Seriously, Can Someone Really FREEZE Fat Away?
Have stubborn areas of fat you can’t lose? You may want to try CoolSculpting.
Seriously, Can Someone Really FREEZE Fat Away?
Diet after diet, workout after workout, and you still have fat. Maybe it’s belly fat, love handles, or fat on your hips that just won’t seem to go away.
You’re not alone. More and more people are turning to what’s called cryogenic lipolysis or cryolipolysis to remove areas of stubborn fat and sculpt their body to a desired shape. This FDA-approved technology supposedly freezes off fat to give you the body shape you desire.
How is this fat-freezing procedure performed? Are there risks or side effects and does it really work? Keep reading to find out.
The Cold Procedure
Cryogenic lipolysis, marketed as CoolSculpting, takes advantage of the fact that fat cells are more sensitive to cold temperatures than are other cells. During this medical procedure, either a licensed practitioner or plastic surgeon uses a device to cool targeted areas of your body. The freezing temperatures kill the fat cells, leaving your skin and other tissue unharmed. At first, the fat will be hard and must be massaged for a few minutes to soften.
After several treatments over the course of a few weeks, the dead fat cells are naturally shed out of the body. Each treatment lasts about an hour, and you can resume normal activities after each treatment. Once you get started with the treatments, you can expect to see its effects really show up after two to four months.
The Cold Pros
How does cryogenic lipolysis compare to other fat removal procedures? The main benefit is that it’s non-surgical and non-invasive. There is no anesthesia, no incisions, no scars, and no long recovery period compared to a procedure such as liposuction.
When going with CoolSculpting, you can expect to reduce fat in the targeted area by up to 25 percent. Most exciting is that the frozen fat cells are gone for good unless you regain weight by eating poorly and skipping exercise.
The Cold Cons
Freeze off fat, never to be seen again. It sounds almost too good to be true, doesn’t it? Before making an appointment for CoolSculpting, it’s important to know the requirements, the possible risks, and the side effects.
The first thing you should know is that cryogenic lipolysis isn’t a treatment for obesity. People who are overweight can’t expect to freeze off all their body fat. Rather, cryogenic lipolysis is meant to work only trouble spots such as the abdomen, sides, back, chin, or thighs on people who are at or near a healthy weight. The fat has to be soft enough to be pinched.
The procedure itself isn’t painful, but you will feel extreme cold for several minutes along with a tugging sensation and pressure. Due to the cold temperatures, there may be redness, bruising, tingling, sensitivity, or numbness at the site for several days following the procedure. Some people experience stinging, aching, or pain at the site that goes away on its own after a week or two. The site may appear inflamed for several weeks as the body’s immune system removes the dead fat cells.
In some cases, a line will appear along the area where fat was frozen and fat remains. A small percentage of people may actually gain fat at the site of the procedure. Called paradoxical adipose hyperplasia, the frozen fat cells become larger instead of smaller six months after treatment. Why this happens remains a mystery, but men are at a greater risk for this unwanted event than women.
Additionally, serious complications can occur with CoolSculpting if you have a health condition such as cryoglobulinemia, paroxysmal cold hemoglobinuria, or cold agglutinin disease. No matter your health, check with your physician before taking the cold plunge. You may just need to exercise more and eat less.
© 2009-2010 Keuilian Inc.
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The content and information on this site is not intended to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent disease.
Please consult your physician prior to starting any exercise or diet program.
Five recommended exercises for people over 50
Five recommended exercises for people over 50.
There’s no denying you’re getting older. It happens to everyone, and when you reach the age of 50, you’re entering a new phase of life. Things are slowing down, you don’t have the same energy you used to, and new wrinkles and gray hairs are appearing. If you want to stay fit and healthy through your middle years and beyond, exercise must be a part of your daily life. An active lifestyle is associated with a decreased risk for numerous health conditions that come with aging.
Whether you’ve been exercising for years or are new to fitness, it’s important to take age into account as you plan your workout routines. Many people notice a shift around the age of 50. Exercise no longer has the same effect, you tire more easily, you have more aches and pains, and you become more prone to injury.
Taking all this into account, here are five of the best exercises to consider once you reach age 50 and beyond.
