How I managed to look the way that I do.
The Body Mass Index (BMI) might not be the best measure of bodily proportions, but if you believe that it is a worthwhile measure of how one appears, mine used to be over 30. A BMI over 30 is classified as obesity. I never thought of myself as such until my doctor told me so. A few years ago I was playing soccer with my son, and while kicking the ball I felt a sudden horrific pain in my knee, I fell, and could not walk normally. An MRI showed that I had a severe tear of my meniscus which required surgery. The orthopedic surgeon told me frankly that had I not been obese, the manoeuvre that I performed would not have caused as much damage to my knee, and I would probably not need surgery. That was my wake up call.
After the surgery and physiotherapy I decided that I had to do something about my weight. I used the various resources at my disposal to look into the different extreme weight loss methods. I went to scientific conferences on the topic of obesity. I read voraciously on the subject. I looked into various surgical and non-surgical options.
I wanted a quick fix. I looked into gastric bypass surgery, the lap-band, large volume liposuction and the gastric sleeve but I was reticent to submit to surgery to remedy a problem of what I considered to be caused by overindulgence.
I then explored non-surgical alternatives. I looked into cookie diets, a variety of smoothie recipes for weight loss, as well as protein shakes for weight loss. In the end I decided to follow the advice my mother gave me: diet and exercise. I succeeded thanks to an app on my smart phone, which I have since recommended to anyone looking for a means of weight loss: MyFitnessPal. I credit this app for my current BMI of 23. The app tracks the calories that you consume in terms of food and subtracts the calories burned by exercise. It leaves the individual in control of making the choices that are right for him in order to achieve his goals.
Although I achieved my target BMI, I was still self conscious about some of my stubborn fat. I go swimming weekly, and there were pockets of fat that I could not work off. While weight loss reduces fat throughout one’s body evenly, I wanted to lose just a little bit from my sides. This is exactly what liposuction promised to resolve, but when I scrutinized it further, I was turned off by some of the side effects of liposuction. Liposuction can result in scars, from there the surgeon cuts, but it can also result in a lumpy appearance of the area and in some cases even a blood clot. It was these liposuction side effects which motivated me to examine liposuction alternatives.
There are various non surgical liposuction devices on the market. Some use mechanical massage, others use heat, and one used cold. I was intrigued by the freezing method, called “coolsculpting” but I asked myself, does coolsculpting work. In theory it should. It has been around for decades as a treatment for cancer in the form of cryotherapy. It kills cells by freezing them. Cold has been known for a long time to kill the fat cells in the cheeks of children who suck on popsicles, and it’s called “popsicle panniculitis”.
By all measures, I have achieved a normal weight, and having achieved my goal, I feel there is nothing wrong with using a bit of modern technology to finish off the job. I want to be able to continue going swimming without thinking that people are looking at the fat hanging over the top of my bathing suit. I looked into how much does coolsculpting cost. It costs about 750$ per treatment area, and the number of areas that need to be treated are determined by the patient and the physician. In terms of costs, it’s like an affordable liposuction.
I went through the coolsculpting procedure myself. I am very happy with the results. Initially there was numbness and some minor bruising in the areas that were treated, but these are known coolsculpting side effects which are related to the cooling action of the technology freezing the nerve endings, and the mechanical pulling of the device. Fortunately these effects were temporary.
I have worked hard, and I am comfortable with the body that I have. I feel normal. I wear normal sized clothes, which I can find at any clothing store. There are no lumps of fat bulging out for me to be embarrassed about. I am average and this suits me just fine.
