My weight has been of concern for the last few years, since I delviered my baby boy. Suddenly, things that worked earlier didnt seem to. Earlier I could eat well and yet lose it within a day or two. This stopped happening.
May be due to my pregnancy I’d lost all my muscle mass, but the point was I just kept putting on weight. I knew all about how to lose weight. exercise, eat well, change lifestyle, blah, blah.
Sometimes though you just need to go through something to set your thinking right.
There I was, looking for a quick weight loss solution and silently praying for a miracle. I looked at my lifestyle and quickly realized that exercise was out, since I never seemed to have time.
Diet change was next to impossible - where would I get the energy to run through the day if I eat less?
Basically, I had thrashed every possible option, or so I thought. I’d been seeing advertisement from VLCC, Body n Soul, Inspiration, etc. And coincidentally, a colleague of mine seemed to have suddenly dropped lot of pounds. I asked her. She said it was VLCC. She had lost 10 kgs in 3 months. I was stunned and secretly very happy.
Imagine the benefit of not exercising, eating what you want and yet losing weight! She also mentioned this new place called Body n Soul that was offering a discount. Lured with the discount, I decided to try BnS. I went to the Millenium Star(Pune) branch.
I had to bargain for a package. No one gave me a tour, no one told me what exactly they do. The center head told me, "We have machines that exercise your muscles. You just have to lie down and the machines do the rest of the work for you."
Basically, there are three "therapies" that are given to you:
Belt therapy: they put a large sauna belt around your midriff and legs and the heat slowly makes you sweat for 20-30 minutes.
Sometimes the belt therapy is accompanied by a massage(each body part is charged separately).
The trump of their existence is a slimming and body shaping machine that passes electricity through your fat cells. You are put on this machine for 40-50 minutes. It technically is supposed to break down your fat cells and shape your body. However, we really do not know what the current is doing within your body. Like for example, they did not have an answer to, "does it breakdown the muscle cells?"
I went there for three months, but lost about one kilogram instead of the 10 that I was told I’ll lose. Here’s what happened:
They were not clear on what therapy to put me through. They did not have a plan. Based on availability of machine, you were given treatment, not based on what is good for your type of body.
One sample diet was prescribed to all. Pop diets were also prescribed without again thinking of what is good for my body type.
The girls who attended were novices and I am not sure they are trained thoroughly. One of them burnt my skin twice by passing a very high current. Thank god she quit on her own. Imagine, these are electrical appliances. They can affect anything within your system. These risks are not discussed with your initially and you are not informed about the possible fallouts.
You have to pay upfront so once you are in they really need not bother if you lose weight.
While you are taking therapy, each of their girls is trained to push their products(the effectiveness of these products are not documented anywhere). They will play on your guilt and anguish and tell you that if you buy so and so product all your problems will be solved. The next they will bulldoze you to take a higher package so that you keep hoping. Nothing of that sort happens.
If you ask too many questions, they do not like it since most of them do not have an answer.
Their center is cramped and members have to stand while they are waiting for a therapy room to be available.
There is no sense of hygiene. For the slimming machine, pads are put on your body with a gel. This gel is not a disinfectant. One customer is done and the next customer is taken on immediately. No one bothers to wipe or disinfect the pads. I actually got a rash along my stomach while I was doing this therapy. When I told them that, they refused to believe it was because of the rash.
When you join, they get a note signed from you saying that the deal will expire within three months. I was not ready to sign it, however, I was told because there were a lot of people who do "timepass", hence.
Well, all in all, my adventure at this place was not satisfying at all. I lost money, no weight.
I am now in my senses. I had to learn this lesson to know that exercise and diet is the way to go to lose weight. I am feeling much fitter, have lost weight, and am on my way to a much more balanced life:)
Regards,
SS