Average Weight Loss with CoolSculpting Results: What to Expect

CoolSculpting has emerged as a popular non-surgical method for reducing unwanted fat. If you're considering this innovative procedure, it's important to understand what it can realistically achieve in terms of weight loss and body contouring. This article provides a comprehensive overview of CoolSculpting, its effectiveness, and what you can expect in terms of results.

Understanding CoolSculpting

CoolSculpting, also known as cryolipolysis, is an FDA-approved, non-invasive body contouring treatment designed to target and eliminate stubborn fat cells through controlled cooling. Developed by Harvard scientists, this procedure is cleared by the FDA to address visible fat bulges in various areas, including:

• Submental area (under the chin)
• Submandibular area (under the jawline)
• Thigh
• Abdomen
• Flank
• Bra fat
• Back fat
• Underneath the buttocks (banana roll)
• Upper arm

It's also FDA-cleared to affect the appearance of lax tissue with submental area treatments.

How CoolSculpting Works

The CoolSculpting device uses special patented cold applicators in various sizes to expose unwanted fat cells to freezing technology. The process involves a specialized applicator being placed on the targeted area, delivering controlled cooling to the fat cells underneath the skin. This cooling process, known as cryolipolysis, causes the fat cells to crystallize and undergo apoptosis (cell death). Over time, the body naturally processes and eliminates these dead fat cells through the lymphatic system.

What CoolSculpting Is and Isn't

It's crucial to understand that CoolSculpting is not a weight loss procedure. It is a body contouring treatment designed to reduce fat in specific areas that have been resistant to diet and exercise. Weight loss involves reducing overall body weight, which includes fat, muscle, and water. CoolSculpting, on the other hand, focuses solely on fat reduction in targeted areas.

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Expected Fat Reduction and Weight Loss

With each CoolSculpting treatment session, you can expect to lose between 20% and 25% of the fat cells in the treated area. While this might not sound like a significant amount of overall weight loss, it can make a noticeable difference in your appearance, especially in areas like the abdomen, thighs, love handles, and chin.

Pounds Lost with CoolSculpting

Most clients will be able to lose at least two to five pounds of body fat when they use the treatment. While two to five pounds of body fat doesn’t seem like a lot, it can have a great impact on your clothing size, particularly because this technology is used to target specific areas of the body to reduce unwanted fat and sculpt your body shape.

For example, if you have a noticeable pocket of fat in your lower abdomen that's been bothering you, a 20-25% reduction can lead to a flatter, more contoured midsection. In fact, in as little as one treatment, you can reduce unwanted fat cells by this percentage. With additional treatments, you can further reduce unwanted fat cells in virtually all areas of the body.

Reduction in Clothing Size

When you use a body contouring treatment such as CoolSculpting, you can usually reduce your clothing size by one to two pant sizes, or sometimes more depending on which areas of your body you are treating. Sometimes, measuring your body weight isn’t the best way to assess your fat reduction or fitness. If you are exercising to build muscle, muscle mass may be replacing body fat on your body, which can sometimes make it seem like you’re gaining weight even if you’re not.

The CoolSculpting Experience

The CoolSculpting process typically involves the following steps:

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1. Consultation: A detailed consultation to understand your goals and determine the best treatment plan. During this session, a qualified specialist assesses the patient’s aesthetic goals and determines whether Coolsculpting is the appropriate treatment.
2. Treatment: A specialized applicator is placed on the targeted area, delivering controlled cooling to the fat cells underneath the skin. The area to be treated is first marked out using the applicator stencils provided by the manufacturer.
3. Procedure Duration: Each session lasts about 35 to 60 minutes, depending on the area being treated. For example, if you are treating only one or two areas, then your treatment can be finished within a half hour. If you’re trying to remove fat from your middle back, flanks, hips, thighs and underarms, you may be receiving treatment for closer to two hours.
4. Post-Treatment Massage: A relaxing post-treatment massage is necessary to break up large blocks of frozen solid fat. After the applicator is removed, the treated area is massaged for a few minutes to help break down the fat cells and enhance the effectiveness of the treatment.
5. Recovery: One of the best things about CoolSculpting is that there’s no downtime involved. You can jump right back into your daily routine immediately after your session. After your appointment, you will be allowed to turn to your normal daily activities, including going back to work, running errands, or completing your normal exercise routine.

