Glam Guide: My Quest to Design My Best Body

By Annette Zaro, D.C.

Ok ladies and gents...can we REALLY lose fat and inches by going to a spa like clinic versus a sweaty gym? That is the big question that I needed an answer for, so, I looked into some of the fun, interesting, and sometimes painful tools that are out there to help us with those stubborn areas.

Freezing Fat: One of the ways to permanently destroy a fat cell is thermally (either freeze it or fry it) I looked into cryolysis or freezing the fat. The upside, the results are there. The machines that freeze the fat, destroying the fat cell so that your body can eliminate it, do work. The downside, in my opinion, is the pain, bruises, and persistent numbness in the area. As well as the fact that I am limited to a treatment area the size of a butter dish. I would need an entire butter churn to treat my lower tummy!

Heating Fat: Thermal number two is frying the fat. This is where lasers come into action! Like something out of a sci-fi movie, comes the fat-zapping action of a light laser. The upside, is that it seems nearly painless, woo hoo! The downside, to me, is that there are lots of different machines that claim they work, but according to my research on www.realself.com, there is an “Is it worth it?” ranking from 47 percent to 82 percent. So my advice on this one is to do your research.

Zapping Fat—The Ultrasound Way: UltraShape is another way to permanently kill a fat cell. I was mega impressed with this machine. It sends an ultrasonic sound wave into the body that sends a frequency that destroys ONLY the fat cell. It will not hurt the surrounding cells that we need, such as nerve, connective tissue, and muscle cells! It uses an ultrasound “wand” so you are not limited on the size of the area you can treat—my tum tum is happy! And it was TOTALLY painless for me. It felt just like the ultrasound I had with my son, whom although he is in college now, I still blame for this tummy!

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After my research I would choose UltraShape. But, with that being said, the final answer to the question is…NO. The machines work great for us in the stubborn areas where diet and exercise are just not cutting the “muffin top.” They all work, some have more side effects and pitfalls than others. But nothing beats going to that sweaty gym and eating well. There is no magic pill and no magic machine. But for the fat deposit that is causing the muffin top look, in my opinion, the machine I would chose is UltraShape. It is a perfect blend of comfort and results, and it is customizable to each person’s body.

Love each other and be kind to ourselves and each other.  —Annette