer about on the weekend and pretty much covers the principles that the most trainers are preaching (e.g. good sleeping etc)  I'm surprised about the red wine... the trainer says apparently it is good for moobs.

I saw Karidis this morning..loads on my mind now - I'll start a separate thread, rather than highjack this one...

[Bikkembergs]

Swarley,

Have your actual nipples filled out at all? I've a little dent in my right nipple. Left one couldn't be better though haha.

[Swarley]

I had a bit of a fold across the incision under each nipple, but that all smoothed out within about 3 weeks I think.
After that, my aerolas were sort of semi-puffed out. The closest thing I can think of to describe how they looked is deflated footballs.
In my follow up consultation, Karidis said it was because I had scar tissue under each nipple, which was causing a bit of puffiness. It was nowhere near the amount of puffiness I had before (where each aerola puffed out into a cone shape). He said it would settle down over the next few months - and so far he's been spot on. In the month or so since my follow up appointment, they have flattened out massively, and there's almost no puffiness at all now.

I'll post some new pics soon - I've managed to loose a bit more weight and I'm aiming for a six pack in time for spring!

[Swarley]

Almost 3 months post op.

Things are going pretty well. I've been hitting the gym pretty hard since xmas, and kickboxing as much as possible in the evenings. My strength and cardio fitness is now better than it was pre-op, and I've lost another stone since November.

The swelling and scar tissue on my chest has really started to settle down in the last couple of weeks. I can still feel some lumps of scar tissue when I massage, but they're less than half they size they were.
Right hand side still seems a little more swollen than the left, but it's not very noticeable.

My flanks now seem to be swelling a little bit, but I suspect it's because I haven't been massaging them as often as my chest. I'll try to do that more often.
The dent in my side is smoothing out nicely too.

Looking back at my pre-op photo in the mirror at the bottom of page 1 of this thread, I'm so happy I made the decision to have the surgery, and I'm much, much happier with myself now.

Pics:

[Bikkembergs]

Look superb dude  

The contour looks identical to mine, perhaps we could swap bellies though?  

I'm going back to the gym on Monday. I saw your thread you left it 2 weeks or so, I'll be 23 days on Monday and feel fine. Plus I've played 2 football matches, first was only 10 days after and both went really well. Cant wait to start toning this hunk of junk properly. Roll on summer  

Edit: Just looked at page 1 again. Moobs aside, your weight loss is pretty spectacular. They should get you on some weight loss forum too! 

[Swarley]

Cheers Dude!

Good to hear things are going well for you.
Yeah I was back in the gym after 2 weeks. I think by that time my patience had just run out, and I felt the need to get out and do something active instead of sitting around all day waiting for my body to heal.
 
I was able to use the cross trainer (the one with the static handles, not the one with the moving handles - if that makes sense), and then did loads of kettlebell squats, situps and leg raises.

Pretty much any pushing or pulling movements felt uncomfortable for several weeks. 
I think this was mostly down to my pecs tensing and moving against the fluid & scar tissue. I don't think it would have done any harm to do those exercises, but I was happy to take it slowly and wait until it felt comfortable.

Also running was a bit painful, as it made the swollen areas shake a bit - more so when slowing down for some reason. So it was about 4 weeks before I did any running.

[SDJ]

well done mate you've come a long way. top result!

do u think i would be ok to get back in the gym 3 weeks post op? trying to keep this secret from my gym buddy lol.

[Swarley]

Cheers!

Difficult to say when you'll be ready to get back in the gym - different people heal at different rates etc.

I know Karidis says most people feel okay to get back into exercise after 10 - 14 days. Beyond that all i can tell you is what it was like for me - and after 2 weeks I was happy to go to the gym again. I just avoided upper body stuff because it didn't feel comfortable.

Btw I don't know how well your gym buddy knows you, but he'll probably notice something is different post-op.
i lost about a stone in the first 2 weeks post op, and my strength took several more weeks to come back. Plus, I didn't have moobs sticking out under my t-shirt anymore :-)
If you don't want to tell him you're having gyne surgery, it might be a good idea to tell him something else e.g. that you've torn a pectoral muscle and will be staying home for a few weeks to let it heal etc.
Just an idea...

[Birmingham]

Hey Swarley I was reading your entire thread and saw that the compression belt looked quite bulky. Is it noticeable under shirts/jackets?

[Swarley]

No not visible at all.
Most of the time I wore a sky blue cotton dress shirt over my compression garments, and you couldn't see anything (aside from a nice flat chest!).

One thing I'd say though is that you might need to wear jeans that are a bit loose around the waist for a while. My flanks were swollen & sore for the first week or so, and anything pressing against them was a little uncomfortable.

[thetodd]

Whats your verdict on the flank surgery swarley, are you pleased with the results and would you reccomend it to others? I know your still pretty much in the horrible part of recovery.

Looking at your before/afters you look like a different person, well done must of took serious dedication!