Can Exercise Reduce Cellulite?
A colleague of mine reached 40 and he was 25 pounds overweight. By following a strict diet and a lot of will power, he managed to shed those extra pounds. Unfortunately, he lost more than just weight; he also lost his energy and vitality. He was always exhausted, and his friends, seeing his gaunt, drawn face, had concerns about his health. By the time he volunteered for a particular fitness program two years later, he had put those 25 extra pounds back on. After his first visit to the locker-room he resolved to lose it again. After 6 months of regular exercise and some willpower at the dinner table, Mike had slimmed down again. This time he felt better than he ever had, brimming with energy and glowing with good health.
What was the reason for his different energies?
The first time Mike lost weight; the second time he lost fat.
The difference is important. Research has shown, a major part of the weight lost by dieting alone is active tissue, such as muscle and connective tissue, while a lesser portion is excess fat. Exercise has the opposite effect to dieting. The exercising raised his lean body mass and lowered his surplus fat.
The same thing is true for cellulite. Most people tend to think that cellulites are only present to people who are seriously overweight. That is why they sometimes associate cellulite with fats and obesity.
In actual fact, even if cellulite refers to the chain of wrinkled ‘fat cells’ and ’subcutaneous connective tissues’ beneath the layer of the skin, it should never be associated with people who are fat or obese. There are many people who show signs of cellulite but who are not fat at all.
In reality, nobody knows the main reason why some people accumulate cellulite. However, there are some theories that health experts are considering such as the structure of the fat cells or the poisons that enter the body. Some experts say it may be caused by some hormonal changes in the body. But none of these things has been proven to cause cellulites.
However, it is known that the reason why most of the cellulite cases are abundant in women is that the connective tissues of women are more rigid and firm than men. So when a woman’s body lays down fat, the fatty cells tend to swell and get bigger. This has a wrinkled appearance to the skin producing the infamous ‘orange peel’ look.
This is the reason women are more prone to cellulite than men. That is why it is important for women to be more careful on their body as they have higher chances of accumulating cellulite.
Fats and Cellulite
With many of the cases where obese people have cellulites in their body, most of them believed that their cellulite is caused by being their obesity.
Even though not everyone who is obese will develop cellulites, there is a correlation between obesity and the development of cellulites. This is because too much fat under the skin will tend to push the connective tissue, so creating a strain on the skin. The result is that cellulites form.
However, this is still dependent on the nature of the cells. If an individual’s cell structure restricts the tendency to bulge or expand as fat deposits accumulate, then there will be no cellulites.
So, the most important thing to remember here is to keep the connective tissues firm and strong and so that they avoid accumulating the excess fats that develop into cellulite.
How can you do this? Regular exercise.
Converting food into fat is all too easy for most people. Losing fat is far more difficult. To achieve this, there are only three options: (1) reduce food intake and keep exercise constant; (2) raise exercise and keep food intake constant; or (3) mix both approaches: diet and activity.
Physical exercise can help reverse the results of inactivity. An hour of vigorous exercise burns up 300 to 600 calories. If you also remove 300 to 500 calories from your daily diet, there is a possibility that you can reduce your weight at the rate of one to two pounds a week.Without exercise, you would have to consume 500 to 1,000 fewer calories each day to lose the same number of pounds in a week.
Exercise is not for everyone who wants to lose weight, particularly if you are severely overweight. If you are an obese person then you should exercise only under medical supervision to prevent placing too much strain on the cardiovascular system and connective tissue. Anyone who is very overweight should never drastically reduce their food intake without consulting doctor. Both exercise and diet should be treated with respect and carefully planned.
Rushing into a physical exercise program may only make the matter worse. Remember what happened to Mike? He thought that when he began to lose weight, he would eventually get rid of all the excess fats that he had put on. The problem is that he lost those connective tissues rather than excess fat.
For anyone who is prone to cellulite, this will be a major problem. Losing connective tissues instead of fat by rigorous dieting may only make the aggrevate the situation as the fat cells are still present. That means that the problem is not solved and the cellulite is likely to remain.
So, if you wish to loose that cellulite, it would be sensible to loose the fat first. The idea here is to burn the fat by increasing your metabolism by somewhere from 7.5% to 28% more than your normal rate.
This is the reason why exercising is such an important element of losing cellulite. So for a more cellulite free body, you must maintain a regular exercise routine.
Roger Titley is the webmaster of the successful weight loss and diet web site www.BiggestLoserPlan.com which is designed to help anyone lose weight and become the person that they want to be.
- Roger Titley
:: Aug.01.2008 :: 1132 ::