Factors Influencing Results

Several factors can influence the results of CoolSculpting, including:

• Number of Treatment Sessions: Most people will need a series of at least three to six treatments to achieve results from this body sculpting treatment. The number of treatment sessions you will need depends on the number of areas you want treated, the volume of fat in each of those areas and the size of the areas you want treated. Your appointments will usually be spaced about four weeks apart, so your body has enough time to eliminate unwanted fat cells. Most people will need a series of one to three treatments to achieve optimal results with this fat reduction technique. The number of treatments required to achieve your desired results will depend on the number of areas you want to treat and your percentage of body fat.
• Areas Treated: The size of the area targeted for treatment is the most significant factor that affects how many inches you should anticipate losing. CoolSculpting address submental fullness, or chin fat, can often be accomplished in one treatment session. If your goal is to eliminate unwanted fat from a small body region, like the backs of the knees or the underarms, you can remove up to 80% of the localized fat cells in a single session.
• Individual Body Composition: How long it takes a client to see results varies on a case-by-case basis. Depending on the number of fat cells destroyed, you won’t see final results for two to three months after your treatment session. It will usually take several months for you to see any significant results from your treatment. This is because it will take several weeks for fat cells to be eliminated.
• Lifestyle: Although fat cells cannot regenerate, any fat cells that remain after you achieve your desired results may be able to respond to lifestyle habits. Because fat cells can expand to store more fat for energy, it’s important to lead a healthy lifestyle so that you can avoid weight gain in the future.

DualSculpting

DualSculpting is the use of two CoolSculpting devices at once. Some people like this body contouring method because their treatment sessions are completed in half the time. For example, if you are trying to treat excess fat of your outer thighs, inner thighs and upper arms, you don’t want your left arm to be less toned than your right arm and your right leg to be less toned than your left leg.

Preparing for CoolSculpting

There are not many steps you will need to take to prepare for your treatment. That said, on the days before your treatment, you should drink plenty of water, eat light meals, and exercise as usual. These practices will prime your body for fat elimination after the treatment. Before any of your treatment sessions, you will need to avoid medications and supplements such as aspirin, fish oil, and vitamin E for at least three days. You should also avoid direct contact with the sun or tanning beds since this can potentially cause skin irritation.

Post-Treatment Care

After your treatment, the best thing you can do is take it easy for 24 to 48 hours. While you can go back to work, you will want to avoid exercising and other strenuous activities. It will usually take several weeks for you to notice your results. Although this aesthetic treatment will immediately kill off fat cells in the first 12 to 24 hours, it will take several days for your body to start getting rid of these destroyed fat cells. The elimination process may take one to three months before you will see significant results.

If you want to get the most out of each of your treatments, you may want to consider things you can do after your appointment to enhance your results. Taking these steps during recovery can help your results develop more quickly. Lightly massaging the treatment area 12 to 24 hours after the treatment can do a world of good. Although your aesthetic expert may massage your skin after the CoolSculpting session is complete, at-home manual massage can further improve your results so long as you do not generate too much heat on your skin. Drinking plenty of water after your treatment is key. This is because water can help flush toxins out of your system, including fat cells that are destroyed with this body contouring treatment. Your results will develop more quickly if you can drink at least half of your body weight in ounces of water each day. You may also want to wear compression garments on any area that is treated, particularly the waist and stomach. Compression garments can help your body heal into your desired body shape.

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Maintaining Results

To maintain the long-lasting results of CoolSculpting, it’s important to:

• Maintain a Stable Weight: If you can keep your weight from fluctuating more than 10 pounds above your post-treatment weight, you can expect your contours to remain improved.
• Lead a Healthy Lifestyle: Your diet should consist primarily of fiber, protein, and dairy, as these are the building blocks for the proteins and amino acids your body relies on to maintain your health.
• Exercise Regularly: You should aim to have a well-rounded exercise routine, which includes resistance training and cardiovascular activity. Regular exercise is also a key to maintaining healthy body weight.
• Follow a Balanced Diet: Having a healthy, balanced diet is also essential.

