Can I Get a Tummy Tuck if I have Gut Fat? | SurgiSculpt®

Can I Get a Tummy Tuck if I have Gut Fat?

Gut Fat In the Way of Tummy Tuck

Are you wondering whether you can get a tummy tuck if you have generous gut fat. Unfortunately, the resounding answer is no you cannot! This is because the gut fat pushes out on your abdominal muscles like an inflated balloon. The problem with a gut full of fat is two fold. First, your plastic surgeon cannot tighten the muscles and repair them effectively by a process called muscle plication. Muscle plication describes the technique surgeons use to repair abdominal muscles. These muscles are loose from either large weight gain and subsequent loss or following pregnancy and childbirth.

When we repair the muscles, we treat the abdominal muscles by sewing them together almost like a corset. When performing this maneuver, if the inside of the belly is pushing back, it becomes difficult to tighten and effectively narrow the belly. This is because you are fighting the positive pressure of a taut internal belly and gut. The second reason, is that if you have continued pressure from inside the gut, then despite any tightening of the muscles, the muscles may continue to push and stretch out again. The best way to think about this is an inflated balloon. If you keep inflating the balloon, the shell of the balloon will keep being distended and stretch out. Even if you tighten the balloon shell at its weak point, the rest of the shell will keep getting stretched out.

How to get a Tummy Tuck if you have Generous Gut Fat

If you do have generous gut fat, don’t give up your hopes of getting a tummy tuck. All you have to do is lose the gut fat which can be done in only 3 months. So if a tummy tuck interests you, but you have generous gut fat, you can be ready for your tummy tuck with a simple lifestyle change. Your lifestyle change will involve two dietary measures that include eating a diet that is low in sugar, called ketosis, and eating in a small window interval, called intermittent fasting.

Ketosis

Ketosis describes a diet that is low in sugar. In order to identify foods that are low in sugar, you must become familiar with two concepts called glycemic index and load that have been labeled for every food product sold on the market. The glycemic index describes how quickly the sugar, or more specifically the glucose, can be absorbed by your body. As an example, pure sugar has a glycemic index of 100 where as blue berries have a glycemic index of 35. The glycemic load describes the total sugar content of any food product.

By evaluating both the glycemic index and load, you can help steer your diet to avoiding high sugar content foods. Once you start avoiding high sugar meals, your body will be forced to utilize your own fat for its fuel source. This is because the brain can only utilize two fuel sources, glucose and ketones. Once your body realizes there is no more sugar coming in, it must burn up the fat to make ketones, the alternative brain food. When you are able to harness the fuel of your fat and make ketone fuel for you brain, then you are officially fat adaptive. Once you are fat adaptive, you will start shedding off pounds and specifically get rid of your gut fat.

Intermittent Fasting

Our bodies have evolved over the last 250,000 years to be fed in intervals and not continuously. This is because for most of our existence, humans have been hunters and were able to secure a high fat, high protein rich food only after a successful hunt. This meant not having the luxury to eat around the clock but only after a kill. This diet habit is quite different than what we have become accustomed to over the last 100 years with the advent of agricultural revolution.

The ability to graze on food throughout the day has led to the development of insulin resistance and subsequently gut fat overgrowth and a prominent belly. This is because our organs have not evolved to handle food all the time. As a result, by reverting to a dietary intake in limited interval window, called intermittent fasting, it is feasible to counter insulin resistance and subsequently eliminate a generous gut. The great news is that within 3 months of intermittent fasting, you could lose your gut fat and become a candidate for a tummy tuck.

How to get a Tummy Tuck if you have Generous Gut Fat Conclusion

In summary, if you want a tummy tuck, you have to eliminate your gut fat. If you are committed to this journey, you can lose the gut fat as early as 3 months after initiating a ketosis and intermittent fasting dietary lifestyle.

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