Biolite promises users will lose inches immediately with their procedure. iVillage's Chris Harding went along to find out just how big a loser he could be

'Lose one to six inches in just the first session,' I read from an information sheet for Biolite's Transion Plus treatment. Yeah, right. The before and after pictures (shown below) were even more unbelievable. But seeing as even lugging boxes in my latest house move hadn't exactly toned my belly, I thought I'd try some of the 'amazing body reshaping and muscle toning.'

The Transion Plus treatment was first developed by an Italian medical company to help long-term bedridden patients use their atrophied muscles. The machines work in a similar way to other body toning devices: several straps with pads are attached to the skin and a current is passed through the pads, causing muscles to contract. The Transion Plus machine also produces a squeezing type of motion in the muscles. The squeezing actually pushes toxins such as lactic acid out, the company says, so that you don't feel any cramps or stiffness during or after the treatment. This also means that you can work on deeper muscles along with the muscles nearer the surface, it says.

Sound painful? It's not, although it was a tad uncomfortable. What it actually feels like is, at first, a gentle tingling sensation which then builds up to a strong vibration and muscle contraction throughout the areas being treated. As I lay shirtless on the table in relative comfort, I could actually see my body working out.

After 20 minutes, the clinic manager Mona measured me, comparing to measurements taken when I'd arrived. Amazingly, I'd lost two inches from my waist and tummy and felt like I'd done 500 of the most effective pain-free crunches ever. No cramps, no stiffness or soreness at all.

Mona suggested ten further sessions every other day, then a top-up session once or twice a month to get a six-pack the like of which Brad Pitt would be proud, or something like that. At £30 a session, it would cost about the same as time with a personal trainer, although without the obvious cardio-vascular benefits. I wouldn't let Biolite's treatment replace eating right and exercising at least three times a week (which I gotta start soon...), but the jump-start has made me a lot more motivated to lose my other excess inches.

For more information, visit www.biolite.co.uk
Biolite Skin Clinic
Harrow Exchange
2 Gayton Rd
Harrow HA1 2XU
0870 351 7164
0208 901 4088