Is Cellulite Different From Ordinary Fat?
Can you please explain what cellulite is? Is it really different from ordinary fat? Also, are any of the “remedies” currently on the market, such as body wrapping, actually effective in getting rid of cellulite?
Cellulite is no different from ordinary fat, despite claims that it’s an insidious type of fat made of waste products and toxins. It has been analyzed by a number of medical authorities and the results are always thesame: it’s simply normal fat.
What, then, accounts for its unique appearance? A woman’s fat is stored in pockets, and connective tissues – septa – surround this fat and anchor it to the underlying muscle. As a woman gains weight, the fat swells and bulges out of its compartments (think of a muffin tin filled with too much batter), hence the mattress-like effect. Male fat is exactly the same as female fat, but the septa are arranged in a different and more random pattern. Although this pattern is not neat and orderly, it does effectively inhibit fat from protruding from its pockets. This is one of the main reasons men don’t usually have cellulite.
Men have other built-in cellulite resisters as well. For example, when a woman is overweight, she tends to carry the excess pounds in her thighs and buttocks; an overweight man puts the weight on in his stomach. Also, bulging fat cells aren’t as visible in men because they have thicker skin on their legs and abdomens.
If you have cellulite, can you get rid of it using the creams, cloths, sponges, plastic wraps, rubber pants and other gimmicks currently on the market? No. Most of these products and services have been carefully tested in controlled studies, and they simply do not work. However, massage may be effective – at least there is some rationale for it. If you really push the skin and apply a great deal of pressure, you could conceivably stretch the septa. In this case, your skin might eventually hang more loosely so it still wouldn’t be terribly attractive, but you might get rid of some of the puckering. Surgery can be used to eliminate cellulite, but the painful, expensive and sometimes disfiguring operations are not recommended by many plastic surgeons.
Thus, diet and exercise remain the best ways to get rid of ripply skin. Most importantly, don’t get too heavy to start with. If you are overweight when you’re 25 or younger, your skin still has enough resiliency to contract after a considerable weight loss. If, however, you’re older and lose weight, you may look better, but you’ll never look as good as you could have if you had not stretched your skin with excess weight in the first place. Can you explain the difference between aerobic and calisthenic exercise? And what exactly is Nautilus body training? Aerobic exercise is primarily concerned with improving oxygen intake and using the extra oxygen within the body to strengthen the action of the heart and lungs. It is, by its nature, an extremely vigorous form of exercise – jogging, running, dancing, skipping, swimming and cycling are all forms of aerobics. It also builds stamina, strengthens muscles, and is excellent in conjunction with a slimming diet as it burns calories at a quick rate and helps prevent heart disease, circulatory and breathing problems.
Should you wish to take up a simple aerobic exercise such as jogging, warm up first for at least five minutes by gently stretching.
Don’t force things. Extend your jogging time gradually, week by week, until your stamina improves sufficiently to take you further.
Calisthenics are designed to increase your suppleness and change the shape of your limbs and torso. Fitness and gym classes are good examples, both of which firm your muscles and tone flab. Another exercise method, isometrics, helps develop grace, balance and muscle control; yoga and dance are popular methods. A good all-round body workout should include elements of all three of these types of exercise.
Nautilus training, which arrived here from the United States, involves the use of specially weighted apparatus to work different muscles of the body. Because the machinery is so accurately tailored, it is considered the safest type of weight training equipment, with limited risk of strain and muscular imbalance.
