Cellulite: the facts
What causes cellulite:
- Hereditary factors
- Lack of suitable exercise
- Hormonal changes
- Over-production of oestrogen
- Excessive consumption of saturated fats and sugary products.
90% of all women have some body cellulite. Cellulite particularly affects women over the age of 35.
Lack of suitable exercise
A few simple but focused endurance training exercises and a protein supplement can help you improve your muscle tone. A poor diet and day-to- day stress can cause many women hormonal problems, so your main aim will be to combat excessive oestrogen and cortisol production.
A poor diet
Filling your body with bad fats, sugar and chemical products can lead to hormonal changes and excessive lower body fat storage. Instead of reducing your calorie consumption and trying to lose weight, let’s focus on a few simple substitutions for some common foods you probably eat. These two things can improve your body composition.
So what exactly is cellulite?
The average woman loses 5 pounds of muscle and replaces it with about 15 pounds of fat every decade of her adult life.
The ONLY way to get rid of that fat for good is to tone up your muscles and skin in the affected areas. If you’re ready to stop feeling ashamed in the clothes you wear… if you’re ready to stop avoiding shorts and bikinis… then I promise you can do it, using the programme you’re about to read. The best thing of all is that when you see how easy and manageable it is, you’ll be able to get rid of your cellulitis FOR EVER.
Massage
An intense muscle massage increases blood flow, causing swelling which temporarily stretches the skin. This means your cellulite will be a bit less noticeable for a short time. It isn’t a practical solution to the problem.
Anti-cellulite creams
Cellulite creams are the biggest swizz on the anti-cellulite market and they are quickly disappearing due to misleading advertising.
So how do I get rid of it then?
There are thousands of different “cures”: creams, dietary supplements, massages and even surgery. Unfortunately these solutions are only temporary at best, and they do NOT actually reduce or eliminate cellulite at all. Any topical product or massage treatment has one single purpose: to increase the blood flow to the area in question by means of swelling. This makes the cellulite TEMPORARILY less visible. As soon as the effects wear off you’re back where you started.
Many women quake at the thought of endurance training or weight training, as they think it will make them gain volume.
This is in fact a very common error. It’s actually very difficult for a woman to develop muscle bulk, especially if she follows a good workout routine. If your workout is adequate it will help reduce your body mass and any specific problem zones, and it’ll make you stronger, helping you to burn off fat much more quickly than with aerobics. These workouts involve doing 15 to 25 reps and that will give you shape rather than size when you do them. The exercises should be done with very short breaks between series, just enough to drink a little water and then go on. This type of training builds up muscle while it continues to burn off fat.
Aerobics training does not tone your muscles, and muscular tone is the ONLY quick cure for cellulite. As a woman, you should incorporate weight training with small weights to your daily gym workouts in order to develop the body you’d like to have. This will:
- Reduce the pace of bone structure ageing and the increase in bone mass.
- Improve the strength and function of tendons and ligaments.
- Boost your metabolism by building muscle. For every pound of muscle you build you’ll burn around 50 calories a day while you’re resting.
- It replaces the half pound of muscle you lose each year as you grow older, from the age of 30 upwards.
The cellulite diet
Get a cellulite-free body
Here are some simple tips you can follow to help reduce cellulite:
- Eat a balanced diet with the right proportion of proteins, complex carbohydrates and fats.
- Your diet should contain a lot of fibre and lean protein.
- You should totally avoid trans fats, and reduce your consumption of saturated fats to a minimum.
- Eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids and essential fatty acids.
- Avoid junk food and fast food, rich in bad cholesterol.
- Add fresh fruit and vegetables to your diet.
- Drink at least 2 litres of water a day and avoid sugary drinks with caffeine.
- Take a multivitamin a day, and fish oil capsules.
Limit your intake of alcohol, cigarettes and sugary drinks as these are known for increasing cellulite and slowing down your metabolism (and also causing other health problems).
Food substitutes
Some simple substitutes can help you to burn cellulite.
Here are a few simple things you can do to get rid of cellulite without giving up the foods you like:
- Butter and margarine are the most common sources of trans fats – replace them by trans fat-free butter.
- Swap fizzy drinks with sugar and caffeine for water. If your daily dose of caffeine is absolutely necessary drink coffee, but no more than one cup a day, and if fizzy drinks are absolutely necessary drink diet soda.
- Avoid fast food as far as possible, as it is cooked in unhealthy cooking oils full of saturated and trans fats. Most fast food chains offer a low-calorie menu if there is no other option.
