Brief Update: I still get emails about this post, so I just wanted to let you know that while I had great results from using the wraps and am thankful to a friend for sending some to me, I didn’t choose to keep connected with the company. This is in no way a reflection of friends involved with them – I just felt personally that it didn’t fit my goals as a writer/person to be talking about this topic often. Like all beauty products, to sell them sometimes it sounds like you are shaming people for how they look, and I wanted to stay very far away from that. Thank you!
This is a post I never imagined I’d write, with pictures I never imagined I’d be sharing online. Yet, I’m glad I am. While probably an obvious implication of doing a series dealing with belly fat, I’m going to go ahead and say the obvious; I’ve had a belly that was a bit disproportionate to the rest of my body since the birth of my last child. Every woman’s dream tummy, right? Wrong.
Once I started researching this, it made sense that my body would hold onto chub in that area because of stress, because I have walked through many stressful situations the last couple years. Once I discovered I had a diastasis recti, it made even more sense. Oh, and add to that inconsistent sleep, inconsistent exercise and a diet too high in carbohydrates for me personally (inspired by some unnamed “health” bloggers *ahem*) and you have the perfect mix of ingredients for getting a poochy tummy.
I actually felt really grateful at times for my imperfect tummy because it revealed a surprising attitude I had towards my body: An attitude that demanded a young, beautiful, perfectly trim body to be thought of as respectable and lovable. I found this so surprising because I certainly didn’t feel this towards other people. But apparently I did towards myself. So having time to sort through these negative thoughts was really important for me – because our worth is NOT wrapped up in how we look, and it is vital that I (and all of us) acknowledge that truth.
Yet, it was also annoying and I felt rather un-flattered by my stomach. But when you have such a perfect swirl of ingredients for a bigger tummy, it can be slightly overwhelming to know where to change. Perhaps you are feeling that after reading my series on it.
I changed my diet for unrelated reasons to a lower-carb diet months ago, and while we have seen the aimed for health benefits we were looking for, it didn’t make any difference for my middle (I wasn’t doing it for that but regardless it was a little disappointing anyways). Before this, I had started working (inconsistently) on healing my diastasis recti, but I kept forgetting the “what not to do” things (such as getting out of bed that wrong way) and I would lose the progress I made. It seemed a bit hopeless really.
And then something popped into my life that made a big difference, and encouraged me very much. KerryAnn from Intentionally Domestic and I talked a while back about me doing a review of one of the herbal wrap products she personally had great results with. I didn’t think much of it, but then I started getting results with it, and I wanted more.
When I got my first ITWorks wrap #affiliate (also called a Body Applicator), I was kind of disappointed. It was this thin, semi-transparent piece of plastic covered with an herbal solution. It certainly didn’t inspire confidence. But I had promised to review it, so on it went. KerryAnn had told me to do it a shorter time the first time, just to test it out and to drink plenty of water. I did both. And I studied my before picture and my after picture (and then my three days later picture). Yes, it almost seemed like my tummy was slightly smaller, but it was hard to tell.
I had carefully (being the frugal person I am), wrapped the wrap in plastic and stuck it in an airtight baggy to use a second time. Three days later I got it out again and slept in it. This time, by the three day mark (it can take a few days to see the full results), I could definitely notice a difference in my pictures. So, I took a plunge and ordered wraps (I got a distributor pack, because it was no risk to do so). I then did a second wrap (doing once a short amount of time, and then sleeping in it a second time). And boy did I see a difference then!
At this point, I had been doing my lower-carb, moderate protein, moderate fat, diet for a a couple of months, so I wondered if losing weight could be contributing to my flatter stomach. In fact, I was SURE it had to play a significant part since I saw such a difference. I had had my husband hide my scale when I started the lower-carb diet, because it wasn’t a diet for losing weight, but for better health, and I didn’t want to get distracted with the wrong things. But I wanted to see what was what, so he dug it out again, and I weighed myself. I was quite frankly surprised to find that while I had lost a couple pounds, it was nothing significant. The difference I saw in my last wrap (that happened over 2 days) was really as dramatic as I thought it was. Here are a few pictures showing the progression from before wraps to about a month or so after doing the wraps (the results have stayed!).
