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*Treatment results may vary
Just finished Round 2
I went in for the second round last Thursday, so I thought I'd post an update.
I'm having a hard time telling what my progress is like, but that's a lot my own fault. I've been on the road for work pretty much straight since the beginning of February, so I've gained weight overall from airport food and all that bad stuff I'm having a hard time avoiding. Hopefully I'm home for awhile now and I can cook my own stuff and work out at my own gym. But I definitely noticed a difference in the areas I had treated. It's exactly like the name implies - it definitely SCULPTS your body. There is a difference in how much pooch I have for sure. Another thing is that I see myself every day, and it's hard to be objective about it. My mom and my roommates both said it's definitely really noticeable, so that makes me feel better.
I had the same areas treated for round 2, big applicator on lower stomach and two smaller ones on the top. I feel like it was a little more painful this time around on the lower stomach, but just for when it was first going on. It still wasn't anything that I couldn't handle.
The bloating has even been better this time around, but I've been trying to take more ibuprofen. However, yesterday I was feeling some pain in my stomach (4 days post). It was like someone was shoving knitting needles in my stomach. I just keep thinking that this is only temporary, and little pain is a better feeling than being fat for so long.
My mom pointed out something to me that I hadn't realized - my family genetically has "sway back" which means that we have extra curvature in our spine. (If I laid on the ground, I'd have a hard time flattening my spine along it. Because of that, my stomach pooches out more than another person's would. So this surgery is just evening the playing field for me.
I'm having a hard time telling what my progress is like, but that's a lot my own fault. I've been on the road for work pretty much straight since the beginning of February, so I've gained weight overall from airport food and all that bad stuff I'm having a hard time avoiding. Hopefully I'm home for awhile now and I can cook my own stuff and work out at my own gym. But I definitely noticed a difference in the areas I had treated. It's exactly like the name implies - it definitely SCULPTS your body. There is a difference in how much pooch I have for sure. Another thing is that I see myself every day, and it's hard to be objective about it. My mom and my roommates both said it's definitely really noticeable, so that makes me feel better.
I had the same areas treated for round 2, big applicator on lower stomach and two smaller ones on the top. I feel like it was a little more painful this time around on the lower stomach, but just for when it was first going on. It still wasn't anything that I couldn't handle.
The bloating has even been better this time around, but I've been trying to take more ibuprofen. However, yesterday I was feeling some pain in my stomach (4 days post). It was like someone was shoving knitting needles in my stomach. I just keep thinking that this is only temporary, and little pain is a better feeling than being fat for so long.
My mom pointed out something to me that I hadn't realized - my family genetically has "sway back" which means that we have extra curvature in our spine. (If I laid on the ground, I'd have a hard time flattening my spine along it. Because of that, my stomach pooches out more than another person's would. So this surgery is just evening the playing field for me.
1 week after the first round
I'm about a week and a half after my first surgery. I was definitely tender and very swollen - I'd say that it peaked on Tuesday after my Thursday procedure. I'd say that now I'm back to my baseline size that I was before the procedure. When the swelling was at it's worst I'd say it was like I was pushing my stomach out all the way, but I was fully sucking in/engaging my abs. It was tricking my brain and it was a little odd.
I've been walking or doing some light cardio pretty much every day since then. I didn't feel like I could do any high impact working out (no running!) for the first week because I was really tender. I'm going to get back into the higher impact stuff today.
Something I'd advise people to mentally prepare for the worst pain that you think you can endure in order to lose weight. For me getting rid of the weight was so important that I mentally prepared myself to be able to endure a lot to get rid of it. Then the discomfort of this procedure fell short of that and I was able to tolerate it.
Still need to get pictures from the doctor's office to post. I'll update as I start to see results.
I've been walking or doing some light cardio pretty much every day since then. I didn't feel like I could do any high impact working out (no running!) for the first week because I was really tender. I'm going to get back into the higher impact stuff today.
Something I'd advise people to mentally prepare for the worst pain that you think you can endure in order to lose weight. For me getting rid of the weight was so important that I mentally prepared myself to be able to endure a lot to get rid of it. Then the discomfort of this procedure fell short of that and I was able to tolerate it.
Still need to get pictures from the doctor's office to post. I'll update as I start to see results.
I eat a VERY low calorie diet (Medifast) and go to...
I eat a VERY low calorie diet (Medifast) and go to a pretty hard core gym four times a week (Equinox) and I still have the pooch in my lower tummy. In Southern California where (unfortunately) your weight means so much about your worth as a person, I succumbed to the pressure to go to the next step and do some plastic surgery and get Coolsculpting. I'll add photos when I get them from the doctor, and more descriptions as I go through this because I found this forum useful when I was deciding to do this or not, and I want to share my experience with others making the same decision.
