If you follow me on twitter you might’ve heard I had an i-Lipo session earlier today. It sparked a bit of a flurry in that everyone had loads of questions and this is where I hope to answer them.
In a nutshell, i-Lipo is a brand of laser lipo. It involves strapping pads to your jiggly bits so they can emit a low-level laser into your fat cells. This laser makes them more permeable so the fat can transfer through the cell wall into the surrounding tissues. Once this is done, you’ll immediately see a loss in centimetres BUT you still need to do 30 minutes of cardio as soon as possible after your treatment to ensure that the ‘liquidized’ fat gets burned up and excreted in your pee. (This isn’t the nicest explanation, I know, but I want to make it as simple as possible so you understand the concept.) If you don’t burn it up, it’ll just slip back into your cells and you’ll be back to where you started.
The i-Lipo machine
Another way to explain it? Imagine your fat cells like grapes. The laser makes the skin of your ‘grapes’ temporarily porous so the fluid (fat) inside of them can drain out. Your grapes, however, remain intact, so if you continue to go big at the buffet, you’ll fill them up again. It’s pretty much how normal ‘natural’ weight loss occurs; your fat cells don’t disappear, they just get smaller. Because of this, laser lipo is the only type of ‘lipo’ I’d ever consider. I’d be very nervy about going under the knife and having my fat cells permanently sucked out because then, when you put the weight back on, it can’t go back to the spot you treated, just the surrounding areas, which can leave you with a weird-looking contour.
Anyway, as laser lipo’s been performed safely for years outside of SA and performed by thousands of knowledgeable docs, surgeons and aestheticians across the globe, I didn’t hesitate to accept when offered a few i-Lipo sessions at Skin & Body Renewal in the Cape Quarter. I’d also chatted to a host of local beauty editors and bloggers who’ve given it a bash and all of them RAVED about their results. On top of all this, I’d cultivated a merry li’l ‘muffin top’ to give it a run for it’s money…
Every winter I pack on a good 2kgs. Getting rid of it before summer is never an issue. I just cut down on my kilojoule intake and step it up in the gym. Now, however, I’m a bit pressed for time as I’m off to St Tropez slap bang in the middle of next month. Eeek! Thus, I popped off to the clinic wearing the tightest jeans I own; my ‘summer skinny legs’ that I haven’t been able to fit into in months. In fact, they were so tight on me that I couldn’t sit down in them without undoing the zip!
After chatting to the clinic’s doctor (Dr. Bianca Le Feuvre), she ascertained that I was a good candidate for the treatment. (Most people are, but she just wanted to check that I wasn’t pregnant or didn’t have some kind of prohibitive condition.) I then went through to a little room where my therapist, Dourina, took my measurements and snapped a few ‘before’ piccies:
See my little muffin top?
Next, I got to lie down on a table while the laser pads were strapped around my middle.
Right! My flab’s good to go!
Dourina then cranked up the machine and that’s how I lay for a good twenty minutes. What did it feel like? Like nothing. Seriously. I didn’t feel a tingle, a change in temperature, nothing… I was, however, given a head and a foot massage which felt AMAZING! .
Afterwards, Dourina whipped out a special attachment to the machine called an Ultra. It felt like a mini Dustbuster on my skin and was used for ten minutes or so to perform a ‘draining massage’. This was to encourage the now liquified fat that was hanging out in my tissue to move towards the lymph glands in my groin. This costs extra and isn’t necessary for your i-Lipo to be effective but it does boost the results so the clinic recommends you spring for it if you want to bump up your fat loss.
Once that was done, I got up and Dourina whipped out the measuring tape. Lo and behold, I’d lost a whopping 4cm around the hips! Niiiice! Still, being a regte skeptic, a part of me couldn’t help but wonder if she wasn’t perhaps just holding the tape measure a little differently… or possibly pulling it a bit tighter than she had beforehand… Because of that, that’s why I’d made a point of wearing those crazy-toit super uncomfy jeans. I wanted to put them back on and see if they fitted any better. And guess what? They did! Not only was I able to pull them on without jumping up and down to get into them (as was the case that morning), they actually slid down a bit to expose my undies! Squeeeaaallll!
Now I can even sit down in them without having to undo the zip! OMG!
