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Daily Life

Can this Isavera Fat Freezing Belt Give You a Slimmer Waist Line?

Posted on December 23, 2020

Isavera Fat Freezing Belt Wellness Health Weight Loss @parentdaze

I have always stored fat in my midsection.

Even when I’m working out regularly and eating well, I still have a spare tire around my waist that I can’t seem to get rid of. There are a lot of factors that contribute to belly fat, independent of diet and exercise.

Women in particular tend to store fat in our midsections, and we can blame evolution for this. Our bodies still think we need to keep our ovaries warm to protect them, even though we now have clothes, homes, and furnaces.

In addition to making me self-conscious in my crop top, excess belly fat (or any fat) increases the risk of cancer, heart disease, and a whole host of other diseases and ailments. And this is why I decided to try the Isavera Fat Freezing Belt. (I used the Isavera Classic that’s specifically for the stomach, but Isavera also makes products for legs, arms, and male chest.)

This belt is not meant to replace a healthy lifestyle

I want to note that this belt is not meant to replace a healthy lifestyle, which is why I’m comfortable endorsing it. It is not designed for weight loss, and isn’t a “get thin quick “device. This belt should be used in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise, and I also recommend talking to your doctor before starting to use it.

The price tag of $2000-4000 per Cool Sculpting session was a little steep for my budget

So now let’s get to the science. I’m sure a lot of you are thinking this belt is too good to be true. If I wasn’t familiar with Cool Sculpting and the lymphatic system in general, I would have agreed. But let me tell you why I believe in this belt, even though I just started using it and don’t have any results yet (but I will report back in a couple months with pics and details!)

I’m sure a lot of you are thinking this belt is too good to be true…

Fat freezing (or cryolipolosis) has already been proven as a way to eliminate excess fat. Fat freezes at a higher temperature than skin, and Cool Sculpting is an FDA approved procedure.

Once the fat cells are frozen, they are cleared out via your lymphatic system. When you lose fat via diet and exercise, your fat cells simply shrink, but they’re still there. When your fat cells are frozen, they’re completely eliminated from the body.

Fat freezing has already been proven as a way to eliminate excess fat

As great as Cool Sculpting sounds, the price tag of $2000-4000 per session was a little steep for my budget, and most people need multiple sessions to achieve optimal results. Isavera offers the opportunity to get the same results in the comfort of your own home. You’ll need more sessions with your Isavera belt than you would Cool Sculpting sessions, because Cool Sculpting uses a vacuum to target more layers of fat at once. But the lower price tag is totally worth it for me, and I’m able to sit and work while I wear my belt so it isn’t a huge process.

Once the fat cells are frozen, they are cleared out via your lymphatic system

So, why can’t you just use ice packs you have in your freezer right now? The gel packs Isavera uses are specifically formulated to be used for fat freezing. They reach temperatures that are 11 degrees higher than the temperature at which frostbite occurs. If you want to avoid frostbite, DO NOT use regular ice packs or ice to freeze your fat.

Why can’t you just use ice packs you have in your freezer right now?

Now that we’ve reviewed the science, let’s talk about the process of using the Isavera Fat Freezing Belt. When you first receive your package, you’re going to want to lay your gel packs flat and put them in the freezer for at least 24 hours. I keep mine on a cookie sheet to make sure they stay flat.

Let’s talk about the process of using the Isavera Fat Freezing Belt

Once the gel packs are frozen, you insert them into the belt and wear the belt for up to an hour. You’ll receive a link after your purchase with the specifics of how long to wear it, and which pockets to put the gel packs in. You’re going to start with 5-10 minutes and work your way up. Make sure to refer to the instructions from Isavera, and pay attention to your skin’s response as you go.

After your session is done, you lube up your skin with lotion and use the massagers provided to massage the area. This helps break up the frozen fat cells so they can be more easily eliminated through your lymphatic system. The elimination process can take up to 10-12 weeks, so it may take a while for you to see results, although I did see some photos in Amazon reviews of people’s results in as little as 30 days.

Your lymphatic system is responsible for eliminating all types of toxins and waste from your body

In addition to exercising and maintaining a healthy diet as you use your fat freezing belt, I also suggest taking other steps to improve your lymphatic system. Not only will this aid in the elimination of fat cells, but your lymphatic system is responsible for eliminating all types of toxins and waste from your body, so you want it functioning properly to achieve optimal wellness.

