You’ve worked very hard to lose all that weight. There have been an endless number of sit-ups, lots of early morning runs, and diet restrictions. However, it was all worth it to see the number on your bathroom scale gradually inching its way downward until you were finally able to reach and maintain your goal weight,

Unfortunately, while you may have gotten to your goal weight, you may have been left with excess loose skin because it lost the ability to conform to your reduced body proportions. This occurs as a result of your skin becoming overstretched before your weight loss and losing elasticity, or the ability to return to its previous shape after having been stretched.

Dr. Paul Pin has seen many patients with concerns about how to address excess loose skin and poor muscle tone following weight loss. He often recommends a body lift in such instances. Because a body lift procedure is considered major surgery, many of his prospective patients are concerned about the recovery timeline. Below, Dr. Pin lays out a prospective timeline that you can expect for your recovery following a body lift procedure.

Weeks One to Two

This first week is the most crucial phase for your initial healing from surgery. You will be encouraged to move around as much as possible, starting the day after surgery. This keeps circulation moving to your extremities, which helps prevent blood and fluids from pooling in these areas. Start with short trips to the bathroom and gradually work up from there. By the end of week two, you should be able to manage short walks outside.

You will also experience initial bruising and swelling during these first two weeks. These are part of the body’s natural healing process. Once your incisions have completely healed over, you can use gel cold packs and cold compresses to reduce the amount and duration of bruising and swelling. Arnica gel, available at most health food stores, may also help. Your surgeon will also provide you with a special compression garment made of tightly woven elastic material that will reduce bruising and swelling.

Surgical drains may be placed in the area from which excess skin was removed. These collect fluid from inside the incision sites. You will be required to periodically empty out the fluid, measure the amount, and record this information for your surgeon.

Weeks Three to Four

By this time, most of your initial bruising and swelling should have subsided, and you may begin to see some initial indications of what your results may look like. You will also likely have your surgical drains removed and be able to either reduce or stop wearing your compression garment at this time.

At week four, you can start some light stretching or yoga for exercise. You can also continue your daily walking. You can probably also return to work at this time, provided that it does not involve any strenuous movement or lifting heavy objects. However, you should try to get up and walk around a bit if you sit at an office desk. Try setting a reminder on your phone to get up and take a quick walk about every 60 to 90 minutes.

Week Five to Six

You should see some of the final results from your body lift by now. Any incision scars should be mostly flattened by now, buy you can help reduce their appearance further with the help of silicone sheeting or makeup if they are in an area that is visible.

By this time, you should also be able to start ramping up to your regular exercise routine. Pace yourself as you start to ease into it and slow down if you feel you have over-exerted yourself. If you incorporate weights as part of your routine, you will want to work with lighter weights than usual until probably about the eighth week following your body lift procedure.

Of course, the best part about getting to week six and beyond is that you can finally start proudly showing off the results of all your hard work to your friends and family.