If your clothes don’t fit the way they used to but you’re happy with your weight, you may be a good candidate for body sculpting at Chetco Medical & Aesthetics in Brookings, OR. Today, we’d like to answer some of our most commonly received questions about this non-invasive treatment, including how many CoolSculpting sessions you may need, to help you determine if it can help you and whether you are a good candidate.
Body Sculpting Frequently Asked Questions Answered
How Many CoolSculpting Sessions Do I Need?
The most significant factor affecting how many body sculpting sessions you will need with the CoolSculpting device is the amount of excess fat in the targeted regions. If you only have a little excess fat in the areas that you are targeting for treatment. If you have one region of your body that has a lot of excess fat, you may need anywhere from four to six treatment sessions.
Imagine, for example, you have 10 pounds of fat in your lower abdomen. Your first treatment will remove approximately 25 to 30% of the localized fat cells. For sake of argument, imagine the first treatment removes 30% of the fat cells or three pounds. You will still have seven pounds of fat in your lower abdomen. Subsequent treatment will remove another 30% of fat (2.1 pounds). Then, you will have 4.9 pounds of fat remaining. You may want one or two more sessions to achieve your desired contours.
What Other Factors Affect How Many Sessions I Will Need?
Other factors that affect how many sessions you will need include the number of areas you’re looking to treat and the size of the areas you’re trying to treat. Body sculpting with the CoolSculpting device can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour per area. If you are trying to treat large areas, like your lower back and chest, the treatment may take 90 minutes or more and you may want to break your body contouring up into two sessions.
However, the size of the areas you are trying to remove excess fat from doesn’t just affect how long the session will take. It also affects how effective the treatment is. CoolSculpting can remove 80% of localized fat cells from small regions of the body, such as the underarms, the backs of the knees, and the calves. Contrastingly, it can only remove around 26% of localized fat cells from larger areas. You may need two sessions to remove enough fat from your stomach.
How Many Inches Can I Lose After Treatment?
How many inches you can expect to lose after treatment depends on how many sessions you received and the amount of excess fat you had to begin with. If you’re removing excess fat from your upper arms, you may only need one session to achieve your ideal results, but you may only lose half of an inch of fat (roughly 2.5 pounds).
Contrastingly, if you are trying to remove excess fat from your abdomen, you may only lose half of an inch after your first session. After four to six sessions, you may find that you lose a couple of inches or roughly 10 pounds.
How Soon Will I See the Results of Treatment?
Immediately after treatment, you are likely to notice that the treated area feels smaller. However, it’s not unusual to be unable to see any difference in the targeted region. It may take anywhere from six to eight weeks to start seeing and feeling a significant difference in the contours of the targeted region. It can take anywhere from one to three months to see the final results of treatment depending on the efficiency of your lymphatic system.
What Can I Do to See the Results of Treatment Faster?
To see the final results of your treatment faster, you need to prioritize keeping your lymphatic system operating at maximum efficiency. While you should always be hydrated adequately, it is particularly important that you consume enough hydrating fluids in the first one to three months following your CoolSculpting session. Examples of hydrating fluids include vegetable stock, bone broth, coffee, tea, and water.
During this time, you should also walk at a moderate pace for at least 2.5 hours per week. At least 2.5 hours of moderate exercise weekly is the recommended minimum amount of exercise for adults who are not trying to lose weight. Adults trying to lose weight should perform at least five hours of moderate-intensity exercise or 2.5 hours of strenuous exercise weekly. Other things you can do to improve the efficiency of your lymphatic system include:
- Get a lymphatic massage
- Eat nutritious, unprocessed foods
- Don’t drink alcohol
- Don’t smoke, vape or chew tobacco
- Get enough sleep
- Lift Weights
How Does Weight Lifting Affect My Rate of Fat Loss?
Weight lifting is a great way to increase the rate at which you see the final results of CoolSculpting. First, resistance training is a great way to support a strong, healthy circulatory system. In turn, your circulatory system supports your lymphatic system so it can eliminate dead fat cells faster. Second, resistance training is a great way to get in strenuous exercise without having to leave the comfort of your own home.
