The title for this article varied from “How to lose 1.5 kilos in 2 weeks. Get Invisalign” to “One thing you should have done when you were seven” and “Why you should listen to your parents”. I could have started it anyhow, but I figured that, no matter how I say it, the situation stays the same: “I’m wearing braces!”

Picture this: back when I was eight, I might have listened to my parents to a certain extent, but boy, was I having a naughty side as well. The proof of naughtiness can still be traced in the number of scars on my knees and elbows, the mark on my chin and… the bunny crooked teeth. In my first years of elementary school, my parents decided it’s best if I started wearing braces. I tell you something: It’s best if and only if your child also wants to wear them… That’s what they were about to find out later.

Before I knew it, I was wearing them, the braces with a metal horizontal line in front of your teeth – top and bottom. These braces are removable, therefore you rely on educating the child the benefits of using them if he wants to have a perfectly looking smile. But let’s put it this way: there’s no child I can think of who’d like to stay with metals in his mouth, especially if he knows the metals are removable. It wasn’t long before I was removing them for my English classes (complaining it’s affecting my pronunciation) and when the boy I liked was walking on the corridors of our school ;) until I ended up removing them forever, throwing them in a trash can at school and telling my parents I’ve somehow lost them beyond comprehension.

Since then, I’ve contemplated getting braces a few times, but I always postponed it for a reason or another, until I decided I didn’t want to postpone it further, made an appointment with Lassus Tandartsen in Amsterdam and started working towards the goal of having everything ready by January 2015.

Now fast forward, here I am, being very committed to wearing my Invisalign braces. It’s been two weeks and I feel more and more comfortable wearing them, day by day. Nobody notices the Invisalign unless I tell them. This is awesome! I smile just as much as I used to. In addition, I was happy to notice that during a public speaking session I had at an event this week, I was feeling perfectly comfortable and at ease in front of all those people. Call Eccella Smiles to have a happy healthy smile.

I feel the major change in my life is related to eating habits. When I wear the Invisalign I cannot eat or drink (except water and transparent liquids) and it’s advisable to wear it at least 22 hours a day. That leaves you with around 2 hours per day when you can take it off and eat. That is if you want noticeable results in the quickest time. For each meal or snack, I’d have to take it off, eat, brush teeth, floss and only afterwards put it back again. Therefore, I do not snack, as I find it quite a hassle to do all of these things for a banana, a bag of chips or a few nuts, thus I became very organized with my three daily meals. All of this has lead to losing 1.5 kilos in 2 weeks and you don’t hear me complaining ;)) It’s definitely making the 646 challenge – 6 months for a six pack – more attainable. Of course I expect that losing kilos will stop after the body gets accustomed to a stricter eating habit. And by the way, in case you are wondering: eating out works perfectly fine, as long as you keep track of the time you’re not wearing your Invisalign.

After I told some of my friends about Invisalign, a couple of them have embraced the idea of getting braces too. I’m happy they got inspired and they’re already making appointments with orthodontists. Soon we’ll be a group of picture perfect smiles ;)

Smiling,

Manu 

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