1. Walking
Whether you’re 5 or 95, walking is one of the safest and simplest exercises you can do. No special equipment or training is needed, making it easy to walk just about anywhere, anytime. It’s also a low-impact exercise, meaning it’s easy on your joints—something that’s increasingly important as you age. You may not burn as many calories walking as you would jogging or doing other more intense workouts, but with a consistent brisk walking routine you can lose weight, strengthen muscles, improve heart health, and just enjoy the great outdoors.
2. Swimming
Another great low-impact, cardio exercise for people in their 50s and beyond is swimming. Swimming laps or water aerobics are recommended ways to stay in shape, lose weight, and strengthen bones. Check with your fitness center today about signing up for a water fitness class and find one that fits your personality.
3. Weight Lifting
You may be gaining weight, but as you age you’re likely losing bone density and muscle mass. For this reason, strength-training exercises become all the more important in your latter years. Maintaining muscle mass will help ward off weight gain and increasing bone density will help prevent brittle bones that are easily broken.
Two to three times a week, plan to undergo strength-training exercises that force your body to move against some sort of resistance. This could be at the gym with barbells, dumbbells, or weight machines or at home with bodyweight exercises, elastic bands, or an exercise ball. Take one or two days off (two is best) between strength-training sessions to allow your muscles time to
4. Stretching
In your younger years you probably managed fine without much stretching, but as you age, flexibility and range of motion begin to decline. A regular stretching routine is one way to prevent injury and stay limber. Right after your strength-training sessions is an ideal time to stretch since your muscles and tendons are warmed up. Two to three days a week, plan to spend a few minutes performing stretches that work all major muscle groups.
Yoga and Pilates are both workouts that improve flexibility, strengthen muscle, and burn calories at the same time, so slip them in your routine and age with even more grace.
5. Warming Up
Maybe you got away with skipping your warm-up in years past, but an adequate warm-up before exercise becomes increasingly important as you get older. A warm-up allows your heart rate, breathing, and body temperature to gradually increase. Since you’re not as flexible as you used to be, a warm-up period also preps your muscles for exercise and slowly increases the range of motion of your joints. Spend three to five minutes at the beginning of your workout doing light cardio or gentle stretches.
© 2009-2010 Keuilian Inc.
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The content and information on this site is not intended to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent disease.
Please consult your physician prior to starting any exercise or diet program.
There’s good fat and then there’s bad fat. _____ fat, however, is the worst.
There’s good fat and then there’s bad fat. _____ fat, however, is the worst.
Not long ago, all dietary fat was considered the enemy as fat was thought to be the cause of weight gain. Thankfully, we now know that certain types of fat are an essential part of a healthy diet. Unsaturated fats such as polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are good for your heart and reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease. In large amounts, though, saturated fats are bad for your heart. But it’s trans fat that does the most damage to your heart and should be completely avoided.
It took years to get to this point, but food regulation authorities have recognized the dangers of trans fat and are requiring it to be removed from food products in the very near future. So what is trans fat, how does it affect your health, and where is it hiding?
Partially Hydrogenated Oils
There’s naturally occurring trans fat and artificial trans fat. Dairy, lamb, and meat contain trace amounts of trans fat that can’t be avoided, regardless of how you prepare your meal. Food manufacturers make artificial trans fat by adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oil. Called “partially hydrogenated oil” (PHO), trans fat is solid at room temperature.
Food manufacturers use trans fat because it is cheap, prolongs shelf life, and improves the taste of foods. Fast food restaurants like using trans fat to deep-fry their foods because it can be used over and over again without going bad.
Harms Your Heart
Compared to other types of fat, trans fat contains no nutritional value and is especially harmful to the health of your cardiovascular system. A diet high in trans fat raises your LDL (bad) cholesterol and lowers your HDL (good) cholesterol. High cholesterol puts you at risk for stroke, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease (the leading cause of death in the United States), so avoiding
Food Sources
Many foods still contain small amounts of trans fat. You likely have some of these foods in your pantry or refrigerator: baked goods such as cakes, cookies, and crackers, ready-made frostings, chips, microwave popcorn, fried foods such as doughnuts, French fries, and fried chicken, nondairy coffee creamer, vegetable shortening, stick margarine, and refrigerated dough used to make cinnamon rolls, pizza crust, or biscuits. If you find them in your house, do yourself a favor and toss it.
