Day 30: The Synopsis

Day 1

Do you see a difference between day 1 and day 30...?

Day 30

Day 30 finally came and here are my thoughts on "30 Days of Cryotherapy"...

First of all, my final weight came in at 179 lbs and my dress size is a 12.
I started at 194 lbs and a size 14.  That's a solid 15 lbs down.  During this time, I did absolutely zero exercising.  Honest.  You couldn't make me exercise if you tried...

But I will now.  I promised myself that once I got below 180, it was time for the gym and that time is here...(yes, I cursed when I saw the scale - but it was a happy curse too).  In my personal opinion, the theories about cryotherapy and weight loss as proven to me.

Beyond weight loss, I absolutely sleep better.  I have been a lifelong chronic insomniac for my entire life.  I have tried everything.  I have tried meditation, hemi-sync cd's, hypnosis, counting sheep, staring into the abyss, melatonin (nasty allergic reaction to that one!), Zzzz-quil, over-the-counter sleep aids, Ambien (my go-to) and much more... chemically induced sleeps are the only good sleep I have known for decades until now.   For 30 days, I am unable to watch even 15 minutes of tv before I have to turn it off because my eyes are closing...  My personal opinion?  Cryotherapy does help me sleep like a baby.

Chronic headaches are another of my plagues, but I haven't had one in a month.  I had forgotten all about them.  

Anxiety reduction?  Absolutely.  I've had plenty of reasons for anxiety this month.  As I write this, I am awaiting the results of a biopsy to determine whether or not I have endometrial cancer.  I've never had a biopsy before.  It wasn't fun.  I should know something anytime now, but I am in good spirits and not anxious.  Sure, I'm hoping for the best - but I think in another time and place I would be chewing my nails to the cuticle and climbing the walls.

Depression reduction?  Sure.  I've had some hard hits this month to knock me on my butt.  Good reasons to feel like crap.  While I appropriately felt the blows and reacted with sadness and frustration when they landed, I think I bounced back better than usual and tried my best not to dwell on things.  In the past I believe I might have lingered in the sadness a bit longer or let things bring me down longer.  This could be hard to judge since I did have some sad days and you can't possibly know how I normally react - so I'll assure you that I think it helped and we'll call it a draw.  Someone with more chronic depression issues would be a far better judge than I am.

Pain relief?  Anytime I felt aches or pains, cryotherapy definitely helped.  On my final day, I actually pulled some muscles in my mid-back while doing a variety of things (landscaping, a lame attempt to see if I could do a single "plank", moving a giant cooler...) and cryotherapy helped relieve the pain.  The next day I had no noticeable pain at all, aside from some minor tightness that I had to really think about to notice at all.

Other things...?  I feel like cryotherapy boosted my immune system.  It is incredible to me that I got sick mid-experiment with strep throat and didn't know it.  The antibiotics knocked it right out, but - still...!  Wow.

Overall - I feel great.  So great that I immediately signed up for my next 30 days already.

I won't bore you with them, but perhaps I will pop back in with an occasional update in the future if I notice anything amazing.  

I genuinely hope I've convinced you to give it a try - and if you are in the South Florida area, I hope you'll pop into Cryo954 and say hi to the amazing duo of Dr. Hamm and Alma.  

Let them know Christine sent you?  I don't get any perks beyond the the fact that they tolerate all sorts of craziness from me - but I like them to know I've got their backs and that I adore them both!

XOXOXO,
Christine :)

PS:

Is there a better way to celebrate ending 30 days than with champagne?

My husband and I had the honor of having dinner tonight with Pierre Emmanuel Taittinger of Taittinger Champagne and I got to break out my new red dress.  It was a great night and no sooner had we posted the pictures to our Facebook page than my phone was busy with messages from friends who were full of wonderful compliments.

Thank you, cryotherapy! ♥