We have been doing some serious traveling this “spring,” (in quotes because we just got 1.5″ of seriously not-melting-today snow last night) and the indulgences have caught up to me. Despite still running and lifting multiple days a week, I haven’t been giving it my all and I need to drop 7 pounds immediately.
IMMEDIATELY.
When we got home from 10 days in Hawaii, I’d only gained 2.5 pounds, but then we left again to see my sister in Virginia. And we had a good time! Good food, more than one beer for the first time in OVER A YEAR (I had 4-5), cocktails, snacks, and only one day of running over 4 days pudged me up.
I’ve just finished my schedule for the next 6 weeks and it’s aggressive. It’s appropriate. It’s necessary.
I have a half marathon in 3 weeks and because of the weather, I’m behind on my long runs. I’m running a 10K next week because I couldn’t get trained for the half in time. I’m feeling so not ready.
Today was the day I’ve been looking forward to… Today I had round 1 of coolsculpting done on my fat pocket! I’ve been so excited about this day since I booked the appointment a month ago. Every time I looked in the mirror, instead of lamenting that nagging bulge, I would just laugh at it and think about what it would look like 3 months from then.
I said I would document the process, and I will take photos every week so that I can monitor how quickly it’s shrinking, but I wanted to get the official “before” photos and process photos posted in the spirit of transparency. So many people have asked what this involves and honestly, until today, I wasn’t sure what to expect myself. I knew it would be virtually painless and just a little bothersome, but to get hooked up to the machine and see it in action… well… that was something!
Here are my before photos. I actually took them after the procedure, but this truly is what the bulges look like and they are not swollen. Anyone who says that they’re not noticeable is a true friend – HA! Now you can see why I can’t wear a normal swimsuit without a skirt. The top two photos are my right side, the worst side. In the middle photo, you can see how much more dominant it is than the left bulge. The left one is much smoother, much more distributed than the right. The bottom photos show my left side – not near as offensive as the right.
Here is what they look like with clothes on. On the left, you see my left side which looks pretty normal – I’m happy with the left side in clothing. In the right photos, you can see the bulge and how it looks in jeans. This is why I have a hard time finding skinny jeans and can’t wear jeans that are made of a stretchy material.
Now…. here we go with the process!
I got to the office on time and the first thing she had me do was put on some disposable shorts so that every part of me was accessible when needed. Sexy! Then we took the clinical “before” photos and she had me rotate around a clock-like positioner so that she could get photos from every angle. These photos are used to compare my changes from day 0, day 30 (when they re-treat), and day 60. She then marked up my fat pockets with permanent marker so that she knew exactly where to hook up the suction wand to get the part that bothers me.
Then it was time to hook me up to the machine! She grabbed a freezing cold gel pad from the freezer and put it on my right fat pocket and then hooked the wand up. It was cold, but not terrible. The wand sucked my skin deep into the applicator and she showed me the line they want my skin to get to at a minimum for a good freeze, and she said that mine was well above that. She said, “you’re going to be happy with how this turns out!” She then propped pillows around my legs and put a boppy pillow around the wand to hold it stationary, and she stepped out. I watched “Mad Men” for an hour then she came back in and turned off the machine and took the wand off.
Holy hell – that was AMAZING! The bulge had frozen under my skin and it was sticking up in the shape of the applicator. She was very pleased, said that when it stands up like that, that it’s a “good freeze.” She had me feel it and said, “it feels like there’s a stick of butter under your skin.” That’s exactly what it felt like – I could even leave a finger imprint in it. It was pretty cool. I asked if all of that “butter” was fat cells that were frozen and she said, “pretty much, with just a little extra tissue in there.” It was neat to have a visual of what all is going to be flushed out of my system in a few weeks. The last step was for her to massage it back down, because the results are “35% better if we do that,” and then we switched to the other side and repeated the entire process.
Top left – the applicator with my skin and fat cells vacuumed into it; top right – the view of the wand/applicator from above my hip; middle photo – right after removing the wand, this is the “stick of butter” fat cells under the skin; bottom left – right after being massaged back down; bottom right – an hour later (no swelling, back to normal with the exception of some bruising)
Top left – just before removing the applicator on my left side (see that metal band on the applicator – they wanted my skin to go to that line or above but there wasn’t enough on my left side for that); right – right after removing the wand and peeling up the gel pad from my “stick of butter” fat cells (notice how much smaller it is than my right side); bottom left – post-massage and about 3-5 minutes after taking the wand off.
I have to say, the worst part of the experience was the chair/table I had to lay on for an hour on my side – my legs fell asleep and when I switched to do the left side, I had a lot of pain in my right leg. BUT – it was over again in an hour and as promised, there was no down time. I ran 5.0 miles just 3 hours after I walked out of there.
Amazing!
My re-treat is scheduled for May 24th and we will do the right side again (will probably get the same amount of fat cells that time as today) and my belly fat above my C-section scar. Stay tuned for photos in the next week or two to see if there’s a change yet!
If you know me on FB and my other blog, you know that I’m a pretty honest person. Honest to a fault sometimes, I’ll admit. My mother would absolutely DIE if she knew I was going to post this picture, but I’m not her, and she’s not me. HA!
I’m getting some work done.
A while back, I posted about my trouble spot. It has bothered me since I was in college (maybe high school?) when it first showed up. It has made every decision for me in regards to pants that I’m going to purchase or wear. It has jiggled along with me on every run, every kickboxing class, and every TurboFire workout. Every morning, I look at it, sigh, and get dressed. Everyone who knows me knows it bothers me.