How to Avoid
It’s hard to completely avoid all trans fat if you eat processed foods. That said, you can start by looking at nutrition labels. The label may say zero grams of trans fat, but the food may still contain up to a half a gram per serving, and the fat can add up if you eat more than one serving. A better way to tell if a food contains trans fat is to read the ingredient label. If you see “partially hydrogenated oil,” then it’s made with some amount of trans fat.
To leave trans fat out of your buggy, be picky about the type of processed snack foods you buy. Choose the ones that aren’t made with trans fat. Center your diet around whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, poultry, and nuts. Use oils such as canola, olive, or sunflower. Buy soft margarines that aren’t made with PHO.
The Future of Trans Fat
Now that health experts have proven the dangers of trans fat, food-regulating authorities have ordered the dangerous fat to be removed from food products. As fewer foods contain trans fat, the number of heart attacks and strokes should decrease. In the next few months, trans fat should no longer be listed on nutrition labels and partially hydrogenated oil should be removed from ingredient lists. In the meantime, stay vigilant against consuming harmful fats and give your body its best opportunity at optimal health.
© 2009-2010 Keuilian Inc.
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The content and information on this site is not intended to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent disease.
Please consult your physician prior to starting any exercise or diet program.
Yo-yo dieting, which causes weight cycling, is never good for your health. Here’s how it puts you in harm’s way.
Yo-yo dieting, which causes weight cycling, is never good for your health. Here’s how it puts you in harm’s way.
In preparation for your high school reunion last year, you lost 15 pounds. Since then you’ve regained the weight—plus some. Now you want to fit into a dress you bought for your cousin’s wedding so you’re on a new diet. Sound familiar?
In your effort to lose weight, how many diets have you tried? While dieting does help you lose weight, as soon as you return to your previous way of eating, the weight returns.
This repeated cycle of losing weight only to pick it up again and again is known as weight cycling. When the cycle is the result of dieting, it’s often referred to as yo-yo dieting. Weight changes could be as small as five pounds or greater than 50 pounds.
Regardless of how many pounds you lose and gain, it’s not just your waistline or clothing budget that suffers from weight cycling. Your health is harmed as well. Here are five ways yo-yo dieting affects your mental and physical health.
#1: It Zaps Your Confidence
You lose weight and feel great about yourself. Gain it all back and you feel like a failure. Weight cycling contributes to discouragement and a lack of self-esteem. The constant dieting makes you feel trapped. It’s no fun dieting, and you don’t see an end in sight. When you’re overweight, you’re more likely to be discontent with how you look and feel. Society tells you that thin, fit people are worth more and are more beautiful. Don’t fit the stereotype? Then you feel less than, depressed, and moody.
#2: It Affects Your Hormones
Crash diets that severely restrict calories mess with your body’s delicate hormone balance. Insulin, cortisol, and estrogen levels increase, which leads to a bigger appetite, food cravings, and weight gain around your middle. Abdominal fat is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.
Weight loss that leads to fat loss means a decrease in the amount of leptin your body produces. Leptin is the hormone that tells your brain when you’re full and encourages you to stop eating. With less leptin, your appetite increases and you feel hungry all the time. This is one reason why so many people go on diet after diet.
#3: It Slows Your Metabolism
Long-term calorie restriction sends your body into starvation mode. When it’s not sure when its next meal will be, the body holds on to every calorie to save for future energy. A slowed metabolism is not what you want if you’re trying to keep weight off for good. When you return to normal eating habits, your body still wants to hold on to calories and weight returns with a vengeance.
#4: It Causes Muscle Loss
When you lose weight, you’re likely losing muscle as well as fat. When you quit your diet, fat is regained faster than muscle is built. Unless strength-training exercises are a regular part of your routine, over time you’ll lose muscle, strength, and weight-loss ability since muscle plays an important role in burning calories.
#5: It Prevents Lasting Weight Loss
Thinking that diets are a quick fix, a thing to dread, and something to do and then move on prevents you from making long-term changes necessary for lasting weight loss. Fad diets do lead to weight loss and that’s why they’re so popular. The problem with fad diets, however, is that they lack sustainability. You can’t avoid carbs forever, eat grapefruit for every meal, or live on lemonade for long. As soon as you return to your normal diet, the weight piles back on.
So skip the fad train and go for lasting health!