If you lead a relatively healthy lifestyle - eating a balanced diet and getting in regular exercise, you'd expect to have a body that shows all the hard work you've put into it. Unfortunately, many body types don't reflect all the effort put into maintaining them! CoolSculpting could be the end of being driven crazy by muffin tops, love handles and the like.

Interestingly, this procedure is not designed for people who are obese. "This is not a weight-loss device," says Dr. Mathew Avram, director of the Dermatology Laser and Cosmetic Center at Massachusetts General Hospital at Boston CoolSculpting won't take the place of gastric by-pass surgery, rather, it's geared towards those who are within reach of their goal weight, but just trying to get rid of that last bit of stubborn fat.

While looking at this new weight loss technology with a skeptical eye is normal - especially with all the weight loss scams out there, the CoolSculpting procedure has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and appears to work over time.

CoolSculpting is not a miracle fix - the procedure does not just cause the fat to instanteously harden and crumble away. One treatment typically takes at least three weeks to see results, although you'll usually watch your body improve over the course of a few months. This is because once the fat cells are killed, it takes a while for the body's natural scavengers to get rid of the cells.

The Pros

• an average of 20% body fat reduction in treated area
  
• non-invasive procedure
• no surgery or downtime
• 1 - 2 hour treatment sessions are fairly convenient
• The outerlayer of your skin will be unaffected

The cons? Cost, of course.  With any great technology there's cost.  Depending on where you live, CoolSculpting treatments run anywhere between $700 - $1,000 per treatment, and some areas need more than one.  Depending on how much torment that extra bit of fat is giving you will ultimately determine whether you want to shell out the cash for this fat-freezing frenzy.