What you NEED to know about Retinol

Here at Contouring Bodies, we know that a truly pampering skincare routine is all about helping maintain the skin barrier—the thin layer that protects your skin from the outside world. One of the most gentle, soothing ways to help improve barrier function? An antioxidant-infused face oil. Read more below!

Having healthy habits like going to the gym, playing sports and exercising can give you the control on where you build muscle, but unfortunately, you can’t control where you lose fat. That’s where Fat Freezing at our Sutherland Shire Body Contouring clinic comes in! Fat Freezing helps you get rid of stubborn pockets and bulges that don’t respond to diet and exercise. So, how do you know if you’re a good candidate for Fat Freezing? Signs That Fat Freezing May Work For You Fat Freezing uses an applicator cup that gently suctions onto the treatment area. The applicator cup uses sub-zero cooling technology to freeze fat cells in the area, essentially destroying them. Your body then removes those cells naturally, through the lymphatic & urinary system, giving you a slimmer, more contoured appearance. Fat Freezing Applicator Cup For Fat Freezing to be effective, you would ideally have a localised pocket or 'pad' of fat, such as a lower tummy bulge, love handles or a fat pad on the inner thighs etc. To see if you’re a good candidate, you can try a pinch test. If you have a few centimetres of fat you can pinch, and you can feel that it’s fat (not just loose skin), then there’s a good chance that fat freezing at Contouring Bodies can work for you. If you're still unsure, you are more than welcome to book in for a FREE consultation with our highly trained body contouring staff at our Caringbah Body Sculpting Clinic, this is also the most accurate way to find out if the Fat Freeze treatment is what's going to work best for you, your body, your lifestyle and your goals. Although clinical studies have shown that Fat Freezing can reduce up to 25% of fat in the treated area, it can only reduce fat in the area treated. For larger areas, you can go for the 2 applicator option, but it depends on the shape and distribution of the spot you’d like to treat. Again, this is all stuff that you can leave to us, as the body contouring specialists to figure out! In some cases, after listening to your goals and customising the best treatment for you, we might recommend another treatment option for you. This is where Contouring Bodies free consultations come in handy so you can find out if Fat Freezing is for you are right for you before making a commitment. Fat Freezing Post Pregnancy Are you a mum going through post-partum? Most women have a little fat pocket on the lower abdomen post-pregnancy, and it often doesn’t respond to diet and exercise. Fat Freezing has become a really popular post-pregnancy treatment to help with these little pockets. You can also follow it up with RF Skin Tightening for abdominal skin that may have stretched during pregnancy and also our EMS treatment to assist in repairing abdominal separation or loss of strength in the abdomen area. Visceral Fat vs. subcutaneous fat Your abdomen has two layers of fat. Subcutaneous fat sits underneath the skin, but above the muscle. Visceral fat sits below the muscles. Fat Freezing, and other non-invasive fat reduction methods offered at our Sutherland Shire Body Contouring Clinic, treat subcutaneous fat (below the skin). Visceral fat can only be managed with lifestyle adjustments. If you need help with visceral fat, we recommend speaking to your doctor or a weight-loss professional. Cellulite Cellulite is a textural concern. Some clinics claim that you can reduce cellulite by freezing away the fat, but we have achieved better results with ultrasound-based treatments like Cavitation and RF Skin Tightening. Ultrasound technologies can be used to eradicate fat cells while also tightening loose, dimply skin, such as cellulite. Loose Skin Instead Of Fat Sometimes we get a little bit of loose skin that we mistake for fat. It’s especially common on the arms and under the chin. For these areas, an Ultrasound treatment such as Fat Cavitation, Laser Lipo or RF Skin Tightening might be a more suitable option. This technology uses ultrasound, cold level lasers and radio frequenct to target and destroy fat cells, while also stimulating collagen in the deeper layers of your skin to help tighten it up. The Right Fit We’re all beautifully unique, and we all have our own ideals. The best way to find the most effective treatment for you is to discuss those goals and get an assessment with a Contouring Bodies Sydney Body Sculpting Clinic professional who has experience with the different fat reduction treatments. At Contouring Bodies, our consultations are complimentary and obligation-free, so click the button below to book now!