Boy, am I thankful I tried these! I am thankful because:
1) People stopped looking at my tummy and wondering whether I was pregnant.
2) My clothes fit so much better now! I felt that jeans were uncomfortable even in the right size because of my poochy stomach. I like wearing jeans again…and I am a jean-wearing girl, so this makes me happy.
3) I actually enjoy clothes shopping now, because my stomach doesn’t protrude very much anymore! I would often find a cute outfit that would just not look quite right with my tummy. (Mothers, you know what I am talking about.) I don’t really have that same problem anymore.
4)Because this was so encouraging to me and showed me that I can make a difference in how my body looks, I am soooooo much more motivated to heal my diastasis recti. Yes, it was that encouraging to me! It has been a huge motivator for continuing to eat the right way, and to do my diastasis recti exercises again, and to have a healthy lifestyle. Yah for wraps! I literally want to do a happy dance when I see the results these have made. An embarrassing confession: Every morning for weeks after I did the wraps I would go check out my flatter stomach in the mirror – just to see if it was still the same. I really just couldn’t believe how much more in proportion my stomach was to the rest of my body! I was happy.
But you probably have some questions. Let me try to answer a few ones I’d be asking.
Why are you sharing about these? I struggled with whether or not to share so personally here on my blog, and whether or not this type of thing would be what my readers here would want to hear about. But in the end, after hearing some of your stories, and how many of you deal with “mommy tummys” or just “big bellies”, I thought it would be dishonest not to share what actually made a huge difference in my life in regard to losing mine. When I realized that using that first wrap (two times) actually was already making a difference, it was a game changer. We don’t have a lot of discretionary cash, so I decided to go ahead and buy the distributor pack so that I hopefully could earn enough to buy the products for myself. Plus, this last summer, the cost of keeping this blog going has increased a lot (because of having to start to pay for things that used to be free). So my hope is that if people decide to try out these products through my distributor link, that it will help me keep this blog running, as well as giving people an added tool to their tool belt in fighting loose, flabby skin. Seems like a win-win to me. ☺
But why do these work? I don’t understand exactly how, but it’s in the herbs. This product works to tighten your skin by nourishing it with herbs. It is really pretty straightforward. Our poor skin needs a lot of nourishment, and it doesn’t always get it. At one point I had this fantasy that I could make my own version of the wraps, which ended with me laughing hysterically at the thought of me spending countless hours and hundreds and hundreds of dollars trying to recreate their formula (this is what happens when you find a product you like and you are a do-it-yourself type person). I decided to stick with these more convenient wraps.
Do we really need something like this when on a nourishing diet? Ideally… no. Ideally we would go through life without stress, with a perfect diet, and sail through pregnancy without any strain on our bodies or our skin. A good diet does a whole lot of good for your skin, anti-aging, and reducing “wear and tear” on the body. In fact, I would say that a good diet is always foundational. However, life can be hard, pregnancy can be tough on some of us, and stress is brutal. Sometimes we end up with war wounds from life. I have learned to wear my war wounds with pride because they are part of my story. But I am also not averse to eating well to prevent them, or trying products out that could help heal them.
This is a good point to share KerryAnn’s pictures and a friend of hers. For KerryAnn the stress of having huge health issues, that resulted with weight fluctuations, and then losing a large amount of weight left her with flabby skin. You can read about her story here.
This is using three wraps over 12 days.
She also has seen results using it on the chin (you can use the wraps pretty much everywhere but the face – they have a different one for the face. Many use them on their thighs and/or arms as well). One woman, who had a very significant amount of weight to lose to be in a healthy range, told me that she didn’t even want to, because of her fears of how her skin would look afterwards. I love that these wraps can help improve skin tone and condition even after losing large amounts of weight. It helps give hope to those lost to despair in making real changes.
Case in point is a lovely lady whom I am in several online groups with. She also tried the wraps because her nine pregnancies (all born c-section) resulted in a so called “mommy tummy”. Just look at her results! I was pretty amazed.
