The Importance of Touching Yourself

Beyonce and Reese Witherspoon not letting cellulite slow them down!

     Not like that! Get your mind out of the gutter. This is all about cellulite! I worked at a medical spa for a short stint in college and I actually specialized in cellulite reduction. I personally have never obsessed over cellulite, but I know that lots of people do because I see “anti-cellulite” creams making millions and every magazine has some tip or trick to magically make it disappear. The fact is that fat people have it, skinny people have it, guys have it, young people have it, and the only way to escape it seems to be with photoshop.  Fortunately, I do know a huge tip that will help!

      Do you know why people get cellulite? It’s all about circulation. For example, one of the toughest places to get rid of cellulite is on your tummy. That’s because your abdomen has retro-grade circulation. This means that the blood flows in the opposite direction and it’s easier for fat to build up there, causing lumpy cellulite. There are tons of creams and potions out there promising cellulite reduction, but the common denominator in all of these is that you have to “thoroughly massage” them into skin. Some of these products contain caffeine, which will make your skin temporarily swell.  This reduces the appearance of cellulite, but it hasn’t actually gone anywhere and once the caffeine wears off, you’re still left lumpy. In my professional opinion, you could rub butter “thoroughly” into your thighs and see a reduction in cellulite. 

      Massage can be much more than a stress-reliever. Using the power of massage daily will give the area being massaged a huge increase in circulation and the more blood flowing through any area means that cellulite will have a very hard time building up. You don’t need to go to a professional to do this. You can easily do it yourself or convince an unsuspecting husband to help you. ;-)    

        Take twenty minutes every day. This will seem like a lot at first, but it will absolutely smooth out your skin. If your thighs are an area of concern, then massage any lotion or oil into each thigh hard (not painful, but enough to feel the lumps of fat that you should be rubbing out) for five minutes. Do this once in the morning (a total of ten minutes) and once at night (another ten). If you want to see results faster, try to work a quick, five minute run in your day. The point of this run is to get your heart rate up and the blood pumping fast in your body. Pairing this with the massage will give you faster results.

       Many spas offer treatments with electro-therapy, no-needle meso-therapy, “fat-dissolving” injections (which leave awful bruises), and several other “get thin quick” schemes costing several hundred, if not thousands of dollars. If you are considering these therapies, please at least try my method first. I provided these treatments to women when I worked at the medical spa and not only are they painful and expensive, the results aren’t any more drastic then what you will see by doing it yourself. 

        And remember, literally everyone has cellulite! People act like they don’t because they can’t see their own butts in the mirror, but anyone over the age of sixteen has it so please try not to focus on it. There are more important things in life then chunky junk in your trunk!