HOW TO SCULPT YOUR BODY BEFORE SUMMER? MY REVIEW ABOUT LEADING SCULPTING TECHNIQUES ON THE MARKET!

This blog post is going to be a little different. Why? Because it is the first one I am writing during the #pandemic time. Since mid March, our life here in Canada changed drastically because of Covid-19 that turned the world upside-down. With all restrictions, including social distancing, staying at home most of the time, and more-that means a completely different lifestyle to what we were used to before.

As an influencer, fashion&beauty lover, I have been receiving many emails, notes with questions about proper care of your skin, what products to use for makeup these days, how is my workout routine look like, what is your experience with some of the body treatments you've done before pandemic...and more... I realized, some of us will take better care of our health-including our skin & body - but there is also lots of people who limits their exercise, "moving" motions, eat more, drink more..and then, when pandemic is over - the struggle is going to be real- how to loose that weight? how to bring my body back to shape?
Of course - healthy lifestyle including balanced diet - is a key into the desired weight and look. However, there are many " body sculpting" techniques that have been offered by medical aesthetic places out there - that supposed to help you achieving your "dream body".
Since I've had a chance to experience most of them - I thought now might be the best time to share my feedback with you, explaining you how they work and what you might expect- and perhaps once this "special time" is over and our lives are "back to normal" you might want to try them yourself??

Over the last few years - I have been given a chance to test some of the most popular "sculpting" techniques starting with SculpSure. 

The SculpSure device provides WarmSculpting treatments for non-invasive body contouring that permanently reduces stubborn fat without surgery or downtime. 
Special technology used in the device allows the treatment effectively treat areas of troublesome fat in 25 minutes per treatment. It claims to be the world's first FDA-cleared laser device for non-invasive lipolysis of the abdomen, flanks, inner thighs, outer thighs and submental area (under your chin!). Over time, the body naturally eliminates the disrupted fat cells with results seen as quickly as 6 weeks and optimal results usually seen in as few as 12 weeks. 

Myself, I've had SculpSure done quite long time ago - probably over 2 years now - on my abdomen area. it was almost half an hour treatment - and after all units are placed on your stomach and the device starts working - you feel warmth that evaluates into heat after some time. Personally, I didn't feel any discomfort during this procedure as I love heat and I am always "cold" type of person so I was able to manage going through the treatment at its max. settings. But I've heard different opinions about the "heat"/pain tolerance from people. In my case - I've had only one treatment performed on my stomach - and usually the minimum of 2 treatments are recommended to see results - so it is hard for me to share honest feedback about SculpSure - as I wasn't able to notice much of a difference on my stomach after just one treatment but seeing photos of before/after from people who went through the series of treatment - you surely see some amazing results. 

Everyone is different and your body responds to all of these treatments differently - so I am sure your journey will be different than mine:-)

Another treatment I would love to share my insights about is EMSculpt. I've had a chance to test this treatment when it first arrived in Calgary -at Market Mall Dermatology when together with Dr. Stewart Adams, we came up with a plan for me to go through the complete series of treatments to get the full scope of the procedure. I remember it was all scheduled before my CTV News segment when I was talking about importance of skin & body care - and this treatment was a "featured treatment" being new to the local market- so I really wanted to share my honest feedback testing it myself. Because we haven;t got enough time to spread out the treatment series in time - I've had sessions scheduled every 3-4 days-within 2-week period.  

But before I share with you how does it feel and how it worked for me - I should tell you what is EMSculpt. So it is the only procedure to help both women and men build muscle and sculpt the body. In addition, EMSculpt created the world's first non-invasive buttock toning procedure while ago. It is a 30-minute treatment with minimum of 4 sessions scheduled 2-3 days a part (or more depending on how your body will respond to the muscle contractions). The procedure feels like an intensive workout. You lay down and the non-invasive HIFEM procedure induces powerful muscle contractions not achievable through voluntary contractions. The treatment is all abut strengthening, toning and firming areas of your concerns with using the heat technology (mostly recommended for abdomen, flanks, arms). The procedure claims achieving both fat reduction and muscle-mass gain (it implodes fat cells- for a 19% loss after 4 treatments and up to 16% gain of muscles). There is no-recovery time and no pre/post treatment preparation. Positive results are usually reported two to four weeks after the last sessions and continue ti improve for several weeks following the treatments.

I personally really enjoyed the treatment (even though I do workout every day - most of my workouts are cardio - so this was a great addition to my routine meaning I had a chance to train my core muscles - giving them a kick in such a short period of time). After couple of sessions I felt little bit of stomach and back pain - because I guess I've never exercised my abs that often and with such strength- but after all sessions the discomfort was gone and after a while I could see some definition in my abdomen area (unfortunately I don't have photos of me before/after so no of  "me"visual to be shared with you:-(. As much as I really liked the results of this procedure - after a while I've lost my "definition" as its like a workout - if you stop working out your muscles - they will stop growing and shaping your body - so because we've never repeated the treatment - the look of my "abs" went where it was before:-( (I wished I could perform this treatment at least couple of times a year!).

Now, lets talk TruSculpt. It's been a procedure that I have been familiar with the most - because of the time spam of experiencing it myself (Ive been doing it regularly for almost a year - meaning we've done probably 4 sessions in total!). 

