So I’ve seen pictures of me at like 6 or 7 where I was wearing a 2-piece at the beach and very clearly didn’t care or notice the rolls on my stomach when I was sitting down. What a time to be alive! I’m pretty sure I became painfully aware of my not-so-flat stomach once I started cheerleading in 3rd grade. A friend of mine on the team was VERY skinny and she often made comments about other girl’s weights. I can remember playing in the backyard with her and we were both wearing sports bras. She looked over at my stomach and made a face and a puking sound…and thus, my lifetime self-consciousness was born.
From then on, I obsessed over my stomach. I would wrap my hands around it and look in the mirror, wishing I could just cut it off and look like Britney Spears. By the time I was in 6th grade, I had hit a growth spurt and really thinned out…but I still had a little pouch on my stomach. Starting in 8th grade, I decided enough was enough and my eating habits got a little out of control…for the next 2-3 years, I dealt with obsessive calorie restriction and anorexia. Whatever serving sizes were, I cut them in half…and then cut them again. I never ate breakfast, so that wasn’t a new thing. But come lunch time, I’d take a single bite out of a few things my mom had so lovingly packed for me and then I’d throw the rest away. I remember on the weekends I would eat 1/4 cup of Special K cereal and then a salad for dinner. I was terrified to eat.
In the midst of that, I remember going on a beach vacation with one of my friends. We were sitting in the car in our bikinis and she says to me “It’s so funny that you’re so skinny all over but you still have a little pouch on your stomach.” She went on to say how boys like that…but it did not make me feel any better. It just added fuel to my “don’t eat anything” fire.
By freshman year, I was 5’4 and 107 pounds…maybe on other people that looks okay, but for me, I looked WAY too thin. I remember going to the doctor and she said “You are a little underweight…you could gain 25lbs and that’d be just fine.” I can’t imagine I had anything left to grab on my stomach, but at the time, I thought there was and that I just needed to hit 100 pounds in order to be perfect.
Naturally, this picture is embarrassing but at least you can see how skinny I was! But around sophomore year, a few things happened that snapped me out of it. For one, I remember being at gymnastics practice with some girls I cheered with. I did a handstand to warm up and my shirt slipped up so you could see my hip bones bulging out. Two of the girls said “Omg ew…you’re so skinny.” It hurt my feelings at the time, but I’m actually so thankful they said it because it was the first time I thought “Oh…maybe this isn’t ideal after all…” Then, later that year I became really close to two other girls on the cheerleading team and they had very healthy relationships with food! When we’d hang out, they’d want to order pizza or sushi or make cakes together and I started seeing that it wasn’t the end of the world to do those things. I started eating more regularly, feeling happier, and gaining some of my weight back. They reassured me that I looked great and didn’t need to be so self-conscious.
However, even as I recovered from my eating disorder, my stomach was always something I was super self-conscious of. I hid it as much as possible. As the years went on, I started to kind of get used to it and accept it. It was really just genetics…my mom and grandma both had the same thing and no matter how much weight I could lose, it’d always be there, so why not just embrace it?
So fast forward to now…I’m 26 and pretty comfortable with myself over-all. However, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to get rid of that little pouch and just have a flat stomach once and for all. I had heard CoolScuplting commercials on the radio for the past few years and it sounded like something I’d be perfect for. They always emphasized how it was for the stubborn areas where exercise and diet didn’t seem to make difference! So finally, this summer, I decided to just try it! I knew I was at a healthy place in my body image where I didn’t need it to feel happy and confident which made it a safe choice.
I did some research on it and read varying reviews about how painful it was….and I was actually really nervous!! But finally, I decided to have it done at Jandali Plastic Surgery in Trumbull, CT and I’m so happy I did. They were wonderful. So here’s how it went!
Consultation
So first you go in for a consultation appointment to talk to the doctor about what area you’re considering. Their office is beautiful which was immediately reassuring to me.
