For most of my adult life I have been locked in a game of yo-yo with my weight.
Up and down and round and round we go – and where it’ll stop, nobody knows.
Recently, I reached the point where it might be time to admit I needed serious help and reach for the injectable fat loss drugs.
The problem is, I don’t like needles. Or drugs. I don’t even like to take an aspirin.
But could there be a third way? One that doesn’t rely on pure willpower or on the dreaded jabs? Well, perhaps. When news of an updated version of a treatment I’d tried before, LPG Endermologie®, passed my desk, I felt a jolt of excitement.
LPG Endermologie® is one of those secret weapons French women have been using for decades to help them stay trim.
It’s a deep therapeutic massage using a machine with both rollers and a suction device. Originally created for use in physiotherapy, it’s more effective than traditional hand massage at stimulating lymphatic drainage.
Now the company that makes the machine has announced a new generation of tech: the Cellu M6 Infinity.
LPG Endermologie® is one of those secret weapons French women have been using for decades to help them stay trim
This is said to offer even deeper and more precise cellular stimulation, plus lots of smart tech add-ons like a personalised analysis of tissue to enhance efficiency.
But what really caught my eye was the company’s claim – supported by clinical trials – that, with the updated tech, after a programme of a dozen sessions, people showed both improved eating behaviour and a 4.3 per cent increase in leptin (the hormone that makes us feel full). Which isn’t the same as switching off all food noise, but might still channel some of the benefits of Ozempic.
I should be clear that LPG Endermologie® do not make any kind of claim that this is an alternative to fat jabs.
But they do say it can increase our appetite-suppressing hormone – and can do so via a totally non-invasive and drug-free route seemed worth a shot.
So, I signed up at the company’s west London HQ for my customised 12-session course on the Body Contouring Program.
The first thing to say is it’s very, very relaxing. Each session started with suction along the spine to calm the central nervous system; I’ve almost never felt so chilled and usually fell asleep in the hour-long sessions.
You are not naked: instead, you wear a full body stocking (with a closely knit weave to cover all modesty areas) so that the mechanical head of the machine never actually touches your skin.
That head feels a bit like I’d imagine a Pac-Man would if it were to gently munch its way along your limbs. It certainly doesn’t hurt – although as the treatments and their intensity progressed, I would sometimes feel as though I’d just had a good workout.
‘For most of my adult life I have been locked in a game of yo-yo with my weight,’ writes Edwina Ings-Chambers
It’s recommended that for best results you go twice a week for the 12-session programme but for logistical reasons my treatments were slightly more spread out.
Still, by my second appointment, I felt lighter and as the course went on, I’d walk out feeling positively sprightly.
Long-held water retention lessened significantly in my legs, making them look noticeably slimmer. Less than halfway through the course of treatment, tensions in my body were eased. I felt more centred, clearer in my thoughts and less stressed.
My energy levels have soared, I’ve had a natural inclination to walk more and am now averaging 20,000 steps a day.
By treatment eight, my massage therapist Esther told me my thighs feel less fibrous to work on, and it’s true that my cellulite has dramatically improved. By the last session, I definitely looked slimmer – many friends commented on it.
I won’t get out the tape measure or stand on the scales just yet (as an emotional eater and currently larger than I want to admit even to myself, I can’t face the numbers at the moment) but my knickers are definitely on the looser side and a shirt that I couldn’t button up for ages is now happily back in my wardrobe circulation.
And, yes, my appetite has changed. I’m not only eating less and realising I feel full faster but my cravings for sweet and salty foods have dramatically reduced.
How does a mechanical massage reduce hunger? The science suggests it significantly calms the nervous system. Independent trials have proved it reduces cortisol which increases leptin.
I appreciate a lot of this sounds almost too good to be true but the proof is in the pudding (or my not wanting to eat it).
As with most treatments, you need to keep it up to maintain the benefits and my therapist recommends a monthly treatment.
At £120 for an hour-long session, that’s cheaper than Mounjaro which, after price hikes, can now cost from £136 to £436 a month.
I haven’t completely ruled out the fat jabs but, for now, I don’t need them. The future, finally, feels lighter.
- Treatments RRP from £2/minute.
