Twenty Six year-old Olympic Gold Medalist Jessica Ennis's abs were voted the most desirable in Britain in a recent poll. But Jessica wasn't born with the perfect washboard stomach and has a vigorous six hours a day, six times a week training schedule to achieve the sought-after look. My days of running around an athletics track are long behind me. After moving to London several years ago I indulged in the life of excess. I could never have too much. You know what they say the more invites, the more parties the more drinks, the more late nights equalled fun. But in return it meant unhealthy skin, a bad diet and the wrong type of exercise. Unlike Jessica I am unable to train 6 hours a day 6 days a week anymore. But over the last year I have been working out to get my body back into some sort of decent shape. I do hill sprints in Primrose Hill, I go for long runs along the river Thames, countless amounts of sit Ups and back crunches and as a result most of my body is in a good shape. I am not a big girl. I am five feet nine and have a BMI of 21. But I do have one part of my body that I really hate! My stomach.

Thanks to cosmetic surgery we are now able to change the parts of our body that we don't like. After much consideration I decided to look into the different types of liposuction. Whilst doing my research I found Doctor Gupta's name popping up a lot. Doctor Gupta is regularly called upon by the media for his expert opinion. He has featured on Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies as well as chat shows for several BBC Radio programmes. He has also been interviewed by national publications including the Times, Guardian, Daily Mail, Tatler, Elle, Cosmopolitan and Vogue. Through further research I found out that The Private Clinic is registered with the CQC (Care Quality Commission) and Dr Gupta is the only doctor in the UK offering microcannular liposuction. He was trained in America by the doctor who developed the technique, Dr Jeffrey Klein (a world renowned lipo consultant).

Microcannular liposuction is the pioneering fat removal procedure and is performed under local anaesthetic, requires next to no recovery time and leaves no scarring, making it the safest and most advanced lipo technique. So I booked myself in for an appointment for a consultation with Doctor Gupta at Harley Streets Private Clinic. The Private Clinic was established in Harley Street in 1983. Since then they have introduced thousands of patients to the benefits of their cosmetic procedures and are now recognised as one of the leading names in their field.

Whilst I sat in the very lavish waiting room, I looked around and wondered what the other patients were having done. My hands were getting sweaty as I was starting to get nervous. Then Doctor Gupta's assistant took me up to his Office for my consultation.

Doctor Gupta greeted me with a warm, welcome smile, as I told him what I hated about my body. As I pinched my stomach, I kept saying how much I hated it. I even pulled out a bottle of pills that I brought in a health food shop to help get rid of stomach fat. Obviously the pills had n't worked.

What I immediately liked about Doctor Gupta was that he was friendly and calm and he told me about himself and his training. I was sat opposite Doctor Gupta at his desk and he told me his areas of expertise " I specialise in skin rejuvenation and anti - ageing techniques and the treatment of skin conditions including acne and acne scaring, warts, moles, facial veins, keloid scars and melanoma, and I have carried out over 3,000 to date, one of my particular areas of expertise is the use of laser treatments to repair scarring and pigmentation on the face" I smiled, so you are like an expert? Doctor Gupta continued "I treatall skin types and am a leading expert when it comes to problems with darker skin. Patients have travelled from all over the world to see me and be treated by me"

Feeling relaxed I sat back in my chair, Doctor Gupta asked me about my lifestyle "Do you drink? Do you smoke? Do you work out, do you have a healthy diet? I told him "I gave up smoking, and my limit is two glasses of wine, I'm not a great drinker, three glasses and I'm under the table, Four and I'm under the host. I'm a strict vegan and I work out" I continued " I have a very busy daily routine, I go from one meeting to another, I am a club dj and am always out and about. So as much as I want a new and improved stomach, I also need minimal recovery time because I don't have time to just lay in bed and do nothing while my body recovers." Doctor Gupta nodded he understood my lifestyle and he told me about Microcannular Tumescent liposuction, or 'Microlipo'.



Doctor Gupta said "it's the pioneering fat removal procedure is performed under local anaesthetic, requires next to no recovery time and leaves no scaring, making it the safest and most advanced lipo technique" I smiled and said "next to no recovery?". "Three days and you'll be back to yourself". He told me about the risks "any surgery involves risk of infection, bleeding and scaring however, tumescent liposuction has an amazing good safety record. One of the reasons it's safe is because neither general anaesthesia nor significant IV sedation is required. The greatest risk of liposuction are those associated with general anaesthesia. By eliminating anaesthesia the risks of liposuction are greatly reduced"

I asked Doctor Gupta if he thought I had a fat stomach, and what made a good candidate he replied "Many of us have stubborn pockets of fat on our bodies that will not respond to diet or exercise. The best candidates are those who are in good health and have obvious, localised deposits of fat. Microlipo can remove up to 3.5 litres or four per cent of a patient's body weight. Because of the small cannulas, it is particularly good for small areas of fat such as bingo wings and under the chin"

Pinching my stomach and shaking my head at the same time I asked how the procedure worked, he replied "Before the procedure, a special anaesthetic fluid is injected into the fatty tissue. This liquid not only anaesthetises the area, but also fills and swells the treatment area so that it becomes 'tumescent' (meaning swollen and firm). This increases the pressure in the treatment area, which in turn helps to separate the fat cells from the other surrounding tissue. This then means that the fat cells can be gently suctioned out through the tiny cannulas whilst leaving the other tissue undisturbed"

Feeling excited I asked if I would notice the results immediately afterwards "you will notice a dramatic change to your silhouette immediately after the procedure and final results can be seen within three to four weeks. The fat cells that are removed during Microlipo will not come back. The small incisions made during this procedure will not require stitches so downtime is minimal. you'll need to wear a pressure garment under their clothes for two to three days after treatment to speed up recovery, tighten the skin and avoid bruising and swelling. Most people return to their normal routines within 48 hours and can resume regular exercise within seven days"

As I left Harley Street I did n't feel obliged to commit to anything, I was given information on the procedure and given websites to check out in order to help me decide what I want to do. I left the clinic and skipped down the road to my bus holding my stomach in.

© Words - Gia Marie Barbera/ZANI Media

http://www.theprivateclinic.co.uk/