I then left the clinic to go do a minimum of 30 minutes of cardio (I hit up my exercise bike) as, like I said, you need to burn up the ‘floating fat’ so it gets excreted rather than reabsorb into your fat cells. Afterwards, I drank a whole whopload of water (three glasses) to see if it’s wasn’t perhaps ‘water weight’ that I’d lost and lo and behold, five hours later I’m still sitting pretty in my skinnies!
Anyway, I’m now BEYOND excited to do a few more sessions. I literally lost an amount of weight that would’ve taken me a week with careful diet and exercise in a matter of minutes! In fact, the last time I was this impressed with a cosmetic treatment was when I first had Botox.
Want to give it a bash yourself? I had my treatment at Skin Renewal in the Cape Quarter but there are loads of other salons offering the treatment both in Cape Town and around the country. If you click here, you can find one in your area. Price-wise, Skin Renewal is charging a mere R375 per session. This may vary from salon to salon. On top of the i-Lipo, I also had the Ultra used on me; this was an extra R125.
If you go, or have gone, please feel free to leave a comment. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.
Love, love
Leigh
P.S. I just had someone ask me ‘how long it lasts’ via twitter. It’s just like with any other type of weight loss; it lasts for as long as you decide to keep it off. If you stick to a kilojoule-controlled diet or simply burn more kilojoules than you eat, you’re going to remain a skinny Minnie. If you decide to run off with your newly slim tum and binge eat McDonalds all day, you’ll start to gain weight once more. The choice is up to you. In short, i-Lipo is a great way to shift a small to medium amount of weight in record time. And, when used in conjunction with a negative calorie deficit diet, you’ll lose weight even faster!
Such a great post! After reading your tweets yesterday and seeing the results I was personally sold. My Mom and I are both going to test it out for ourselves xxx
I was so skeptical I told the PR agency not to bother booking me multiple treatments. Thought just one would be enough of a waste of my time. Now I want to buy bloody shares in the company. Please let me know how your treatments go via the comments section. Would love to hear about your results x x
I’ve always wondered about this. Nice to finally get a good explanation. Thanks
Net n plesier
I am sooooo keen to try this now!
Noooo! Keeping up with your skinny ass with regular diet and exercise is hard enough; don’t you be crashing in on my new BBF, you biets
x x Seriously tho, you’re going to love it!
My word, your lil’ muffin-top just got eaten up by that funky little machine! I think I’ll give it a blast, my “mushroom top” needs harvesting and I’m hoping they can help me out. I KNOW there are abs in there somewhere, I just know it!
It really does work like a bomb. And the 20 minute massage that comes with it (foot, head or both, you pick) is worth it alone!
Unbelieveable! The commercial site of i Lipo describes exactly what you experienced but i couldn’t believe all this was so true! Are you willing to give me permission to include your story in my new thread of Consumer Testimonials, in my site Lipoadvisor.com ?
Sure!
If you want to see even better results with only 1 or 2 treatments, try truSculpt by Cutera, http://www.trusculpt.com
What I would love to know is if the i-lipo or laser lipo is the same as ultrasonic lipo??? Im trying to decide who to book with because the ultrasonic seems to be a heck of a lot cheaper? Im too clued up about all this! Pls help!
Kayla
Hi Kayla! The procedures are different to one another but do a similar thing. I’d chat to a clued up doctor who knows about both before making a decision. Good luck!
Any place in Ohio???
No clue, sorry!
So how much weight did you loose? (total and per session)
Oh gosh. I do remember them weighing me every time but I didn’t pay any attention to it. I was only interested in centimeter loss. While you’ll lose weight with iLipo, it’s more about shifting pockets of fat in certain areas that’ll make a big difference to your silhouette.
So is it really about “shifting pockets of fat”, vs. the fat actually “dissapearing”? I’m considering it for my abdomen, but I don’t necessarily want the fat shifted somewhere else, lol?
Shifting was a bad choice of words. The fat doesn’t move elsewhere, it literally dissolves and gets peed out; the same way regular weight loss occurs.
Just curious. I’ve been lookin at this stuff for months because they have this EVERYWHERE in Vegas (because we are all so vain lol) and thinkin about it for myself and my gf. Do you know of any differences in results for women vs. men?
I don’t see any reason why men and women wouldn’t get the same results; fat cells are fat cells. Also, the clinic I went to say they treat loads of men. If you have the cash I’d go for it.