Is Cellulite Really About Fat?
The first step in moving cellulite is to understand it.
Most people think cellulite is a type of body fat (adipose tissue).
It’s not.
Cellulite is standard body fat putting pressure on a weakened dermal structure – basically fatty pockets pushing out through skin that is no longer holding it back.
It’s as much about the skin’s collagen integrity as it is about adipose tissue (body fat).
Let’s take a closer look at this.
As we age, the skin produces let collage and elastic – the fibres that keep the bottommost level of our skin firm.
Degradation of collagen integrity, and fewer fibroblasts (the cells that create collagen), plus the dreaded MMP hormone beginning to increase its presence and working to destroy collagen.
Pretty much the mattress gets lumpy & underlying tissue can push through in parts.
Add to this that our lymphatic system gets sluggish if we don’t pay attention to it, causing that under the skin fluid to make cellulite look even wobblier.
Even skinny and fit people have cellulite – the above is the reason why.
So, what can we do about it?
There are a number of things we can do to improve our cellulite situation.
Firstly, regular light lymphatic massage, which you can do easily with your hands or with a suction cup starts moving lymph fluid out of the tissue quite quickly and firms up the area to a degree. This is easy to do and quite relaxing.
Increasing microcirculation through the tissue with massage starts bringing improved nutrition to the skin, which is necessary to improve cellular health.
Next – BREATHING… using the diaphragm muscle also improves lymph flow, as does drinking plenty of water (or herbal tea).
Consuming low fat protein several times daily (small portions regularly) will increase your chance of small reductions of fat – which will definitely help.
Lower body squats. lunges & one leg balance moves – all the yogic lower body work will help improve tone, circulation, lymph flow and reduce bodyfat. I’m a huge fan of yoga in every regard – but particularly for butt shaping and cellulite reduction.
Strengthening the dermal matrix however will make the most significant difference to holding back to fat cells and smoothing the skin.
This can be done with treatments like:
- Dermal needling (yes, you can needle your butt! It’s not super easy to do to yourself)!
- Radio Frequency treatments are fantastic for strengthening the dermal matrix – they increase the number of fibroblast cells, improve microcirculation and also reduce adipose tissue (mono polar treatments).
- Using a lotion or serum with high levels of collagen synthesising peptide will also work really well (bearing in mind that change can take time).