Qi Massage advertising moment Qi Massage advertising moment

Contact details

Qi Traditional Chinese Massage is located in the new building at the Market Street entrance to the Belconnen Fresh Food Markets. It is open every day from 9.30am to 8pm. Call 6251 7788 to make an appointment.

Can a massage help you lose weight?More than a month into the year, many people’s new year’s weight-loss resolutions are already buckling under the weight of busy work routines and hard to maintain diets and exercise regimes. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to relax and lose weight at the same time?

Everyone knows how relaxing a good massage can be, and more Australians are turning to massage and other natural

therapies to treat muscle and joint injuries and chronic pain.

But can a massage help you lose weight?According to expert Canberra massage

therapist Cassie Chien, who owns Qi Traditional Chinese Massage at the Belconnen Fresh Food Markets, the answer is not a simple “yes” or “no”.

“Some studies say massage can burst fat cells, especially new fat cells, which helps flush them out of your body,” she explains. “There are some styles of massage that claim to do this, but opinions are still divided on how effective it is, or if it has any effect at all.”

That’s the bad news: a healthy diet and regular exercise are still the best ways to lose weight. But Cassie says there are several ways massage can indirectly support a weight-loss regime, which could mean the difference between achieving your goals or falling short.

Move your metabolismMetabolism, how easily your body processes food, can have a big impact on weight loss.

As people age, their metabolism tends to slow down. That’s why a teenager can eat everything in his parents’ fridge in an afternoon and stay slim, while his parents can’t look at a chocolate bar without gaining half a kilo.

Many things can help speed up your metabolism. Diet is especially important, as some foods are easier to process than others. But exercise and, yes, massage, can also have a big impact.

“Because massage can improve circulation, it can supply more oxygen and nutrients to your muscles,” Cassie says. “If your body can’t feed some nutrients to your muscles, it will store them as fat.

“Also, by increasing the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the muscles, you’re helping them to grow, which will make it easier to do more exercise in the future and speed up your weight loss.”

Flush those musclesWe’ve all been there. An over-enthusiastic day-one workout leads to a very stiff and sore day two.

When you exercise, lactic and carbonic acids build up in your muscles, causing those day-after aches and pains.

According to Cassie, many of the health benefits of traditional Chinese massage come from its use of pressure points, which help to flush these waste products out of your muscles.

“That’s why so many professional sports people use massage,” she says. “It speeds up their recovery time.”

Although flushing lactic acid from your muscles doesn’t directly burn fat, it does make it easier to hit the gym more regularly.

“A massage after that first session will make it much easier to go back to the gym,” Cassie says. “Your muscles may still be sore, but the pain won’t be so bad or last so long.

“Of course you don’t need a massage every time you exercise. Once your body gets used to your regular workouts, it will get better at flushing out lactic acid.

“Getting a massage once every week, or even every few weeks, depending on how often and how hard you exercise, will be enough to support your workout regime.”

Accentuate the positiveYour body should feel better after a week of eating well and getting regular exercise than it does after a week of binging on fast food and sitting on the lounge. Surprise, surprise.

By adding massage to the list, you can multiply the positive effects of your diet and fitness program, hopefully making it harder to go back to your bad old ways.

“Dieticians always say you should find a healthy diet you can live with every day,” Cassie says. “You can’t just starve for a week and then go back to eating junk food – even if you lose a little weight, you’ll just put it back on.

“If you can treat your regular massages like a reward for being good, and if they make your exercise routine more comfortable and help you relax, then maybe your whole weight loss plan will be more bearable.” Definitive proof of the theories about massage bursting fat cells may still be a long way off, but there’s no uncertainty about a good massage therapist’s ability to support a fitness and weight-loss regime.

“Massage is complementary medicine; not the whole treatment by itself,” Cassie says. “Massage can help you lose weight, but you still need to eat healthy food and do some regular exercise.”

So the next time you’re struggling to motivate yourself to get to the gym, just think how great your post-workout massage is going to feel.

A regular massage can help you multiply the positive effects of your diet and fitness program.

Qi Traditional Chinese MassageCanberra massage therapist Cassie Chien designed Qi (pronounced ‘chee’) to be ‘the perfect massage venue for everyone’.With years of experience in the industry, Cassie felt she had a good idea of what her customers liked and disliked about the businesses where she worked, so she set out to combine all the best features in one place.Cassie personally selects all the staff who work for her. Qualifications and experience are essential to staff members being selected in the first place and she then puts them through her own gruelling training package.

She set out to make the space in the new building at the Belconnen Fresh Food Markets a relaxing place for her customers.‘I used all natural materials – there is no plastic or imitation wood anywhere,’ Cassie says. And there’s a focus on personalised service.‘My business is quite small – it’s just me and a few staff – so our customers have a relationship with us.’

