No matter how strictly you stick to a diet or how dedicated you are to your workout schedule, it is nearly impossible to have complete control over where your body stores fat. A layer of fat is healthy, and fat in the right places can even enhance your overall aesthetic. However, when your body piles fat on in problem areas in a way that is unbalanced or non-symmetrical, the result can be dismaying. Reflections Medical Spa in Cartersville, GA offers body contouring treatments that allow you to sculpt your body to achieve the look you want.
About Fat Storage
Unsightly stores of fat can also have an adverse effect on your self-esteem. It seems like everyone can identify a region on their body that is the first place to gain fat and the last place to lose it. Removing fat from a target area through diet and exercise can be very problematic, and if you are unsuccessful, you might experience a sensation of frustration that undermines your overall health commitment. In this article, we will explore the unique advantages of CoolSculpting that have made it such an attractive and popular choice.
What Is CoolSculpting?
CoolSculpting is a miraculous treatment that allows you to freeze fat away from targeted areas of your body. It accomplishes the same thing as treatments like liposuction but has the advantage of being non-surgical and non-invasive. More and more people are integrating CoolSculping into their health regimen because of its simplicity, safety, and effectiveness.
Chances are you’ve already seen the results of CoolSculpting and not even known it. The washboard abs you see on Hollywood stars and other celebrities are usually the result of regular body contouring treatments. Perhaps the most important benefit of CoolSculpting is the psychological edge you achieve by discovering an effective way to exert control over your body. When you finally discover a treatment that can effectively remove a body feature you had resigned yourself to live with, the result can be extremely liberating.
How Does Body Contouring Get Rid of Fat?
The process of CoolSculpting involves cooling a targeted area of your body for thirty minutes to an hour. The process is painless and highly effective because the biochemistry of your fat cells is oil-based while the biochemistry of the surrounding tissue is water-based.
Water is such a common compound that we often forget its miraculous properties. One property of water is that it has an enormous heat capacity. This is why it takes water so long to boil even when exposed to direct heat. It also takes water a long time to cool even when exposed to cold temperatures. The water in your skin and other tissues is supercharged with heat energy, which is why it can be exposed to cold temperatures for a long time without incurring any damage.
In contrast, the oil-based fat cells do not have as much heat energy, so the prolonged application of cold temperatures freezes the subcutaneous fat cells and provokes cell death. Once the cells are killed, your body expels them as waste through natural processes. The result is a healthy and effective way of removing fat from target areas without placing undue stress on your body.
Cryolipolysis
The underlying scientific principle of CoolSculpting is called cryolipolysis. Cryolipolysis was discovered when Dr. Dieter Manstein and Dr. R. Rox Anderson noticed children who ate popsicles developed dimples. The dimples were a result of a loss of cheek fat that came from the prolonged exposure to the cold popsicle. The story is quaint, but it also serves to provide an example of how safe and painless CoolSculpting is. Children never complain of undue discomfort when eating a popsicle, and modern body contouring treatments are equally comfortable.
Cryolipolysis has since been proven in many clinical studies to be a safe and effective means of fat removal. The US Food and Drug administration has certified the treatment as safe, and patients can expect to see a reduction of 20-25% of the fat cells in a treated region per treatment. Patients can expect a further reduction with staggered treatments on the same targeted area.
How Long Do the Results Last?
The cells that are removed via CoolSculpting are killed and do not return. The body can always create and store new fat cells in the same region, so it is important to take advantage of the benefits of CoolSculpting within a larger overall health program.
Your body chemistry is in a constant state of evolution, and sometimes it naturally changes where it stores fat. An example is how children and adolescents exhibit baby fat in common areas, but this fat is lost as they age.
If you experience a period of extreme weight gain after your CoolSculpting treatment, it’s possible that your problem areas will return. However, if you maintain adherence to fitness, diet, and overall health, CoolSculpting has been proven to be an effective means of achieving the look you’ve always dreamed about.
When Will You See Results?
Because CoolSculpting relies on natural processes to remove the eliminated fat cells, it can take up to three weeks for patients to see the results. Many patients report gradual improvement and enjoy taking photos from day to day so they can track their progress. The most dramatic results come after about two months, but your body can continue to flush out fat cells for up to six months after treatment.
Can You Do Follow-Up Treatments?
If you have a special event coming up, like a wedding or a graduation, where you absolutely want to look your best, we can put you on a treatment schedule to maximize your fat loss through CoolSculpting. With properly staggered treatments, you can get the maximum benefit and ensure that you get the best possible results for the day of your event.
What Areas Can Be Treated?
CoolSculpting is effective for a wide variety of treatment areas. Many clients begin their experience with CoolSculpting in a small region like the neck or chin. Neck and chin fat is an ideal target area for this treatment because it has a major effect on your appearance but is also virtually impossible to target via diet or exercise.
Popular treatment areas include the torso, abdomen, thighs, arms, and back. Men who suffer from gynecomastia often choose CoolSculpting as a safe and effective way to eliminate unwanted fat on the way to a more positive body concept.
Who Is a Good Candidate for CoolSculpting?
