Making the Decision - A long time coming

I think most women have at least one part of their physical appearance that they would change if given the chance. Some people have more than one item on the wish list of changes. An in my opinion, there's nothing wrong with that.

 Now I know people like to pin the blame on Western society or the media or Disney movie princesses or Barbies or whatever but the fact is that all of that doesn't really matter at the end of the day. You can use as much rationalization and self affirmations as you want, but when it comes right down to it, plastic surgery is a multi-billion dollar industry for a reason. People are deciding that they want to change the hand they have been dealt.

 As far back as I can remember, probably around the age of 4, I have hated my stomach and my thighs. I have a major complex with my weight and have been battling it my entire life. About 4 years ago I met someone who helped me completely change my life style and my relationship with food, and I subsequently lost about 50 pounds. I have kept that off for the past 3 years and promise myself that I will never go back to how I used to be. For the record, I am 5'4" and weight 154lbs, give or take a couple as I tend to fluctuate around my period.

 Now, losing all of that weight totally changed how I look, especially in my face. But my body shape, while much smaller (going from a size 16-18 to an 8-10) remained the same: I was still very straight through the waist, with belly rolls and large thighs. So as my 30th birthday approached and I began feeling more and more helpless about my slowing metabolism and never getting to where I want to be, I started fantasizing about plastic surgery.

 This was by no means a new habit. I love looking at all kinds of before and after pictures. I am one of the few people who actually miss those horrid plastic surgery shows like Extreme Makeover and, yes, even The Swan. They made me so happy! So win I started reading more and more about Smart Lipo, or laser assisted lipo suction, it started to seem like more of an achievable goal for me. It had all of the elements that I wanted: no need for general anesthetic, shorter downtime, skin tightening effects, etc. The more I researched, the more I wanted it.

 I made my lists of doctors in my area to visit. Researched each and every one online. Made sure they were not only board certified, but that the were board certified in PLASTIC SURGERY. (Side note: I am kind of shocked at how may non-surgeron doctors out there are using this machine. Even the ones listed on the Cynosure website were dermatologists. Kinda freaky). I had my notebook full of questions. I made my decision, was going to do this completely vain, possibly dangerous and (in some people's eyes) totally unnecessary surgery.

 And I couldn't ave been more excited about it. So, on July 25th, 2012 I had my surgery.