Do I have any concerns about these wraps? I had a little concern over some of the preservatives in the wraps. I don’t use products on a daily basis that contain ingredients I couldn’t eat. Yup, I am just just a little strict with what I put on my skin! But, I decided using the ITworks products were worth the very small exposure to preservatives once I read Kerryanne’s blog post going over the herbs and other ingredients in the wraps. I live in the city now, and I am surrounded by herbicide-spraying neighbors and city workers, pollution, and who knows what else. I decided that, while not perfect, the few negative ingredients in the wraps weren’t a deal breaker. I understand that not all of my readers will feel the same, but that is what I personally decided.
Do I recommend all of ITwork products? Truthfully, I simply haven’t had the time to fully research all of their products. I am a stickler for being honest with my readers, and it’s important to me to say up front that I just don’t know yet. However, I just ordered a couple more products to try out (and I am actually super excited to try them) and I will update you.
Will this work for everyone? Not everyone sees results as quickly as I did. Some see results faster. Everyone is different. Very occasionally there are people who don’t see results (some may be because they didn’t try enough wraps or drink enough water), and some can’t do the wraps because of an intolerance to one of the ingredients. So no. But as I have spent the last several months watching from a distance as different people tried the wraps, it is pretty amazing what results people get.
In the end, I offer this post just like I do the other ones. This is a tool that could be very helpful to some of you, but there are a lot of tools, and not everyone needs to use all of them.
For me personally, using the wraps has given me a huge boost of confidence as I saw my body get back to a more “normal” for me. And that boost has helped motivate me to continue other healthy life practices. Other ladies I know who had results say the same thing, and I am grateful for it.
Please note: The Itworks company is set up so that you have to buy through a distributer, which I have decided to become and thus the links is this post are distributer links. Thank you for supporting this blog!
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Can’t tell you how THRILLED I am to see you post this. I have been debating doing an ITWorks wrap, wondering if anyone in the naturally minded community has tried it. I’m really encouraged by this! I had my 3rd (and probably last) child 6 months ago, and have been doing a lower carb diet, which is the only thing I’ve seen significant results with losing the baby weight. But the tummy flab isn’t going anywhere (going to read up on your diastasis recti links) and I’m considering trying the wrap after I wean my son. I had read a few reports that it could cause a bit of drop in milk supply, but I’m sure that differs greatly among individuals, and probably wouldn’t affect someone who hydrates properly. We’ll see. Again, thank you for posting this!
I am so glad that it was helpful to you! It was a bit of a vulnerable post, so I almost didn’t. But it was so helpful to me, how could I not?
I tried two wraps a couple of weeks ago. I wish I would have seen this before I used them…didn’t think to try to use them twice! I was disappointed in my results (or lack thereof). I had gone back & forth for over a year on whether I wanted to spend the money to try these out, and finally gave in to try two. I didn’t see any difference at all. I drank lots of water while using them (and before & after), but even after a few days I had no difference. I measured myself before and after to tell. I know it says that sometimes it takes some people more time to see results. How do you know if you just need to try more or you’re just one of those people it won’t work on? I tried two wraps, about a week apart from each other. Left the first one on for the 45 min it recommended to begin and the second on for several hours.
Oh yes, so sorry you didn’t know you could use it twice! KerryAnn was the one who told me that nifty little trick. The face applicator you can use more than twice! I am going to try it out. 🙂 As far as your (non)results so far. It is true that you could be someone who just isn’t responding to it, or that your tummy needs to be flatten by other means, but I certainly didn’t see anything dramatic the first two wraps (using that first wrap twice). I did see a small difference (I took photos and measured myself), and that was enough to make me keep trying them. Everyone is different. Michelle, the last lady I shared photos of, did many wraps over months of time. It was worth it, but it was slower for her.
