FHP 521 | CELLULITE! Everything You Need To Know

Michelle : When it comes to hot topics like this, people are like well, tell me the one food, the one thing that I can eat that’s going to fix this problem, or the one supplement? And the truth is, there is no magic food, there’s no truly one thing that’s going to make a massive difference in your looks and your appearance. 

 

Cori: Hey guys, this is Cori from Redefining Strength. Welcome to the Fitness Hacks podcast. So today we’re going to talk about cellulite. Most of us are familiar with this term. Many of us have even wanted to get rid of cellulite, looked for what we can do to remove it, worried about it in some way, shape or form. And it’s because 80 to 90% of the population does have some form of cellulite, whether they have more weight to lose or they’re actually out there goal weight. So I wanted to discuss this term, what we can actually do about getting rid of cellulite or reducing the appearance of cellulite, and some of the other factors that come into play. Also, why there has to be a bit of body love and some interesting things that have popped up with cellulite and the way this term and this whole beauty standard or beauty issue came about. So I’m going to jump into this. I’m excited to for Michelle to share some nutritional tips. I also wanted to say a big thank you to everybody who has left a review for the podcast. This does help me keep it sponsorship free, so if you haven’t yet, please go leave a review Now. 

 

Cori: Let’s jump right into everything cellulite and what you can do to reduce the appearance and really more on the background of how this term even came about. So five things you didn’t know about cellulite. I find this term very interesting and my initial research into it was when I had clients coming to me about, specifically, how to get rid of cellulite, and I was like you know, i know what this is, but I don’t know that much about the background of it. So me being the nerd that I am, i wanted to dive into it. So I wanted to share five very interesting facts about cellulite, because I think it really will help inform you in terms of how you work about reducing the appearance of cellulite and even embracing your body if you do have cellulite. 

 

Cori: So five secrets to cellulite and its history. Cellulite has always existed, so this has been something that’s been around, but being seen as an issue is a more recent phenomenon. There were actually 17th century pictures that depicted it as part of the beauty standard of women. The first secret about cellulite is Americans didn’t care about cellulite until April 1968 when Vogue actually popularized the term and it was the first English language periodical to print the term, and it was in an article titled cellulite, the new word for fat. You can’t you couldn’t lose before, and I think this is super interesting because this term didn’t have that original meaning and cellulite and the appearance of cellulite wasn’t something that we even considered to be an issue in terms of a beauty issue that we wanted to correct. This came about for marketing reasons, just like breakfast, just like a lot of the terminology we have. It was born out of a market being there now that we could sell stuff to you, and so I’m not saying that you might not want to reduce the appearance of cellulite or want to do what you can to remove it, but I think it’s really key that we know that this was not something that was necessarily a beauty issue all along. It was even accepted in terms of beauty in the depictions, as I said, in the pictures in the 17th century. 

 

Cori: Number two so another secret about cellulite is prior to the introduction of America women to the term cellulite, it had been talked about in French beauty magazines and medical textbooks, but the definition of the word change and no one really knew what caused cellulite in the first place. So there were all these different rumors about it even being too tight a belt and all these other things, because we didn’t know why it happened. The first appearance of the term cellulite was actually in 1873 and it was first seen in a French medical journal and applied to cells or tissues in a state of inflammation or infection. So it had more of a medical reason and it was more seen as a medical problem, originally not a beauty standard that we had to change. It was closely related to cellulitis a diagnosis still used today, actually, which has nothing to do with the fatty dimples that now we relate to being the cellulite appearance on, like our butt, cheeks or whatever else And it was even more related to having to do with pelvic infections. So I bring this up because this term has really come about as a something that we now need to correct, only in recent years And I’ve mentioned this a couple of times. But looking back at the 17th century paintings, you can see cellulite even being depicted as part of a beauty, or women who are being depicted as beautiful. So I think this is all really key when we are judging ourselves, that we understand where some of the beauty standards that we have now are coming about. 

 

Cori: Number three secret is part of mainstream push to make cellulite an unwanted thing came after the Second World War And, as I mentioned, it came about because women were starting to enter the workforce, there was more money to be spent, beauty standards were changing with some of this, you know, women being more out in the workforce and out in society, and because there was more money to be spent by women on potentially beauty standard type things. So, bam, new issue we needed to fix. Number four the secret about cellulite is women, who even have very little body fat. So even if you have six pack abs, you might still have the appearance of cellulite with some of the fat that you have on your body, and 80 to 90% of the female population does struggle with cellulite. There is a small portion of the male population that also has it as well. 

