Coolsculpting- Abdomen and Love Handles - Des Moines, IA

I'm still so sore! Sometimes I forget I had another treatment and think I am sore from situps until I remember I haven't exercised recently, haha. It's not super painful but not great feeling either. I'm putting ice on my stomach all the time. I iced after my first treatment as well, but it didn't bother me enough to ice after the second. Hopefully more pain= more results! ;). I wonder if icing the area frequently after CoolSculpting enhances results?

I had a third treatment done on February 19th. I had the same areas done as I did with my previous two treatments (lower abdomen & love handles) only I had them position the applicators in slightly different positions. They treated mostly my lower abdomen but got a little above my bellybutton this time as well.

I was pretty happy with how my love handles turned out from the first two treatments. Before the CoolSculpting, when I wore a fitted dress I could clearly see love handle bulges and hated it! Plus my rear is on the small side which made the love handles even more noticeable I think. I wouldn't say they are completely gone but fitted dresses look so much better now with a smoother shape. My dress pants used to squeeze at the waist & make them bulge but now they are on the loose side.

However, my waist to hip ratio is a bit larger than I'd like. Either my waist isn't small enough for my hips or my hips aren't large enough for my waist. Apparently 0.7 is considered "optimal" and I am at more like 0.82. Anyway, I don't know how to describe it but my waist is only thin right under my bra, so rather than doing my exact love handle area a third time I had them applied a couple inches above my iliac crest. You can tell how they were applied from the bruising. Hopefully this will make the smallest area of my waist extend a bit further down my sides.

My results from the first two treatments of my abdomen were "ok" I would say. I was hoping to have a bit better results than I did. Honestly I don't think I say any changes after the second treatment. If there were any it wasn't very noticeable. I'm hoping the 3rd treatment will have much better results for my abdomen. I had a different person this time apply the CoolSculpting. It seemed like she really pushed on the applicators and massaged more afterward and I am more sore now than I was after the second treatment. Hopefully this will mean better results!

I took the pictures a little differently this time. I didn't even think about it but I included my legs in the previous pictures rather than just zooming in on the area treated. So I zoomed in the pictures this time; unfortunately I can't keep them from looking a little fuzzy when I zoom in.

Also, I weighed 132lbs on the day of my most recent treatment. A couple pounds lighter but pretty close to the same weight since I first started CoolSculpting.

My changes from one month post to two months post don't look quite as dramatic as my changes from before and one month post (even though I had a second procedure done at the one month mark), but I still see a bit of improvement. I took these pictures on 12/4/13, so it was just shy of 2 months from my original first procedure. I weighed in at 134lbs again this past weekend so my weight is the same.

I'll be honest; I would like to see more changes than this. But I did know going in that it can only get rid of about 20% of the fat with each procedure so completely getting rid of my love handles in 2 procedures isn't reasonably expected.

I hardly had any pain or discomfort after the second procedure. My stomach was numb for nearly a month after the first, but I don't think any numbness lasted beyond a week after the second procedure.

I think I will get my abs and love handles done a third time. I think I'll have the applicator moved up a bit on my abs so I get my upper stomach done.

Overall I am pretty happy so far. I got some new pants that fit snugly around the waist and I don't have nearly the muffin top that I would have had 2 months ago. I can wear form-fitting dresses and my love handles aren't nearly as noticeable. It's funny though because I measured myself before the procedure and I'm only measuring maybe half an inch smaller now than before I did CoolSculpting. So the measuring tape hardly indicates any results but I can tell there is a difference in photos and in clothing. I guess that is more important than what a measuring tape says!