Liposuction – short term or long term fix?

By Tatjana van der Krabben

Liposuction is not a cure for lipedema. Been there, done that. Buuuuut….how long will you be able to enjoy the benefits? Snaky question, which I don’t have an answer to. All I know is, that it could be much shorter than anticipated.

I’ve blogged about the fat sometimes returning fairly soon in individuals. This week an article from The New York Times from May 8, 2011 was brought under my attention again. It’s disturbing: in a year fat was regained. Be it elsewhere, but fat was regained. Oops. I also stubbornly insist you CAN regain at the locations where the fat was sucked away. You can. Many have.

Where does that sit with the (few) long term studies on liposuction in case of lipedema? Quite well, actually. It’s a story of give and take. A case of “yes, but”. The body appears to be fond of storing. In lipedema we took this to the next level. And some, if you look at patients in stage 3. With liposuction we “steal” fat from our body and the little hoarder that she is will work overtime to “fix” that. Bring on the inflammation. We’ll get you gaining at under 1000 cal. a day. Ha!  

Yes, but. Thankfully there’s a “but” in this. You can counteract inflammation. You can attempt to crack the code to your body and figure out an eating and exercise plan that works well for you. Balance the stress, tweak some here, tweak some there. More and more of us manage to trick our bodies out of hoarding. At least between hormonal highs and lows. When the hormones shuffle, we are, alas, riding shotgun. Screaming “stop!”, praying the hormones will listen and hit the brakes.

The cases in my mind, where fat came back at a cruel pace involved women who were close to hormonal changes or didn’t change their lifestyle. And perhaps it also is of importance how much is removed. It has been implied – not researched – that, in order to tip the scales and change the balance properly for the patient, a significant amount of fat needs to be extracted. I wouldn’t be surprised, although clueless how to define “enough” and “too little”. (Can I make another request for research? Put it on the list, please.)

So, when considering liposuction, it doesn’t hurt to ask yourself if it would still be worth it for you personally if you could only enjoy the new optimum for, say, 5 years. It can be. Like with me. My kids are small NOW. I wanted the extra energy to start a new career NOW. I have this new window of opportunity that I obviously want to last and last. Every year in my present state counts. I make it count. It will be disappointing when I get pushed over to the passenger seat and watch the hormones take hold for a while again, but that’s the risk. I was willing to take it.

I bring this up, because for you it could also be worth it, but you need to know to take a proper decision. Maybe you’ll decide to wait, until after you have a family. Or not. Maybe you secretly hoped lifestyle would be less of an issue after liposuction. Sorry, no. Essentially you’re buying time. Make it count.

Ditching the stress

By Tatjana van der Krabben

I used to focus on every little change the lipedema made on my body. I mourned what was lost. I mourned once more when I realized some things were lost forever. Through liposuction AND lifestyle changes I reached significant improvement, but I still have lipedema. Very much so. The children kept me extremely aware of my being different: Mommy can’t do this, mommy can’t do that, if I do that I hurt mommy. I considered a change of career, but couldn’t see how I could face the challenging course work  and then the work itself. Simple things like travel, long hours, much walking. Despite my significant progress I still felt limited and a little frustrated. And I still retained water regularly.

Little by little things changed. No matter how sweet the kids were in their efforts to help me, their response was prompted by the signals I gave them. I didn’t want them to treat me like an invalid. Because I’m not. Or worse: a victim. Yikes. It was up to me to make the change. For them I made the effort to point out what I could do and drop the fat vs skinny issue. I never, ever mentioned anything about being fat again. Mommy doesn’t eat certain things, or rarely does, because it’s bad for my legs. Period. Mommy gained a cool factor taking them in fast moving and spinning rides and became the dare devil who swims with sharks. The kids need a role model, not someone to pity.

Little by little this became the standard. My life became less and less about lipedema. I stopped measuring my waist daily. I went from stepping on the scales three, four times a day to once a week or so. When I heard about Ketogenic eating, I got tempted, but left it, because that required counting carbs. I don’t count ANYTHING anymore when it comes to food. No calories, no carbs, no scoops, grams, spoons, nor will I follow a fixed food plan. I learned that food restrictions act like a stressor for me and I’m staying away from that, because stress gives me cravings. I focus on healthy choices, although not exclusively, enjoy what I eat and only eat when hungry.

My last hurdle was my career. I loved to write, yet I felt that it was a choice I made for lack of options. It took me a while to realize, but all the other ideas for career choices I have dropped not just because it would be too challenging. Truthfully, I didn’t want it bad enough. Because if I did, I would go the extra mile and it wouldn’t feel like going the extra mile. I love to write. Long hours rarely bother me. Exactly because it doesn’t feel like pushing myself. It took me a while to see that. It dawned on me when working on a novel at night on top of everything else. I didn’t waste any more time and started my own business as a professional writer and translator.

Sometimes there’s a new challenge. Peri-menopause came knocking on my door frightfully early. I got hideous carb cravings and gained a little over the last few months. A first since liposuction. That stings, I can tell you that. After going through 4 surgeries and the cost involved, gaining is frightfully frustrating. I had hoped to have a few more years without this fuss. For a while I got fussy with the scales and tape measure again, but I’m regrouping. The stress is fading again and so is the pain in my legs. Even when I don't eat perfectly. To me that’s no coincidence. It’s sometimes difficult to step away from stress, but it’s definitely worth the extra trouble to try and break free of it.