 

Cori: But this is not just about having so much fat. You need to lose fat. It’s simply the appearance of fat through fascia, and so this is secret number five cellulite isn’t just fat. It isn’t just having fat. You need to lose or want to lose. The bumpy, dimpled appearance of cellulite is how the fat is pushing through fascia. So it has to do with your connective tissues and that net. So basically, under your skin is a layer of fat And we’re just seeing that dimpled appearance because of how it is pushing through the fascia. So, based on your connective tissues, you may or may not have that appearance, whether you have more or less fat. So sometimes because the fat cells are clumped together and Michelle actually even goes into the different alignment of fat cells between men and women, which makes women tend to have more of the appearance of cellulite than men But it’s them, the fat pushing through the fibrous connective tissue, that creates that appearance. 

 

Cori: Okay, so those are five sort of fun facts, secrets about cellulite that I really wanted to highlight and explain, because I think that and I always like to take this, and I want to dive into this more shortly, but I like to take the approach of control what you can control, so I never like to say, oh, we just can’t do anything about a situation, because I think there’s always ways we can improve upon a situation. However, i think it’s really key that we recognize when things are marketing terms, so to speak, or things that can make us feel bad about our body, that we don’t necessarily have as much control as we would like over, and so there is going to need to be some acceptance built, some mindset shift, that we’re going to have to love our body more, even as we constantly work to control, we can control and improve our body shape and form. So hopefully those were five fun facts that you didn’t even know, and now you’re even more informed about what cellulite actually is and how the term came about. 

 

Cori: Cellulite is one of those interesting beauty issues And I keep saying a beauty issue because I think it’s something that we have decided now that we want to work on the fix that we don’t like the appearance of, when it used to be part of just the beauty standard. But I wanted to talk about this issue specifically because there is only so much we can do to change the appearance of cellulite. 80 to 90% of the population has it, regardless of how lean they are, and it’s because it’s the appearance of the fat cells through that that fibrous tissue that connect to tissue, that fascia, and so we can do a little bit to improve upon how much fat we have on our body. We can do a little bit to improve upon the connective tissues and their tensile strength and the appearance of them. But there’s only so much we can do and age will impact it. How we’ve gained and lost weight will impact it. Our genetics will impact it, just like people will get stretch marks, even if they haven’t necessarily been overweight, just because they grew really fast and had that growth spurt. So there’s only so much we can do to control certain things. 

 

Cori: And I like to recognize this fact because, hey, we don’t want to give away our own agency. If there’s something we want to work to improve, we want to do everything in our power And maybe it’s making those 1% improvements and saying, hey, this is only so far we can take it. But I think it’s remember you can control what you can control, and a lot of the healthy changes that you’ll have to make to potentially improve upon the appearance of cellulite will improve your health and improve other factors in your life helping you build muscle, whatever else. So I think you know approaching it as okay, let’s see what I can control is always good because it does usually have a far reaching impact. That is good. 

 

Cori: But also recognizing that this is a beauty standard that came about and that we only have a certain amount of control over the appearance of cellulite, okay, we need some fat on our body. We would not survive without some fat And whether you have more weight to lose and you are working on that weight loss process. You want to lose some weight or you have very little weight to lose or no weight to lose, you may have the appearance of cellulite. Okay, so it is not being overweight that causes cellulite, it is that connective tissues and the way that the facils appear through it, and there’s only so much we can do to change that. Part of it might really back to genetics and other factors that we haven’t yet determined. So I bring this up because 

 

Cori: I think a big part of this, too, also highlights the importance of, no matter where we are in any journey that we’re taking to improve our health, to improve our aesthetic, to make the changes that we want to be the person that we want to be, we have to also embrace the journey and enjoy the journey and recognize that there are things that are outside of our control. Okay, it doesn’t mean, don’t do what you can to make the improvements that you want, but you’re not necessarily going to be able to grow taller. Okay, you’re not going to necessarily be able to change your body shape. If you want an hour glass figure. You’re only going to be able to grow your butt to a certain extent or shrink your butt to a certain extent based on your build. Right, there are going to be genetic factors that might limit the amount of changes or the exact changes that we can see. 

 

Cori: And so, while we want to control what we can control, i think learning to love our body and embrace the things that also some of these genetic things bring with it, like the good things, is really key. Like I know, i’m never going to necessarily be taller, or I know that I’m not going to have an hour glass figure. I’m going to be more of that athletic build, but with that I can because I have long monkey arms do amazing pull-ups. Right, there are always upsides to the downsides or downsides to the upsides, and the more we can learn to love our body in the process of always wanting to grow and improve, the better off we’re going to be, and I think this relates back to recognizing our flaws but also recognizing our flossomeness. With that, okay. So when you are trying to make a set of changes, yes, you’re going to be drawn to looking at the areas you still want to change. That you don’t not like as much, right, but in that process you always have to take a step back and draw your brain back to the things that are improving. So if I have a client that wants to lose weight off of their middle, when we’re taking progress photos, i will make them take progress photos of other areas specifically because a lot of times they’ll see changes in those areas first, but it will allow them to recognize all the other good things that are happening. 

