A tummy tuck is a surgical procedure which involves reshaping and refashioning both the stomach and the skin and muscles surrounding it. The correct term for a tummy tuck is an Abdominoplasty.

This procedure is normally used for cosmetic reasons. However after surgery most patients are left with considerable improvement to one’s self esteem and can be a driving force for the decision to have surgery performed.

The usual type of person who undergoes a tummy tuck is very often a woman who has had children and has ended up with stretch marks and loose saggy skin on her abdomen. Other women, who may benefit from a tummy tuck, are often those women who have undergone a caesarian section and left with scars and or lose skin

It’s important that patients who have decided to have a tummy tuck realize that they will be left with a scar. Many people seem to think that this type of procedure leaves a very fine scar or no scar at all, however it should be remembered that this procedure is classed as major surgery, and there is bound to be some form of scarring.

The scar from a tummy tuck usually runs horizontally from hip to hip over the pubic region. The surgeon who is normally a plastic surgeon appreciates the anxiety of his patients that as little scar as possible will be visible. Therefore a good surgeon will do his utmost to ensure the scar that is left is as low as possible so it is as least visible as possible.

Many patients undergo multiple procedures at the time of a Tummy Tuck. Reasons for combining procedures with a tummy tuck include patient goals, recovery time and cost.

Liposuction performed in conjunction with a tummy tuck can enhance the whole look of the abdomen giving it a completely new shape.

Tummy Tuck & Breast Enhancement are also frequently combined. Many mothers after pregnancy, breastfeeding and or substantial weight loss are unfortunatley left with sagging breasts and lose skin in the abdomen area. This type of patient benefits greatly from combining the two surgeries.

Binge Eating Disorder affects just about as many men as it does women, even though the stereotype is that eating disorders are thought to be a womens disorder. This stereotype is incorrect. There are 25 million people that struggle daily with Binge Eating Disorder. Out of that 25 million, you may be surprised to know that 40 are men. According to Wikipedia.com, this means that three women for every two men suffer from Binge Eating Disorder.

There are different reasons as to why men develop Binge Eating Disorder. One cause is if they play or played sports sometime in their life that required them to be thin or to lose a lot of weight for a particular competition, such as a wrestling match or running. Football players and body builders are still at risk, but it is lower since these sports require some meat and muscles in order to be successful. Another reason is that the chosen profession calls for thinness, such as modeling and acting. Men feel a pressure, just as women do, to maintain a level of thinness when they are in the public eye and when they are in looked at.

A man is more at risk for developing Binge Eating Disorder at a older age than a woman does, especially if the man had a tendency to be overweight at a child. This is because growing up a man believes that he needs to be strong and be able to protect not only himself, but also a female. If he is thin, this translates to fragile and he will see himself as not being powerful and not being able to get the things that he wants in life because he is considered weak.

Treatment for men is the same as women; although, men are more reluctant to visit a professional since eating disorders are considered to be female difficulties. The professional will go into detail to find out why the man comforts himself with food. Once the reason why he binges comes to the surface, the professional can give him ideas of how to change his behaviors. Once this happens and once the man feels comfortable with the professional, then the journey to recovery begins.

Clearly binge eating disorder is not only a female disorder, as many males are affected too. Regardless of being male or female, it is important to admit that your relationship with food is not healthy and to seek help on how to make it healthy once again.

By Kristin Gerstley

Diet and exercise go hand-in-hand when youre trying to lose weight. By diet, I dont mean that you need to starve yourself or follow some fly-by-night fad diet. I simply mean that you should eat smaller portions, and your meals should be balanced, consisting of healthy foods from every food group.

You may try only cutting down on all the high-calorie foods and skip the exercise. You may cut down on your portion sizes. And, the weight will eventually come off. However, if you also include exercise in your weight loss program, youll discover that not only will the weight come off, but your metabolism will improve, your fat will be replaced by lean, muscle tissue rather than loose, jiggly flab, youll feel more energetic and mentally alert, and youll be better able to keep the fat off.

The human body was created to be active. It wasnt meant to live a sedentary lifestyle. Unless your health prohibits you from getting some sort of exercise each day, you should make an attempt to focus on the amount of physical activity you engage in. After all, most Americans dont get nearly enough physical exercise during the course of a day! Were all too busy sitting at our desks or in front of our televisions.

By the same token, if youre like the average American, who thrives on fast food or other high-fat, high-calorie meals, a change in eating habits is advised. You can still enjoy eating! But, if youre serious about losing those extra pounds and keeping them off, youre going to have to replace the greasy french fries with some healthy, fresh veggies. Instead of that 44 ounce Coke, drink more water. Try to include more fish in your diet, rather than a big, fat hamburger. Youll be surprised at how much better you look and feel, when you replace those heart-clogging, fat-producing calories with healthier food choices.

And, dont skip meals! If you regularly skip meals, your metabolism is going to slow down, youll feel sluggish, and your body is going to hang onto those extra pounds as protection against starvation. By eating regularly, your metabolism works better, and youre better able to lose weight!

Yes, diet and exercise are important ingredients for successful weight loss! You dont have to be miserable in the process of losing weight. Just remember the following points, if you want to shed those pounds and keep them off

Dont starve yourself! Eat regularly to ward off hunger. Focus on eating smaller portions perhaps several small meals each day would work best for you.
Make sure that the calories you consume are nutritious and include foods from each food group.
Find an activity or two that you enjoy, so that exercise time isnt dreaded. If you enjoy what youre doing, youll be more likely to stick with your exercise routine.

