Space age weight loss

Reporter: July 30, 2008
Broadcast Date: July 31, 2008

It's a strange contraption with an even stranger name, but Hypoxi is the weight loss solution which has been a hit with celebrities in the UK and Europe.

Robbie Williams apparently has his own machine at home - and now here, too.

Radio personality Bianca Dye wanted to lose weight quickly for a television audition when a friend recommended she try Hypoxi to shed kilos quickly from her lower half.

"I was cynical because I thought nothing could be that great. Whenever people talk things up I think - nah it can't be ... I'm a typical female I've got a bit of a pear shape," says Bianca.

"I will always be voluptuous and I love my curves but it just toned me up really quickly and people were just going what have you done and I said hypoxi and I always get what?"

It's no wonder they ask - Hypoxi is relatively unheard of in Australia but it was developed by Austrian scientists to speed rehabilitation after car accidents. They worked out that increased blood flow through vacuum technology increased recovery rates. Extensive testing revealed an unexpected by product: dramatic, targeted weight loss.

Blood flow or lack thereof is the apparent problem with stubborn fatty deposits - because the circulatory system doesn't service them they lack the mobility to move on. Hypoxi changes that according to Arianna Henry - the product's Australian distributor.

"There's now a really big body of science - especially in Europe which has proven this exercise couple with the vacuum technology which is quite advanced isn't doing anything more than artificially changing blood flow," says Arianna Henry.

"Hypoxi is the first natural approach to actually letting your body do what it does best which is burn fat but control whereabouts the fat is tended to be burnt," adds Arianna.

Arianna put on weight when working as a solicitor in London. She shed 18 kilograms using the system over there and was frustrated when she couldn't continue treatment back home in Australia. She set up Hypoxi in Australia and has already helped hundreds of women lose an average of 35 centimetres each from their lower bodies.

"I put on weight after having my son and had a really hard time losing it so far - around my bum my thighs and my stomach."

Former fashion model, now businesswoman, Tania Highfield is slim but wants to reduce certain areas to regain her photo ready figure. She'll undergo 12 Hypoxi sessions in the next four weeks without making any other changes to her normal routine to see if it makes a difference.

"Having been a model I'm sure I'm much more self conscious about my body and my weight ... I have looked in to liposuction but I didn't like the idea of being operated on and the recovery," says Tania.

Tania is weighed and measured then vacuum sealed into the hypoxi unit. She pedals at a moderate pace - keeping her heart rate only slightly elevated while reading or watching a DVD.

"It's everyone's best kept secret because no-one wants to admit it. You feel like you're being a bit lazy lying down and working out," says Bianca.

"For all those personal trainers out there - that isolated exercise will never spot reduce still holds completely true. But this is the first machine that is actually artificially changing the way the body works during exercise," says Arianne.

Nutritionist Matt O'Neill thinks the research produced by Hypoxi Australia isn't substantial enough to back up the claims.

"You could be spending money on this when all the things you did naturally without the machine got you your results ... we can't find a published paper that experts like me and other dieticians can have a look at," says Matt.

But twelve sessions - at around $60 each, and Hypoxi has a new convert. Tania has lost 8.5 centimetres from her legs and 6.5 from her hips - which equates to a dress size.

"It's been pretty phenomenal. Happened quickly - could notice it - could feel it. Really impressed. Really pleased," says Tania.