 

Cori: We like to step performance goals, even when we have aesthetic goals that we’re shooting for, because you have to recognize all the other awesome things about yourself, because what you give your attention to is what you’re going to focus on and what you’re going to dwell on. Okay, and you can change what you’re focusing on consciously, but you have to make a conscious decision to focus on it. If you’re telling yourself that you’re not good enough, that there’s only all these things that you need to improve and you’re never recognizing the good, you are only going to focus on the bad. Okay, you are only going to see your flaws and not how awesome you are. So, even if you want to improve the appearance of cellulite, you have to take that step back and recognize there’s only so much you can control. 

 

Cori: First off, and secondly, you need to recognize all the amazing parts of your body and realize that this really doesn’t impact the functionality of your life, how awesome your life can be. Okay, and it’s hard sometimes to separate that, because we do want to look and feel a certain way, and I get that. There’s nothing wrong with having those goals. But you got to give yourself that separation and that space to step back and recognize some of the awesomeness, because you will allow all of your attention, all of your actions to go wherever you focus on. So recognize that you are in control with this mindset and that even as you work to improve things, you need to take that step back and recognize how awesome you are along the journey. 

 

Cori: All right, i just wanted to highlight that with especially this subject, because cellulite is one of those things that we we can control some of it, we can help improve the appearance of some of it, but we also need to recognize that there are factors outside of our control as much as we also give ourselves agency. I’m super excited to dive into some nutritional strategies to help you reduce the appearance of cellulite and control what you can control and even talk about the genetic factors that play in and the lifestyle factors that play into the appearance and what we can really do to work towards our goals while loving our body along the way. So let’s jump right in. So I’m super excited to talk about cellulite. I think it is a topic that comes up a lot because about 80 to 90% of the female population suffers from it. So, michelle, let’s dive into not only a little bit more about what cellulite is, how it can change over our lifespan, what we can do about it and nutritional strategies to help. So first, let’s talk about understanding cellulite a little bit more. 

 

Michelle: Yeah, absolutely So. It is one of those things that a lot of people like use it like it’s a sign that something’s bad, that you’re not doing something right, when it’s simply just your fat cells being apparent from a topical point of view, and we all have a layer of skin, we all have a layer of connective tissue and then we all have to have fat. Your body requires fat, so what happens is usually cellulite is the cause of when that connective tissue is either decreased then and that those fat cells are becoming apparent. This can become worse if you are someone that has more fat at a post, so your fat cells are larger. This can become worse just through aging and our connective tissue and our skin loses its elastin, loses some of that collagen, and it is a very normal part of the human body. 

 

Michelle: It’s one of those things like people be like am I going to get cellulite? Who’s going to get cellulite? How do I prevent it? And it’s very similar to stretch marks. There’s lots of factors that kind of come to play. A lot of it is going to be a genetic thing, some of it. We don’t entirely understand all the causes and all the little treatments that we can do, but there are things that we can do to kind of improve it, reduce it, but at the end of the day it’s really just a normal part of the human body. 

 

Cori: And it’s one that women especially seem to be a lot more concerned with, whether it’s down to beauty standards, which I’ve heard argued and I think could be argued but also even just where it tends to show up because of where we tend to store fat. So can you talk a little bit about cellulite, especially for women, and the appearance of it? 

 

Michelle: Yeah, it doesn’t discriminate. Overweight, skinny It could appear on anyone but women in particular. We tend to have we tend to see the appearance of it more often than men And that really comes down to the fact of where we tend to store our fat. You know, the thighs, hips, stomach, but those are going to be the areas that women store fat more. So we’re going to have more fat cells in those areas that can kind of come through. And another thing is just the structure of actually like where our fat cells lie compared to men. So men actually will have like a crisscross structure where women we actually have a more vertical structure of our fat cells in the connective tissue, so it is going to be more apparent for women. 

 

Michelle: But also we got to look at what does the woman’s body go through in their life cycle. We go through, you know, we go through puberty, we have our, we hit menstruation cycles, we have those bodily changes where we’re going to start storing fat in those areas. And if you’re someone that you know, puberty hit hard and you kind of got those that fat laid down quickly, those that expansion and kind of, you know, when you kind of before a growth spurt, you kind of do get a little heavier and you have that extra weight you carry. That’s going to weaken some of those connective tissues And it’s also going to happen in pregnancy. When a woman gets pregnant or prepares a baby or it gets abducted, it’s going to repress. But if you remember there’s different cases of random Onceforce Quantum creature to get pregnant, we naturally will store fat again on our hips, on our stomach, in our chest areas And that is going to be because it’s just the bodily function to be able to prepare and nourish a child. 

 

Cori: And when you think about even where we’re storing fat, where we tend to see cellulite pop up, it’s areas that are more stubborn for a reason. They have that different type of fat cell that is more stubborn to lose. They have less blood flow. So, of course, some of what we want to do is control for those factors as much as possible, while recognizing that our genetics being females tending to store in these areas are just going to make it more likely that we have cellulite, and this isn’t a bad thing. 

