What to Expect During CoolSculpting and Afterwards: my Honest, Detailed and Impartial Account. - Santa Barbara, CA

As I've mentioned before, the changes to my body are subtle and the photos don't fully do them justice. If you look carefully, however, you can see that my gut has more definition and its side profile is more slender.

Judging from the photos alone, I see no visible difference in my flanks -- and it's true that the changes there are very subtle indeed. The taper of my waist seems more pronounced, and it's certainly easier to fit into the fitted shirts that I enjoy wearing.

It's worth keeping in mind that I've also been aggressively dieting and working out in the weeks since CoolSculpting. Focusing on core strength -- planks, Russian twists, crunches and reverse crunches -- has probably helped bring out even more definition in my abdominals. My 1,700-calorie diet doesn't hurt either; I've lost 10 pounds since the day of the procedure.

Normally, fat cells never die during person's lifetime; they can become slack and empty if all their stored lipids are depleted, but once the body makes new fat cells, they hang around for good. CoolSculpting kills fat cells, leading to the unfortunate side effect of wrinkly skin, but accomplishing a reduction in bulk that normal dieting can't always achieve. I'm happy with my results, and

Am I done with self improvement? Not by a long shot! I'm going to keep dieting until I hit my goal wait (only five pounds to go!); I'm going to keep working out in order to fill out this saggy skin with more muscle. I'll probably have a mini abdominoplasty to remove some of the loose skin. I'm glad I started with CoolSculpting; it was a good way to get my feet wet and it complements my exercise and diet regimen well.

This procedure definitely works! The change hasn't happened overnight; it sort of snuck up on me, but especially over the past week, there are undeniably good things happening!

The first thing I noticed, at about the two-week mark, was that my stomach felt smaller, less bulky. Initially I thought it might be the feeling of returning to normal after all of the swelling subsided, but it lasted. Then I began to notice CLEAR improvements. For instance: I'm used to sucking in my belly all day to make it look smaller and give my stomach a flatter contour and improve the way my shirt hangs off me. When I "suck it in" now, my belly is actually quite concave; shirts that were previously tight around the abdomen and fitted when I sucked it in, are now normal and they become slightly LOOSE when I suck in my belly. There's a dramatic improvement here. Time to go shirt shopping!

Last week I was lying on my side and I twisted my torso, stretching my arm out to reach for a glass of water. Normally this would cause the skin on my sides to crease slightly, creating a kind of fold as long as I remained stretched out. No more! My flanks remain flat no matter how I twist. The profile of my sides isn't visibly less slender, but there's clearly less bulk on my sides.

Over the past three days my belly has gotten noticeably FLAT, and I can see some definition now in my abs! Don't get me wrong; I haven't developed a six pack overnight -- but I can very clearly see the outline of my abdominal muscles when I stand and flex my abs.

I've had three comments from close friends in the past two weeks about how good I'm looking, how well my workout routine has been paying off, and so forth. None of them know that I've had CoolSculpting done, so it's clear that I'm not imagining any of these changes.

With the good comes the bad: the skin of my belly is obviously more slack than it was before; it wrinkles and folds in new ways when I sit down. When standing, the skin below my belly button pooches out in a way that it didn't before. There's a lot more loose skin down there!

I'm happy with the results so far and giddy about the possibility that even MORE improvement might be on the way! Four more weeks until my follow-up appointment with the doctor and a set of "after" photos to share with everyone.

I've had a bad cold for the past five days, so my workout routine is on hold. As soon as I'm recovered, I'm going straight back to weightlifting with a better motivation than ever: to fill out all of this loose skin with some muscle mass!