Do you ever find yourself looking in the mirror, wondering how to get rid of your stubborn double chin? If you do, you’re not alone. While there are many methods for eliminating chin fat, some are expensive and painful and others aren’t very effective. At Advanced Regenerative Therapy in Buford, GA, we are proud to offer the most effective chin fat removal, Kybella.
How Long Do Kybella Results Last?
For all intents and purposes, the results of this treatment are permanent. Once the deoxycholic acid is injected into your chin, there are forever fewer fat cells in the area. Since the adult human body can’t grow any new fat cells, even if you gain weight in the future, the treatment area will never be as large as it was before treatment. There simply aren’t enough cells to store a significant amount of extra energy.
However, this doesn’t mean that you can forget your healthy lifestyle. There’s nothing wrong with having a glass of wine on a Friday night or a Bloody Mary Sunday morning. Just don’t forget to include your liquid calories and snacks in your daily intake. These “hidden” calories add up quickly and can cause rapid weight gain, even to the point of affecting your new, sleek contours.
How Many Sessions Will I Need to Achieve My Desired Results?
During your initial consultation, we will diagnose the cause of your submental fullness (double chin). If your submental fullness is caused by genetics or age, you may only need two or three sessions to achieve your ideal results. If, however, your double chin is caused by excess fat, you may need five or six Kybella injection sessions to achieve an attractive, defined chin and smooth, tight neck.
How Long Does Each Session Take?
Each treatment session takes roughly 15 to 20 minutes, but the injections themselves take mere seconds. Factors affecting how long your session will take include the dose in each injection, how many injections you need based on your amount of subcutaneous fat and whether you are only treating your double chin or you are also treating deep bands of fat around your neck.
How Soon Can I Come in for a Follow-Up?
Most of our clients like to space their treatments roughly a month apart. However, since it can several months to see the final results of treatment, some clients like to schedule their appointments three months apart. We’ll discuss scheduling with you at your initial consultation once we have determined that this is the appropriate fat removal method for you.
Am I a Good Candidate for This Treatment?
Only an initial consultation will reveal if you are a good candidate for this treatment. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the best candidate for Kybella is an individual who is at least 18 years of age and wishes to enhance the contours of his or her chin and neck. However, we will review your medical history and current health to determine definitively if you are currently healthy enough for treatment.
For example, you may need to wait on treatment if you have recently had surgery on your face, chin, or neck. It can take between six and 12 months to recover from an invasive procedure, and it’s important that you give your skin plenty of time to heal post-op. You should also hold off on treatment if you are experiencing difficulty swallowing, have bleeding or clotting disorders, or are pregnant or nursing.
How Should I Prepare for Treatment?
Since this treatment is non-invasive, there is very little you need to do in the way of preparation. In the two weeks leading up to your treatment, wear a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an adequate sun protection factor that is adequate for your skin tone. For most people, this will be a minimum of 35 to 55 SPF with a greater sun protection factor required for individuals with a history of skin cancer or other skin concerns.
During this time, you should also ensure that you are adequately hydrated. Hydration needs vary based on height, weight, gender, age, and activity level. A good general rule of thumb is that you should drink between half of a gallon and a full gallon of water daily for adequate hydration. If this seems like an insurmountable chore, flavor your water with citrus fruits, drink tea or coffee in moderation and eat soups or stews.
Is There Anything I Need to Do the Night Before Treatment?
Yes. The night before your scheduled treatment session, go to bed early. You will see the results of your treatment sooner if your lymphatic system is operating at peak efficiency. For this to occur, you need to be adequately rested and hydrated and get or keep your cardiovascular system running as smoothly as possible.
How Much Weight Can I Gain Before My Contours Are Affected?
How much weight you can gain before your contours are affected depends on several factors, including your height, body fat percentage and genetics. Typically, men can gain more weight than women can before changes in body contours are apparent because they are usually taller and weigh more. Men can usually gain up to 10 pounds before they start noticing changes in their contours. Women may only be able to gain two or three pounds.