 

Cori: Cellulite is not ugly, it is not evil. We might not want it, right We. there’s a lot of different body shape, sizes, types, things, aesthetics we do and do not want, based on what your beauty standards are. But we need to focus on loving our body while realizing we can control. what we can control and how we can even control these things will change potentially over our lifespan, as you mentioned. So a woman going through you know having a baby might see different issues with cellulite and want to approach it in a different way than a woman going through menopause and seeing changes in their cellulite. 

 

Michelle: Yeah, when we hit menopause it’s. 

 

Michelle: There’s a different reason why we can kind of see cellulite appear, and one of that is is estrogen actually does help our body stay hydrated. 

 

Michelle: Hydration is a big thing to just the health of skin And again that thinness is going and dryness in general is going to make it more apparent, and then on top of that it does actually help the blood flow. So estrogen does help improve the blood flow to those connective tissues. So when we hit menopause we’re actually having a reduced circulation to those to provide for collagen production, and the enlargement of those fat cells can often be seen in those areas that really create that dimpling effect that women you know call cellulite. But it is one of those things that you know. I’ve seen it before where people were like look at this Olympic athlete, and they took a picture of someone that was performing you know an incredible, you know physical feat And they’re like she has cellulite. This must mean that she isn’t in the top performance that she could possibly be, which is a ridiculous statement to make, because that has no, no determination of how athletic someone is or how what their body fat to even muscle mass ratio is. 

 

Cori: And I never like to blame things on genetics, on age and on any factors outside of ourselves, because I think it takes away our own agency to make a change, and I think there’s always ways we can improve, learn and grow. However, we also do have to recognize that there are certain things that just are going to be part of our existence, right, like I am not going to grow taller all of a sudden I mean, maybe magically, who knows but I’m not going to grow taller. Or my body shape is not going to change. I’m going to have that athletic build. There are certain things we have right That you know. 

 

Cori: Based on beauty standards, you might want something slightly different, but you’re just realistically not going to have. So at that point you also have to realize how can I optimize what I am? cellulite, no matter how lean you get, there is a chance you will have the appearance of it. 80 to 90% of the population does, and even way back when it wasn’t demonized but was actually depicted in beauty standards. But that’s a whole other subject. But it’s one of these things. We have to embrace that our body is what it is and do what we can to move forward always, while not not not accepting our flossomeness. I guess it’s sort of the point I’m trying to make. But on that note, controlling what we can control. What can we do from a nutritional standpoint to reduce the appearance of cellulite as much as possible, based on our genetics or build where we tend to store fat? 

 

Michelle: Yeah, so I know I probably harp on this quite a bit and people are probably sick of me touching on this, but hydration really is going to be a key factor. It’s going to be super important to be able to make sure that we are keeping those skin cells plump and well hydrated, as well as making sure that we are actually improving our blood circulation. So the more water you kind of are intaking and making sure you’re properly hydrated, you actually are making easier for nutrients to be able to enter into cells And even with collagen production, that’s going to be a big thing is actually making sure that you’re well hydrated. Again, this is a big concern as we age, just because our thirst naturally declines, we tend to confuse thirst for hunger, but also estrogen is going to be a factor. So when you have estrogen that declines, you can be more dry. So you do want to make sure that you are staying properly hydrated and keeping those skin cells plump. 

 

Michelle: Another big thing is, of course, going to be actually collagen. When it comes to kind of the connective tissue. Collagen supplements can actually help with that framework and kind of improve the connective tissue health overall, and that’s going to require making sure that you are also having adequate amount of vitamin C, which I know everyone I feel like everyone’s like vitamin C is in everything, and it tends not to be something that we lack, but it is something that we just want to make sure you are still getting enough, because it is a water soluble vitamin, so you can definitely be losing it, and it’s not something that we store. 

 

Cori: Not to mention it does help with that collagen production. It is anti-inflammatory, so it can help with the regeneration of cells, keeping cells protected and healthy. So it’s something that hey, if you can boost it up, not a bad thing. 

 

Michelle: Exactly. Another one that doesn’t get a lot of attention as far as its important role in collagen production is actually zinc. So zinc is again something that our body does not have a reserve for, So you got to get it from your diet. You need to get it from your diet daily, And it does. Zinc in general just really does have a lot of roles within the body. It’s one of the most important minerals that your body can have, But in particular, it is going to help with that collagen production. So just some foods to kind of make sure that you are intaking on a regular basis would be things like seafood, pumpkin seeds, whole grains. Those are all going to be good sources of zinc. 

 

Cori: And I think, with all of this, is remembering that these are the details you want to dial in, but you have to make sure that the fundamentals are there first. So there’s one last tip, and it’s antioxidants, which I’ll let you dive into in terms of focusing more on those micros, or those details, the supplements, all that stuff, before we sort of talk about the macros as well. So tell us, why are antioxidants so key? 

