My experience with CoolSculpting at Amara Day Spa

Hi guys! I can't tell you how excited I am about this post today. It has been months in the making and I am finally ready to share my final results with you guys!

As you all know, I've had 3 kiddos now. Unless you are a magical unicorn woman who managed to look BETTER after pregnancy than before, chances are your babies reaked some amount of havoc on your body. Combine that with age and metabolism slowing down and it's safe to say that your post-baby body is a shadow of your pre-baby body. That's ok though! My children were worth every single stretch mark and fat pocket I accumulated, and I'd do it over a million times for them.

But sometimes it ok to miss who you used to be physically, or even to strive for a new level of physical improvement especially if you have never been able to feel at your goal before, at any point regardless of having children. My teens and early twenties I was in what I felt was my peak physical shape. I've danced since I was 6 years old. I cheered and danced in High School, cheered in college, and continued to be very active in working out after I was on my own. Unfortunately back then nature also tricked me into thinking that it was possible to eat 3 helpings of mashed potatoes in one sitting with no repercussions and survive solely on energy drinks and oatmeal cream pies and that this was going to last forever. WRONG. Just so ignorant. lol
I mean let's just take a moment of silence here for my pre-children body. This was in college and I actually had ABS people. ABS. I don't think I have seen abdominal muscles on myself since the beginning of 2011. (Sorry for the fuzziness, these pics are hella old and I can had to screenshot from my Facebook lol)

I gained 32 pounds when I got pregnant with Ava. I did end up losing all 32 fairly quick, but things were....let's just say, not the same as they used to be even though my weight was gone. It was like my weight had redistributed to different part of my body and I wasn't really loving the look. Next came William who's champ pregnancy clocked in at solid 40 pounds gained. That one took a while to recover from, not gonna lie. I started to notice that my body was not responding to weight loss in the way it used to and that things were gonna need to change with a quickness. I made changes to my diet and by about a year after his birth I was on the fast track to losing all the weight and then some. I ended up losing it all and actually got down to my wedding weight, but still no matter how much weight I lost I ALWAYS had a belly pooch and love handles. Then came Roman who clocked in at 37 pound weight gain and it was seemingly game OVER. I was eating clean and getting to that gym multiple times a week and putting work to get this fat gone. But it kind of felt hopeless because it WOULD NOT MOVE.

It became obvious to me that my weight loss had changed it's targeted areas. When people lose or gain weight, sometimes it's all over their whole body equally. Some only lose weight in the mid section, arms, trunk, butt, legs, but it's kind of funny that it's almost never where we need it from right? My current body pulls all of its weight loss in my arms, boobs, and legs. It holds onto ALL of its weight in my midsection. So I end up with what I call my chicken body. A round middle trunk on toothpicks, hahaha. Ok yeah, that is dramatic, but it is honestly how I felt sometimes. It seemed that no matter how much I hit the gym or cleaned up my diet, my gut and love handles never ever budged and I felt really defeated.

Liposuction is not something I ever considered. Number one it is very expensive, and second I understand it hurts like a mother. I didn't feel like my insecurities about my midsection would ever warrant needing this. But an alternative that was way less expensive and invasive, maybe I'd love to try it some day if I had a chance. A couple years ago something called CoolSculpting came out which was supposed to be an amazing alternative to lipo. Instead of invasively sucking out your fat during surgery, instead you freeze the fat cells (totally alert and awake) and they die off and absorb into your body never to return. "The CoolSculpting fat-freezing procedure is the only FDA-cleared,* non-surgical fat-reduction treatment that uses controlled cooling to eliminate stubborn fat that resists all efforts through diet and exercise. The results are proven, noticeable, and lasting—so you'll look great from every angle." DING DING! That was me to a T!

Here in Utah I have been a faithful client of literally my favorite day spa, Amara Day Spa and Salon. I had been going there for different services from hair appointments to massages and Botox over the last 5 years, and the owner Leigh is a dear sweet friend of mine. I was at a party in October with her and she was sharing her excitement that they were finally starting offering this amazing new service at their spa. I told her about my concerns and after discussing it she told me I would be a fantastic candidate for it, and she appreciated my honesty in only sharing things I truly love. She told me I would not be disappointed in the results and my followers would be so excited to see my results as it usually shrinks the fat area 25%, possibly more. I was in! Now I will say that I was little skeptical that it would work and I was not comfortable and never am comfortable sharing things with you guys that I don't actually, use, love, or would spend money on myself. I hated won't shlep nonsense, so I was nervous I wouldn't be impressed and let her down if I didn't want to share. I mean this is fairly new and I didn't know how much hype around something like this there really is, but if it really was legit, I wanted pretty much the whole world to know!


So without further ado, here you go friends! Let's dive into my experience, my results, and everything in between! Coolsculpting treatments usually come in 2 step parts. I chose to do my problem areas, my lower stomach and my love handles. Each area usually needs 2 different rounds about 6 weeks apart. Some areas that are larger might need more than one section twice, if that make sense. So for my stomach they needed to do it on each side at different times. One side for about 45 minutes, the other side for about 45 minutes. Then I would come back in a few weeks and do both sides again. This was the same with my love handles. Each side of my hips, one higher on the hip, one lower, then again in 6 weeks. This is me the day I got my stomach done at Amara!

