Love handles!!

[alli]

A little late but I'll chime in. I think it's a common misconception that doing ab exercises burns stomach fat. Exercises will make the muscles larger, but only cardio will get rid of the fat. IMO you can't "target" fat loss in one area of the body.

 

What kind of cardio do you do? You said intense. If you jog, maybe try interval sprints (my favorite) or swimming. Change up the cardio. The stomach and love handles are usually the last to go. The fat has probably been there for awhile.

 

Another thing. Do you drink enough water? Staying properly hydrated is pretty overlooked in diet/exercise from what I've seen. It does help with weight management and even tightening the skin after losing a lot of weight.

 

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the tips!

 

Yes, I've done everything you said. I carry a water bottle everywhere I go. I've been working out regularly since I was 18. First with military training, then on my own. I've done a lot of running; distance and sprinting. I joined a local program that incorporates kickboxing with resistance training and I did that 5 days a week for nearly two years. It helped my overall tone but never really lost the abdominal fat or love handles the way I would like. I even developed Grave's Disease which is a form of hyperthyroidism and at my lowest weight (before I was diagnosed) was 126lbs and I'm 5' 7". Despite all this my body just likes to store proportionally more fat in my abdominal/love handle area than I would like. No matter what I weigh my middle section always looks bigger than I want it to. No problem losing it in my thighs though! I don't want to lose weight; I just want a little less adipose tissue stored in my middle section! But I did the cryolipolysis so I'm hoping that I will be happier with my shape in a few months!

[alli]

Here are my photos! The two on top are the day before CoolSculpting. The two on bottom are from tonight. 4 1/2 weeks after my first procedure and one day after my second. I had my love handles and lower stomach each done twice. I put on the most unflattering shorts I own because I figured that wearing them each time wouldn't result in any deceptive photos. Ie, if one pair of pants makes me look bigger or smaller than another.

 

The lighting can be a bit deceptive. I think darker skin can make you look trimmer and my skin looks darker in the photo from tonight. My skin color is the same, it's just the time of day that changed the lighting in the room.

 

I'm kind of excited!! I didn't really think it had started to work yet until I compared the photos. I'll probably get my upper stomach done as well if my lower half gets small enough that the top hangs over it. I think I'll wait though to see how dramatic the changes are. No point in spending $1000+ more if it doesn't make that big of a difference. But a month is on the early side for actually being able to see changes so I am excited!!

 

Oh also, I weighed 136lbs the day I had the first procedure and I weighed 134lbs yesterday. So that might account for a little change, but probably not much.

 

The "before" photos might look a little weird because I used my actual camera to take the pictures, but used my phone to create the collage. So I had to take a picture of the pictures. I'm not sure how to get the actual photos on my phone.

 

And no sucking it in in any of the photos!

 

Oh one last thing. I've hardly worked out at all since the first treatment. I may have went running 4 times. I have worked out consistently for 10 years. Even more so since January of 2011, when I joined a really intense fitness program and went to that at least 4-5 days a week. I worked out a lot this summer, too. But since starting pharmacy school (and taking over 21 credits in only this semester!!) I find it stressful to go to class all day, study enough AND work out. So I pretty much gave up my workout class and now just run some weekends when I have time. Bottom line is I worked out a ton before the first photos were taken and nearly not at all since then.

 

 

[hers]

Ok I'm pretty sold on this. A doctor in the clinic I work in even does it. Score.

 

Did your insurance pay anything? Do you mind if I ask how much it was? I so want to do my thighs with this but obviously need to read up on it...not even sure if it works on thighs.

[alli]

Ok I'm pretty sold on this. A doctor in the clinic I work in even does it. Score.

 

Did your insurance pay anything? Do you mind if I ask how much it was? I so want to do my thighs with this!

 

Oh heck no on the insurance. It is definitely considered cosmetic.

 

I went to some sort of open house where they were having a special, so it was a little bit cheaper than normal and the more treatments you bought, the cheaper each one was. I bought 4 treatments for 2 areas. "Areas" as in lower stomach, upper stomach, love handles, etc. So hitting both love handles is considered one area even though they do each side separate. So I had my lower stomach done twice and my love handles done twice. Normally they charge about $1900 for two treatments. Since I went to the special and got 4 for about $3200.

 

When I was there a couple days ago I asked about the cost if I got my upper stomach done. I couldn't get the "special" price anymore because I didn't buy the third area the night of the open house, but they said that treating an area a third time is $700 and they could just count it as a third treatment on my stomach and move it up a bit.

 

I'm excited that I can actually see results a little bit after just a month, AND with the swelling from just having it done a second time the day before. 3 months from now will be the final results!

 

Not every place suggests it, but the place I went to said you will have better results if you have a second treatment done about 4 weeks after the first. As opposed to like, 2 or 3 months between treatments. They recommend two treatments as a standard. Each treatment reduces about 20-25% of fat. Which isn't insignificant, but much better results if you get it done twice. I don't mean that some places discourage a second treatment after a month; I just mean that some don't have any suggestion on when to get the second treatment done.

 

I've seen posts from people who got their thighs done. I think it works, but maybe not quite as well as the stomach because it's harder to suck that much fat in from your legs. Kind of the same with love handles. It helps love handles but it's harder to suck that much fat into the machine off your hips versus your stomach. You also can't get the device really high up on your thighs because it's kind of big. It's not impossible though. Make sure you have someone do it who has done thighs before. That's just my impression from other people who wrote about getting their thighs done.