Hi Kimi,
I am glad this worked for you. I have a friend that is selling these. I requested the ingredients and when I saw what all was in the wraps, I declined from trying them. Although, I totally understand your reasoning for trying them b/c for you, the good outweighed the bad. I am unsure what to do now. I must admit, I didn’t look up the ingredients individually. But these wraps have BHT in them and I know that is bad. What can you tell me to encourage me to re-think this decision? Here’s what she sent me:
Cream Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Glucose, Caprylic /Capric Triglyceride, Glycerin, Alcohol Denat., Stearic Acid, Stearyl Alcohol, Ceteareth 12, Aesculus hippocastanum (Horse Chestnut)
Seed Extract, Urea, Centella asiatica (Hydrocotyl) Leaf Extract, Camellia sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf Extract, Fucus vesiculosus (Bladderwrack) Thalle Extract, Hedera helix (Ivy) Leaf Extract, Equisetum arvense (Horsetail) Leaf/Stem Extract, Ruscus aculeatus (Butchers Broom) Root Extract, Paullinia cupana (Guarana) Seed Extract, Simmondsia chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Decyl Oleate, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG 7 Glyceryl Cocoate, Tocopheryl Acetate, TEA-Hydroiodide, Methylsilanol Mannuronate, Menthol, Camphor, Panthenol, Phenoxyethanol, Retinyl Palmitate, Triethanolamine, Carbomer, Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Oil, Eucalyptus globulus (Eucalyptus) Leaf Oil, Caprylyl Glycol, Sorbic Acid, BHT. Limonene, Linalool.
Cloth: Polypropylene / Polyethylene
Have you heard of Garcinia Cambogia? I am curious if anyone out there has used it. It sort of looks like a head of garlic.
Yes, I was pretty resistant to using the ITWork products at first because I am really rather a purist in what I put on my skin most of the time. And I think that’s it’s a wonderful goal to be able to eat anything you can put on your skin (I really am pretty extreme most of the time). It does annoy me that it has DHT in it, as I feel it’s really unnecessary. However, we are a family who follows a 90/10 rule in regard to how we eat (that is, we will eat certain, allergy-friendly “junk” food when eating out, or when with friends, etc). So using a product for a short amount of time that contains DHT as a small amount seems like a reasonable 10 percent exception for me. I had pretty dramatic results only using two wraps twice each, so it was even better than I had thought (generally you would use more before being done). Did you see the post that KerryAnn did walking through the different ingredients? I found it helpful, as she goes through what EWG each rating had and why, etc. http://www.intentionallydomestic.com/taking-care-of-mama-tighten-my-tummy-with-it-works-ultimate-body-applicator-wraps/
Thanks for that information! It saved me TONS of time looking that stuff up on EWG myself. I am really going to think about this option. Thanks for posting!
Sure! Glad it was helpful. 🙂 Also, in regard to the Garcinia Cambogia, it’s in the fat fighting formula, which is a popular product, but I haven’t had time to look into it.
Can this be done while still breastfeeding? I’m super careful about ingredients in general, but even more so while breastfeeding. Well, I guess my concern is two-fold: first, the ingredients and whether they would affect milk supply (or even affect my hormonal balance, which is something I struggle with anyway), and second, if these herbs are actually causing a detox which is harmful during breastfeeding. My understanding is that detoxing should be avoided while breastfeeding, so that we don’t dump toxins into the child. Would this product be harmful in that regard?
Tara,
I completely understand your concerns and appreciate that you are so careful! I feel the same way. The official word from ItWorks is to talk to your health care provider about it. As far as the word around the block, everyone I know of who asked their doctor said to go for it and most don’t have detox symptoms or anything like that. But there is an occasional exception (someone reporting slightly reduced milk supply, or feeling a little yucky after using it). So, I guess it seems like most breastfeeding mothers feel fine about using and it seems to have been fine, but if you want to be extra careful you can always wait until you aren’t nursing anymore. 🙂
Thanks for replying, Kimi. Feeling yucky is definitely a concern, since I already struggle with adrenal issues and need to have some degree of energy to keep up with basic daily life at home with my toddler. I guess I could try it for the shorter time period initially and see if there is any reaction before proceeding with the longer time. I do postpone other things, like products that help with detoxification (though I’m sure I need it!), due to breastfeeding. But I intend to breastfeed for a while to come, and I’d like to take care of my mommy tummy now. I think the protrusion is problematic for back pain, general functioning, etc. I still need to look into the diastasis recti info also, as that might be a factor as well.
Tara,
You can always buy one wrap from me, just to test it out, if you want. 🙂 No problem there, just let me know if you wanted to try one. But I’d definitely look into the diastasis recti info! There is a really simple method for checking whether you have one or not, so you can quickly know if that is a factor.