Other ways to support your lymphatic system include drinking plenty of water, performing lymphatic massage, acupuncture, and jumping on mini trampolines.

Stay tuned for my Isavera results in the coming months, and if you purchase your own belt, please share your results with me too!

***Disclaimer: This product was gifted to me by Isavera. All opinions expressed here are my own.***

Daily Life

Surviving Parenting During a Pandemic

Posted on November 20, 2020

Parenting during pandemic, Shoreline Village Long beach @parentdaze

How have your parenting roles changed during the pandemic?

When Jason started working from home at the beginning of the shutdown, I felt obligated to watch the kids during the day, as I usually did when he was at the office. Except now, I wasn’t getting my work time because the kids no longer had preschool.

I spent the first couple weeks burning the candle at both ends.

I spent the first couple weeks burning the candle at both ends. I would watch the kids all day while Jason worked, and then I’d do my work after he was done. A couple hours after he finished, the kids would go to bed and he was free for the evening while I was up late every night. Jason’s the primary breadwinner in our family, so his work is important, but I was also feeling resentful that he still got free time after the kids went to bed while I was sacrificing mine so I could split up work and kid-time. I could feel it taking a toll on my mental health.

I could feel it taking a toll on my mental health.

I met with Parent Coach @MaryVanGeffen to look at how I could find some balance in my life while still being fair to the kids. None of this was anyone’s fault; this is a new situation for all of us. I was missing the big chunks of time I used to get from preschool, but what’s the solution? It’s taken several months to finally figure out what works for us and once kindergarten starts, we’re expecting another curveball.

None of this was anyone’s fault; this is a new situation for all of us.

For now, our plan is that I bring my work things to the bluff most mornings because Jason wakes up later, and the beginning of his work day is slower. The kids also have some online classes so he can focus on work while they’re engaged and learning, and neither of feel guilty that they aren’t getting enough attention. In the afternoon, I take over and I take the kids outside for a couple hours and then we play together until dinner.

I’m still missing a lot of me-time, a couple showers, and a few pieces of my sanity

While it’s been hard navigating our new roles and new schedules, I’m proud that we were able to communicate and figure out something that’s fair and that works for both of us, and also for the kids. It’s not perfect. I’m still missing a lot of me-time, a couple showers, and a few pieces of my sanity, as I’m sure we all are, but it looks like this will be our new normal for a while.

Can anyone else relate? How have you navigated the changes in your parenting roles?⁠

Daily Life

Why My New Year’s Resolution of Self-Care was a Cop Out

Posted on January 16, 2019

My initial New Year’s resolution was “more self-care”…. Until I realized what a cop-out that was.

How do I decide if I achieved it or not? How do I know if I should pat myself on the back and say, “Yes, I’m awesome,” or “I kind of bombed it”? And then do I make another wishy-washy goal for 2020? Neither really makes me feel good. I need to regroup, so I put on my big girl panties to deal with it.

How do I measure this “self-care” I’m referring to?

So, goals. I need to decide how to measure this “self-care” I’m referring to. I think to start, I want to make time to work out at least twice a week, do a facial once a week, and do something relaxing like take a bath or meditate once a week as well. This means I need about 2.5-3 hours of time I will need to borrow from somewhere else.

Where is my time currently going?

Where is my time currently going? This will help me decide where I can borrow from, or how to find “new time.” Right now, the obvious priority is the girls. I’m home with them most of the week, while also working from home and trying to manage a household (dinner, cleaning, etc.). I can do some things while I’m with them, but I want to be better about separating my tasks. Multi-tasking often leads to half-assing everything.

Right now, the obvious priority is the girls.

Passion Planner

I mentioned that I wanted to find a good planner in one of my instagram posts, and for Christmas I was gifted the Passion Planner by my brother and his girlfriend. I am already obsessed! I love that it has a full month layout because I need to see everything at once, and then it has columns for each day that are broken down into half hour increments.

I started by blocking off times I am sleeping, commuting, feeding the kids, etc.

I started by blocking off times I am sleeping, commuting, feeding the kids, etc., so I had a better idea of what times were available for me each day. My hope was that I would find time I was squandering, but unfortunately I am just as busy as I thought I was! This meant I needed to allot certain times for work, play, cleaning, etc.

