Questions I asked during a tummy tuck consultation.

Last week I shared some pretty BIG news on my podcast (“The Power of You”) and my Instagram (@therealashleyta).

But in case you missed it… after 10 years of working so hard on myself, and losing over 95 pounds naturally, I am finally allowing myself to go through the process and have my loose skin removed with a TUMMY TUCK!

YES! I am getting a tummy tuck!

And honestly, after so many years of going back and forth on this I truly feel like I am mentally and physically ready to take this next step.

Over the last 10 years I really have allowed myself the TIME to focus on making peace with my body, especially since I have felt at war with it most of my life.

But when it comes to my loose skin, there was a time in my journey when I absolutely hated it. There was a time in my journey where it was something that I felt was truly stopping me from loving myself. Which might sounds absolutely crazy— but if you deal with loose skin, you know how much of a  barrier it can create when it comes to how you look at yourself, and how you love yourself.

But I always told myself that I really want to allow myself to get to a place mentally where I CAN look at my body in the mirror… loose skin, stretch marks, cellulite and all— and just really be proud of HER.

👉🏻The woman who has worked so incredibly hard to lose over 95+ pounds.

👉🏻The woman who stayed active in the gym during two pregnancies.

👉🏻The woman who has NEVER given up on herself.

… even when life felt so hard and the only option seemed like giving up.

I wanted to honestly just love and respect HER, and feel proud of HER for all the work she’s done physically.

But, hey— I’m human 🤷🏼‍♀️

There are still days where I go back-and-forth with my self-love.

There are still days where I have bad body image days, or I beat myself up for being bloated (usually when I’m on my period and I can’t control it), or I just don’t feel as good in an outfit.

But over the years, I have worked really hard to recognize when my inner critic is trying to bully me, and have worked really hard to reframe these negative thoughts into something more positive.

But all in all… 

I’ve always just wanted to get myself to a place where self-love came from not just how I looked at myself,

but how I think/talk about myself.

I wanted to get to a place where I could look at myself, my skin, and even my cellulite, and just feel love and appreciation for it all.

Because that’s truly, in my opinion, such a huge battle that I feel like I’m constantly just going back-and-forth with when it comes to our self-love.

I know self-love can be a challenge.

It’s been a challenge for me for a majority for my life.

And working on developing a deeper self-love for myself definitely wasn’t comfortable. 

But this was such an important part in me making this decision of getting a tummy tuck…

That I was doing it for the RIGHT reasons.

In the month of April I took a detox from Instagram for a month where I really allowed myself the space to step away from outside opinions and really think clearly for myself.

And in that time, I did a LOT of journaling and reflective work.

And through this journaling and reflective work, I really have come to terms with the fact that— a big part of me also holding off on this surgery was fear of what people would say.

What people would think about me?

Somebody who has preached self-love for so many years— going and getting a tummy tuck.

What I have also come to terms with is that,

One— it is OK if people don’t understand my journey.

It is OK if people don’t understand my process.

Because at the end of the day, I am the only one who has to live with my decisions and my choices.

And two— I did the work. 

I did the hard work for YEARS.

 I showed up for myself year, after year, after year… even when I was at my lowest. Even when I was battling the worst possible depression and anxiety— I showed up for myself every single day.

I didn’t take any shortcuts. I made mistakes, I learned from them, and I kept growing… but I did the work.

And that is the only reason that I would get this surgery because I know that there is no amount of work that can get rid of all of this extra skin hanging off of my stomach.

And if I’m also being completely honest (because you know I will be),

I have had a handful of social media friends  that I have seen go through this same procedure after a significant weight loss—

Only to see people completely drag them for “cheating”— or sayin stuff like, “well you only look like that because you had a tummy tuck”—

And that couldn’t be more UNTRUE.

Because the women who I have personally seen go and get a tummy tuck have gone and done so because they HAVE put in the work, and they have continued to show up for themselves consistently, and they have dedicated themselves to their habits in the routines,

And because of that they are now at a point in their journey where nothing more can be done for the amount of skin hanging off of their body.

So this is the next step in the process (not for all, but some). 

Which I guess brings me to the third point that I wanna make in all of this is that— it doesn’t matter what I’m doing with my body as long as I’m happy and content with my choices.

and I am here to say that I feel like this IS the next phase of my journey.

I have done so much HARD work over the last 10 years physically and mentally, and I have really challenged myself to grow through so much that I really do feel like I AM prepared for this next step.

I know that  means there ARE going to be people who don’t agree with my choices. There ARE going to be people who hate on me for this choice.

There ARE going to be people who have nothing good to say about this—

but I’m not doing this for those people. I am doing this for ME 💓

Finding the right surgeon

I have actually had consultations with FOUR different surgeons (in person) and TWO virtually before I decided on the surgeon that I picked. My biggest piece of advice is: SHOP AROUND! Don’t feel like you HAVE to go with the first surgeon you talk to. This is a HUGE decision and a very serious surgery, so it’s very important that you feel very confident and comfortable with your surgeon.

I personally was holding out for the surgeon who gave me that strong gut feeling like, “yes this is the person! This is where I’m supposed to be”. But that’s just me 🤗

So I guess let me give you more details on my actual surgery.

I am having my surgery done here in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The surgeon I decided on is Dr. Pierce, and friend… I am telling you, I went into my consultation with a LIST on my phone FULL of questions.

And I kid you not, before I even had the time to pull out my notepad, he had answered every single one of my questions! 😍

I was shocked, but also so impressed at the same time.

The consultation

At the consultation I was given a robe to put on so the doctor could come in and see my stomach and come up with a game plan together. Since all of my skin I have hangs below my belly button, he said I was a great candidate for a tummy tuck, and my belly button wouldn’t need any reconstructing (that was a big question of mine). We also discussed muscle repair since they have separated a lot from having kids), as well as doing a bit of lipo on my flanks to help everything look as naturally and contoured as possible.
He then told me that I would have two drains inserted. The first drain would come out after a week (at my first post-op appointment), and the second drain would come out after the second week (at my second post-op appointment). I was also told that for the first at least two weeks I would need as much help as I can get as I recover. Which, I am very grateful that I will have a ton of help. So everything just seemed to align perfectly, and I felt vert confident and comfortable with moving forward with this surgery. 

 I know I’m going to feel a wave of emotions and feelings before, during, and even after, as I know recovery won’t be easy. But I am just going to allow myself to take it step-by-step, day by day as I always have. I am also very excited to also blog about this process and share more about this entire process with you.  

But if you are planning to have a tummy tuck (or a mommy make over), I want to share my list of questions (I mentioned earlier) with you so you can have them along with any questions you may have to make sure your surgeon is a great fit for you and your desired outcome. 

My consultation questions:

What’s next?

My surgery is scheduled from July 16th! So it’s 7 weeks away (which is crazy and I know will FLY by). So until then, I am going to just continue to take care of myself and my body as I have been. I am also going to slowly be collecting recovery items that I will be needing. If you’re interested I will also be blogging about the things I end up purchasing, as well as following back up post-op and letting you know which items I actually felt was worth it to have in recovery. But until then, thank you for taking the time to pop into my blog and see what’s going on in my little world. If you want to hear MORE about this, make sure you subscribe to my podcast channel and go follow me on Instagram! That’s where I’ll be sharing the most live updates.

Take care of yourself, from the inside out!

LOVE YOU ALL! XO!