A few healthy lifestyle changes can make all the difference in your physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Note Before beginning any diet or exercise program, consult your medical professional.

Norman Mailer said of Marilyn Monroe
“Her stomach, untrammeled by girdles or sheaths, popped forward in a full woman’s belly, inelegant as hell, an avowal of a womb fairly salivating in seed – that belly which was never to have a child – and her breasts popped buds and burgeons of flesh over many a questing sweating moviegoer’s face. She was a cornucopia. She excited dreams of honey for the horn.”

And Elizabeth Hurleys opinion
“I’d kill myself if I was as fat as Marilyn Monroe.”

When I came across Normal Mailer’s words in his biography of Marilyn it reminded me of the famous Hurley quote and I thought the comparison between the two views of this iconic beauty was quite poignant and sad.

Hatred of a womanly body seems to be a common situation in our culture. Women are brainwashed into thinking they need to be as skinny as possible. We diet, workout, starve ourselves, judge each other harshly, and spend our lives in deprivation and desperation.

Meanwhile, men naturally adore the lush, sexual, curvy female body. They desire the soft, voluptuous bodies we women are born into.

Our natural bodies don’t require stringent dieting or starvation or plastic surgery or sculpting. We are each a perfect, unique creation and the more we accept and love our womanliness, the more wonderful life feels.

The Hurley quote used to make me angry. Now it just makes me sad that we have learned to be so shallow and so mean to one another, and to ourselves, with the thoughts we have about the female body.

Imagine waking up one morning to find that you are using your unique talents in a fully satisfying way, that you feel wonderful in your body, and that your life feels rich and complete.

Now ask yourself, how much time and money have you spent trying to live up to the cultural ideal of female beauty? Every year Americans spend over 40 billion on dieting. People put massive life energy into studying the latest diet, planning menus, agonizing over food choices, depriving themselves, and doing forms of exercise they don’t even enjoy. There is so much more to life than the endless quest to make the body look like the cultural beauty ideal.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Before the dieting craze began, people defined themselves much more by who they were and what they did in the world. They spent their life energies enriching the world around them instead of spending their time trying to look beautiful. They focused on their family, their community, and their unique talents.

Today women are subtly taught to define themselves strictly by how they look. And the look we’re taught to desire isn’t even obtainable. Only 5 of women are underweight, yet 87 of the actresses we see on television are. And models? Not only are their photos heavily airbrushed to remove any “flaws”, they generally stand 5’9″ and weigh 110 pounds. The average American woman, at 5’4″ and 140 pounds just isn’t ever going to look like that plasticized model no matter how hard she tries.

Some of the time and money we spend trying to look like those actresses and models could be much better spent living a great life. There is a sadness in the desperate quest for beauty. It’s unsettling to see celebrities starving themselves into emaciated bodies. How much more graceful it is to accept the wonderful bodies we were born with and put our life energies and money into making a meaningful contribution to the world around us.

We each have much more to give than just trying to achieve a cultural beauty standard. You are beautiful right now, exactly as you are.

Take your life back from the media machine. You are more than the “look” you present to the world. Inside each one of us live hopes, dreams, talents, and the potential for a joyful, rich life. Life goes by fast. Make it a wonderful experience instead of a quest for unattainable beauty and thinness.

So, you are at the point where you realize that you have Binge Eating Disorder and you want to make a change in your life for the better But what do you do next? If you are like how I was, a mixture of emotions used to begin to fill my head about what my new self would be like. I was excited about getting on with my life and making Binge Eating Disorder a thing of the past. But I was also a little nervous about letting Binge Eating Disorder go. Why? Not because I wanted to eat myself to death, but because I didnt know any other way. I had turned to food for about nine years of my life and that was all I knew. I didnt know how to deal with anything that was going on in my life. I didnt know what I would do without bingeing to make myself feel better. What would I now do when I was happy, sad, bored, excited, or scared? It was definitely a scary time for me to wonder what my new life would be like.

The most important thing that I did was to first transform my feelings toward change. When most people think of change, they are scared because they are chartering along unknown territory. They are not sure of what the future has in store for them. They start questioning whether or not they are truly ready to take on this risk.

I knew that I had to erase everything negative in my mind about change and focus on what good would come from it. There were so many things that I was able to think of. For example, I would be a healthier person. I would feel better about myself. I would start to like myself. I wouldnt feel like I was leading a double or secret life. I would not worry about when or how I would binge next. I would finally have a normal relationship with food. Most importantly, I would finally be happy.

When your negative thoughts of change start to turn into good thoughts, change doesnt seem like such a bad thing. It certainly doesnt seem like something to be scared of. I found myself starting to get excited about changing my life. I couldnt wait to see what was going to unravel and become my life.

After the decision has been made to make changes in your life, next will come motivation. Motivation is the driving force inside us all that push us to better ourselves. Motivation is what keeps on refueling us and reminding us what it is that we truly desire. Positive change is what produces positive motivation within each and every one of us. When you feel inspired to change the bingeing in your life, motivation will kick it up a notch to push you in the right direction. You will begin to do whatever it takes to achieve your desire result no more bingeing!

Once positive changes in your life start to happen, you will want more. You will feel motivated to keep on pushing forward, no matter how hard the obstacle may seem. It is motivation, along with hard work and dedication that is going to create the new path for your new life of no more binge eating.

By Kristin Gerstley