1. You Never Let Yourself Indulge Weird one, we know! Restricting yourself of any indulgences can actually cause your whole diet to backfire. A study published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, found that calorie restricting diets can actually lead to long term weight gain due to an increase in the stress hormone cortisol. This fat storing hormone spikes due to the psychological stress from constantly saying “no” to the dessert you want so badly. If you've ever been to our Sutherland Shire Body Contouring Clinic, then you've probably heard Mary say this! Keep indulgences in healthy moderation and they’re not an issue! 2. Hormonal Imbalances There are a number of hormonal imbalances that can occur in the body that factor into why your fat might not be budging. Things such as an under active thyroid (when your thyroid gland does not produce enough thyroid hormones which regulate metabolism), Polycystic Ovary Syndrome ‘PCOS’ (a hormone related problem causing small cysts on the ovaries) and menopause (which results in hormonal changes that can make you more likely to gain weight around the abdomen). Even things such as stress, Estrogen dominance and Insulin resistance can factor into stubborn fat. Keep a look out for mood swings, heavy or painful periods, low libido or insomnia as they may be signs of a hormonal imbalance. 3. You Don’t Practice Mindful Eating Eating mindfully can do wonders to get rid of stubborn belly fat, but for some, no matter how clean they eat, the tum is there to stay! That's where our Body Contouring treatments come in! Mindful eating is when you focus on every aspect of eating and putting a focus on the sensations brought by every bite of your food. Although with living our busy lives this can be very difficult, we have the tendency to eat while we’re distracted by our phones or other devices which cause us to overeat. According to Harvard Medical School practicing mindful eating can actually help slim your figure. 4. Your Not Eating Enough Some dieters get so caught up in being thin that they heavily restrict the number of calories they eat, or even turn to going the whole day without eating. Going on these dangerously restrictive diets can actually slow down your metabolism and cause pounds to burn off slower, so remember to stay on the healthy track of a balanced diet and exercise. 5. Your Getting Older When your metabolism slows, you don’t need as many calories to keep your body humming along, adding to the metabolic slow down is a shift in your body composition. As you age, your muscle mass decreases and your fat mass increases. If you're wanting to improve your muscle mass, try our EMS muscle building treatment! If you have concerns with excess unwanted fat or you're simply just looking for advice, book in for one of our FREE body contouring consultations and speak to our body transformation expert today!

If you have ever found yourself crouched over a magnifying mirror obsessing over the size of your pores, you are not alone! Pores are a common issue in the skincare community, and a concern we commonly see in our Sutherland Shire Facial Clinic, BUT: What causes enlarged pores? What do large pores mean? How can you treat them? This week in the blog, we are going to be going through the ins and outs, so you can have all the details and how you can improve the look and feel of your pores with Contouring Bodies!

Trying to figure out what you can and cannot do during pregnancy can be an overwhelming task. With so many different rules and regulations, it can be hard to know where to start! This week in the blog, we are going through three best practices during pregnancy that you can try out! As a note, you should always check with your doctor and/or dermatologist to verify any questions or concerns you may have regarding skincare best practices.

You may have heard of Hyaluronic Acid in your favourite moisturiser or serum formula as it is definitely a buzzy word in the skincare community, but what exactly is it? —and what does it do? In this Contouring Bodies Sydney blog we are going to take you through the ins and outs of Hyaluronic Acid and how it pertains to your skincare routine.

Finding a serum that works best for your skin can be difficult. If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed when looking at different serums and treatments for your specific skin concerns, have no fear! This week in the blog, we are going over five different common skincare concerns and which serums can help. If you're still unsure about which skincare will work best for your skin type, click the button below to book a FREE skin consultation at our Sutherland Shire Body Contouring Clinic today!

Doing something new for the first time is always a nerve wracking experience, especially if you are doing something to your skin! However, if you have never had a facial, they are nothing to be afraid of. In this weeks blog post, we are going to take you through the ins and outs of facial treatments so you feel more prepared for your pamper session.

What is cellulite? Cellulite is a fat deposit beneath the skin that creates lumpy, dimpled flesh commonly on the thighs, hips, buttocks and stomach. It's something almost everyone struggles with but they've had difficulty in trying to get rid of. At our Sutherland Shire Body Contouring Clinic, Cellulite improvement treatments are something we are very experienced in. It involves fibrous connective cords that tether the skin to the underlying muscle, with the fat lying between. As fat cells accumulate, they push up against the skin, while the long, tough cords pull down. This creates an uneven surface or dimpling. Cellulite can be developed due to hormones, age, genetic, diet and lifestyle factors. Cellulite will never 100% go away, but at Contouring Bodies Sutherland Shire Body Contouring Clinic, we can take measures to greatly improve it, at Contouring Bodies we offer a variety of different treatments to treat cellulite. Unsure if this is right for you? Click the button to book in a FREE body contouring consultation with our expert Mary today!