A few months back I was invited to attend an event for laser company Cynosure. They were presenting the findings of a national study conducted into body image and the attitudes of Australian women today… Of 1000+ women aged between 25-60 y/o a whopping 93% of women said they would change something about their body if they could…
What this says to me is that over 90% of women are walking around day-in & day-out, feeling like they don’t love their bodies. *insert sad face.
When it comes to my body I’ve come to accept that there are things that I can change and things that I can’t (i.e can change eyebrows, can’t change protruding rib – lol), and I’ve worked pretty hard towards accepting my flaws and granting myself the power to make positive change. After all, life is short & we have one chance with this body. It’s my opinion that if you have the ability to change things you don’t like, then go for it. Just don’t let it dictate your happiness.
What I mean by this is stop saying “I’ll be happy when…” or “as soon as such-and-such happens”, it’s great to have goals but not at the cost of your happiness right now. And definitely not when you keep moving the goal posts on yourself. Love yourself, love your life, ENJOY IT, and chip away at those goals in parallel. I recently spoke about achieving your best summer body by suggesting we forget about ‘body‘ altogether and I realise that this may seem contradictory to my message here, but it’s really not…. step one #1 accept thy self… step #2 love thy life… step #3 do the things.
This said, I’m proud that over the past 12 months I’ve made positive change, starting from the inside. I started meditating, I’ve stopped sweating the small stuff, and found a more positive sense of self. In doing so I’ve now found confidence to work on the outside too. I’m not talking drastic changes here, I’m talking about general health & investing in non-invasive treatments to help achieve the best version of myself.
One such treatment is Sculpsure body contouring which I had the opportunity to trial with thanks to Cynosure.
The one area that bugs me on my body is my flanks, for no reason other than it’s where all my fat cells go to party, and it’s obviously a good party because they won’t budge. Time to call the cops. Despite not fluctuating in weight by more than 5kg in the past 10 years this one little problem area causes clothes to fit me poorly, and this is my gripe.
So, the Sculpsure treatment offered by Cynosure was a great option, as it is quick, noninvasive and able to target specific areas.
So, what’s it like?
I had my treatment done at Dermo Clear in Bondi Junction. The treatment was a pain free, effortless experience and the ladies there talked me through every aspect so I felt totally comfortable. The lasers get strapped to your body for the treatment period of 20mins and it feels like a gradual but intense warming sensation (nothing like the zapping lasers you get in other treatments like hair removal). I do have quite a high heat threshold but at no point did I think it was an uncomfortable burn.
The days following I experienced mild pain in the treated areas, like bruising (but without the bruises) and it subsided within a week. At the 6 week mark I went in for follow up appointment to check measurements and the results showed zero weight loss but with a reduction in the measurement around my flanks by -1.5cm. Hoorah! it works!
My final appointment is at 12 weeks. So stay posted for the final results!
And remember guys, be happy first. We all have the ability to be 100% happy with our bodies 100% of the time, but that’s 90% to do with mindset & self-acceptance, and 10% to do with actually taking the reins of our lives and discarding those excuses.
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes of all time which seems particularly relevant…
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
– Reinhold Niebuhr
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