Hypoxi: how I beat cellulite: ThePost.ie


TCH Archives > Sunday Business Post > 2007/05/27 > Hypoxi: how I beat cellulite

Hypoxi: how I beat cellulite
Sunday, May 27, 2007 - By Fiona Ness
Truth is, men just don’t know how to give a woman a compliment.

My post-Hypoxi form, I have been told, is ‘‘much, much firmer’’ and ‘‘definitely more toned’’. Begging the response: what state was I in before Hypoxi?

Obviously all previous efforts to attain the body beautiful by cycling, swimming and contorting into yogic forms counted for not one jot. It seems that, no, Hypoxi is the thing.

Five weeks ago, I outlined the science behind Hypoxi, which is being advanced as a cellulite and inch-loss programme specifically for women.

The treatment involves cycling in a vacuum from the waist down, for half an hour, three times a week. I would cycle in my ‘‘fat-burning zone’’, which was established and monitored by my therapists, Aoife and Karen, at the Dublin Hypoxi Studio.

This much you know. So what was Hypoxi like, and what were the results?

Before getting down to business, my therapist Karen, a fully-qualified gym and nutritional instructor, put the fear of God into me for not doing any stomach exercises, ever.

Despite being six months pregnant, she warned that on the next visit she’d be down on her hands and knees with me while crunched those stomach muscles on the floor. My early warning system detected that Hypoxi was going to be more than just pedalling a bike.

Although the stomach crunching didn’t materialise, Karen did concentrate heavily on my diet, because diet is all important to the effectiveness of the therapy.

Hypoxi requires that you stock up on carbohydrates before the cycle. Karen favoured porridge or wholegrain toast and jam in the hour before the cycle. Explaining the different types of energy in the body and how they are used, essentially she said the carbs would help my body burn the fat during and after the Hypoxi training.

Within two to four hours after Hypoxi I had to eat protein and - essentially - no carbs. Karen said this would enable the body to continue burning fat from the hard-to-reach fat cells for up to six hours after the training session. Crucially, I wasn’t to exercise in the six-hour period after the cycle.

Now when you consider the cost of Hypoxi and put your mouth where your money is, it makes it a whole lot easier to follow the eating programme - especially when you begin to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Keeping an exercise and food diary for the first few weeks helps too, as you’ll be less inclined to cheat if you know Karen and Aoife will see it on paper.

On the third week, I gave my therapist the food diary and was pedalling away, trapped in the vacuum with nowhere to run, when my eating habits were appraised.

Breakfast - porridge and soya milk - was ‘‘good’’. But lunch - two oatcakes and hummus - got a question mark and dinner - three vodkas and cranberry and a cocktail sausage dipped in Marie Rose sauce - I saw the look on Karen’s face and knew it wasn’t good.

I was told I wasn’t eating enough for the amount of exercise I was doing which, on top of the Hypoxi session three times a week, amounted to a 20km cycle a day, three, half hour swims a week, a yoga session and surfing or climbing on the weekend.

The fact was confirmed when, to my dismay, despite losing inches, Karen found I had actually put on weight. Karen told me the weight gain was mainly because my body was in famine mode, hanging on to every ounce of fat it could get because it never knew when its next meal was coming. To lose the weight, she said, I had to start eating more.

This reverse logic took some digesting, but I began making more of an effort to plan my meals with regularity. I also began to start seeing things.

The little dimples that had been winking at me from the top of my thighs had dispersed.

Still there if you squeezed the skin, but much flatter if not. Could it be that Hypoxi was actually working where all else had failed?

When the day of reckoning came, I had lost 25 centimetres over five different measurements taken from stomach, waist, bottom and thighs.

I’d like to see how the treatment works for women with a low fitness level and lots of cellulite whom, Karen said would see better results, with a reduction of up to 35 centimetres, all compliments of Hypoxi. Hypoxi targets inch-loss

THE FACTS

The treatment: Hypoxi S120 cellulite treatment

What it claims: to be the ultimate targeted inch-loss and cellulite reduction treatment for women

What it does: simultaneous action of vacuum suction and gentle exercise

The results: 25 centimetre loss in circumference of stomach, waist, bottom and thighs. Toned muscles.

What it costs: €595 for 15 sessions over five weeks

Where to get it: Dublin Hypoxi Studio, 58 Parnell Square West. D1, tel: 01–8788179 and nationwide, see www.hypoxitraining.com