CoolSculpting: Stories

After several weeks of research and reading blogs and reviews (including this website), I decided to have the Coolsculpting procedure done. It was done on September 26th and I had four areas treated - lower and upper abdomen and flanks. The suction part at the beginning was uncomfortable, but went away about 5 minutes later. It took about 4 hours. After the procedure my stomach and flanks were numb, but no pain or discomfort. I went ahead with my normal workout routine that night - eliptical for 30 minutes and weight lifting for 30 minutes. No problems. Today is officially Day One. I woke up a little sore - as if I had done 400 sit ups the night before. Still numb, but now there is more soreness. It's not unbearable though and it's not preventing me from doing my normal activities. I am a 41 year old Mother of three who works full time and is involved in several activities. I am 5' 7" and weigh 138lbs. I am at the gym 5 days a week doing either the eliptical or cycle classes and weight lifting. I had recently lost 40lbs and have kept it off for over a year. After three children and the weight loss, I have a pooch that won't go away. I will never be high school skinny, but would like to minimize the pooch. Will update in the next day or two.

It has now been two weeks since my Coolsculpting procedure. In the first 5 or 6 days following the procedure, not only were my stomach and flanks numb, but the pain could be best described as having felt like I did 1,000 sit ups. I never did feel the "pins and needles" feeling that other patients have described, just general soreness. My abdomen and flanks were also swollen that first week. I went to Walgreens and bought an ice pack meant for your back and used that for three days in the evenings. The swelling was gone by the end of the first week, as well as the soreness. I continued to exercise (jogging, eliptical and spinning classes) and just pushed through the soreness starting that first week. Now, at the two week mark, the swelling and soreness is completely gone, my jeans are slightly more loose, but there is still areas of numbness. I go in November 2nd for "before and after" pictures and will post them at that time. I realize it could be the end of November before I really start to visually see the results, but I noticed that my flanks especially seem smaller - hence the reason my jeans feel more loose. I maintain a healthy diet of protein and fruits and vegetables. I don't eat a lot of junk food or bread and I drink mostly water and iced tea.