So spring beckons and I've embarked on a new keep-fit regime, involving dieting and light(!) exercise and, inevitably, this has involved the identification of a few problems areas.
A session of Lipoglaze offered the chance for a kick-start on a problem area, namely the tum. My hope was that, by instantly reducing the 'issues' in that area, it would be a good incentive to continue my regime, basically a small tug up the bottom of the hill before I really got going on the rest of me.
A tummy tuck sans surgery? In your lunch hour?
The idea is that this fatty part of your body is cooled down to the extent that cells get frozen and dissolved, from where they can be naturally excreted from your body. There is no actual intervention on your body, and the good news is you don't see a vacuum-cleaner bag full of your fat left on the floor as in traditional liposuction, hence it is classed a cosmetic procedure, not a medical one.
In a room high up on Harley Street, the friendly clinician lay me on a treatment chair and applied some cream to my tum. Then she pressed the machine nozzle, basically something similar to the vacuum creature in Teletubbies (Nunu, to be precise), to my tummy. The last thing I saw before hiding behind a newspaper was my stomach being sucked into the see-through bit of the nozzle. Everything went very hot for a short while, before going cold. And there I stayed for an hour. It wasn't painful or unpleasant, just… different.
Immediately afterwards, my stomach felt slightly sore to touch, and showed small signs of redness. These effects went on for a few hours, but didn't stop me heading out for dinner (healthy!) straight from the treatment. There were no other side-effects.
Not painful, just... different
It's difficult to proffer advice on whether this is worth doing, because… as the clinician explained, the effects of the treatment could take anywhere between three weeks and three months to reveal themselves, depending on each patient's metabolism, and other lifestyle factors. My concern was that, if the tum disappears, okay... reduces, they can claim credit when it could be the results of your diet and exercise. Similarly, if it fails to shrink, they can always say you haven't done enough good other stuff.
Saying that, six weeks have now passed, and I have noticed the specific area that was treated that day is now looking suspiciously flat compared with the rest of me. My diet? Possibly. Other exercise? Definitely not. So… I'm wondering if, in fact, given that I've tried to be better in the weeks since, it really has done its job. Not quite the "third of fat cells in one session" promised on the pamphlet, but a definite... flattening.
One thing the clinician was at pains to point out was that this shouldn't be seen as a regular substitute for other aspects of good living. Apparently, one potential client turned up and admitted she had no intention of giving up her bottle of wine of an evening or the ciggies. "I can just come here once a month, can't I?" she asked. Sadly, no. There is a limit to the number of times a clinician will treat you this way, so you have to see it as one component of the wellness process, not the whole thing.
Another woman asked whether she should do it before or after she started boot camp. The technical answer is 'either', but, realistically, you're better off doing lots of other stuff by yourself, and then thinking of Lipoglaze as a final secret push on those stubborn areas. In other words, a neat, mess-free, toil-free reward for lots of other hard work.
Click here for more information on Lipoglaze treatment by LoveLite. Prices range from £600 to £1000, depending on treatment area and machine size.