Wired For Weight Loss

A CBS 2 News Special Assignment

But you won't believe which one is burning more fat.

CBS 2 News' Jennifer Sabih shows you the latest in high-tech weight loss that uses small electric shocks to literally melt fat away.

Special Assignment: Wired For Weight Loss aired Friday, April 30, 1999 at 11 p.m.

It might be hard to believe but Denise and Tracey say they are doing the exact same thing to lose excess weight. They're toning their stomach, firming their buttocks and exercising their arms.

But while one counts reps and sweats, the other counts sheep and sleeps. And the sleeping woman swears she'll be thinner when she wakes up.

"The first thing I noticed when I got the opportunity and looked in a full-length mirror, I noticed there was definition in my stomach and in my thighs," Denise Grant told CBS 2 News' Jennifer Sabih.

And all Denise says she does to get the tight abs and toned thighs is show up at Madame et Monsieur Salon in Pasadena twice a week. An electrotherapist then attaches electrodes to all the places on Denise's body she wants to tone.

"We place the electrodes on areas that need working on. The thighs, the buttocks, the inner thighs," Electrotherapist Kate Grieg told Sabih.

The electrodes are hooked into a machine and "a signal is sent from the electrotherapy machine to the muscle, which stimulates to contract and relax as if you were working out, but you're not. You're lying down in a private room," said Grieg.

Music plays, candles are lit, and there's the smell of incense, instead of sweat in the air. It's just the kind of exercise atmosphere Chiropractor Karen Algots was looking for.

"I had put a little weight on over the holidays and I decided I wanted to get a jump start on working out and toning up for the summer," Algots told Sabih.

So in January, Algots started coming to Madame et Monsieur.

"Within the first two weeks I lost five and a half inches. My husband noticed right away," said Algots.

Those results, according to electrotherapists, are what the average client will notice.

"On average, we have seen a 22-pound loss within four weeks," Grieg said.

Sound too good to be true? Harold Hedlund thought so, too. But the 67-year-old was willing to try anything after heart surgery forced him to stop jogging and he started putting on the pounds.

"I got up to be 235 pounds and I said that's enough. I saw the ad and I said, 'Well, it's worth a shot,'" Hedlund told Sabih.

So, twice a week Hedlund made himself go to Madame et Monsieur, got wired up and hoped for the best.

"In about a month, I dropped approximately 20 pounds," said Hedlund.

Electrotherapy isn't exactly new. Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Frank Ryan has seen patients use it for years to help rehabilitate injured muscles. But now Ryan is noticing more of his patients using it not to repair their bodies, but to build better ones.

"I've seen in my practice a transition where electrotherapy is now being used by average patients who haven't had an injury just to maintain muscle tone and to keep in good shape and perhaps to lose weight as well," Ryan told Sabih.

Of course, everyone who tries this type of weight loss still have to watch their diet, but not one of those interviewed by Sabih added traditional exercise to their regime.

"It's actually somewhat of a physiological process. So, scientifically it does inherently make sense that it does work," said Ryan.

What it doesn't do, however, is work your heart, said Sabih.

There's not much cardio benefit to lying down and thumbing through magazines. But if you're looking to short circuit your body-building routine, electrotherapy could be the way.

"Thirty minutes of our electrotherapy is equivalent to a six hour workout in the gym," Grieg said.

And to Algots, that's six hours of working out without working up a sweat.

"I don't have to shower, I don't have to blow dry my hair. I don't have to redo my makeup, I just get exercise, rest and I'm on my way," she said.

According to Sabih, the treatment may look like electroshock but it actually feels like a deep tissue massage.

So forget about "no pain, no gain," with electrotherapy, the new motto can be "gain no strain", said Sabih.

And how much will getting wired up run you?

Clients generally buy a series of treatments, which breaks down to about $25 a session. For the best results, you need to have two to three sessions a week.

More information:

• Madame et Monsieur is located on 380 S. Lake Avenue in Pasadena. Call (626) 356-3646.
• Visit their Web site at www.oasisallure.com