Scheduling everything…. It feels weird and formal, but it’s really been working for me.

So, scheduling everything…. It feels weird and formal, but it’s really been working for me. It’s helping me be more focused and present in the moment. I often find myself answering an email while I’m playing with the girls, or stopping to read a book to my kids when I’m supposed to be working. And also the opposite problem: sometimes I start playing and don’t stop for hours and I get behind, or I start working and all of a sudden 2 hours have gone by and I haven’t given the kids enough attention. (Working from home problems… The struggle!)

I am not answering emails, checking instagram, cleaning, cooking, etc.

Play time with the girls

My new plan is that I now have scheduled times for everything, and I bought myself a timer. There are times that are specifically for play. During those times, I set the timer and I am reading or playing and giving my kids my undivided attention until the timer goes off. I am not answering emails, checking instagram, cleaning, cooking, etc. The kids deserve that, and I made sure that there are a few hours of each day that we are playing together (in addition to the times we go to the park or aquarium or wherever.)

Another one of my goals this year was to make more money.

I also have times scheduled for work. Another one of my goals this year was to make more money. Well, technically it was contribute to a better quality of life for our family, but a lot of that comes down to money. I wanted to be able to pay for things like gymnastics lessons for Katie, maybe some new furniture for the new apartment, that type of stuff. Nothing crazy, but it all costs money. And more money means more work.

I need to be working smarter, and scheduling work time is the answer.

I think what I need here is to be working smarter, and scheduling work time is the answer. I am very fortunate that my in-laws agreed to help with the girls another day during the week, in addition to an overnight on the weekends. This helps me work in larger chunks which is easier for me than squeezing one or two hours in here and there. I can do the bulk of my work during those times.

I don’t work as efficiently after 14 hours of watching the girls

Me working from home

I am also still using “quiet time” (formerly nap time, RIP naps for Katie!) to work as well. It’s kind of hit or miss, depending on how quiet the girls actually are. And then I have some time after they go to bed, but I don’t work as efficiently after 14 hours of watching the girls, so I am allotting that time for some of my easier tasks.

Picking up isn’t as essential to me as work or spending uninterrupted time with the girls

The last thing I am scheduling is every day cleaning/cooking. This is the type of thing I can do easily while the girls are awake, but not during our designated play time. It’s a little scattered, has a lot of interruptions, but as long as I keep the house somewhat in order, we’ll all live. Picking up isn’t as essential to me as work which has deadlines (also money), or spending uninterrupted time with the girls, because they won’t be little forever.

As I keep the house somewhat in order, we’ll all live

I know this wasn’t as fun as some of my other posts, but I’m guessing if you are still reading this, you are another busy mom looking to find your own balance which is why I decided to write about my trials and errors. It’s not perfect, but it’s providing me a little more structure and stability amidst the chaos that is life with 2 littles.

It is also still a work in progress, so I’ll be posting updates as I go. I would love to hear any other tips from moms out there who are figuring out the juggle!

Product Links:

Erica Panty I’m wearing on my couch

Passion Planner

Opinion Pieces

Can We Please Talk About Decision Fatigue?

Posted on September 1, 2017

I wake up every day around 6 with my kids. I dress them, I nurse the baby and make breakfast for my toddler, and then we pack up for the day. I take them to the park and on walks and to places like the aquarium. When I have downtime, I work, clean, meal prep, and do laundry. Yesterday I even made my own baby wipes. I’m not telling you all of this to complain, I’m telling you this to set the stage that I’m not a lazy person. (Although I do partially take my kids places because I’m lazy). But I digress…. So, if I can do all of these other things, why the hell would I rather lose an arm than clean out my junk drawer (okay, drawers…)? I did some research, and it’s because of a little thing called decision fatigue.

When I think back, I have always been indecisive. When I was a kid and my mom would make me a bagel, I would ask for half with cream cheese, a quarter with butter, and a quarter plain, because I just couldn’t decide which I wanted the most. I always look at the menu at restaurants for what seems like an eternity, no matter how many times I’ve been there. Even if it’s just McDonalds (if the McRib is not back, we all know what they have to offer.). I have even googled “what should I watch on tv” because thinking about it and deciding is just too much work after a long day.

