Okay, so I’m now 1 week post tummy tuck surgery and feel like it’s been quite the learning experience. I share the full low down on why I got a tummy tuck in a previous blog post, and here, I wanna share with you everything you may want to know to prepare yourself for a successful tummy tuck and healing process.

Tummy Tuck Preparation

Physical Therapy

If you think you have Diastisis Recti, a hernia or any other similar issue, it’s important to get evaluated by a pelvic floor physical therapist and do some PT prior to your surgery.

Your pelvic floor is the foundation for your core, so if it’s weak and not in optimal shape before your surgery, you will experience repercussions after the surgery. It’s critical to do what you can to heal your foundation first, before having a tummy tuck. The tummy tuck will indeed correct the muscle separation, but it will not correct the weakened or compromised pelvic floor, which is the precursor to a strong core.

Also, many people experience issues from scar tissue build up (from c sections, episiotomies, etc) and having that healed before surgery can greatly benefit your healing post surgery.

Spend time with your kids

If you have young kids, make sure to spend as much time with them before. I knew it was going to kill me to not be able to go out with them, lift them, give them baths and be super active with them for at least 1 month after the surgery, and really not be able to lift them for 3 months after, so I spent the entire month prior to my surgery doing everything I could and soaking up all the moments.

It’s already been hard to not be present and active with them for everything, but I’m able to be more okay with it because I went overboard with spending time with them before and got so much quality time in with them then. If I hadn’t done that, I’d miss them terribly and feel awful.

Rishi dying for Mommy to pick him up but she can’t. it’s hard for both of us

Mentally prepare your kids

Showing my kids why I’m getting the surgery and having them say “Bye, Bye” to Mommy’s belly

If you have toddlers, talk to them about what’s about to happen before, so they can mentally prepare for the fact that Mommy won’t be able to lift you and she will have a booboo for a little while. It helps them feel less upset afterwards as it’s not a total surprise to them.

Sloane and Dru kissing Mommy’s belly goodbye

Timing

Try to choose a time that will have the least impact on you and your family. I decided to do mine just after school ended in late June. I chose this because all the activities and school events would be over and my kids would be in camp all day during the summer. This allows for me to rest while they are at camp and not feel as though they or I are missing too much.  Many people do it in January, as during the winter season, it’s easy to want to hibernate and certainly more preferable to be indoors then than the summer, but due to my personal circumstances, the summer worked for me.

Supplies

Wedge Pillow – You won’t be able to sleep flat on your back for a while and it’s important that you are in a reclined position. Some people sleep in recliner chairs, but I personally, like to sleep in my bed, in my bedroom, for privacy and comfort. I found this wedge pillow, (supported with some more pillows for the first few days), to be perfect for me.

Airplane Pillow – The first few days, I found the most comfort on being more upright when sleeping (still reclined with pillows, but not super far back), and I slept for the first week with the airplane pillow for proper support and comfort. It also allowed me to not have to keep moving from one reclining position to another to properly sleep and just doze off when watching TV or whenever, because I had the support. I honestly don’t know what the heck I would have done without this.

Stool Softener – The pain killers and medications can make you constipated, so it’s super helpful to start taking a stool softener two days before your surgery, to help you empty your bowls with ease and not experience added discomfort from constipation.

Black out eye mask – This is not a requirement, but I personally found that having the eye mask on really helped me sleep sitting up. The complete darkness made me so tired that I was able to sleep in such an uncomfortable position and state.

The Day Before

The day before your surgery should be a good wind down and cleansing experience to prepare you for your big day.

Make sure to eat properly and nutritiously the day before, leaving you nourished and satiated for the next morning. You aren’t able to eat or drink anything after midnight the night before. I made the mistake of not eating much the day before and not having dinner and the next morning I was starving and couldn’t eat anything before my 10am surgery.

You want to be home early to take a cleansing shower and get a good night’s sleep. You won’t be able to take a proper shower for about 5 days (give or take) so you want to be squeeky clean going into your surgery. Do not put on any oils or lotions after your shower. If you have hair that’s tough to maintain or takes lots of time to do, you may want to wash and dry it the night before, sans products, for less stress in the morning. I have wash and go hair, so I bathed and washed it in the morning. However, I found the shower the night before, coupled with an evening meditation and a good night’s sleep, to be a great way to relax my mind and body before a major day.

You want to get a proper night’s sleep as you will have a lot of stress on your system the next day and proper sleep will put you in a better position to handle the big procedure and it’s affects.

Post Tummy Tuck Support

1 week post tummy tuck

Nutrition and Eating

It’s important to continue to eat clean, healthy, non abrasive or inflammatory foods post surgery. I follow a low carb, paleo diet, so I continued that from the day I got home from the hospital. I found that I was quite hungry, despite such a traumatic surgery, pain meds and being immobile, and wanted to eat consistently. This is a great sign of proper healing.

Ample Nutrient Dense Calories & Protein

Getting enough (nutrient dense) calories and protein after surgery is critical to facilitate a successful healing process. Your body is actually expending a ton of calories in healing and needs the proper fuel to carry out those processes. If you don’t enough enough, you can slow down the healing process.

