If you’ve been contemplating cosmetic surgery to help remove the excess fat around your belly, you’ve probably heard about the results that can be achieved with CoolSculpting.
The fat-freezing procedure offers people a way to get rid of unwanted fat cells from a number of different areas of the body without the need for invasive surgery. But will it be the best option to help you lose your belly fat?
Why losing stubborn fat around the belly is challenging
Fat around your tummy and love handles is easy to put on, but often challenging to lose. Excess fat around your middle also poses unnecessary health risk such as an increased chance of developing diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
Gaining weight around the middle typically occurs due to the same way it doesn’t anywhere else on your body. For the majority of people, it’s due to consuming more energy than your body is using. But why is it so challenging to achieve weight loss around your tummy?
We have two types of fat cells in the body – alpha cells and beta cells. Alpha cells respond well to the natural fat breakdown process known as lipolysis. Beta cells, on the other hand, aren’t as responsive.
Areas such as the face, upper arms and legs tend to have a higher number of fat cells that are alpha than beta fat cells. The abdomen, thighs and hips are known to have more beta fat cells. This is one reason why this fat is more stubborn and less responsive to weight-loss strategies.
How CoolSculpting works for fat reduction
CoolSculpting is a popular and highly effective fat reduction technique for many areas of the body including the belly and love handles. Also referred to as the fat freezing procedure, CoolSculpting involves exposing the unwanted fat cells through controlled cooling that is delivered by an FDA-approved applicator.
The CoolSculpting procedure aims to affect the subcutaneous fat just under the skin’s surface, which is then processed by the body’s natural mechanisms. The results occur over time as the body responds to the CoolSculpting treatment. Typically people start to see results after a few weeks, however, final body contouring results are seen within 3-6 months.
CoolSculpting is a non-surgical alternative that may have minimal side effects and generally requires no downtime for recovery. As a walk-in, walk-out procedure, you can have your fat cells frozen and return back to work or your normal activities immediately.
Will CoolSculpting work to remove my excess fat cells around my tummy?
CoolSculpting is a non-surgical procedure intended to reduce fat in the tummy region that may not have responded to diet and exercise. Its effectiveness and safety can vary among individuals
There are, however, some candidates who are better suited to the non-invasive procedure than others. For the CoolSculpting procedure to be successful at removing your belly fat, you’ll need to be within 13.6kgs of your optimal weight. So if your weight gain is mainly isolated to your tummy region, then it may be a great option for you. Depending on how much fat you would like to remove and the number of treatment areas, you may require more than one CoolSculpting treatments to achieve the desired results.
The excess fat in your chosen treated area must also be squeezable with enough to grab onto. If the fat is firm, you may need to explore other fat reduction options. Likewise, if you only have a small amount of fat and don’t have enough for the CoolSculpting applicator to suction onto, treatments such as Vaser Liposuction or Vaser Hi-Def Liposuction may be more effective.
For those with a large amount of belly fat or who are significantly overweight, CoolSculpting may not be the most appropriate option. In this care, you may be requiring a surgical procedure that offers more dramatic fat reduction and body sculpting results.
Vaser Liposuction is effective at reducing large amounts of fat cells in the tummy region and also helps to improve skin quality. A Tummy Tuck (officially known as Abdominoplasty) can help to reduce large sections of fat and removes excess skin.
