Liposuction: How Much Weight Can You Lose?

If you’ve been working out and dieting to no avail, you might be considering liposuction as an easy way to lose the rest of your weight and to get into the shape you’ve always wanted. Because you’re looking at the procedure as a short cut to fitness, you’ll naturally be wondering how much weight you can lose through the operation. Unfortunately, you may be disappointed by the answer. Liposuction is not to be confused with weight loss surgeries such as gastric bypass. The procedure is intended to remove small pockets of fat from specific areas where they have accumulated disproportionately to the rest of the patient’s body.

If you’ve ever watched infomercials for those products and videos that promise to tone your abs, get rid of those unsightly love handles, or trim your thighs, you know that it is a common marketing technique to convince people there is such a thing as natural spot reduction. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. The body loses fat where it wants to, and it keeps it where it wants it. The only way to burn fat is to take in fewer calories than your body needs to maintain the fat stores. For some people, however, getting rid of that gut would mean wasting away to nothing everywhere else. No workout video is going to do it. But liposuction can.

To answer your basic question, the most you will lose from a session of liposuction is around ten pounds. Even that is on the high end of the scale. So if you are very overweight or obese, the procedure is not what you’re looking for. Some doctors will refuse to perform the surgery on patients who have unrealistic expectations. If, however, you are right around your ideal weight but are unhappy with some extra fat around your thighs or midsection (or upper arms, etc.), you could very well be an excellent candidate for the procedure.

To reiterate, liposuction is a very poor surgery to help people lose weight. It is, however, a very effective surgery to remove small pockets of fat and sculpt a body. If you still do not understand the point of the procedure, you should make an appointment with a qualified surgeon in your area and have him go over what can be expected from a successful session. You can ask him any questions you have and he should be happy to answer them for you.