As with any beauty treatment, it’s important to go into CoolSculpting with the proper expectations. Although you will lose weight with body sculpting, your focus should be on how it transforms your body, not on how much weight you lose. You can think of body sculpting as a final polish you put on a work of art as you approach the finishing stages. To use an analogy, if your body is a wooden statue, body sculpting is like smoothing out the lines with a piece of fine-grit sandpaper.
CoolSculpting is not an effective treatment if you are seeking massive weight loss. Gastric stapling is a treatment that will help you dramatically reduce weight. Body sculpting is for individuals who are already-fit, healthy, and active. It is a treatment that provides you with a much-needed assist at the final stages of your health and beauty journey by providing you with control over problem fat deposits that have proven resistant to the effects of diet and exercise.
There Is Virtually No Downtime
One of the most fundamental components of any successful health and beauty regimen is consistency. When you make your diet and exercise a routine, you are able to pursue your beauty goals habitually. It has been said that the hardest part about going for a run is putting on your running shoes and taking that first step. Once you’ve established an effective routine, it is problematic to engage in any activities that might create a disruption.
The best part about body sculpting is that you can leave the clinic after your appointment and resume your regular schedule with minimal restrictions. If your routine calls for a trip to the gym, you can continue with your program. With treatments such as liposuction, there is a short period where your body has to heal. Even if the downtime is only a couple of weeks or days, there can be an enormous disruption to your habitual routine.
The advantage of seamlessly integrating body sculpting into your existing routine cannot be overemphasized. There is also a secondary psychological effect as you go to the gym in the weeks after your treatment and you get to observe your fat melting away from your target area. Many people comment that they experience an intense psychological boost that helps them get more out of their regularly scheduled workouts than they ever had before.
An Important Part of an Overall Wellness Program
When you come in for your consultation, we’ll be able to evaluate your situation and recommend whether CoolSculpting is an effective option based on your needs. A consultation is an opportunity to have the rest of your questions about body sculpting answered and receive other advice about how to make progress towards your fitness goals. We can help put you on a path to ensure that you will receive the greatest possible benefit from your CoolSculpting session and can make recommendations for what you can do to put yourself in a position to succeed.
Control Over Your Body Fat
Fat in the right places can enhance your curves and be a critical part of the look you desire. Diet and exercise can reduce your overall fat percentage, but the problem is you have a hard time controlling where the fat is taken from. It is discouraging to spend hours sweating away in the gym and denying yourself your favorite foods only to lose that fat from the curves you were proudest of.
Only body sculpting gives you the power to target those areas that you specifically want to eliminate. With this miraculous fat reduction treatment, people are able to achieve a level of control over their bodies and their appearance that has never been possible before.
What Is the Treatment Like?
One of the best parts about CoolSculpting is that it is absolutely painless. Let’s face it: we all have enough pain in our lives already without having to pursue additional discomfort in our health and beauty programs. Even if you are a person who is strongly averse to cold, you should not be overly concerned about CoolSculpting. The majority of our clients comment that the treatment begins with a slight moment of discomfort which quickly fades away.
A good comparison is the very brief moment of shock you feel when you jump into a swimming pool. It takes a moment for your body to find equilibrium with the surrounding water, but after you have acclimated, you can stay in the pool and enjoy yourself for hours. You can think of your CoolSculpting appointment as a day at the spa. You will be able to make yourself comfortable with cushions and blankets while you entertain yourself with a book, television, or mobile device.
Applicators
CoolSculpting is performed by attaching applicators to the target area. The applicators come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They can be as large a carton of milk or as small as a deck of cards. The applicators consist of a vacuum element, which helps pull the subcutaneous fat tissue closer to the surface, and a cooling element that lowers the temperature of the tissue.
We will first spread a gel or fabric over your skin and then set the applicator in place. You might feel a slight tugging and then the sensation of cold, but then nothing. Once the applicators are in place, all you have to do is wait for the recommended amount of time prescribed for your treatment. You will be able to make yourself comfortable, but it’s best to limit your amount of movement so you don’t accidentally displace the applicators.
What to Wear
We always recommend that clients come dressed in comfortable clothing like what they would wear on a lazy day at home. You don’t want anything restrictive that can cut off circulation or cause you to fidget. If you plan on receiving your treatment during a lunch break from work, we recommend that you bring a change of clothing so you don’t get any gel on your work clothes. It’s also best to have a light meal before you begin so you don’t feel any hunger pangs.
Can I Bring a Friend?
Whether you are training for a marathon or starting a commitment to a new diet, you will always have better success if you create a support group. We encourage people to consider their CoolSculpting treatment as a bonding event. It is always more fun to come to a clinical consultation with a friend, relative, or romantic partner. If you have a buddy to share your body sculpting experience with, it improves your chances of success and enjoyment.
Schedule a Consultation Today
CoolSculpting is an efficient, painless, non-disruptive, and effective way of taking control of where your body stores fat. If you have a physical feature that is resistant to all your efforts of diet and exercise, you are probably an ideal candidate for CoolSculpting. By freezing away your unwanted fat, you can reshape the line of your body and achieve the beautiful look you’ve always deserved.