I have even googled “what should I watch on tv” because thinking about it and deciding is just too much work after a long day.

Making decisions for me feels stressful. Sometimes the decisions are important, so the stress is warranted. But when I get a stomach ache cleaning my junk drawer because I can’t decide what to do with a shoelace (which shoe did it come from?), 3 batteries (how do I know if they’re good or not? And if not good, how do I dispose of them?), and a button (which shirt did this come off of?), at least now I know I can blame decision fatigue.

I could probably get rid of 50% of the stuff in my closet if I could just bring myself to go through it and decide what to do with it all.

Do I kind of sound like a hoarder? I may have a tiny bit of hoarder tendencies too if I’m being honest, but that’s not my whole problem. I could probably get rid of 50% of the stuff in my closet if I could just bring myself to go through it and decide what to do with it all. What about this shirt? Does it fit? Will it fit someday? Do I want it? Can I donate it? Okay, if I donate it, now I have to wash it. When am I going to find time to do that on top of my regular laundry and other duties? I should just stick it back in the closet and deal with it another time. Do you see the problems this creates for me? Please feel free to rub your thumb and forefinger together and make a “world’s tiniest violin” joke at my expense.

Having my life decluttered and my apartment clean makes me very happy, yet looking at my junk drawers and closet and thinking of sorting them gives me a visceral reaction and I avoid it.

I’m not saying decision fatigue is a clinical diagnosis or that I need to see a doctor for my horrible problem (although depending what kind of meds are offered, the kids have been driving me kinda crazy lately!…. Kidding! Sort of.), but it does give me a little bit of peace of mind knowing WHY I have such a hard time doing some of the things I know would improve my quality of life.

Having my life decluttered and my apartment clean makes me very happy, yet looking at my junk drawers and closet and thinking of sorting them gives me a visceral reaction and I avoid it. I was honestly starting to think I had depression (thank you Dr. Google!).

Yesterday I cleaned out the kitchen cupboards and it was easy for me. Do you know why? I told myself it was because I love cooking and having the kitchen organized was more important to me than other rooms. But I was lying to myself. It was because everything I looked at had 3 options: Is it expired? Is it expired yet still usable? (I don’t care that my chicken bouillon expired a month ago to be honest. Okay, maybe it expired at the end of May.). Is it not expired and can be put back on the shelf? That’s it. This was so easy for me because there was almost no decision to be made. And now about 50% of my kitchen cupboards, as well as the fridge and freezer, are clean and organized and every time I pass the kitchen, I take a peek in them and feel good about myself.

I hate throwing away things that someone else could use.

If you are thinking to yourself, I am like this but so is everyone else, I have found out that NO, not everyone is! Both my boyfriend and my dad can sort through a junk drawer in minutes and probably throw out 90% of what was in there. Because either “we don’t need it” or “we probably don’t need it but can buy another one if we do.” But here’s my argument against that: I hate wasting! I hate throwing away things that someone else could use so if I have something I don’t need, maybe someone else DOES need it, and now I have more decisions to make about what to do next with it. And that’s hard for me.

Charcuterie plate

Before I had heard of decision fatigue, I already noticed things I have started to do in my life that make it so much easier for me and I didn’t realize what they all had in common. I LOVE lists, for one. I sometimes look at what we got from the grocery store and make lists of dinner options for us to choose from each night (and usually I’ll have Jason choose). Or I’ll do charcuterie because then I can have some of everything. I also plan out outfits for the girls the night before (but not mine because who cares what I wear). I’ve even heard Obama used to plan out his shirts and ties for a week! (No, I didn’t fact check this and I don’t know if it’s actually true so I’ll just roll with it #fakenews). But what do these things have in common?! Less decision making! I am starting to find out what works in SOME areas of my life but not all.

Now that my kitchen cupboards are sorted and I know how good it feels, I need to do more.

So here’s what I’m asking of you, friends. Now that my kitchen cupboards are sorted and I know how good it feels, I need to do more. Our apartment is not that big to have all the crap we do but I will need some help sorting. Jason and I decided on Monday we will each coffee up (Yay Starbucks!) and get to work on at minimum the kitchen and bathroom and really really hoping to get to the closet too. I would love to hear advice from other people who suffer from decision fatigue on how you force yourself to sort through things without getting too burned out and stay organized once you are done. Thanks in advance!