Dieting After Liposuction

Many foreigners who are coming to Korea only for surgery and are leaving back home right after are wondering about dieting after liposuction. In this article we will cover everything about diet after lipo and overall healthy eating habits.

What foods I should eat and what foods I should avoid after liposuction surgery?

Recommended foods after liposuction surgery

So you’ve just had liposuction surgery. Do you need to change your diet right away? We recommend changing your diet slightly as right after surgery there is a recovery period for about two weeks. During this time, your condition may be down and you may experience swelling.

To heal faster, 365mc dietitians recommend eating low-salt high-protein foods and more vegetables. High protein foods include lean meat like red meat, chicken, as well as fish, tofu. Spinach, greens, other vegetables and mushrooms contain a lot of potassium which is also good for deswelling. Eating such foods will help you not to store the water in your body and heal faster.

If your case is considered a large fat amount liposuction (more than 5000cc of fat extracted), your hemoglobin level may go down. To prevent that, it’s recommended to eat foods containing iron such as beef and seaweed.

Recommended food amounts after liposuction surgery

Right after surgery, as your condition is slightly down, you may have increased appetite. Which is why 365mc diet specialists also recommend eating 3 meals per day. However, dietitians do not recommend eating a lot. It’s best to eat half or two thirds of the regular meals you were eating prior to liposuction surgery, so that you do not gain weight.

Foods recommended to avoid

Obviously, after liposuction surgery it’s prohibited to drink alcohol for 1 month (in some cases more, check individual precautions explained by the doctor) to prevent inflammation. But also alcohol provokes storing visceral fats in your body, which is anyway not good for your health and body shape.

Also it’s quite popular to drink pumpkin juice for deswelling, but be careful to choose the one which doesn’t contain a lot of sugars as it won’t help your recovery.

When and how should I start dieting after liposuction surgery?

About 2 weeks after liposuction surgery when you’ve recovered slightly, it’s ok to start dieting more actively.

Control Your Appetite

365mc dietitians still recommend eating 3 meals a day, but just trying to control your appetite and to eat less. Especially during dinner time, you should not eat much so when you go to sleep the food is digested and you’re not sleeping on a full stomach. It’s good to eat salads, chicken breast or lean meat which contain more protein and fiber to get rid of visceral fats and lose weight.

Plan Your Meals

It’s best to plan your meals and cheat days beforehand. This will help you not to overeat and always choose healthy options. Still, it’s important to note that cheat day is not the day you can eat any food as much as you want. Cheat day is more of a day when you can practice eating the food you enjoy like pizza or fried chicken in small quantities to be able to pursue healthy eating habits later on too.

Balance Your Diet

Eat less but balanced: check your carbs, fats and protein. When dieting, you should eat more protein as it helps to burn extra fats, and less fats. 

It is best to check for trans fats on a product package: having 0 trans fats is the best option. 

It is also best to have at least 20 g of protein in a meal. In case there is less protein, add a cup of milk or an egg to get enough protein.

For snacks, choose ones which contain less than 10 mg of sugars. If sugar levels in blood are frequently going up and down during the day, it’s easier for the body to store fat cells and for you to gain weight. To avoid that, eat snacks containing less sugars or eat the snack right after a meal so that there is enough time for your sugar level to go down.

Best To Avoid

When dieting, you should avoid soft drinks or energy drinks as many of them contain corn syrup which makes your blood sugar level fluctuate and store fat cells.

Also avoid eating late at night, especially food which is ordered out as usually there are a lot of sugars.

To sum up, right after surgery for 2 weeks it takes time to recover. Try to include low-salt high-protein foods in your diet during that time. After that, start a more intensive diet, but pay attention for it to be balanced and planned, including cheat days.

365mc doctors and dietitians will help you to smoothly change your lifestyle to a healthier one and achieve the best body shape! 

For the recommendations tailored to your case and booking an appointment at 365mc Liposuction & LAMS Hospital in Seoul, South Korea, please contact us for the free consultation!