Qi Massage advertising moment Qi Massage advertising moment

Qi Traditional Chinese MassageCanberra massage therapist Cassie Chien designed Qi (pronounced ‘chee’) to be ‘the perfect massage venue for everyone’.

With years of experience in the industry, Cassie felt she had a good idea of what her customers liked and disliked about the businesses where she worked, so she set out to combine all the best features in one place.

Cassie personally selects all the staff who work for her. Qualifications and experience are essential to staff members being selected in

the first place and she then puts them through her own gruelling training package.

She set out to make the space in the new building at the Belconnen Fresh Food Markets a relaxing place for her customers.

‘I used all natural materials – there is no plastic or imitation wood anywhere,’ Cassie says. And there’s a focus on personalised service.

‘My business is quite small – it’s just me and a few staff – so our customers have a relationship with us.’

Qi traditional chinese massage

Contact details

Qi Traditional Chinese Massage is located in the new building at the Market Street entrance to the Belconnen Fresh Food Markets. It is open every day from 9.30am to 8pm. Call 6251 7788 to make an appointment.

Can a massage help you lose weight?More than a month into the year, many people’s new year’s weight-loss resolutions are already buckling under the weight of busy work routines and hard to maintain diets and exercise regimes. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to relax and lose weight at the same time?

Everyone knows how relaxing a good massage can be, and more Australians are turning to massage and other natural

therapies to treat muscle and joint injuries and chronic pain.

But can a massage help you lose weight?According to expert Canberra massage

therapist Cassie Chien, who owns Qi Traditional Chinese Massage at the Belconnen Fresh Food Markets, the answer is not a simple “yes” or “no”.

“Some studies say massage can burst fat cells, especially new fat cells, which helps flush them out of your body,” she explains. “There are some styles of massage that claim to do this, but opinions are still divided on how effective it is, or if it has any effect at all.”

That’s the bad news: a healthy diet and regular exercise are still the best ways to lose weight. But Cassie says there are several ways massage can indirectly support a weight-loss regime, which could mean the difference between achieving your goals or falling short.

Move your metabolismMetabolism, how easily your body processes food, can have a big impact on weight loss.

As people age, their metabolism tends to slow down. That’s why a teenager can eat everything in his parents’ fridge in an afternoon and stay slim, while his parents can’t look at a chocolate bar without gaining half a kilo.

Many things can help speed up your metabolism. Diet is especially important, as some foods are easier to process than others. But exercise and, yes, massage, can also have a big impact.

“Because massage can improve circulation, it can supply more oxygen and nutrients to your muscles,” Cassie says. “If your body can’t feed some nutrients to your muscles, it will store them as fat.

“Also, by increasing the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the muscles, you’re helping them to grow, which will make it easier to do more exercise in the future and speed up your weight loss.”

Flush those musclesWe’ve all been there. An over-enthusiastic day-one workout leads to a very stiff and sore day two.

When you exercise, lactic and carbonic acids build up in your muscles, causing those day-after aches and pains.

According to Cassie, many of the health benefits of traditional Chinese massage come from its use of pressure points, which help to flush these waste products out of your muscles.

“That’s why so many professional sports people use massage,” she says. “It speeds up their recovery time.”

Although flushing lactic acid from your muscles doesn’t directly burn fat, it does make it easier to hit the gym more regularly.

“A massage after that first session will make it much easier to go back to the gym,” Cassie says. “Your muscles may still be sore, but the pain won’t be so bad or last so long.

“Of course you don’t need a massage every time you exercise. Once your body gets used to your regular workouts, it will get better at flushing out lactic acid.

“Getting a massage once every week, or even every few weeks, depending on how often and how hard you exercise, will be enough to support your workout regime.”

Accentuate the positiveYour body should feel better after a week of eating well and getting regular exercise than it does after a week of binging on fast food and sitting on the lounge. Surprise, surprise.

By adding massage to the list, you can multiply the positive effects of your diet and fitness program, hopefully making it harder to go back to your bad old ways.

“Dieticians always say you should find a healthy diet you can live with every day,” Cassie says. “You can’t just starve for a week and then go back to eating junk food – even if you lose a little weight, you’ll just put it back on.

“If you can treat your regular massages like a reward for being good, and if they make your exercise routine more comfortable and help you relax, then maybe your whole weight loss plan will be more bearable.”

Definitive proof of the theories about massage bursting fat cells may still be a long way off, but there’s no uncertainty about a good massage therapist’s ability to support a fitness and weight-loss regime.

“Massage is complementary medicine; not the whole treatment by itself,” Cassie says. “Massage can help you lose weight, but you still need to eat healthy food and do some regular exercise.”

So the next time you’re struggling to motivate yourself to get to the gym, just think how great your post-workout massage is going to feel.

Experienced massage therapist Cassie Chien designed Qi to be “the one perfect massage venue for everyone”.

A regular massage can help you multiply the positive effects of your diet and fitness program.