A friend of mine was just telling me about this thing where your stomach is wrapped in a plaster cast for four days straight to help you lose inches in the waist and stomach area. They measure you before you put the cast on, after 4 days they measure you again, and then they put the cast on for another 3 days. It cost about $100 to $200 w/ a money back gurantee. Has anyone else heard of this? Does it work? Do the inches come back?
I've heard of similar things, and from what I understand it's really just a temporary fix that you have to have redone. I'm not sure how long it lasts tho'. It'd probably be better to do toning if that's your only real problem area.
My hunch is that it would work! Not because it would alter your metabolism or atrophy your tummy into submission, but rather because you'd be constantly aware of a cumbersome, brittle cast around your middle. With your weight insecurities foremost in your mind you might have the discipline to restrict your snacking. It seems like a sort of negative motivational tool, because it exploits your dislike with your current self rather than helping you to envision your final, healthy self. I’d far rather see you take those 7 days to romp around and do all those activities that the cast would hinder. That’s a nice freedom (and $100-200) to savor. The cast would probably also work on the principle of a self-fulfilling prophecy...if the cast-guys make you confident that it’s going to work, your expectation may help you to unconsciously alter your behavior. You could attribute the success to your psychology rather than to the actual cast. This is actually a pretty successful motivational tool, but I don’t think you need the plaster to use it. It’s kind of weird to use, because there’s a little self-deception involved...but it’s more a matter of emphasis of an attitude. For example, B-complex vitamins have many benefits, among them, more energy. If you’ve currently got a deficiency this supplement might give you a big boost, make you run around a little more and firm up your mid-section. Perhaps your headway will come from this nifty B-vitamin, or perhaps just from the hope you had in it. Who knows? either way, the progress will be sweet. Just do what you can to put yourself on a positive trajectory. At the very least, if you don’t have progress, your situation won’t worsen. Disclaimer: I haven’t actually heard of this product/ service...but I'm quite, quite skeptical.
I have done the body wrap that takes 2 hours and you lose 15-20 inches throughout your body. This sounds a lot like that. Basically your body sweats a lot. In a body wrap they rub a heating agent all over and wrap you in plastic wrap and then put you in a sweatshirt and pants. I was then placed on machines that did the movements automatically. It works but the inches are counted all over your body and it's not just in one area - you can not be shy because the person rubs the heating agent all over while you are wearing a paper thong and disposable tube top. I lost 18 inches in 2 hours according to them. Before I went, I measured myself in the typical areas (calf, hips, thigh, waist, chest) and did the same when I went home - according to my measurements I lost a total of 6 inches from those areas.
So it does work but the plaster cast seems harsh and uncomfortable.
Hi momonline42,
The inches remained off. I thought it was going to come right back after my first glass of water!! It remained gone. I was also dieting -- when haven't I been dieting <IMG SRC="http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/dizzy.gif"> So it worked well. I did it two times about 2 months in between. I thought it was worth the price and overall worked well. Plus it was a nice boost in your morale to lose inches so effortlessly. The cost was $75.00 each time (it was a special - normally $95.00). Hope this helps, CC