 

Michelle: So the most important thing is making sure that we are keeping our oxidative stress down, because those free radicals are going to cause damage to the connective tissues. Cellulite is going to appear in those weakened areas. So we want to make sure we are doing the most for our skin and the most for our connective tissues by reducing those risks that can cause damage. So colorful fruits and vegetables are all going to have high antioxidants in them. So really making sure that you’re hitting those Nuts seeds in your diet. of course berries, things like berries, kale, spinach and green tea are all going to be high in those antioxidants. 

 

Cori: And when we’re talking about all this, it really occurred to me like thinking about the subject because I really wanted to do cellulite as a topic and I brought it to you and I was super excited because I think that with some of the aesthetic changes that we’re even seeking right, we might not see results right away, especially towards some of these things, or we might not see exactly the buildup that we really want. But we have to remember that there’s so much else benefiting us from making these changes right. You just said if you want to increase your antioxidant intake, you need to take more fruits and vegetables and get a diversity right. That not only is going to do what it can to improve the appearance of cellulite, but it’s going to improve your overall health. So when you’re thinking about, are these changes worth it? because you’re not seeing the result in the exact aesthetic way you want, they are worth it because they’re improving all these other habits which are going to make you like function better for the rest of your life. 

 

Michelle: Yeah, it’s definitely one of those things that people, when it comes to hot topics like this, people are like well, tell me the one food, the one thing that I can eat that’s going to fix this problem, or the one supplement? And the truth is, there is no magic food, there’s no truly one thing that’s going to make a massive difference in your looks and your appearance, is really going to be hitting all those things so that your body has all the nutrients, everything available for it to be able to move forward in the best way that’s going to be optimum for your health. So, fruits and vegetables. I know everyone’s like. 

 

Michelle: Of course, you’re going to say eat more fruits and vegetables. But, like you said, what’s, what’s going to be the downside of eating more fruits and vegetables? Even if you are still seeing the cellulite, you’re most likely are increasing your fiber intake. You’re most likely increasing water content, because fruits and vegetables also have a high amount of water, so you’re improving that hydration. Oftentimes we’re getting those benefits from energy and we don’t. We don’t give it the recognition or the wins that it truly deserves. 

 

Cori: And this has been, i feel, like a theme for me recently, but it goes back to all this So often, when we have a goal we want to hit, we think more stuff, right, but really it’s just more time. So, doing these things, if you can embrace all the other non scale, non cellulite related wins, you’re going to stick with it enough that maybe those things do snowball as much as possible. And on top of this, while these are the details, the micronutrients you want to get in, the supplements you want to potentially add in, if your overall diet is not online, there’s no detail. That’s going to get results over macros being doubted, and so I wanted you to talk a little bit about what macro ratios we can sort of use over our lifespan to potentially see better fat loss results, improve our connective tissue strength and just function overall better. 

 

Michelle: Yeah. So macros, of course, if you’re hitting your macros and you’re making sure it’s quality, not just quantity, you’re going to be already taking care of these little areas. But a big thing is, like you said, your macros are going to change over your time because our bodies change over time and our needs change over time. So a big thing is is that the bare minimum? I do highly recommend everyone start at least hitting a 30% protein intake and adjusting from there, because that is going to be where we are going to get the benefits of a high protein diet, where we are going to kind of get some body recomposition occur. So, starting there, if you don’t know, if you don’t know where to start at all, start with a 30% intake of the protein from there. 

 

Michelle: If you’re looking for just kind of in general, what can I do to kind of improve? And it’s always baby steps Like, yes, i’m saying, start at 30%, but if you’re taking, if your intake’s like 15%, aim for 20, and let’s get to that point where you’re 30%. Now, if you are at that 30% and you already kind of know macros a little bit better, i would recommend kind of a 35% protein, 30% carbs, 35% fat. Just this is more of a moderate. Moderate ratio, but you again, you’re going to be able to build up that muscle mass, lose some fat if you have some extra fat that you’re looking to lose but also even getting the healthy fat intake that’s also important for your skin health. So making sure you’re hitting that mono and poly and saturated fats and getting that energy that you need And after that, like, those are good ratios to kind of start with, but really it’s all going to be about getting that personalized touch. 

 

Michelle: This is really where I feel like coaching comes into play, because we are so individualized. We all are at different stages, we all do different exercise routines. So really making sure that you can work with someone that’s going to give you specific ratios as well is going to help you get those results a little bit faster and get you to your goal faster and even potentially helping you with your cellulite cellulite a little quicker than normal. 