And then, once you go into the consultation room, the certifications and degrees are all over the wall…which I love to see! haha
The doctor then went over how the procedure works, any risks, and then she showed me how the suction cups would be placed on my stomach. After that, I made my appointment to come back in and have it done!
CoolSculpting Procedure
My actual CoolSculpting appointment was 2 hours long. The first hour, we did my before pictures and measurements and the doctor made all the marks on my stomach for where the suction cups would go. Notice it’s in a heart? <3
After I was all marked up, they put a little cooling gel pad over my stomach which protects your top layer of skin from the cold temperature!
After that, she placed the big suction cup on the right side of my stomach. Each side would be done separately and take a half hour each. She pushes a button on the suction cup and it draws my stomach up into it…which isn’t uncomfortable at all. She put a big fluffy pillow around me and covered up my legs with a blanket. It was actually really cozy! haha She offered me an ipad to watch Netflix or Hulu (which they provide), but I had a conference call to take, so I passed. Then she made sure I was alright, turned on the machine, and headed out for a half hour.
Here’s how it looked from my point of view! Once she turned the machine on, I could feel the temperature start to drop. It started to feel really cold, like an ice pack, and then it felt kind of like period cramps. Not horrible period cramps…just moderate ones where you can continue to go on with your day. (If you’re a guy, think muscle cramps) In everything I read, it said the first 10 minutes were uncomfortable and then the area went numb…this was definitely accurate! The period cramp feeling lasted for about 10 minutes and then I didn’t feel anything anymore! I took my conference call and actually felt super relaxed. Something about being snuggled up and the humming of the machine made me want to take a nap haha
It’s nice because the screen on the machine tells you how much time you have remaining on the current treatment.
After the first half hour was up, the doctor came back into the room and removed the suction cup. This is where the only kind of painful part started. As your skin returns to it’s normal temperature, it feels really achy. It’s not a sharp pain or anything, just kind of a deep ache in that area. But this was gone after 5-10 minutes. As I was feeling this achiness, she placed the suction cup on my left side, made sure I was okay, turned on the machine, and headed out. I was surprised that this time I actually didn’t feel the period cramping as the temperature went down. Once the achiness was gone in my right side after a few minutes, that was it….it wasn’t uncomfortable at all!
I took a selfie during the process just so you could see how not miserable I was haha After the last half hour, she came in and removed the suction cup. As expected, that side felt pretty achy as well, but not as bad as the first one. Once the machine is off, the doctor has to massage the treatment area for about 5 minutes to break up the fat. I had read online that this part was uncomfortable for people, but the area was so numb that I really didn’t feel much. It didn’t bother me at all. Once that was done, I got dressed and headed back to my car! By the time I was walking out of the office, I didn’t feel achy or anything anymore. My stomach felt numb, but other than that I was fine!
Once I got home, I actually took my dog to the dog park and went right along with my day. As you can see, my stomach wasn’t even red or anything.
Over the next few days, my stomach stayed numb all over…which was weird, but expected. It also felt a little sore to the touch but nothing that bothered me much. I didn’t feel any pain at all unless I poked myself in the stomach…then it just felt like a bruise would feel if you poked it…so don’t poke it and you’re fine lol After that, just the top layer of my skin felt numb and that lasted for about 2 weeks. Once the two week window was over, everything went back to normal!
I was SO nervous for how it would go and I’ll say that I would 100% do it again! It was totally manageable and overall a really great experience!
They say it takes 3-4 months to see the full results and currently I’m at 2 months. I definitely feel like I notice a slight difference. I go back for my after-pictures tomorrow, so we’ll see! I anticipate seeing more results in the next 2 months. Essentially how it works is the machine freezes your fat cells so that they die off and your body excretes them. It takes a while for that to happen so it’s a slow process.
Stay tuned as I’ll be posting my 2 month before and after pictures and then I will follow up in another 2 months for the final results!!