I wore a comfortable pair of sweats and a sports bra. They place a gel pad over the area and then connect the machine to the area where it immediately sucks up the skin and fat into the large pocket of the handle. Some say that the initial sucking up can be uncomfortable, but it was definitely not an issue for me. The freezing starts to begin immediately, and you will start to feel the area literally freezing. This part is mildly uncomfortable. I do say mildly! It feels almost like when your hands have been in snow and then you run them under warm water. This only lasts for about 10 minutes before it goes completely numb and you no longer feel anything! At this point you can watch TV, play on your phone, Amara even will bring you drinks and food, you could even take a little nap if you wanted to! Once the time is up they remove the arm from the area and it kind of does look like a block of butter! It is crazy! Then they have to massage the frozen area for 2 minutes. This is honestly the most uncomfortable, possibly painful part of the entire experience but it is necessary and super affective! A thorough and deep massage of the area improves results up to 65%. So let them get in there and get in WORK on that massage cause it is over super quick. Then you are good to go! That's it! Seriously. The area will be numb, but you can walk right out of there in zero pain and go do whatever you want.

The rest of the day my stomach was reddish, numb and a little swollen looking but I was able to do all my normal activities. Now because I am sharing my entire experience good and the bad, some of you might experience some major swelling over the next few days. This all completely depends on your body and how it responds. By day 2 I legitimately looked pregnant. See below:

This did not affect my day at all, I just had to wear loose clothing for a few days. Swelling (if you have any) will subside within a few days, I think mine was completely gone within the week, and then it was time to watch the results slowly make their appearance! Some people's fat starts to dissolve faster than others, some slower, but usually you will see full final results within 3-4 months. But mine actually started to make major headway within 3 weeks. Every day it was better and better and flatter and flatter. I'm not kidding that I text Leigh and sent her photos asking if this was even normal for it to work this well this fast! I was floored. Here is a photo of my stomach before my very first treatment and then 3 weeks after my first treatment.

At 6 weeks I went back and took my before and after photos from my first round. This included my love handles as well, so you can also so either decrease! Here are those photos compared.

I mean what?? This my first round!! I couldn't wait to see the final results after I went back for my second treatment. So we repeated the same routine as last time with the love handles and stomach and I can honestly sit back and say I am astonished at the results. My second time getting it done I actually had almost no swelling that time, so clearly it was a one time thing for me. Here is the photo between my first round and my final round below and while they don't look different in the photos, it is the fact that my results have CONTINUED to improve over the course of the months!!

Here are the grids of my entire process. Before to after final treatment!

My final photos were taken in December, and now it is February and my results are the best they have ever been! Here is a photo of my current stomach 2 weeks ago (literally the messiest house EVER at the time) and the photo below that is my stomach as it is right now, as in 2 days ago.

The best news ever? It's that as long as you maintain being healthy and do not gain a ton of weight, the results are permanent. This is me now and it could actually make me cry, and actually has haha. I am sure iv'e annoyed my husband to no end with how much times I have showed him that I can't grab my fat roll on my stomach anymore. I would say "Remember? I used to be able to just grab the whole thing and giggle it!" I am 99% sure he'd wish I would stop talking about how amazing it is. Now this is not a fix all for bad habits. This is not a quick fix for eating terribly and laying on your couch. While the CoolSculpting does take credit for this direct fat loss, I do take credit for being responsible for my diet and trying to stay active and healthy, but friends...this is not some gimmick, this is not fingers crossed, hopefully it works for you kind of deal. It actually does work. Results are guaranteed. Of course everyone will be different and some people experience better or more obvious results than others, but you WILL see results even if they seem subtle at first!

I'm so grateful to Amara Day Spa for giving me the opportunity to try this out and trusting me to be the first one to relay this happy message for them. They have been amazing to work with and if you are considering this or will consider it at all, I couldn't recommend them more. Best yet Amara is running an amazing CoolSculpting special for the whole month of February and March! If you choose to do CoolSculpting with them you will get $200 off any CoolSculpting package, 20 units of free Botox (in one area) and 50% off any swimming suit with the package purchase (SEE IT HERE). Cause I mean you deserve a new suit with that new body right?? Consults with them are always free, so go see what they can do for you! They have locations in both Orem and Lehi and I was treated at both, and both locations treated me like gold. You can't go wrong. Here is their number: (801) 226-2300.

If you want to learn more about CoolSculpting from Amara, click HERE, if you want to read more about it from the CoolSculpting website, click HERE! Let me know if you have any questions, I am happy to answer anything I can! Thanks for reading about my journey, I know it was long but I wanted to share as much detail as I could about this awesome invention! xo


**This post is sponsored by Amara Day Spa but is unpaid and unbiased. All thoughts, reviews, and words are my own.