 

Cori: That’s such an important point because people ask like what’s enough right? They’ll be like well, i’m getting enough protein, so do I need collagen? Well, yes, you’re getting adequate protein. So now that collagen can actually be used for these added benefits that you actually want it for, versus being utilized because you’re in need of protein, right, but what’s enough protein, what’s enough carbs, what’s enough fat? We’ll be so dependent on like what are your requirements right? Like, as we get older, even our requirements change based on our activity level, or our requirements change based on our genetics. our requirements change even if we’re trying to dial in some of those 1% details, like if you’re trying to compete in a competition where you’re trying to get extra lean or you’re trying to lose that cellulite. the details do matter in that the more we can really adjust and tweak exact percentages of protein, carbs and fat, the more we’re going to see those results really snowball. 

 

Michelle: And yeah, you brought up a good point with the amount, because we’re talking about macros and the percentage of your diet and how we can make these little changes. But also it is important to note that calories are a big factor here too. So actually having someone that’s going to help kind of dial in your calories and what is actually going to be appropriate for that protein amount, for that carb amount, for that fat amount, is going to be important as well. 

 

Cori: And this is where we get into another subject. We could go down and would be a whole other episode, but the eating enough, which I know we’ve also talked about, because if you’re under fueling, you’re going to end up losing muscle mass, which could even change how soft you look, which could make the appearance of cellulite look worse. So it’s why not going into those extreme calorie deficits and those extreme diets is so important as well. So again goes back to making sure that you’re dialing in your calories correctly. But off of all of this again, we’ve both touched on it a couple different times We’re talking about controlling what you can control and knowing that cellulite is genetic. 

 

Cori: There are so many other factors that really we don’t fully know the cause of it, other than it is the appearance of fat through fascia, right, and that people have different genetic potentials for fascia allowing the appearance of it or not allowing the appearance of it. There are, of course, lifestyle factors, but all of this aside, right, i do just want to talk about body image and body love, because no matter where we are in our journey, we have to love ourselves, and this doesn’t mean think we’re perfect, like I hope. I never think I’m perfect, because then I’m probably the most imperfect I’ve ever been. But we have to love ourselves along the way and love even the changes we’re making, because we are always going to find flaws. 

 

Michelle: Yeah, it’s true, and it’s one of those things that I think body positivity and like, like you mentioned, self love. There it’s kind of become this polarized topic because people are like With the movement anyways, people are like, oh well, you’re, you’re pushing obesity and you’re saying obesity, it’s okay to be overweight, but you can be overweight and still appreciate your body and you can still have body positivity But be working towards a goal. So it’s really appreciating the phase that you’re at, but not being afraid to make those changes for Health reasons. So if, yes, if you are like, hey, i have this body, i know it’s strong, i can lift, but I also like, i would like to get to this point where I’m pushing myself a little bit further. 

 

Michelle: Or, like you said, we all have those areas that we don’t feel like are perfect and we’re striving to reach a goal. So there’s not going to be this oh, i hate my body because of this. I’m fat because I have cellulite. You’re not fat because you have cellulite. You could just possibly have thinner skin than normal or your connective tissue Those layers are closer to the top layer of your skin, whatever it may be. But it’s appreciating your body for what it can do and pushing your body to improve better for better health, better strength, whatever it, whatever it is. 

 

Cori: I think it’s also pausing in the moment, because I can tell you like, even when people are well a, we’re creatures of comparison, right? so when you lose the weight, you’re comparing to potentially where you were before. When you build the muscle, you’re comparing to where you were before, and so you look better than you did, right, when you first have achieved, worked in progress, towards your goal. So you feel really good. But then, over time of maintaining, even though you’ve not gone backwards at all, you stop looking better than So. 

 

Cori: At some point you’d be like do I look good at all, like I’ve had clients do that? I’m like, yeah, you look the exact same as these photos where you were so excited by how you look. Right, but we lose that comparison a. So I think it’s key we remind ourselves like, hey, we lose comparison as we maintain more, but also remind ourselves that we have a tendency to go to the one area that we want to change the most and So often along our journey that it’s going to be the last place to change, because it’s more stubborn, because there’s lack of blood flow to those areas, because you know There are more stubborn types of fat cells, like. Whatever else it is, they’re gonna be the last to change, and so I think it’s taking time to take measurements that allow us to see the other Progress and even celebrate non-scale, non aesthetic wins, to to recognize why the habits are paying off. 

 

Michelle: Yeah, i think we do. We get desensitized to our own progress. When we get closer to the end goal, that progress isn’t all the sudden as drastic and We tend to be like, well, is this even working? and that’s really where I see people backsliding into old habits because it’s like well, i’m not seeing that payoff. And The most dreaded word I say and people hate to hear it is you have to be consistent And you have to give it time, and that especially is even with improving cellulite. 

