40 Years Old in Shape but Dreaded Love Handles Sneaking Aboard - Plantation, FL

I have always been a solid size 6 with zero waistline and thick thighs.. Never a weight issue, until I turned about 38 years old. Now I have to actively watch what I eat and work out just to maintain my current weight. I swear if I eat something without working out I see the fat on me the next day..and its settling around my midsection, particularly my love handles. Looks horrible and no amount of exercise seems to target it so I looked into liposuction. I'm afraid to go under the knife and wearing a bodysuit for 3 months seemed undoable to me so I saw an ad for cool sculpting and began researching it. It seemed too good to be true. No cutting no anesthesia and just freezing fat away, sign me up! I called and they put me in touch with the nearest cool sculpting provider here in south Florida, a place called Ideal Image, and I was scheduled for a free consult the next day. I went in and filled out about 1000 papers and went back to speak with the coordinator. She was very nice and asked what areas I'd like treated. I told her my love handles which they called flanks, and I decided why not do my inner thighs while I am at it. She called in one of the girls who actually applies the machine to assess whether I had enough fat to treat those areas. I pulled my pants down and she assessed my thighs first. Sadly (or maybe not) I didn't have enough fat on them to do cool sculpting there, she told me if you apply the machine to an area not rich in fat it will leave an indentation in that area. That's all she had to tell me and I was fine with not doing thighs. But luckily my flanks were perfect for it. The applicator girl left and the consult girl came around and told me she thinks they could add an additional machine to each side to give me a super snatched waist. I said perfect and we sat down to do the numbers. The applicator girl only recommended one applicator on each side and treating it two different times for maximum results, but consult girl signed me up for 4 applicators treating 2 times. At that time I didn't realize she was committing me to something I couldn't back out of, kind of up-selling me, I just had my eye on the prize. So we got everything done, 4 applicators done twice was a total of 8 and it costed $4800. They approved me for zero percent financing based on my credit and we set the date for a week later. I was so excited. Fast forward to my date, I was nervous about it being painful so I showed up and popped an ambien on the way. It kicked in while I was waiting to go back and they called me. They took my weight and had me change into a paper bra thing and paper low rise shorts for my pre pics, I have to bring that same exact outfit back for my posts at 3 months. After pics were done they took me into the room where the machine is. I sat on the table, a regular doctors table and they began pinching my fat around my waist only to conclude I didn't have enough fat for the 4 applicators, only 2 like the original girl said. I'm floating at this point and try to explain that's what the girl said in the consult but the coordinator overruled her and added two more. They gave me that look like, she was trying to get more money out of you and told me they would report that it was impossible to do so many. So I sit down and they put a cold wet slimy like paper on my flanks to protect my actual skin from the cold and start putting the applicator on, seriously it felt no different than someone grabbing my love handle fat firmly. I don't know if it was the ambien or what but I had no pain. They turned on the machine and those areas got cold and tight but not even enough to be uncomfortable. I was so surprised. The surrounded me with pillows to support my back and the applicators and I sat back and fell soundly asleep until they woke me up to take them off. I asked if they were sure that was long enough and they showed me the clock and yep it had been a full hour. I couldn't believe it. Piece of cake. They removed the applicators and my sides were like big wedges of sticks of butter sticking out. Like a block. This part was a little painful. They literally had to massage my flanks flat again back into place and that was really sore boarderlining pain. It was only like 2 minutes and we were done. They sold me a compression garment to wear for a couple weeks that was just a velcrow wrap around but as soon as I got home I put on my true waist trainer and it held me together tight. I can't stress how important wearing a really tight waist trainer is to your recovery. The first night I slept with it on because I was worried my boyfriend would feel the difference in the temperature of my sides (no I didn't tell him I was getting anything done, he doesn't need to know everything) but at about 4 am I woke up and took it off because it was hurting my back. I noticed my sides were bruised pretty heavily. I slept fine after that. The next morning I put my waist trainer back on and didn't take it off until midnight. I could feel my sides, which were completely numb trying to swell, so I kept it on as much as possible to battle the swelling and it helped soooo much. Other than when sleeping, for the next week I didn't take it off at all, even while exercising, when I went out reggae dancing, and to a Halloween party. I noticed my flanks were a little swollen but not noticeably to everyone else. I knew about the pain that people say they go through when the numbness wears off but seriously I will live by the fact that I never had any pain whatsoever and I think that was because of me wearing that tight waist trainer religiously. It made that connection of the nerves go smoothly and the numbness left without incident. I looked at myself just a minute ago and I can tell my flanks are getting smaller!! I'm so excited because I am only a little more than a week out and I'm not supposed to see results at all until a minimum 3 weeks. So if it continues getting better from here I'm going to be out of my mind with happiness!!! I will check back in, in 2 weeks!