To keep yourself on track, weigh yourself as soon as you wake up and use the restroom in the morning once per week. Weighing on the same day of the week shows you trends without bogging you down with temporary water weight fluctuations. You may weigh more Sunday mornings because you ate a lot Saturday night, but if your weight is roughly the same every Sunday, you’re on the right track and most likely maintaining your weight.
What if I Don’t Want to Weigh Myself?
If you don’t want to weigh yourself, but you still want to make sure you’re on the right track for fat maintenance, there are other ways you can gauge how your weight is trending. If you have a soft tape measure, measure your chest, waist, hips, and thighs once a week. It may seem silly to measure your thighs when you’re concerned about ensuring your double chin doesn’t return.
However, it makes sense when you take a second to think about it. We all gain weight in different places at different times. If the button of your pants is digging into your stomach and your sweatpants are no longer so baggy in the thighs, you’re probably putting on fat. Water weight retention usually occurs in the face and upper abdomen. Being aware that you’re once more storing excess energy will allow you to change your diet before you put on weight in your face.
How Can I Maintain My Weight?
After Kybella, if you notice that you’re starting to pack on pounds of fat, don’t panic. Listen to some meditative music and reflect honestly on your diet and exercise habits of late. Have you been drinking more alcohol? Have you been eating more sweet or salty snacks? Have you become more sedentary? If you can’t identify where you’re going wrong in your lifestyle, keep a log of your eating habits, such as why, when, and what you eat, and your exercise routine.
When you’re in your 20s, 30s, or 40s, it’s safe to say that diet is for fat loss and exercise is for fitness. At the risk of sounding cliche, it’s impossible to outrun a bad diet. In other words, you will never exercise enough to make up for eating half of an extra-large pizza or four servings of mac and cheese.
How Your Metabolism Changes in Your 50s
When you’re in your 50s, your metabolism changes in several ways. Your body starts to produce sex hormones at a reduced rate by the time you’re 25. By the time you reach the age of 50, your hormones are so imbalanced that you suffer from fatigue, simultaneously reducing your activity level and fat metabolism. In fact, your metabolism can slow down so much that you need 30% fewer calories per day to maintain your body fat percentage.
If you needed 1,800 calories per day to maintain your body fat percentage at 25, you would need 1,260 calories daily at age 50. If you didn’t change your lifestyle, you would be consuming an excess of 540 calories per day. Extrapolating this, you would gain over 56 pounds per year. You may naturally feel less hungry and eat less, but it’s incredibly easy to gain weight if your diet changes minimally and your activity level remains steady or decreases.
What You Can Do About Weight Gain With Age
There are several things you can do to minimize the seemingly inevitable weight gain that occurs with age. If you want to keep eating and drinking the way you did when you were younger, you may want to increase the amount of time you spend doing cardio. If you don’t have time to exercise enough to counteract your naturally slowing metabolism, think about putting on some muscle. This is a great way to lose or maintain fat at any age.
To put on muscle, focus your exercise time on intense cardio, like swimming and rowing, that will push your muscles to failure, facilitating their growth. Make sure you’re eating between 0.5 and 0.8 grams of protein per pound of your body weight and give your muscles plenty of time to rest. Be patient, and trust the process. Muscle growth always occurs the fastest at the beginning of your muscle-building journey.
Other Things You Can Do for Your Metabolism
Let’s face it. It’s easier to take steps to increase your metabolism than it is to change your diet after decades. We can help with that. If you notice your pants are feeling a little tighter, your metabolism may be to blame, and IV vitamin therapy can help you restore your metabolism.
There are over a dozen benefits of IV vitamin therapy, and solutions can be customized based on an individual’s unique needs. Notably, vitamin IV drips that include B-complex vitamins boost fat and protein metabolism, mood, and energy. The hydration provided by every solution facilitates a healthy cardiovascular system and an efficient lymphatic system, hastening the results of your Kybella injections.
Learn More About Sculpting Your Ideal Contours Today
Have you tried every chin and neck exercise in the book to no avail? Have you reached your ideal weight but still struggle with a double chin and bands of neck fat? You no longer have to wonder how to eliminate your double chin. You can eliminate this stubborn fat safely, quickly, and effectively with Kybella. To determine if you are a good candidate for this treatment, request an appointment now at Advanced Regenerative Therapy in Buford, GA.