I am very interested in trying these! I would like to purchase individuals to make sure they’re going to work for me before committing to the loyal program. How much do you sell the individuals for? Thanks
Hi Kimi! Thanks for these post on belly fat. It’s funny how after having kids and seeing our body change we can struggle with finding the proper way to view our bodies. You know, although I’d like to think appearances don’t matter that much, I think our husbands do appreciate it when we are on the leaner side. Women also appreciate it when their husbands are strong and fit. I often hear christian bloggers talking about not caring much about outward appearance but God made us to be attracted to beauty… Reading your posts are making me think about how I view my body…trying to find a balance in not being vain but being kind to my husband by keeping a fit body (as much as I can after having kids :)).
Angel,
There is a balance there. All of us are affected by the way the media portrays “beautiful” women, and husbands can be too. Some wives live under unreasonable hopes and expectations from a husband whose view is shaped by media rather than seeing the beauty in the individual he married. So that can be a problem. For me, it’s been actually helpful to realize how a husband’s true love is not dependent on outside beauty. That said, I haven’t heard my husband complaining about my trimmer waist. 😉 But a husband worth having is one that loves you no matter what age, children, and time does to your body.
I think that when I feel better about my appearance and health, I am more likely to flirt with my husband rather than slink away. Feeling healthy, energetic, and confident helps me relate to my husband in more positive ways. He is actually one of the least body conscious people I know, so there is no pressure from him. It’s my outlook and attitude that have the bigger impact on our relationship.
Hi Kimi,
Thanks for sharing this post about the belly wraps. I really appreciate your sharing, as it looks like a really great product. I have a question that arose out of your post, that’s slightly off topic. I’m just wondering if you could share more about your lower carb diet. I clicked on the link to your other previous post, and found this info:
“My doctor’s recommendation
For those curious, my doctor recommends for his version of a lower-carb diet that you eat protein and fat at each meal, plenty of low-carb vegetables, and allows stevia, quinoa, amaranth, in season berries, and legumes (for those who tolerate them well), in limited amounts.”
It sounds like a diet that would actually likely agree with me as well, and I am looking for something that is realistic to keep to for maintaining energy and health, without feeling like I am in bondage to the diet. The info you posted looks like a diet I could enjoy, though I’m wondering how rigid you find you have to be with it. It may be that I really need to be more rigid, which I guess is ok – as long as it’s not hugely time consuming as well so I don’t feel like I’m spending all sorts of time in the kitchen focusing on food, but not able to indulge. I think it would be easier to stick to a low carb diet if I didn’t have two very small children who I’m also trying to feed real food they enjoy, though I’m sure they would thrive on meat and veggies with a little healthy supergrains and legumes as well. (Though they absolutely love their fruit… I’m kind of glad fruit season is coming to an end – it’s difficult to have so many yummy fresh local fruits without indulging a lot.)
Anyway, perhaps you could direct me to another of your posts if you have written about this in more detail already. Thanks so much,
Jessica
Jessica,
I think it would be great to do a follow up post on how I am eating right now! I probably should go into more detail. 🙂 To answer your question, I am supposed to be doing this strictly, but I definitely had quite a number of compromise days too. However, I think that even if you did it 80%, you would find out if it worked for you well. I have found it actually really simple to do, even while feeding my family a higher carb diet. So it works for a family, at least I find. 🙂
I would like to hear more about your diet as well. I feel pulled between the “eat enough carbs to help adrenal function” advice and the “don’t eat too many carbs or you’ll hurt your adrenal function” advice. And due to breastfeeding, I need to make sure I eat enough (in general) and enough carbs to maintain energy. Being grain-free, this means I eat raw honey and fruit, but I question whether I am eating too much fruit and am not quite sure what I should be doing. So I’d love to hear more about what is working well for you. Also, would you mind sharing the name of your doctor? And does your doctor do phone consults for those who live elsewhere, or only in-person visits?
I am interested in trying these to tighten up my stomach, thighs, legs, and arms. So you’re saying that you can get two uses out of one applicator? If I buy the one in the link it says it comes with four applicators for a total of $125 everything in. So thats a total of 8 uses right? I just wrap it in plastic and freeze one until the second use?
