Hotpants

No not the skimpy little things that Kylie loves but the latest fad in weight loss. Hot they unfortunately are not. They are made out of a material similar to that of a wet suit and make a strange swooshing sound as you walk but who cares what they look like if they actually work hey?! There has been a lot of hype about them on twitter and their facebook page is filled with girls raving over the results, but when I found out that some of the hype is likely to have come from the company giving away a large number of free pairs, I have to be honest and say that I was more than just a little skeptical. It's very easy to effectively buy positive reviews in return for a freebie so I wanted to know the truth. I bought a couple of pairs via a Groupon deal and decided to put them to the test.  I'm all for trying the latest lazy girl way to lose weight although usually the only pounds I manage to shift are of the monetary kind.

The makers of hotpants, Zaggora, claim that not only do they reduce your body fat and the visible appearance of cellulite that you can actually lose 2 jean sizes in 2 weeks. And the best bit of this is, whilst they are more effective if you wear them whilst exercising, you can obtain results by sitting on your butt watching tv in them, they sound like heaven!

For the last month or so I have been really struggling with my weight loss. I have lost, gained and maintained for several weigh ins, so to give the hotpants a fair trial the only thing that I have changed is the addition of the hotpants, my activity and food intake have remained the same. Before I started wearing them I measured each thigh, my hips and waist and stepped on those dreaded scales.

Week 1
I decided not to include any exercise in the first week of the trial in case the exercise alone had a positive result. I have been lazy recently and haven't been able to find the motivation to either go for a walk or do the 30 day shred like I normally do. I went to work and popped on my hotpants and carried about my normal day. I didn't feel hot and bothered like I expected to but when I took them off to go for lunch I could really feel the difference. I wore them whenever I wasn't in a public place over the next 7 days, on average I ended up wearing them for about 10 hours a day.

So onto the results for week 1... to be honest I am shocked but in a very good way! At weigh-in on day 7 I had lost a whopping 3.5lbs. Yep you did read that right, by changing nothing but adding hotpants I managed to lose 3.5lbs. After weeks of struggling I cannot tell you how happy this made me and it's the biggest loss I have had since my first weigh-in on Slimming World. It doesn't end there though - I also measured my thighs again and I have lost 1" off each thigh. When you're pear shaped like me being able to lose a whole inch of each thigh in just a week is nothing short of miraculous.

Week 2
Week 2 of my trial is exactly as week 1 but with the addition of 30 minutes exercise a day. I love (hate) the 30 day shred as I know it works for me so this is the exercise I have chosen.  I find that for the first week after I introduce exercise I don't really lose much weight (apparently this is something to do with muscles retaining water but who knows!) so I wasn't expecting another big loss on the scales but am hoping for some good inch loss!!

Although this is a bit too much information I feel that I owe it to hotpants to also disclose that the second week of the trial coincided with my time of the month.  Sorry for sharing that but I always gain a pound or so and suffer from bad bloating so I thought it was only fair to share!  I can also tell you that another benefit of the hotpants is they act a bit like a hot water bottle and really eased my usual cramps, a total blessing!

Again the hotpants get hot but you don't feel hotter in yourself.  When I removed the hotpants after exercise they were damp and my skin clammy, far more so than from just wearing them at work.  A great side effect of the hotpants is that your skin feels silky smooth without moisturising.  I don't want photos of my thighs plastered on the internet so you'll have to take my word when I say that my cellulite has visibly improved too.

On day 7 I weighed in and found that I had lost 0.5lb which I was really pleased with and took my measurements and found:

Thighs, the same and week 1 still -1" each
Hips -1"
Waist -1"

So in total I have lost 4" and 4lbs in two weeks whilst wearing hotpants.  I am completely sold on them and am going to continue to wear them and exercise in them.  I will keep you updated as to my progress via the usual Sunday Summary.

Would I change anything about hotpants? Yeah to be honest I would, I would make them longer so they can help sort out my fat knees and I would move the big yellow hotpants sign so it wasn't so obvious.  I mostly wear mine over tights but under dresses and that big yellow logo is a total give away.  I also really recommend that if you can afford it you purchase two pairs, they are cold handwash only with no wringing or heat drying so take quite a while to dry fully which would be really annoying if you only had the one pair.  Oh and maybe I they might fancy making something that sorts out upper arms too? Please!!

Hotpants retail at £44.49 and you can save 10% by liking their Facebook page and using discount code 'FACEBOOK' at checkout.  Seriously, what are you waiting for?!