‘I tried Zoe Ball’s ‘gut shrinking’ massage – an inch melted off my waist in one hour’

Following a massage that removed inches from her waist, Zoe Ball recently won over fans. The 54-year-old former Radio 2 Breakfast Show host shared photos of her belly before and after a £200, one-hour body contouring session with Soph London clinic founder Sophie Yerby on Instagram.

However, other celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Hailey Bieber also use body contouring treatments, including Zoe, who was trying to lose weight during her menopause.

Although I’m not particularly menopausal at the age of 26, I still experience bloating and discomfort, particularly at the end of the day. Could my waistline be reduced thanks to body contour expert Soph, as she is known?

niamh and soph
Sophie Yerby and I had a visit at her London Body By Soph clinic (Adam Gerrard/Daily Mirror).

Soph, a former childbirth worker, started a body contouring business three years ago and has since started taking beauty courses. She created her signature massage by utilizing her own health journey, which included overcoming an autoimmune condition.

She now juggles raising two young children and transforming her clients’ bodies with taking care of her 103-year-old grandmother. She has already been booked up for the next six months thanks to the Zoe Ball Effect. She laughs, “I didn’t believe I could be more busy.”

The Body by Soph Method, which costs £120, includes Brazilian sculpting and lymphatic drainage. By removing lymph fluid from the tissues and causing swelling, the first method de-puffs and lessens it. Deep tissue stimulation is then used to improve blood flow and even aid in the breakdown of fat cells in Brazilian bodysculpting massage.

Two additional steps are included in the full Zoe Ball treatment: radio frequency (RF), which uses electromagnetic energy to firmer and appear younger, and cavitation, where ultrasound is used to melt fat to remove it from the body. Anyone who is experiencing menopause symptoms or fluid retention is particularly helped by the treatment, according to Sophie, who describes it as a complete body reset from the inside out.

zoe ball
I received the Zoe Ball treatment (BBC/Ray Burmiston) because she is one of Soph’s clients.

Making healthier lifestyle choices can help extend the benefits, she says, although the results typically last for ten days. Your lymphatic system and overall health will definitely benefit from regular sessions. The results may be even longer if you add cavitation, which helps dissolve stubborn fat.

Soph claims that Brazilian sculpting alone can significantly lessen bloating and shrink waistlines, so I chose to avoid doing that because I’m not looking for permanent fat loss. Prior to the appointment, I was advised to drink plenty of water and avoid eating heavy meals the day before. A no-brainer was also eating one hour prior to the appointment.

Soph explained that our body uses muscle movements and massages to move through our “drainage system” called lymph, which doesn’t have a pump like our circulatory system, and that it is unable to have its entire body pushed and pummelled.

She says that your lymph can stagnate, and that there are toxins, viruses, infections, and even cancer cells that result. T cells are present in the body, which aids in the fight against infections and cancer cells. It won’t do its job if they are stuck in your lymphatic system instead of moving around it.

soph
Owner of Body By Soph (Adam Gerrard/The Daily Mirror), Soph Yerby is a famous author.

Soph claims that her clients’ relaxation before the massage is one of the most important aspects of her treatment. When my clients first walk in, I gently induce them to relax because if the body isn’t calm, it won’t react appropriately.

To aid in this, I took a life coaching and hypnotherapy course. Although it isn’t done in a clear way, it still works. She says that once the nervous system is calmed, we begin focusing on the lymphatic system, followed by colon and gut massage.

It’s a total game changer for women when combined, making you feel calmer, lighter, and more in charge. She began by massaging the lymph nodes in my arms, armpits, and leg’s tops. These tiny bean-shaped organs aid in lymphatic fluid filtering.

According to Sopho, “Then it goes deeper, to the fluid around the tissues,” to get the results you want. Chronic inflammation has been linked to heart disease, dementia, and even cancer, which is a major contributor to many long-term health issues.

soph massage
I had the Brazilian Sculpt and Lymphatic Drainage treatment (Daily Mirror, Adam Gerrard).

Soph has extensive experience in this area. My own personal healing journey led me to develop this method. I was experiencing anxiety attacks, hives, rashes, joint pain, and black eyes after getting an autoimmune disease. Lymphatic drainage massage was the only thing that really helped. She claims that it became my lifeline.

I derived my own approach, which goes beyond contouring, from that knowledge. Because I realized how much emotion and tension we store in our stomachs, I added gut and colon massage. Bloating is frequently caused by stress and a slow digestive system, not just what we eat.

niamh before and after
Before and after results had a significant difference.

Soph, who has even written a book on the subject, A Simple Guide to Understanding the Lymphatic System, says, “Stress is a big one, and I can’t emphasise this enough. But once you look after yourself and your body, all this bloating will stop.” You’ll feel much more free and lessen this tightness and tenderness.