I have heard people say that they were so nauseas from the pain meds that they didn’t eat much at all and didn’t want to look at food. I asked my doctor for anti nausea meds in advance, so I did not experience that. If you do feel like you don’t want to eat, I would suggest drinking protein shakes and smoothies to ensure you’re taking in optimal calories and appropriate nutrition.

My favorite, go to shake is this one by Plant Fusion. It’s clean, vegan, low carb, nutrient dense, filling and it tastes great. Also, here is my favorite Vanilla Green Dream Smoothie when I want something even more filling and tasty!

Fiber

Fiber is also important to get enough of post surgery, to help keep your bowls moving. I put this fiber into my smoothie daily to keep things regular post surgery.  I also found eating a sliced apple with almond butter to be one of my fave, filling, post surgery snacks.

Cholesterol-rich foods

One of my go to meals post surgery was a veggie egg scramble

Cholesterol is needed for healing & new cell creation as well as creation of good hormones from good fat sources. One of my go to to meals post surgery has been egg and veggie scrambles. My fave is spinach, onions and tomato egg scramble. Filling and delish!

Nix the Sugar

Friendly reminder about sugar not being our friend, but especially during major healing phases. Even a little sugar consumption is stressful to the body and depletes nutrients all on its own. We need the nutrients to help us heal, so stay away from sugar.

Hydration

Aside from water being the most critical nutrient for your body, as it helps our entire systems run, but staying hydrated will also help with keeping your bowls moving.

Healing Supplements

Zinc – You’ll want to increase your zinc intake to 30–50 mg for two weeks before and two weeks after surgery, using zinc picolinate. Zinc is critical to wound healing, and surgery or trauma can decrease the level of zinc in your body.

Collagen – Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body, found in the bones, muscles, skin, and tendons. It plays an important role in all phases of wound healing due to its chemotactic nature, which attracts fibroblasts to the wound site, which plays a major role in boosting tissue growth in a wound bed.

A great way to get your collagen is through bone broth, but I’m not a fan, so I take it in this amazing powder supplement. 

It also support skin elasticity, which we lose as we age, supports better sleep, builds muscle and burns fat, and much more.

Magnesium – (500-800 mg) Magnesium is the anti-stress mineral – stress and trauma depletes this, as does a higher sugar/carb diet. Take added Magnesium to help support your body during this stressful time.

Vitamin C –  Vitamin C supports the formation of collagen, is required for proper immune system function and for healing wounds. It is also used up significantly during times of stress, so taking added Vitamin C post surgery will be greatly beneficial.

Sleep

Position

How I slept the first week

So, as far as position goes, as I mentioned earlier, I slept with the wedge pillow, propped up with a couple more firm pillows and the airplane pillow for comfort and eye mask for complete darkness, which helps me pass out.

I also rolled a blanket and put that under my knees to prop my legs up for added comfort.

Routine

I also would take collagen peptides , (which in addition to being extremely supportive to healing, is great for sleep) right before bed to help relax my system. The glycine helps you fall asleep more quickly, increases your sleep efficiency, reduces symptoms of insomnia, improves sleep quality and promotes deeper, more restful sleep.

I then was religious with putting on my apple wireless ear buds and listening to Yoga Nidra sleep meditations on the insight timer app. Listening to these meditations, with the darkness and neck support, helped me drift into sleep, despite the overall discomfort. I highly recommend trying it instead of taking any sleep medications.

For more tips on how to naturally fall asleep, check out this post.

Here are my favorite guided meditations for sleep on insight timer:

*I use the free app functionalities, but there is a subscription option as well.

Jennifer Piercy – Healing Darkness for Sleep

Jennifer Piercy – Yoga Nidra For Sleep

Bethany Auriel-hagan – The Dream for Sleep

Hygiene

You won’t be able to shower for about 1 week after the surgery. You’ll shower and wash your hair the morning of the surgery but after a couple of days, you’ll likely feel gnarly.

Have someone you love or a nurse available to give you sponge baths until you’re able to shower. Have that person either wash your hair in a sink, or hire someone to come to your house to wash your hair. It made a world of a difference.

Mind Set

It’s super important to stay in a positive and calm mindset during this time. It’s easy to get down when you’re not able to go out with friends, you’re getting FOMO, you aren’t able to shower, you’re tired and bored.

However, I found the experience of being immobile to be extremely freeing and supportive for me, but I also did a lot of positive mindset work.

Every day I would focus on doing some uplifting meditations on insight timer to set my intentions and mindset for the day.

I also had mentally prepared myself for all of the things I could do while I had to take it easy, that I typically never have time to do. Here is a list of all of the things that brought me joy in my down time:

• Visits from close friends & family
• Getting into new TV series
• Reading new books
• Dedicating more time to my journaling practice
• Catching up on my blog
• Meditating

I’m now just under 2 weeks of my surgery. As I feel more like myself, I plan to clean out my closet, organize respective parts of my house, sell stuff on poshmark and get my space as much in tip top shape as I’m trying to get my body in.

I hope this is helpful to you! Please let me know if you have ANY questions about preparation or recovery for a tummy tuck below. I will be sure to answer them! I also will continue to update my journey and feedback with blog and instagram posts.

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