Ideal Candidates for CoolSculpting

CoolSculpting is ideal for individuals who:

• Have stubborn pockets of fat despite your best efforts with diet and exercise
• Are close to their ideal weight
• Are looking for nonsurgical fat reduction options
• Maintain a healthy lifestyle
• Are about 30 pounds from your ideal weight or are at your ideal weight

It’s not recommended for individuals who are significantly overweight or looking for a weight loss solution. In such cases, other treatments or lifestyle changes might be more appropriate. To reiterate, your contours will remain improved as long as you maintain your weight. It is extremely important to have realistic expectations regarding the results of this treatment to be considered an ideal candidate.

Contraindications

This procedure is not for everyone. CoolSculpting® and CoolSculpting® Elite are FDA-cleared for the treatment of visible fat bulges in the submental (under the chin) and submandibular (under the jawline) areas, thigh, abdomen, and flank, along with bra fat, back fat, underneath the buttocks (also known as banana roll), and upper arm. It is also FDA-cleared to affect the appearance of lax tissue with submental area treatments.

That said, if you have been diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, such as lupus, that results in excessive weakness or discomfort, you will not qualify for this body contouring treatment.

Potential Side Effects

During the procedure you may experience sensations of pulling, tugging, mild pinching, intense cold, tingling, stinging, aching, cramping and discomfort at the treatment site. These sensations lessen as the area becomes numb. Following the procedure, typical side effects include temporary redness, swelling, blanching, bruising, firmness, stinging, tenderness, cramping, skin inflammation and aching. Sensory alteration (itching, skin sensitivity, tingling, and numbness) can persist up to several weeks after treatment.

Rare side effects may happen in 1 to 10 out of 10,000 CoolSculpting® and CoolSculpting® Elite treatments (between 0.01% to 0.1%).

CoolTone

The CoolTone® device is FDA-cleared for improvement of abdominal tone, strengthening of the abdominal muscles, and development for firmer abdomen. The CoolTone® procedure is not for everyone. CoolTone® should be used with caution in patients with Graves’ disease (an autoimmune disorder that causes overactive thyroid), women with an intrauterine device (IUD), hernia in or near treatment site, active bleeding disorders, or seizure disorders. CoolTone® should not be used in the heart or head areas, areas of new bone growth, over the carotid sinus nerves, or over the neck or mouth. CoolTone® should not be applied over swollen, infected, inflamed areas or skin eruptions.

The Science Behind CoolSculpting

CoolSculpting operates on the principle of cryolipolysis, where controlled cooling is used to freeze and eliminate fat cells. This process exploits the fact that fat cells are more susceptible to cold temperatures than surrounding tissues.

1. Cryolipolysis: The targeted fat cells are cooled to a temperature that triggers their natural death (apoptosis).
2. Crystallization of Fat Cells: As the fat cells are exposed to the cold, they crystallize and die.

Multiple Cycles/Sessions

This study demonstrated that multiple cycles/sessions of CoolSculpting can be safely used to maximize the treatment benefit of body contouring in routine clinical practice. A subanalysis of the present data suggested that reductions in skinfold thickness were significantly larger in patients receiving greater numbers of treatment cycles. There was also a trend towards larger reductions in those receiving two rather than one session of treatment. The areas in which ≥4 cycles were most commonly used were the lower flank (n = 5) and the upper arm (n = 4); anecdotally, we have also observed that the thighs often benefit from larger numbers of cycles.

Fat Reduction vs. Weight Loss

Throughout our lives, the number of fat cells in our bodies becomes a set number at some point during our teenage years. Losing or gaining weight does not increase the number of fat cells in our body, but changes the size of the fat cells. When you lose weight through dieting or exercising, you are making the fat cells within your body smaller. Losing weight will not make the fat cells disappear entirely. CoolSculpting is a fat reduction procedure, which means that it actually reduces the number of fat cells from the body, not the size. The fat cells that are frozen are naturally processed and eliminated, so they will not migrate to another part of your body. Unlike other procedures, CoolSculpting will not change the fat cells in untreated areas. So, those stubborn fat bulges that are left behind regardless of the amount of exercise or dieting will disappear with CoolSculpting and leave behind a more sculpted version of your body.

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