It’s every city girls nightmare … you are feeling rather trim and turn to get a rear view of yourself in the mirror and see the dreaded CELLULITE!  You have lost a few pounds, can fit into your size 8 jeans and are hitting the gym 3 times a week. How is this possible you ask? Julia (see pic on the right), NYC fitness trainer, came up with this timely article in her newsletter Fit and the CIty (check it out!).

Ask Julia - Is It Possible to Get Rid of Cellulite?

Q: I’m a 40-year-old high school teacher who is happy with her body in general except for the fact that I have cellulite on my thighs and not just on the backside but on the front too. This has been going on for the last 7-8 years now despite that I work out with weights two times a week and then I also do either the stairmaster or I run 3-4 miles two to three times a week. I’m 5′6 and weigh 138. While I have to admit that I love food, I watch what I eat, I drink lots of water, and try to stay away from sweets and greasy food. From what I understand, those cellulite creams don’t really work, so I haven’t tried them. Now I’m thinking that maybe I should. Please help me! 

 
A: I know how irritating cellulite can be, so I will do my best to help you. As I’m sure you know already, the grand majority of women have some cellulite (myself included, I hate to admit…) while very few men do. The true cause of cellulite is not completely understood. However, it appears that in individuals with cellulite, there is irregular connective tissue under the skin. When enough fat is deposited under the skin, it will tend to bulge through the connective tissue much like a balloon bulges when you squeeze it. In essence, the irregular connective tissue squeezes the fat and causes it to bulge. This may explain why cellulite has an irregular or “cottage cheese” appearance. It also appears that women are much more prone to have this irregular connective tissue that can, with increased fat storage, lead to cellulite. Some of what you can do to combat cellulite, you are already doing it seems like: exercise regularly to increase circulation and minmize fat storage, eat a healthy diet of mainly unprocessed, organic, fresh foods (vegetables, fruit, lean protein, and good fats on top of that list), drink good-quality water and minimize intake of alcohol. It’s also important to lower your stress in life (as stress leads to more cortisol which leads to more fat storage) and sleep adequately. However, if you, in addition to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, can lower the subcutaneous body fat on your legs, your chances of a cellulite free life increase dramatically.

The reason just about every man, fat as well as skinny, have such smooth, cellulite-free legs is because they accumulate very little fat on top of their thighs and butt. This means that women who have little fat on their legs also have a cellulite-free lower body - despite their tendency for more irregular connective tissue. I have come to this conclusion based on years of measuring the subcutaneous body fat on hundreds of men and women. The only women with completely smooth legs are the women who store their fat more like men (around their stomach as opposed to on their butts and thighs) or women with an extremely low body fat percentage (12-15%).

Lowering your body fat percentage to such a low percentage is hard to do and not particularly healthy. But what you can do if you want to improve your cellulite is to try to get it down to, say 17-18%. Unless you are very muscular weighing 138 and measuring 5′6, I’m guessing your body fat isn’t close to this number but a lot higher, especially since you say your cellulite started appearing in your early thirties. This is a time most women notice changes in their bodies because they lose more and more muscle mass. Are you doing a full body workout when you weight train or are you just working out certain areas? Are you changing your workout routine regularly, including cardio workouts? Was it only recently that you started working out? If you don’t know how to properly train yourself, I suggest seeing a good trainer for at least a few sessions to learn more about what you should do to lower your body fat. Lastly, some experts claim foam rolling your trouble areas every day may improve cellulite. But stay away from creams as these only temporarily relieve your problems.

Martha: Thanks for the great article Julia.  Of course, once again it’s not fair… guys can eat more then we can AND they don’t get cellulite!

Related posts

• Why Do You Crave Carbohydrates? (0)
• Comparison of Heart Rate Monitors to Caloric Burn on Cardio Machines. (1)