 

Michelle: Improve, improving your cellulite appearance like it’s never going to be. Like. Oh, i always said and I’m eating my antioxidants, i have collagen, i’m improving the muscle mass I have on my body, so it’s smoothing out that area, but I I now don’t see any progress. It’s going to take time and it may, it may just be a genetic issue for you, but even if that’s the cause, you are still going to be improving that skin health. You are still going to be improving your overall appearance. If you had done nothing, or if you kind of backslid and you had a diet that was filled with, you know, refine carbs, processed foods, smoking, lots of alcohol, all of those are going to make things look worse. So we focus, we always focus on the more what can we do more, instead of focusing on like what to avoid necessarily, because then we always tend to be like, oh well, i can’t have this, i can’t have this, and it, mentally, it messes us up. 

 

Cori: But it really is one of those things that time and consistency are going to matter, just like it does for any type of body recomposition and I think, even that self-awareness to be like, hey, the reason I haven’t pushed past this point and seen the results that I want is simply because every time I hit This wall and I turn back, and so it’s it’s kind of almost embracing, trying to just keep pushing at the wall, even though it seems like you’re not going to be able to move the wall right. The wall is kind of Weak and you can actually push it. If you just keep going at it, it’ll slide slowly back and slowly back. So just embracing that consistency and having that self-awareness of hey, this is the heart I always hit when I turn back. If I keep pushing through and I love my body and celebrate these other wins, i might even see some of these other changes that I’ve been dreaming of achieving. 

 

Michelle: Yeah, and, like you said, it is even looking back and being like okay, remember, i was here and I made it here and I’m super excited to be here. So I’m going to do everything I can to maintain where I’m at moving forward. 

 

Cori: I love that, because maintaining itself is a huge win and Results tend to even snowball just while we’re maintaining Yes, exactly. Well, thank you so much, Michelle. I think these tips were great to help anybody you know become more empowered to get the fall-offs, the aesthetic results that they really want, while also understanding their body and what cellulite really is a little bit better. 

 

Cori: Perfect Thanks for having me. So Michelle shared some great nutrition tips to help you reduce the appearance of cellulite, and I wanted to dive into some workout hacks so we can focus on controlling what we can’t control. I’m just going to say it again I know I’ve repeated this multiple times throughout the podcast but there is a genetic factor, unknown factors to cellulite that we have not been able to control or change. So you have to remember that in doing this, you’re giving yourself agency to control what you can control and make the improvements where you can, and even impact your overall health and wellness, because all these things that I’m going to talk about in terms of workouts are going to benefit you in other ways from being functionally more strong to just having better conditioning, all that stuff But they will help as much as it is possible to reduce the appearance of cellulite. So, tip number one focus on strength training. If you build muscle and you lose fat, you’re going to look leaner. You’re going to look more toned. The stronger we are, the more muscle tone we have, the more we’re going to help improve that appearance of the cellulite. And we’re also, in our strength training, going to help improve our tissue strength overall and we’re going to help make those connected tissues as smooth and strong as possible. So we want to strengthen. It’s also going to make us functionally stronger. It’s going to help us age better. So there’s a lot of other health benefits to this right. But you want to focus on building the muscle as much as you can, because if you’re doing too much cardio and you’re actually losing muscle, you can look a lot softer as you’re leaning down. So if we want to minimize that dimpled appearance, we want to make sure that we’re actually building the muscle and we want to make sure that we’re doing what we can to lose fat, especially if you are trying to lose more weight and get a little bit leaner. This will help us look firmer in the process. Okay, and I want to mention when you are working muscles to build that lean muscle, you’re going to be mobilizing more fatty acids from the surrounding tissues. So if you do have more subinfrat around your hips or thighs or belly and you’re working those muscles, not only are you building lean muscle there, but you’re mobilizing more fatty acids in those areas, okay. This is why another workout hack is to actually put cardio after strength work. So if you’ve done your strength work for those areas, mobilize more fatty acids from those areas and built more muscle fabulous. And then we want to do that low intensity cardio and more of that fat burning zone to utilize those mobilized fatty acids to try and get rid of them, to help us actually reduce fat from these areas. No, it’s not spot reduction in the way that we think about spot reduction, but we are utilizing those mobilized fatty acids. Okay. 

 

Cori: So this isn’t a quick fix. You’re not going to just lose only fat off your middle but, especially as you get leaner, you can implement this to really help tone those areas a little bit more. And when I say working in that fat burning zone, i do just want to highlight, like you don’t want to think about only having to do like that walking right, you can do your running, you can do the hit training. You’re going to burn more calories and therefore you will burn more fat, okay. So when we’re talking about the fat burning zone, it’s just that the calories being burned, a higher percentage are coming from fat. And so when we’re using this after our strength training, where we’re not trying to just, you know, train for an indoor sport or whatever else, we want to think about that low intensity cardio training because it’s not going to deplete us more, so it’s not going to plead our glycogen stores. It’s not going to be catabolic for our muscle mass, which is going to help us see those strength gains, help us building muscle, but it is going to utilize this mobilize fatty acids Okay. So it’s going to be beneficial in that it will not detract from future training sessions. It gets this little extra movement and it’s going to utilize those mobilize fatty acids. So we want to think about some of that low intensity cardio after strength workouts that have worked the areas that we want to maybe lose from a little bit more, or that we have a little bit more of the appearance of cellulite on Okay. 