Caiti,
Yes, I do two wraps with each wrap. You just have to make sure you don’t let it dry out. I didn’t freeze it, but now I am hearing that is the best way to preserve it. Plus, depending on size, some people cut the wrap in half for arms and legs, so you can make it stretch out even more. Let me know if you want the directions for doing that, as I can dig them up somewhere.
Congrats Kimi! I’ve been an It Works! Distributor for a little over two months and I am LOVING it! I had some of your same concerns (I’ve read through the comments) but it is amazing how these products inspire people towards health, and that’s what’s most important, right? I’ve been following your blog for over a year now, and I was so excited to see this! I think this business is going to be amazing for you! 🙂
Erin
Kimi, I ordered some of the wraps through your website but when I tried to print my receipt it said it couldn’t find that order. Then when I tried to login again after I had filled out all the required places and put in a password the day before, it wouldn’t take my password and I assumed the username must be my email as it never asked me to make a username. I could not find a way to contact the company on the website. I do not know if I have an order coming to me or not. I am anxious to try the product and would place my order again but don’t want to do a duplicate. Can you help me?
Yes, I can help you! I can check all orders on my side. They have been having some glitches with the website stuff as they just changed to a new system, so that could be a problem. But first, did you get any email confirmation from them? That will have your customer number in it, which is your username. There is a number you can call to make an order directly by the way. I have the loyal customer one by me, I just need to find the new customer one for you, if you’d like it. 🙂 Email me through my contact page, if you’d like me to walk you through anything! (Or comment here again).
Hi! I’ve been following your blog for a while and always find it encouraging and informative :o) I am very interested in this product, like you, I have diastasis recti and have tried everything to get rid of my mommy pooch (low carb diets, crazy workouts, ran a marathon etc) to no avail, even though I don’t have extra weight to lose. I know I need to heal my diastasis, but even when/if i do, my stomach will still be awfully wrinkly with extra skin…do you think the wraps would help with that? (Side-note: I appreciate what you said about the effect it can have on one’s self-image, i too have discovered that my identity was wrapped up in my appearance waaaaay more than I would like to admit. Good to let those issues surface so they can be dealt with!)
Hey Marybeth,
Yes, the wraps are exactly supposed to help with loose and wrinkly skin. That’s not to say that it always makes your skin look like a 17 year olds again. 😉 But it definitely makes a difference for most of us. And don’t discount the difference building your muscles can make when working on diastasis recti, too!
Something to think about when you are doing something like these wraps – where does the fat go. Our bodies are designed to work in a certain fashion and in a particular time line. If you have a product that actually is dissolving fat then that fat has to go somewhere. The body may be able to get some of it out of the body but to move it from your belly out means it has to go into your blood stream. Which increases your risk of heart attack, stroke and a variety of other life threatening situation. There’s a reason it takes time to lose fat and quick solutions go against nature.
Sara,
My understanding is that this wrap doesn’t address actual fat (Which is why I could see a difference without losing weight).
So I read online that saran wrap reduces the belly fat because the heat makes the fat dissolve. So the trick might be in plain old plastic wrap, not itworks. Much cheaper so it’s worth a try.
Wow, Angel! That sounds too good to be true. 🙂 Just to clarify, I actually didn’t use sarah wrap, but just used a tank top to put over the wrap (I said above the wrap was made of plastic, but I guess technically it’s not). Also most of us who had success with the wraps didn’t actually lose any weight…this product just helps with skin tone and such. So even if it was true that saran wrap did help with weight loss, it wouldn’t be true for these wraps, since they don’t change your weight. I wonder if what you read was regarding those who try to use plastic coverings to make themselves sweat, which lowers your weight because of water loss (which some people consider healing/healthy, and others just a scam).
Hi, Kimi,
I just came across this post today. The wraps sound pretty awesome! I have a major diastasis recti and am concerned about how my skin will look once I complete the exercise program I’m on to heal it. This sounds like it might be a good thing to try.
I am wondering how effective these are in the long term? Do you have to keep using them to sustain the results or can use them until you get to where you want to be and then stop? Have you maintained your results?