I was introduced to this procedure by Rao Dermatology clinic, in Edmonton, Alberta when Dr. Jaggi Rao and his lovely manager - Marina - asked me to come to Edmonton and test the treatment and then share my feedback and talk about the procedure on CTV News in Edmonton. Their clinic was the first one in Canada (almost 2 years ago) to get TruSculpt machine - and I was excited to test it myself. 

This powerful, non-invasive, monopolar radiofrequency platform tailors to patient's individual needs and features real-time temperature control for best results. How its works, is that Trusculpt ID delivers heat to the entire fat layer while maintaining a comfortable skin temperature to maintain your control. The skin temperature is continuously monitored and energy delivery is automatically adjusted to reach and hold the temperature of >45 degrees Celsius in the fat (while maintaining a skin temperature of 3-4 degrees cooler). Each treatment ( only 15 minutes long!!!) can treat a full abdomen or multiple body areas simultaneously resulting in an average of 24% fat reduction.

Comparing my previous "sculpting" experiences - I really like this one because of different reasons. First - its is quick and easy. You can do it almost any time during your day - even during your lunch break as it only takes 15 minutes (the procedure) so I would say give yourself about half an hour to get ready, dress up after procedure etc. Moreover, I like the fact this procedure is completely painless - you might feel the heat in some parts of your body (on the area that is treated) but its only a matter of seconds as the heat "flows" through different parts (where the applicators have been placed). Similar to other sculpting techniques, this one requires 8-12 weeks for you to see the results (and to have next treatment). I have been lucky to be able to do 3 series of TruSculpt treatment and even though I haven't seen much of results on myself after the first couple of series thanks to professional photos taken before&after my 1 treatment - I was able to really see the difference (especially in my "flanks" area that got less "curvy:-) 

So if I get to choose a treatment that would be my maintenance "sculpting" tool - I would go for TruSculpt for sure!! (and either adding EMSculpt for a nice definition of my body-especially abs or Cutera- which is the company that offers TruSculpt solution introduced earlier this year TruSculpt Flex - which I haven't had a chance to test yet but my guessing is that it would work similar as EMSculpt targeting the muscles!). 

One of the latest sculpting techniques I had a chance to test myself was CoolSculpting. 

There is quite a lot of places - both in Calgary as well as worldwide - that offer this treatment and I had a pleasure to get mine done at Silverado Medical & Aesthetic Clinic, here in Calgary. 

I have "known" this place for years as it was the first place I chose for our family’s medical needs however I've never had a chance to experience their aesthetics "side" until we scheduled my CoolSculpting treatment end of 2019. I've been always struggling with the look of my arms so I really wanted to "treat" this area this time. Upon arrival at the clinic, I filled out all the required forms and then went straight into taking photos of the area to be treated, which were my arms. 

Lovely Joyce, the clinic coolsculpting specialist was very helpful with guiding me into a number of "positions". You have to take few photos from different angles to compare your before and after photos. After you take photos, usually the next step is drawing the marks on the treatment area to ensure perfect placement for the CoolSculpting applicator which will freeze the fat cells. After the "logistics" - you should be able to sit comfortably for 35 minutes (this is how long the treatment takes for a designated area). 

And aside of the time - I should tell you how this procedure works. CoolSculpting® is a leading non-surgical fat-reduction treatment. It's an innovative way to contour your body by freezing unwanted fat. It involves NO surgery and MINIMAL DOWNTIME. With more than 7 million CoolSculpting® treatment cycles performed worldwide so far, people everywhere are getting a different view of themselves. It delivers precisely controlled cooling to target fat cells underneath the skin(it is probably the only one treatment I've experienced that gives you "cooling" effect as the rest of them described above were mainly about the "heat"). Treated fat cells are crystallized (frozen), destroyed, and then over time your body naturally processes the fat and eliminates these dead fat cells. The result… a more sculpted you! (and the treated fat cells are gone for good!). The CoolSculpting treatment is actually a pleasant experience - you don't feel any “pain” until perhaps the last stage when the applicator is removed and a two minute massage of the treated area is performed. This massage is a little “pinchie” but apparently it increases the efficiency of the treatment by up to 60% so you should be able to go through this phase for the best results. Again, similar to the previous procedures - the results are usually visibile after 8-12 weeks - and each body will respond to it differently meaning some people can see results right after the first treatment - but most of the time there are two series recommended to start. 

Personally, I've only got a chance to get one session of CoolSculpting done - and after our "check up" visit ( 3 months post-treatment) I wasnt able to see much of a difference. We had a conversation both with Joyce as well as Dr. Folake Pepple (who is the owner of the clinic) and we all agreed that arms are very "tricky" area to be treated - as many times its not the "fat" that needs to be going "under the treatment" but it is loss of skin elasticity (that's why maybe I found my arms being so "saggy") meaning different procedures, like skin tightening , might work better in this case. However, I've heard amazing reviews from people who did CoolScultping on their abdomen area and they were able to see results just after first treatment. 

Summarizing - I think we all are different and our bodies are different. That means what works for one might not be the best solution for someone else. It takes time to find the best practice with the knowledgeable team who will be able to help you finding the best protocol for you! But I believe it's worth doing research and try!! Good Luck!!