 

Cori: Number three is foam rolling. So it’s actually funny that it came up originally that they would have people like take a rolling pin to go try and roll out their fascia to improve the appearance of cellulite. It doesn’t really work that way. However, by foam rolling, not only are we improving our mobility to be able to train harder, which will be beneficial, but we are helping make sure that our fascia is functioning correctly and as strong and smooth as possible, and so through doing this, this can help a little bit with the appearance of cellulite. It’s just keeping our fascia healthy. Okay, so we’re going to have all their benefits for our mobility and everything else, but it’s keeping our fascia and our connective tissues healthier, which can help with the appearance of cellulite a little bit more, especially when we are dialing everything in from a nutritional standpoint to make our connective tissues as strong as possible. 

 

Cori: Number four is just doing mobility work in general. The better our body is functioning, the more fluid everything is working, the better our our, our fascial strength, our connected tissue strength is going to be in, the more stable our joints are going to be. So, again, going back to when we’re thinking about controlling what we can control, we want to think about all the other benefits we can reap from doing these 1% improvements that make the aesthetic changes as well, and so, because of doing the mobility work, the foam rolling, you’re going to help keep like that fascia, which is the netting, as strong as possible, which can help potentially prevent some of that fat, pimpled, dimpled appearance popping through. Okay, so do can make sure that you’re including that mobility work as well. 

 

Cori: The last thing I wanted to touch on in terms of workouts and just everything in general is recognize how much more your workouts really mean to everything than just aesthetic changes. Okay, we think so often I want to work out to burn more calories, to lose more weight. But our workouts are so important to our overall health And I bring this up because a lot of times when someone is looking to you know, reduce the appearance of cellulite, lose fat, make aesthetic changes, get abs, whatever else, it does come back to well, is all this all worth it when they’re not seeing the changes they want? And A yes, it is worth it. Right, you’re improving your health, you’re improving your mobility, you’re gonna age better, you are gonna look better as you get older because you’re gonna stay more youthful looking because of the training, because of your nutrition. So it’s gonna have great benefits. 

 

Cori: But also, you have to remember that a lot of that hard work takes time to snowball. You’re not gonna see results immediately, and so, recognizing all the other ways that this stuff is paying off, like I mean, what’s the alternative? right, you’re not gonna train to be stronger, you’re not gonna eat well to improve your health, so you’re just gonna let yourself deteriorate, right? Like, even if it’s not paying off in the weight loss you want right away. I mean, if you think about it that way, it’s kind of ridiculous, right. We wanna do these things. Yes, of course it’s worth it, it’s paying off for my health. But in recognizing that it will give results, time to snowball. And I can’t tell you how often people have been like, oh, i have loose skin, i have this, i have that. And when they’ve given it more time than they really wanted to, they have seen improvements. It might not be perfect, right, we’re not necessarily gonna get everything we want the exact way we envisioned it, but there’s lots of times that improvements would add up if we just gave more time. 

 

Cori: So recognize that the workouts you’re doing, that the changes you’re making to your diet, are more than about just reducing the appearance of cellulite. It is about improving your overall health. Okay, building the strength is gonna pay off. Building the muscles is gonna make you functionally stronger. Doing your mobility work is gonna help prevent aches and pains, especially that foam rolling, stretching and activation combine. Okay, doing that. Walking after even your strength workouts is gonna make you more active. Be more functionally strong. Keep your cardiovascular base stronger right, there’s so many other benefits to all of these different things, while, of course, controlling what you can control to reduce the appearance of cellulite. 

 

Cori: So I wanted to share these tips just because I think it’s so key that we focus on what we can do to move and feel our best at any and every age and give ourselves agency and power to control as much as possible. So I hope all these tips were helpful. I did just wanna recognize all of the nuance that goes into reducing cellulite and controlling what we can control. I just also wanted to highlight one last thing. 

 

Cori: With all these tips, guys, not only are we trying to improve your overall health, but a lot of this relates back to improving your blood flow, which keeps you healthier overall. But that blood flow is so key if we do wanna do as much as possible to reduce the appearance of cellulite. So remember these tips are about reducing the appearance of cellulite, but that you are not flawed. There’s not something wrong with you that 80 to 90% of the population has cellulite, regardless of their weight, regardless of how much fat they have, if they wanna work to lose fat or they’re at their leadiness level that they want. That this is the appearance of fat through fascia, and there’s only so much we can control. But by implementing all these different things that we mentioned, from the nutritional strategies to the workout tips, you’re gonna improve your overall health to move and fill your best at any and every age.