My procedure was one session with a large applicator on my lower stomach, and two smaller applicators positioned diagonally just above that. They were all done separately, so the whole process took about three hours of actual treatment, plus more time for massage and transitioning, etc. For the pricing, the large applicator he counts as two separate sessions (even though for timing it's only one), so yesterday was technically four treatments, and I'm already scheduled to go in for a second round of four treatments. The pricing listed is therefore his package price for eight treatments. If this works well, I may go back for love handles.
I was really prepared for the procedure itself to be worse, I think my expectations made the reality a lot easier to deal with. It was uncomfortable, but not unpleasant, for the first few minutes, then it was no big deal. I did nap for a little bit during my second treatment. My doctor had a Kindle with movies on it, and I brought a book. It was pretty boring if you're not prepared, you're left to yourself mostly. I was really cold after the procedure, but there was no bad pain or anything uncomfortable at the time of the procedure.
One thing my doctor emphasized is that the new research shows that having some vigorous massage of the area immediately after you remove the applicator and in the next few days can really improve the results you get over what they were originally quoting, so please pay attention to that with your doctor.
So I'm 12 hours post-procedure. I don't really know how to describe the sensation I'm feeling because I've never felt anything like this before. It feels like the whole layer of fat in my abdomen is tender. It's not like a bruise and it's not like muscle/workout soreness. (Though I did have a really heavy abs day at the gym the day before, which isn't helping and I wouldn't recommend). While the sensation is different, I'd say the level of discomfort right now is about the same as being really sore after a brutal workout. If you'd be able to go to work the next day being super super sore from the gym, you can go to work the next day after this.
No nausea or other side effects, but the nurse said that for some reason people who are more sensitive to needles and the like are the ones that get sensitive to the procedure, even though there isn't any blood.
I really know I need to do about 10 minutes of massage today, but it's so tender that I'm hesitant about doing it. I also feel and look a little bloated.
One thing I wish I would have known before I went in was about what to wear. I wore a dress so I wouldn't have a waistband on my stomach. So they gave me a robe type thing which was basically a loose towel tube top dress. I was hanging out in my bra most of the time. Next time I'm going to wear a loose top that's easy to pull up, and loose pants with elastic on them that I can hang low.
Happy to answer any questions too.
My procedure was one session with a large applicator on my lower stomach, and two smaller applicators positioned diagonally just above that. They were all done separately, so the whole process took about three hours of actual treatment, plus more time for massage and transitioning, etc. For the pricing, the large applicator he counts as two separate sessions (even though for timing it's only one), so yesterday was technically four treatments, and I'm already scheduled to go in for a second round of four treatments. The pricing listed is therefore his package price for eight treatments. If this works well, I may go back for love handles.
I was really prepared for the procedure itself to be worse, I think my expectations made the reality a lot easier to deal with. It was uncomfortable, but not unpleasant, for the first few minutes, then it was no big deal. I did nap for a little bit during my second treatment. My doctor had a Kindle with movies on it, and I brought a book. It was pretty boring if you're not prepared, you're left to yourself mostly. I was really cold after the procedure, but there was no bad pain or anything uncomfortable at the time of the procedure.
One thing my doctor emphasized is that the new research shows that having some vigorous massage of the area immediately after you remove the applicator and in the next few days can really improve the results you get over what they were originally quoting, so please pay attention to that with your doctor.
So I'm 12 hours post-procedure. I don't really know how to describe the sensation I'm feeling because I've never felt anything like this before. It feels like the whole layer of fat in my abdomen is tender. It's not like a bruise and it's not like muscle/workout soreness. (Though I did have a really heavy abs day at the gym the day before, which isn't helping and I wouldn't recommend). While the sensation is different, I'd say the level of discomfort right now is about the same as being really sore after a brutal workout. If you'd be able to go to work the next day being super super sore from the gym, you can go to work the next day after this.
No nausea or other side effects, but the nurse said that for some reason people who are more sensitive to needles and the like are the ones that get sensitive to the procedure, even though there isn't any blood.
I really know I need to do about 10 minutes of massage today, but it's so tender that I'm hesitant about doing it. I also feel and look a little bloated.
One thing I wish I would have known before I went in was about what to wear. I wore a dress so I wouldn't have a waistband on my stomach. So they gave me a robe type thing which was basically a loose towel tube top dress. I was hanging out in my bra most of the time. Next time I'm going to wear a loose top that's easy to pull up, and loose pants with elastic on them that I can hang low.
Happy to answer any questions too.
Provider Review
Dr Marcus