Did it work?

THE battle of the bulge is almost over...

Regular readers will remember how I embarked on a body-shaping treatment designed to shift my spare tyre after years of quoffing beers, biscuits and curries.

My problem was that in spite of regular visits to the gym, a deskbound job and a love for the bad things in life had left me with a blubbery belly which just wouldn't shift.

So I was keen to embark on a course of sessions using the Vacunaut, an innovative body-shaping device invented by Austrian company Hypoxi International in 2002.

I headed along to Silhouette Diet and Fitness in Woodham Mortimer, just outside of Danbury, where husband and wife team Bert and Lorraine Cole run a treatment suite.

The Vacunaut works by actively tackling the problem of belly fat by increasing the skin temperature and circulation in this region. This intensifies the blood circulation in the fat tissues, and accelerates the transportation of fatty acids to the muscles exercised.

The result is the concentrated breakdown of fat in the stomach and hips, and it also gives the muscles in these areas an extremely effective exercise workout.

The Vacunaut is a cross between a wet suit and a tyre inflator which you wear around the midriff and is linked up to a pump.

Aerobic exercise in the suit guarantees that fatty acids from the stomach and hip areas specifically are used for energy production, with a network of 122 chambers in the suit producing both low and high pressure in those regions.

The low pressure sucks the blood into the affected skin and fat tissues where it is enriched with the required amount of fat, and then the change from low to high pressure accelerates the transport of the fat-enriched blood to the muscles exercised.

So for the last four weeks I've been attending thrice-weekly Vacunaut sessions, which involved walking to a reasonable pace on a treadmill whilst wearing the suit.

The programme also involved maintaining a healthy, well-balanced diet, cutting down on alcohol, drinking more water and so on.

The biggest lifestyle change was ensuring I ate breakfast every day, something I usually only did at weekends, and making sure I ate regularly every two to four hours. This meant my body converted all consumed foodstuffs to energy, rather than storing them as fat.

I was weighed and measured throughout the treatment, and after a few sessions I started to notice a gradual diminishing of the girth... Slowly, but surely, my gut began to disappear.

As the weeks progressed, I noticed I was no longer picking at food during the working day, my sleep was better and I wasn't drinking as much. I no longer felt hungry all the time, the post-lunch crash which usually left me feeling tired and sleepy disappeared, and I was much more alert throughout the day.

So as well as the obvious benefits of shifting some fat, the treatment also saw a lifestyle change which I am determined to continue in the future.

My final session was last Thursday, and I nervously agreed to another measuring, aware I had definitely lost a lot of my belly, but not sure exactly how much. So I was staggered to hear that I had shifted 14.4cm of fat – about 5 and a half inches – from around my stomach, waist and hips.

There is still a bit of a paunch, but I never would have been able to lose quite so much of my gut within a matter of weeks without using the Vacunaut. It's a fantastic start, and now I can hopefully get the rest of it shifted over the coming weeks through my new diet and further gym sessions. I might never end up with a washboard six pack, but I'm happy just being able to see my toes again!

To find out more about the treatment , visit www.silhouette-diet-fitness.co.uk or call 01245 226257.