How To Get Skinny Legs Part 6: How Do You Get Rid Of Cellulite?

Cellulite is not just limited to people who are overweight or have excess body fat. Everyone can have cellulite, including skinny people. Around 85-90% of all women have cellulite!

So how do you get rid of cellulite? Is there anything you can do?

First of all, let me explain what cellulite actually is.

What is Cellulite?

Cellulite is fat, located in the dermis layer (just underneath your actual skin). The dermis layer contains connective tissue made from collagen, and the connective tissue is formed in a honeycomb shape. When fat cells increase in size, they push up against the connective tissue, making the fat cells bulge out, giving that dreaded dimpled appearance.

What Affects Cellulite?

There are a few things that can affect whether or not you have cellulite.

Body Fat

One of the key factors is your amount of body fat. The more fat you have, the larger your fat cells will be and the more dimpled your legs will look. The main cause of cellulite is the enlarged fat cells that you can see at the top of the above image.

Genetics

As I mentioned earlier, skinny people can get cellulite too. These skinny people can be skinny fat (i.e. appear skinny but actually have a high percentage of body fat) or they can be genuinely skinny with a low body fat percentage and still have cellulite (this is much more rare, but does happen).

Unfortunately, cellulite is partly genetic and may explain why skinny people with a low body fat percentage can have cellulite. The distribution of your body fat is influenced by your genetics and can determine if and where you will get cellulite.

Other Factors

Other factors such as skin thickness, strength of your connective fibers and blood circulation can also affect cellulite. Blood circulation is another one that may be influenced by your genes.

So now we now what cellulite is and what causes it; but how do we get rid of cellulite?

How Do You Get Rid of Cellulite?

Cellulite is purely fat. So the BEST way to get rid of cellulite is to reduce your overall body fat. And the best way to reduce your body fat is to eat a healthy diet and be active.

Eating a Healthy Diet

Firstly, eating a healthy diet will assist with weight loss, which will mean that your fat cells reduce in size and the dimpled appearance will reduce. Easy as that!

Make sure you eat plenty of fruit, vegetables, fiber and whole grains, which will help to remove waste and toxins. Avoid all the regulars like junk food, processed food, sugar and excess salt.

Avoid Toxins Including Alcohol and Cigarettes

Alcohol and cigarettes harm your body’s lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is important for removing toxins from your body. Cigarette smoke also weakens the formation of collagen, which is what the connective tissues are made from, hence adding to your cellulite problems!

Drink Lots of Water

Drink 2L to 3L of water per day to help keep your body hydrated and flush out toxins.

Exercise Regularly and Be Active

Exercise regularly and make sure your workouts include a combination of cardio and weights. By reducing your body fat and replacing that fat with muscle, you will greatly reduce the appearance of cellulite on your legs.

If you have a job that requires sitting at a desk, make sure you stand up and walk around regularly. Keep that body moving!

What About Creams, Scrubs and Massages?

Unfortunately, there is no easy way out. You can try every cream, scrub, etc in the world, but it won’t get rid of the cellulite. There is no scientific evidence to prove that creams, scrubs and massage get rid of cellulite permanently. There may be some minor improvements but these are only temporary. Lots of creams and scrubs contain caffeine, which dehydrates the skin and can make it look firmer. But this is likely to only last 24 hours. If you do use a body scrub, it is best to use it the morning before you head to the beach!