CoolSculpting: Stories

I thought this sounded too good to be true, and I have been suckered into some things in the past that did nothing. But when I saw the ad for coolsculpting and when I saw the doctor who was doing it, I was definitely curious because I have known this doc for 17 years and I know him to be very conservative and not the type to push any cosmetic procedure if it won't work.

I am 5'4 and weighed about 135 at the time of the procedure (about 7 weeks ago). I have had two kids and my stomach was never my best asset but needless to say, it had gotten much worse after kids. Even though I have heard great things about lipo, I just did not want the down time or risk.

So I met with my doc, and I decided to do my abdomen, love handles and inner thighs. He did give me a discount for multiple areas. When I went in, we were going to do the large applicator on my abdomen but it did not fit, since I guess my build was too narrow so we just couldn't get a good suction all the way across. He said I would have to do two small applicators instead. So I did the two on my stomach and it really did not hurt much when the suction started. The worst part was when the doc massaged the frozen chunk of fat after the procedure. I left with some slight bruising and redness and numbness.

The next day my stomach was a solid black bruise, and it really hurt. The bruise and pain lasted about two weeks. The pain was so bad that it was uncomfortable to walk, but not to the point that I couldn't continue my normal activities. I tried to work out, but it was too uncomfortable for about 3 weeks because of the soreness and also when I ran, the fat on my stomach was jiggling and it hurt! My stomach was also swollen for about a week and I thought it was really not going to work.

Well, here I am 7 weeks later and I am seeing results. I have also been kind of careful about my diet (I am loosely following the paleo diet)and I finally did get back to walking/running on the treadmill after about 5 weeks. There is a definite improvement in my stomach and it is very motivating to me to work harder. I may do one more treatment on my abdomen and I would still like to do my thighs and lovehandles, but even the doctor was hesitant about the thighs due to the fact that it seems to be hard to get the applicator on with good suction for the whole procedure.

I am very excited about this technology and where it will go in the future. It is not a cure all for fat though. I think it is great for people who are close to their target weight but who have some pockets of fat. I will post an update in 2 months or so which is when I am supposed to see full results.

I had my original treatment on 9/2/11 and I can definitely see a difference! I am hoping I will see even more results, but there is no doubt that it works. I went back and had the upper part of my stomach done (between my ribs and belly button). It hurt much more than the lower part did as the machine sucked in my fat and I thought there was no way I could handle it. But then I got numb and it was fine. Definitely don't do it if you have a cold! If you need to cough, it is uncomfortable. For some reason, I had much less bruising on the upper abs than the lower. Also, I am not as sore and have been able to resume my workouts after only 2 days whereas with the lower abs it took several weeks to get comfortable enough. I can't wait to see the results. If you are hesitant about doing it, don't be!