One of my dearest friends met me for breakfast two weeks ago and said, “One more thing. I know you hate that “fat pocket” you have. I don’t think you need to do anything about it, but I know it bothers you. So I picked this up for you at the dermatologist the other day because your “fat pocket” is on the last page.” I couldn’t flip to the last page fast enough!
And there it was! The gal in the photo had a dominant fat pocket (they actually call it that, it’s not just my term) on her right thigh, just like me! And after one treatment, it matched her other thigh! I was amazed. I was excited. I was hopeful.
I mentioned it to my husband and he was very much like my friend, “I don’t notice it, but you hate it. You’ve done everything you can. Get a consultation so we can learn about it.”
So… I called the next day! I went in last week and I knew then that I was for sure doing it! The gal who will perform the procedure (Coolsculpting) said that my body is what it’s made for – thin, in shape, toned but with little pockets of fat that you just can’t get rid of with diet or exercise. She said that if I was overweight, that it would not be the procedure to get me the results I want, but that because I’m the type of person it’s designed for, that I should be very happy. She, herself, did it 2 years ago on her upper belly and is 100% happy.
So, for the price of $1,750 (it’s normally $1,900 but there was a discount this month), I get 4 hours of treatment, broken up into an hour each. So that would be an hour on each side, then another hour on each side 30 days later. BUT – my right side is bigger than my left, so she wants to do both sides first, and then at the 30-day re-treat, do the right side again (to even my sides out) and use the remaining hour for my belly above my C-section scar. And… she says there’s not enough there to warrant a second treatment on my belly, so it should almost all flatten out.
I walked out of there totally committed in my head that this was happening. But it is expensive (but not compared to invasive treatments like lipo or tummy tucks) and it wasn’t my sole decision to make. My husband and I went out for coffee the next day to discuss (he’d asked me to ask our dermatologist friend his thoughts first and he was 100% on board and said I’d be happy with it for my target areas) and he responded with, “book it, I am 100% supportive.” I was so excited! I told him that I was selling stuff furiously on FB to pay for it, but he said that I was being ridiculous and to just book it and get it done (he’s a great husband!). However, I’ve closed $975 in FB sales in 3 days and that’s all going to this treatment, because I can’t justify spending $1,750 of family funds on something cosmetic (my goal was to make at least 50%, and I’m past that!).
So… it is happening on April 25th! I have a 2 hour session booked and the technician says I’ll see things start changing within a couple of weeks, but that the real change comes 4-12 after treatment. Four weeks after the first treatment, I’ll go back in for another 2 hour session and I’ll have the right side treated again and my belly treated at the same time. As she says, “it’s not like we’re cutting it off, we’re just flattening it out.” Whatever! Flatter is BETTER as far as I’m concerned!
I, of course, will document this all here, because that’s what I do!
(A photo from their website (the circled one is what I’m having done) so that my half-naked photo doesn’t show up in your reader. You’re welcome!)
Parts circled in violet are going to shrink!
PS – I did start a new running program almost two weeks ago but haven’t had time to launch it here yet. I’m running 3 half marathons in 3 months starting on April 30. Lots of training going on!
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m in a few fitness groups on FB. A while back, someone posted a video of a very fit mom explaining her loose skin, or “pooch,” from having her kids. I totally have the same thing, so I took a peak. She was answering a gal’s question about what you can do to make it go away. The answer is…
Two days ago, in another FB fitness group with thousands of members, a gal posted a picture of herself standing upright with flexed abs, and then a photo of her tummy when she bends over to show her child-bearing “pooch.” She posted it because she’s gotten lots of attention for her transformation and hard work, and she wanted all of the ladies out there to see that she has a “pooch” that will be with her forever unless she has surgery to remove it, which she has no interest in doing.
I have also noticed that one of the gals in the Hammer and Chisel videos has the same thing as well as stretch marks on her tummy. I really appreciate that the program creators picked someone like her to represent us moms. A lot of the times, these exercise videos only include seriously hard-bodied people and I love that the BB team sees the value in including normal people in their videos. If you’ve seen a 21 Day Fix video, you know what I’m talking about.
So… I’m keeping it real as well! I’ve posted a photo of the spot that plagues me the most, but here is my “pooch,” the saggy, loose skin that shows the world that I am a mom, and a mom who’s proud of what created her “pooch!”
Look at that loose skin when I lean over… I hate it, but I can live with it!
I read a good friend’s blog post today about exercise, and fitness, and trying to do better. In my comment, I mentioned my “trouble spot” that just won’t go away, no matter what I do, no matter what I try. I’ve lost 40 pounds and it’s still there – the ONE saddle bag on my right side (the left one is almost all gone). I’m lopsided, and it looks terrible. The right one was always bigger than the left one, but now it’s like I have one and not another. I can’t wear normal bathing suit bottoms because it is so awful – I have to wear skirted bottoms (which I really like, so that’s actually just fine).
I mentioned that I’ve tried taking pictures of it to post, but that they always end up looking a little like photos that shouldn’t be out on the internet. But – in the interest of keeping it real – here is my trouble spot. Here is the part I keep working on, with very little change occurring. Sure, it’s gotten smaller over the last 19+ months, but it’s still pretty darned offensive
(I’m posting a nice photo first so my ass shot doesn’t show up in your reader!)
My collection of weights – I added the 5’s and 25’s just today.
ever-changing evermore 