Cellulite is a word used to describe a dimpled appearance of the skin caused by fat deposits just below your skin's surface. It usually appears in the abdomen, lower limbs and pelvic region and affects men and women, but more commonly women. Sometimes described as cottage-cheese or orange-peel skin, cellulite is not a serious medical condition; doctors consider it a normal occurrence. Consult your doctor before beginning any new diet or exercise regimen aimed at burning cellulite.
Causes
Cellulite is caused by bands of fibrous tissue that connect the muscle to the skin, Dr. Alan Gold, president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery tells the Medical News Today website; if these bands are tight and the fat between the muscle and the skin bulges out between them, there will be dimpling over each of those bands. Hormones --- including estrogen, insulin, noradrenaline, thyroid hormones and prolactin -- are part of the production process. Certain people are predisposed to cellulite based on gender, race, slow metabolism and circulatory insufficiency. People with diets low in fiber and/or who do not exercise are likely to have large amounts of cellulite. Wearing tight clothing around the buttocks limits blood flow and may contribute to cellulite formation, the site adds.
Correlations
There is not a specific muscle responsible for burning cellulite, but the American Council on Exercise advises, daily cardiovascular exercise combined with two to three strength-training sessions a week and a healthy diet will reduce the appearance of cellulite. The more muscle your body has the more calories you will burn during exercise and rest. Dr. Wayne Westcott, fitness research director at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts, and author of the book "No More Cellulite," designed a cellulite-reduction program that includes 20 minutes of strength training --- with five exercises each for the upper and lower body --- and 20 minutes of treadmill walking or jogging; participants aim to exercise at about 70 to 80 percent of maximal heart rate. Westcott performed an eight-week study using this program, the American Council on Exercise reports; participants who combined the exercise program and a balanced diet --- based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food pyramid --- lost 9.1 pounds of fat.
Exercises
For the exercise program, any strength-training modality can be used; machines, free weights, body weight or resistance bands are all acceptable. The American Council on Exercise recommends leg presses, seated leg curls, hip adduction and abduction and overhead presses, if you prefer machines. Effective free-weight exercises include dumbbell squats, walking lunges and body-weight trunk extension.
Myths
Be careful of creams, liposuction or body wraps that claim to remove cellulite. According to the American Council on Exercise, cream applied on the skin can not penetrate it to rearrange fat cells. Liposuction will not change the appearance of fat, and the compressed effect of the fat in the skin from body wraps is only temporary.
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