"Mommy Makeover" is only one piece of the healthy living puzzle

While cosmetic surgery is a great solution to a particular problem, a healthy lifestyle is forever.

Shea Keavney knows this better than anyone. After having her first child and losing 80 pounds through diet and lifestyle changes, Shea underwent a breast augmentation. She was never entirely happy with the results, so after having a second child and losing 50 pounds, she decided to re-augment her breasts and finish the "mommy makeover" with a tummy tuck and liposuction – this time with Dr. Allen Gabriel at PeaceHealth Medical Group.

After she recovered, she was so pleased with the results that she temporarily "forgot" how to live her life so that the pounds stayed off. Both her friends and Dr. Gabriel had warned her that this could happen. The weight began to creep back on, and Shea was shaken out of her complacency. "A tummy tuck doesn't allow you to stop exercising or eating well," she said. "Plastic surgery is not a weight loss program. Instead it takes care of areas that you are not able to correct with exercise. A healthy lifestyle is still crucial for the overall well being."

Less than three months after the surgery, she was back at the gym doing cardio five days a week and lifting weights three days a week. Her favorite workout is Zumba, Latin inspired dance aerobics. She loves it because it's "time completely to yourself, when you are dancing and listening to music and laughing at yourself all at the same time."

She has kept the weight off and loves the contour and shape the makeover has provided for her. Today, she spends less time at the gym and more time at home working out with her husband, but continues to make time for Zumba, weight-lifting, and healthy eating. She attributes her smooth recovery and continuing success to Dr. Gabriel and his staff at PeaceHealth Medical Group Plastic Surgery. Her recovery was punctuated with visits to the office for follow-ups and laser scar removal.

"You don’t get missed, you don’t get forgotten," she said. "They don’t know you as a patient, they know you as a person."