Then it came to the Brazilian sculpting, which worked by applying “deeper pressure” to my stomach to aid in toxins removal, improved metabolization, and decreased fluid retention. Although Sophie placed her hands around my middle, it wasn’t my typical bliss-out massage; instead, my stomach and waist were covered in a suction cup and a gua sha-type device (similar to the slim stone tool you use to de-puff and improve circulation).

soph yerby
Soph owns Body By Soph in London (Adam Gerrard/The Daily Mirror).

You massage up, around, and down, Soph claims. “Always clockwise, never anti-clockwise.” The stool can be pushed backwards if you push backwards, which will physically ill the client.

Although the sensations were new, I was determined to enjoy them. The outcomes were convincing after the treatment. My bloated stomach, which had felt firm to the touch, had softened and not felt as swollen as a result.

Soph had managed to reduce the water-weight around my ribs, which I didn’t even realize I had, while making my waistline appear smaller and cinched. My waist was 28 inches before the treatment, and it had dropped to 27.5 inches. My body felt less swollen, lighter, and slimmer on the inside.

The effects have not yet begun to fade after a week. I’ll definitely be getting another treatment because it’s obvious why this one is so popular with A-listers.

Visit sophlondon.com and soph for more details. London . Instagram beauty

Do you have a tale to tell? Message niamh . kirk@reachplc.com

Russia unleashes deadliest Kyiv air attack this year

At least eight people were killed in the biggest airstrike on Kiev this year as a result of Russia’s use of missiles and drones to bomb the city’s capital, Kyiv. According to Ukraine, seven additional regions were also attacked.

Early on Thursday morning, search efforts were still conducting to find bodies hidden beneath the rubble of the overnight attack.

Kiev was the main target of Russia’s missile launches and 145 drone strikes in the Ukraine between late on Wednesday and early Thursday, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

112 of the 215 projectiles were “confirmed to have been shot down,” according to a statement posted on Telegram.

Rescuers were battling blazes in apartment blocks while they searched through the rubble of destroyed buildings at night.

Vardy to leave Leicester at end of the season

  • 159 Comments

Jamie Vardy, the Foxes’ captain for Leicester City, will leave the organization at the end of the 2024-2019 campaign, according to the Foxes.

The 38-year-old striker, who left non-league outfit Fleetwood Town in 2012, has a record for goals in 498 appearances and is the Foxes’ top Premier League scorer.

Vardy won the Foxes’ first top-flight title in their history with 24 goals in the 2015-16 Premier League campaign.

When Leicester defeated Chelsea 1-0 at Wembley, the former England international was also a part of their 2021 FA Cup winning side.

On a video posted by Leicester on social media, Vardy gushed, “To the fans of Leicester, I’m gutted that this day is coming, but I knew it would eventually.”

“I’ve had many successes and some downs while working at this club for 13 years, but the majority have been great.”

I’m devastated about it, but I believe the timing is right. “It’s finally time to call it a day.”

Vardy is the only player still playing at King Power Stadium from Leicester’s 2016 title defense.

After being dropped from the Premier League in 2023, he stayed with the Foxes and helped them win the match asap.

This season, Vardy has made 30 league starts and has seven goals.

After the Foxes were demoted earlier this month, he called the club’s season miserable and a total embarrassment.

related subjects

  • Leicester City
  • Premier League
  • Football

Record numbers in England playing sport, report finds

Images courtesy of Getty
  • Comments

A Sport England report found that there are record numbers of people in England engaging in physical activity.

The grassroots sport funding body’s findings revealed that 67% of adults are following the chief medical officers’ recommended guidelines for weekly physical activity for the period November 2023 to November 2024.

In the last 12 months, there have also been 121, 000 decreases in the number of inactive adults.

The results are a “major milestone,” according to Sport England’s CEO Tim Hollingsworth, but “there is still a lot to do.”

According to Hollingsworth, “Black and Asian people are still less active than white people, while women are less active than men.”

“It also remains blatantly unfair that a person’s physical activity level and the size of their bank balance can affect someone so significantly,” said the statement.

Putin tantalises Ukraine with a truce, but rejects ceasefire on the ground

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, extended his unilateral, month-long ceasefire on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure by 30 hours over the weekend.

During that time, Russian and Ukrainian long-distance attacks stopped, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, suggested extending the truce for at least 30 days.

Zelenskyy’s attitude toward Putin was reflected in Zelenskyy’s rejection of the offer, which stated that Putin wasn’t serious about a ceasefire.

“Some areas of the front line remained quiet over the Easter holiday without any air raid alerts.” This demonstrates that it is possible when Russia chooses to lessen the killing, Zelenskyy said in a Monday evening speech at night.

Russia is also the party who is best positioned to end the war, according to Ukraine, who has consistently maintained that as the aggressor.

According to Zelenskyy, Russia broke with its own Easter ceasefire on the ground. He reported on social media on Sunday evening that “67 Russian assaults have already been carried out against our positions.” Russia has failed to uphold its own promise of a ceasefire in practice, across all of the main front-line positions.

However, Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine “proposes to cease any strikes using long-range drones and missiles on civilian infrastructure for at least 30 days with the possibility of extension” given the successful suspension of long-range attacks.

Putin stated to journalists on Monday, “The fighting has resumed.”

He said, “We have always had a positive attitude toward the ceasefire, which is why we took this initiative.” We now know that the Kyiv regime is trying to take the initiative and talk about expanding, according to a statement that was published in which our proposal was viewed as a game with fates and people’s lives.

Putin claimed that Russia was using 4, 900 ceasefire “violations” including “90 attempts to strike” unmanned aerial vehicles during its “tithe.”

INTERACTIVE-WHO CONTROLS WHAT IN EASTERN UKRAINE copy-1745396803

repositioning forces

According to Anastasia Blyshchyk, the representative of Ukraine’s 66th Separate Mechanized Brigade defending the eastern town of Lyman, Russia continued to use its self-imposed truce to reposition its forces.

We witnessed how they deployed their RPGs and machine guns alongside their infantry to the front line. During this period of the so-called Easter truce, over 120 Russian occupiers were dispersed through plantings, forest belts, destroyed structures, and dugouts. The Russians launched a massive infantry offensive as soon as the so-called Easter truce came to an end, Blyshchyk told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.

In order to prepare for upcoming offensives, company commander Denys Perch claimed that Russian forces cleared pontoons and other crossings along the river that surrounded Lyman from Russian positions of damaged vehicles. He claimed that they needed to take a pause to perform a few actions that we typically forbid them from doing.

Russian forces carried out “manoeuvres under the nose, which at the same time looked like assaults, but came as if under a white flag,” according to Viktor Tregubov, spokesman for the Khortytsia group of forces in the east, according to the United News telethon, one of Ukaine’s wartime pool of television channels. They appeared to be trying to incite visual fire violations in the first place. so that we could launch an assault before striking it.

Zelenskyy stated in his Monday address that: “Russia has rejected both the US proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire, which was made more than a month ago during the discussions in Jeddah, and the proposal to continue doing everything possible to maintain the ceasefire after Easter. This all demonstrates once more what Moscow really wants.

INTERACTIVE Ukraine Refugees-1745396783

Ukraine is still attempting to bridge allies.

President Trump and the United States want this war to end, and they have now laid out the steps to a peaceful resolution, according to US State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce in a statement last week. Peace is possible if all parties commit to reaching an agreement, according to the encouraging response from Paris to the US framework.

Bruce referred to separate meetings that the Ukrainian delegation and US and European officials had last week in Paris.

Yulia Svyrydenko, the deputy prime minister of Ukraine, made the announcement on April 17 that Ukraine had “signed a statement of intent” with the US to reach an agreement “that will benefit both our peoples,” referring to Trump’s ongoing campaign to exploit Ukraine’s mineral wealth.

Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskyy’s office, Rustem Umerov, the defense minister, and Andrii Sybiha, the heads of the French, British, and German governments, met at the Elysee Palace in Paris on the same day to discuss a ceasefire and possible security guarantees.

Zelenskyy described the discussions as “preparing a new security architecture – all the specifics of how a partner security contingent in Ukraine can function” to Ukrainians.

Zelenskyy met Brian Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the US Congressional Ukraine Caucus, while his negotiators were in Paris.

According to Fitzpatrick, many Republicans were supportive of Ukraine, and it would be supported overwhelmingly once a bill passed.

INTERACTIVE-ATTACK_ON_KURSK_MARCH_6_2025-1745396795

You should know that you have strength because of people like us, and that we are willing to make those difficult decisions in your support, Fitzpatrick said as these negotiations are moving back and forth.

Trump has publicly opposed further military aid to Ukraine, and he even pressured lawmakers to delay a $60 billion aid bill by six months before winning the election.

Ukraine announced last Friday that it would start nationwide national resistance training centers.

Veterans will reportedly teach a program created by Ukraine’s military reserve, the Territorial Defence Forces.

It was unclear whether the training would involve military-related combat, support positions, or other duties to support civil-military infrastructure.

Injured Alcaraz out of Madrid Open

EPA

Carlos Alcaraz is recovering from his injury-related withdrawal from the Madrid Open, but he is hoping to recover from his French Open title defense.

The third-ranked Spaniard claimed to have injured his groin and hamstring in the Barcelona Open final on Sunday.

Alcaraz said, “I will return to training in a week or two, but I will take it step by step.”

“It wasn’t possible for me to practice.” I had to make the right choice based on my body.

I hope to be ready for the French Open, but I don’t want to advance too far.

Alcaraz won the Monte Carlo Masters in April, becoming a two-time champion in Madrid.

The Dane won the match 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 after leaving the court for treatment during the Barcelona final against Holger Rune.

related subjects

  • Tennis