It’s easier to get in an intense workout with weight lifting equipment, like a bench, a squat rack, free weights, an Olympic bar, a curling bar, and plates. However, you don’t need any traditional equipment at all to get in a good resistance training workout. You can make your own weights with clean, emptied gallon jugs filled with water (roughly 8.3 pounds) or sacks filled with sand, dirt, or rocks and sewn shut.
How Long Will the Body Contouring Results Last?
The results of body contouring are for life. By the time you reach the age of 25, your body can no longer produce any more fat cells. However, even fat loss through diet and exercise doesn’t eliminate fat cells. Rather, consuming a caloric deficit leads to your body burning the energy stored in fat cells for fuel. The cell walls remain intact.
The only way to change the number of fat cells in your body is to undergo a fat removal treatment, like CoolSculpting. The CoolSculpting device cools the targeted region to around 41 degrees. This is well above the temperature that damages the skin of healthy individuals. However, it is below the temperature that freezes fat cells, destroying the cell walls.
What Can I Expect During Treatment?
As stated previously, treating each area can take anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes. Each treatment process begins by cleaning the treatment area and applying a cool gel. This gel serves as an extra layer of protection for your skin, keeping it comfortable and safe. We will assess the thickness of your skin and the amount of fat you have in the targeted area to determine how cold the device needs to get for optimal results.
How Safe Is This Treatment?
This treatment is completely safe for most healthy adults. There are a few exceptions to this, which we’ll get into in a minute. The bottom line is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviewed several independent, third-party clinical trials to verify both the safety and the efficacy of body contouring treatment with the CoolSculpting device.
Am I a Good Candidate for Body Contouring With the CoolSculpting Device?
Probably. We can’t say for sure if you are a good candidate for body contouring with the CoolSculpting device until you come in for an initial consultation. Factors that affect our decision include your age, health, skin health, body fat distribution, and body mass index.
How Does My Health Affect Whether I’m a Good Candidate?
Your health is one of the first things we look at when determining whether you are a good candidate for body contouring with the CoolSculpting device. According to the FDA, this treatment is safe for most healthy individuals. If you have been diagnosed with a neurological condition, like Raynaud’s disease, ALS, or Bell’s palsy, this body contouring treatment is not appropriate for you.
Furthermore, this treatment is not appropriate for certain healthy individuals, including those who are pregnant. Since your safety is our primary priority, we will review your medical history and discuss your current health thoroughly to ensure this treatment will be safe for you.
How Does My Body Fat Distribution Affect Whether I’m a Good Candidate?
The best candidate for treatment is an individual with at least an inch of pinchable fat. In other words, you may be considered a good candidate for body contouring with the CoolSculpting device if you have at least five pounds of excess fat in a troubled region.
We can treat regions of your body, like the backs of your knees, that don’t have at least an inch of pinchable fat, but there has to be enough fat in the targeted area. Furthermore, it’s best that you don’t have too much fat in a targeted region. If you have a great deal of excess fat in your trouble region, you will need several sessions to be satisfied with the results of the treatment. This treatment is best for people with only a bit of excess fat.
How Does My Body Mass Index Affect Whether I’m a Good Candidate for Treatment?
To be considered a good candidate for treatment, you should have a BMI of no greater than 29.9. If you have a BMI of 30 or above, you are considered obese and your body fat percentage will be too high for this treatment to be effective. Ideally, your BMI should be between 18.5 and 24.9. This is considered a healthy weight for your height and you will be very satisfied with the results of your treatment.
Discover if CoolSculpting Is for You
If you’re pretty happy with your weight, but you’re not quite satisfied with how your clothes look and feel on you, you may be a good candidate for body contouring with the CoolSculpting device. Depending on the size of the area you’d like to target and the amount of excess fat in the region, you may need anywhere from one to six sessions. You’ll feel a small immediate improvement, but it can take up to three months to see the final results.
A great thing about CoolSculpting is that it is safe for most healthy adults. However, to determine definitively if it will be safe and effective for you, you need to come in for an initial consultation. If you have any further questions about this treatment, or you’d like to find out if you’re a good candidate, please contact us now at Chetco Medical & Aesthetics in Brookings, OR to book an appointment.