- Replace fatty meat by lean meat. There are often alternatives to fatty meats like bacon, sausages and hamburgers that taste just as good. For example, swap pork sausages for chicken sausages, beef burgers for turkey or lean meat burgers and normal bacon for turkey bacon.
- Eat wholegrain bread instead of processed bread and grain products. If you see the words “whitened” or “enriched” on the packet it means the bread is processed, which is like adding sugar.
Secrets of the fight against cellulite
Six simple tips for quick cellulite reduction
Apart from simple food substitution, here are a few additional tips for toning and firming the skin, burning off fat and quickly reducing visible cellulite.
Glycolic acid
Glycolic acid stimulates collagen production more efficiently than any other acid, as its small molecules enable it to slip under the epidermis to reach the collagen fibres below.
Clinical tests have shown it provides 15% – 25% firmer skin in 12 weeks. Glycolic acid generally causes very little or no peeling, as some other acids do.
Musk rose oil
Musk rose oil is especially effective after a chemical peel, preferably with glycolic acid, as it is a very strong moisturiser and the glycolic acid can dry and redden your skin.
It helps by both smoothing and tightening the skin at the same time.
Water
Water helps eliminate toxins from the body. Drinking plenty of cold water increases metabolism and helps you feel fuller for longer, reducing the appearance of cellulite.
Fish Oil
Fish oil is perhaps the best source of omega-3 fatty acids. These are healthy fats that are not only good for your heart but also for your skin. Suitable fish oil supplements can help treat specific problem zones and reduce the appearance of cellulite even further.
Proteins
Cellulite is more pronounced in women with flabby skin and muscles. Both the skin and the muscles need proteins to tone up and get firm. Drastically increasing the amount of proteins in your diet will help tone your muscles and skin and improve body composition.
If you eat around 0.6 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass every day you will start to see notable results in about 8 weeks’ time.
Retinol
Retinol stimulates cell renewal and has been shown to increase collagen production. This is good news for the fight against cellulite, as it can be applied to the fine skin on buttocks and thighs.
Hormones and cellulite
Find out which hormones cause cellulite and how to combat them
The two main hormones you need to keep in check are oestrogen and cortisol.
Oestrogen
Excessive oestrogen production increases fat storage in buttocks and thighs and also breaks the collagen fibres in the skin, which can cause stretch marks and cellulite.
Over-production of oestrogen can be due to numerous different causes: a poor diet, lack of exercise, certain contraceptive methods and pregnancy.
However, excessive oestrogen production can easily be controlled by physical activity, by reducing saturated and trans fats in your diet and by doing some simple endurance exercises several times a week.
Cortisol
Cortisol is known as the stress hormone, and it also increases fat storage. The muscle breaks and the collagen in your skin breaks with it.
Here’s how to combat cortisol:
- Eat small meals at regular intervals throughout the day. Skipping meals increases your cortisol levels.
- Reduce stress. Try breathing exercises, meditation or whatever you feel is necessary.
- Sleep sufficient hours. Lack of sleep can cause cortisol production to peak.
- Avoid stimulants such as caffeine. Studies show that caffeine can increase cortisol and stress levels.
Anti-cellulite training
Exercise is actually the quickest and most effective way to get rid of cellulite for good.
Endurance training should be the focus of your workout, as it helps tone the muscles under the cellulite and also speeds up your metabolism and burns off fat.
Endurance training
The problem zones, i.e. the muscles you can have this problem with, are mainly the gluteal muscles and the biceps femoris or hamstrings.
The gluteal muscles are the muscles in your buttocks, and they are made up of three smaller muscles. The hamstrings or biceps femoris are your rear thigh muscles and they are made up of four muscles.
Specific exercises
Compound movements are those that exercise more than one group of muscles at the same time.
These workouts can quickly tone up the problem zones and increase your metabolism, helping burn off fat (and cellulite).
Compound exercises
Squats are the best compound exercise for thighs and buttocks. And it’s as easy as that! If you can’t attend a gym you can do these exercises at home, with your arms stretched out.
Low-impact cardio workouts
- Walking uphill (helps tone buttocks)
- Climbing stairs (helps burn fat and tone up the buttocks at the same time)
You may be disappointed to know that getting rid of cellulite means making changes to your diet and doing exercise, but it’s as simple as this: if you don’t want to make the effort you can carry on throwing away your money buying tricks and swindles that are only a temporary cover-up and don’t solve the problem.
