Stubborn fat that refuses to respond to your diet and exercise regime can have a strong negative influence on your confidence. Despite your hard work and effort, that stubborn fat sends a different message. At East Bay Aesthetic Surgery in Pleasanton and Danville, CA, Dr. Eric P. Bachelor, also medical director of Zeltiq, the developer of CoolSculpting, offers CoolSculpting as an effective, non-invasive alternative to lipo. With this treatment, you can finally reach your body goals.
How Much Fat Can You Lose With CoolSculpting?
CoolSculpting is a fat reduction treatment, not a fat loss treatment. For this reason, you will not lose a dramatic amount of weight after having this treatment, but you will lose fat volume and see a big difference in terms of inches. People who seek this treatment typically see a 20 to 30% reduction in fat cells in their target area.
This translates into several dress or pants sizes for most people. After you come for your initial consultation and we evaluate the areas you want to have treated, Dr. Bachelor can give you a better idea of exactly how much fat you personally can expect to lose and how many treatments it will take to get there.
Getting Extra Sessions
Most people are so pleased with their initial results, which come without having to spend enormous amounts of time at the gym or subject themselves to a painful or invasive procedure, that they schedule additional treatments, either to reduce fat in the problem area further or to address new areas. Each session removes about 20 to 30% of fat volume in the treatment area, so additional sessions can get you even more dramatic results.
The amount of fat you lose in total will depend on the amount of fat you have to begin with in your treatment area. When you come for a consultation, we will talk about your final goals and craft a treatment plan so you can reach them.
What Is CoolSculpting?
This is a body contouring treatment that’s different from all others. It works using a process called cryopolysis. This process targets and freezes fat cells, and it works because fat cells freeze at lower temperatures than other cells. Most of the cells in our bodies are water-based and will not freeze until they reach 32°F. In contrast, fat cells freeze at 54°F.
This means we can freeze fat cells without causing any danger to the surrounding tissues. Once fat cells are frozen, they die. The body then no longer sees them as viable and flushes them out, just like waste. The lymphatic system accomplishes this, and it takes a little time for all this to happen.
About Sessions
During a session, a special applicator is applied to your treatment area. This applicator has a suction device that gently pulls the stubborn fat into the applicator itself so the cold can be most effectively applied.
You’ll feel a cold sensation, especially at first, but the area will very quickly numb, and no anesthesia is needed, nor is pain medication necessary. This is a very comfortable treatment, and many people just lie back and watch TV, work, check up on friends via social media, or even take a nap during their session.
How Long Does a Session Take?
Most sessions take about one hour, but the total treatment time for you will depend on the area you’re having treated and how many areas you were targeting during a session. When you come to talk to us for your consultation, we can not only determine if you’re a candidate but also help you develop a treatment plan that will include a better idea of how long each session will last for you personally.
What Areas of the Body Can Be Treated?
CoolSculpting can address all kinds of areas that contain stubborn fat. The system comes with applicator heads of various sizes to treat both large and small areas. Some of the most popular spots for treatment are the upper arms, double chin, inner and outer sides, abdomen, love handles, back, and even the ankles. Talk to us about the areas you would like to treat, and we can let you know if this treatment is suitable.
Seeing Results
This treatment works immediately in one sense. Once the fat cells are frozen, they are destroyed immediately. However, because this treatment relies on your lymphatic system to remove the waste, it does take some time before you see your final results. It takes about 8 to 12 weeks for the best and final results to develop.
How does this compare to, say, liposuction? While liposuction removes fat completely, so you don’t have to wait for the fat to be removed by your own body, lipo also creates a lot of swelling because of its invasive nature. You won’t see any of your final results until that swelling goes down. This means that, even with lipo, you have to wait.
Waiting isn’t all bad, either. Instead of looking like there’s been a dramatic change, you’ll look like you are losing weight naturally through diet and exercise. No one has to know that you’ve had a treatment unless you choose to tell them.
Supporting Your Body
Going on a diet is the best way to lose fat overall, but diet and exercise cannot help you target a particular problem area. Our bodies tend to put on fat in certain spots and don’t like to let fat go from these areas easily. That’s one reason we often refer to fat in these spots as “stubborn.” It doesn’t respond to exercise and diet like the rest of your fat.
That’s what CoolSculpting is all about. This treatment can address those spots that won’t respond, and you can help your body during and after your treatment to see more dramatic results and keep them for longer.
Support Your Lymphatic System
Your lymphatic system removes the fat cells that CoolSculpting destroys. By supporting your lymphatic system, you can enable it to get rid of those fat cells more quickly. This happens through exercise, diet, and healthy lifestyle habits. By staying well hydrated, getting enough sleep, and eating a diet rich in nutrients, you can give your lymphatic system all it needs to do its job.
Focus on Exercise
Exercise will help your lymphatic system work more efficiently, and it will also help you burn fat in other areas and keep it off. The best kind of exercise for fat loss is weight training. Slower cardio is very useful for maintaining health, but it’s not very effective for burning fat.
Weight training is such a great exercise because muscle is so metabolically active. This just means that it costs your body more calories to maintain 3 ounces of muscle than it does to maintain 3 ounces of fat. The more muscle you have, then, the more calories you burn and the higher your metabolism, even if nothing else changes in your regular routine.
Hit OverDrive on Fat Loss
By putting extra focus on dietary choices and activities that promote fat loss, you can reach your goals more quickly and keep them for longer. The good news is you don’t have to starve yourself or spend hours and hours at the gym. Focus on a few weight training exercises each week, stay well-hydrated and well-rested, and keep an eye on what you put into your body.
Avoid sugars, carbohydrates, and especially processed food. Prioritize whole foods that are good for you.
What Are the Benefits of This Treatment?
This is a popular treatment because it simply works. It works effectively, but also gradually so that it doesn’t draw attention to itself and your weight loss seems very natural. It’s also an effective way of reducing fat in some of the most stubborn problem areas that refuse to respond to diet and exercise efforts. It’s painless, it’s not invasive, and it can help you get to your goals.
Am I a Candidate?
Most people who seek treatment are good candidates. You should be relatively fit and healthy, pretty close to your goal weight, but with pockets of stubborn fat that won’t respond to your weight loss efforts. If you are obese or very overweight, this treatment is probably not for you. There are only a few things that could preclude you from treatment, such as a few rare medical conditions that make a person overly susceptible to cold. We will go over all of this with you at your consultation.
Schedule a Consultation To Get Started
If you’d like to see if CoolSculpting is for you, contact East Bay Aesthetic Surgery in Pleasanton and Danville, CA today to set up a consultation with Dr. Bachelor.