It’s estimated that 35 million people in the United States would raise their hand when asked if they have unwanted fat that they would freeze, if given the opportunity.
Fat is the number one beauty related concern for most people, after all. It impacts just about everyone we know – which is why we’ve built a business around cold fat removal and helping folks feel more confident with their body.
CoolSculpting is the name brand that everyone knows and loves to freeze away unwanted body fat for good – but today we’re answering the question: Can I freeze away fat at home with an ice pack?
Fat Freezing at Home – and our top reasons not to try it.
As much as we’d love to tell you there’s a safe and effective option for fat freezing at home, there’s not.
There’s a few reasons not to try at-home options for fat freezing:
1. It’s probably not going to work. In order to trigger a fat cell death, you’ve got to hold the fat at a specific temperature for a specific length of time, and it’s difficult to do that without specific, hyper-controlled cooling. Ice cubes aren’t going to do it.
2. It’s not safe. There’s an increased risk of frostbite along with a whole handful of other concerns. CoolSculpting is a medical procedure, and you’ve got to make sure you’re following the right steps and doing it the right way to cut down on risks and side effects. From an aesthetic perspective, you also want to make sure that treatments are done using appropriate protocols to leave natural looking results (assuming one day someone does come out with a way to actually make freezing fat at home work).
3. You’re going to waste your time and money. As of 2022, there’s no DIY option. Everything that exists now is a waste of time and money, unless you’ve found a certified CoolSculpting provider who’s willing to load up their 300lb machine and bring it to you.
If you’re looking for an effective way to use cold lipolysis technology to freeze body fat, don’t try fat freezing at at home. Freezing away unwanted fat involves controlled cooling of adipose tissue. The type of control and temperature we’re talking about involves a level of predictability that you will not find in those ice-belts or ice packs for at home fat freezing. More than likely, that at-home fat freezing trick you just bought is a glorified paper weight. If you try to ice pack away your fat, it’s not going to work. You’ll be cold, you may burn some extra calories, but you’re not going to freeze away body fat with an ice pack. Here’s why…
CoolSculpting owns the exclusive patent for fat cell death using cold. It’s important that you know this, but just because they own the patent, doesn’t mean at home fat freezing wouldn’t work. The scientific term(s) for using cold to freeze and kill fat is cryolipolysis or cold lipolysis technology. No other product or fat freezing technology has the safety mechanisms in place to protect the skin, muscle, nerve, or other tissue that you’re targeting when sculpting body fat. There is no control when using an ice pack to freeze body fat, which means you can’t really monitor the temperature of the tissue or safely target and kill fat at all. The CoolSculpting machines are equipped with thermistors, aka thermometers to measure the temperature of the tissue being treated along with the temperature being spit out by the machine. The constant monitoring and recalibrating of the temperature is what allows you to isolate a specific pocket and ensure that you’ll see a reduction in the fat cell layer. It’s how we make sure that the fat is actually frozen and that you’re safe during the treatment too! Additionally, there’s a component of suction drawing the fat away from the body and organs that protects you during the treatment and ensures that only fat is being treated and frozen.
How Cold Lipolysis Technology Was Born
Cold lipolysis technology (aka using cold to kill fat) has come along way over the years, but let’s take a walk down memory lane to revisit how CoolSculpting evolved. Back in the 70’s there were a few doctors who realized children sucking on popsicles were getting dimples. Cute, right? Same group of doctors later noticed equestrian riders sitting on horseback in the winter were getting dimples on their thighs, doubling down on the proof of a relationship between cold and fat. But… there wasn’t any control in either of the observations (Popsicle panniculitis or equestrian panniculitis) – it was simply noticing a relationship between fat and cold. So these doctors joined forces with Harvard and Massachusetts General to figure out how to selectively target and kill certain pockets of unwanted fat by using cold. Years of research and a few iterations of fat freezing technology later, CoolSculpting was born! It received its first FDA clearance in 2009 and ever since, people have been freezing body fat to achieve a reduction in the fat cell layer.
CoolSculpting is unique because it’s ideally suited to freeze fat for body sculpting. It’s not for overall weight loss and it’s best for isolated pockets of fat, by design. It took decades of research before CoolSculpting was able to develop a proven technique to freeze away fat from the comfort of a treatment chair. Where you’ll find the treatment chair doesn’t matter, and if you want us to load up a CoolSculpting machine and treatment bed so you can freeze your fat at home, then by all means – ask us. Chances are we’ll say no, because that doesn’t seem very safe (or clean or efficient or compliant with OSHA, but that’s not what you’re asking). You’re asking if you can freeze body fat with an ice pack.
Will Freezing Away Fat at Home Give the Same Results?
No. Don’t do it. Save your hard earned money and your limited time and do not try to ice your fat away. It’s not going to work. You’re just going to be cold… and maybe you’ll help with inflammation or burn some extra calories because your body has to fight to stay warm and ice packs do help with inflammation. But you’re not going to freeze away fat at home. If it was that easy, we’d restructure our business to be an online belt-selling business to hold your ice pack IN A HEARTBEAT. No joke. We love you and we love what we do and want to spend our time with you, but if we could automate selling ice pack belts to freeze away fat at home for the same result, we’d stay in yoga pants at home with our dogs. We wouldn’t get dolled up and come to an office every day.
CoolSculpting is a better option. The science behind fat freezing requires precision. It’s an art that we practice and refine, using an aesthetically trained eye while applying the principles of cold lipolysis technology that are safe and proven. To trigger a programmed fat cell death, you need a temperature cold enough and a time at that temperature long enough to initiate what we call “apoptosis” aka fat cell death. The CoolSculpting technology allows you to safely and effectively freeze away fat for good. There have been over 8 million treatments performed and over 100 peer reviewed research papers proving it’s safety and efficacy. Does your ice belt have that? No. It does not. We looked it up. (Shoutout GOOGLE! You da best!)
As a consumer, you’re doing your research by reading this blog. It’s meant to help guide you, but not replace a medical opinion. It’s important that you understand the risks by talking with a medical professional, and that you develop a plan suited to your anatomy and goals when considering using fat freezing technology, like CoolSculpting. It’s also important that demand a level of professionalism and expertise from your provider – this is an alternative to liposuction and results are going to last a lifetime.
So can you freeze your fat away at home? Probably not. But that’s why our treatment bed is so comfortable. We’ve built our facility to be a place you’d want to spend an afternoon freezing away unwanted fat, watching television or trolling instagram. Whatever tickles your fancy while you’re here, we aim to serve. When it comes to Dallas CoolSculpting®, at Element Body Lab you can expect an experience so cool you’ll forget your freezing fat. So come on in, our home is yours too. Freeze your fat here, and DIY another project instead.
Give us a call at 214-897-3006 to learn more from a CoolSculpting Specialist or schedule your free CoolSculpting consultation.
