3 weeks post op and I already wish I'd gone bigger. Please tell me this feeling is normal

#1EmmaLouise31(Joined Jan 2026 · 7 posts)February 15, 2026, 10:11 pm

I spent MONTHS on the size decision. Tried sizers three times, went back and forth between 300cc and 350cc, drove my surgeon slightly mad, finally chose 325cc because everyone warns you about going too big. The regret you're supposed to have, apparently, is "why did I go so huge."

Well. Three weeks post op and I have the opposite problem. They look... modest? In a sports bra you genuinely cannot tell I've had anything done, which was NOT the brief. I keep standing in front of the mirror thinking I went through surgery, the recovery, the money, all of it, for this?

And the worst part is I can't tell anyone in real life because they'll think I'm vain or ungrateful. My sister would say "they look lovely" which is somehow worse. Did anyone else get this? Does it change or did I actually just pick wrong? I've read they're still swollen and sitting high at 3 weeks but I can't tell what that means for how they'll END UP looking.

#2Natalie88(Joined Nov 2024 · 26 posts)February 16, 2026, 9:38 am

Deep breath. I could have written this word for word at week 3, right down to hiding it from my sister.

Here's what nobody adequately explains: at three weeks the implants are sitting high and tight, the swelling in the upper part disguises the actual shape, and the muscle is still clamping everything flat if you went under it. Around month 2-3 mine settled downward and softened and the whole shape changed, they got fuller and more forward, and looked noticeably BIGGER dressed even though nothing changed inside me. The wanting-to-go-bigger feeling in the early weeks is so common on every forum I was on that the old hands treat it like a recovery stage, same as the sleep struggles. It even has a nickname, which I won't use because it's daft, but the point is it's common enough to have one.

At a year: I'm so glad I didn't size up. The 325 equivalent of me fits every dress I owned before. Give it until month three before you let yourself conclude anything.

#3sixweekspost(Joined Feb 2025 · 11 posts)February 16, 2026, 1:02 pm

Opposite corner checking in: I spent weeks 1-4 convinced I'd gone TOO big and was quietly planning how to live inside hoodies forever. Same cause, same cure. They settle, the panic settles with them. The early mirror is a liar in both directions.

#4Claire AshleyAdmin(Joined Aug 2024 · 231 posts)February 18, 2026, 10:27 am

Emma, what you're feeling had me in tears at week three of my own recovery, so no judgement here at all, and no, you're not vain or ungrateful. You made a careful decision (three sizer sessions is careful!) and you're currently comparing it against a preview that isn't finished rendering.

The pattern Natalie describes was mine exactly: high, tight and underwhelming at three weeks, then a real change somewhere in the second and third month as everything dropped and softened. The site's guide to what results actually look like over time walks through that timeline month by month, and the size guide explains why sizes look smaller on a body than they sound on paper, worth rereading now purely so your brain has something to hold onto besides the mirror.

The house rule I'd gently offer, borrowed from every sensible surgeon and confirmed by my own experience: no verdicts before three months, and any conversation about whether the size is truly wrong happens with your surgeon at a follow-up, once things have settled, not with the 2am mirror. If at that point you still feel this way, that's a real conversation and you'd be far from the first to have it. But hold the verdict for now. The number of week-three regretters who are month-four converts on this forum is genuinely lopsided.

#5EmmaLouise31(Joined Jan 2026 · 7 posts)May 30, 2026, 9:44 pm

Came back to eat my words, as apparently is tradition. Month 4 tomorrow. They dropped, they softened, they are absolutely not modest anymore, and the dress I bought as a sad consolation in week 3 now fits completely differently. My surgeon at the three month check just smiled like she'd seen this exact film before, which of course she had.

If you're reading this at three weeks: log off, put the mirror away, set a reminder for month three. It's a different body by then.