"How do I get rid of this ugly fat"
I hear this complaint so often from women all over the country!
So you’re not alone. We women are at a disadvantage
because we store more fat than men, usually on our legs, butt
and thighs.
The dimpled appearance of this fat comes from an overabundance
of the stuff pressing through the layers of connective tissues
beneath your skin. This is not a physical deformity—it’s
simply an issue of having too much fat in certain areas of
our bodies. In the 1970s, VOGUE Magazine dubbed this unsightly
fat “cellulite,” a term which has stuck like glue,
but is not recognized by doctors or medical associations anywhere,
mostly because “cellulite” is just plain old fat.
Of course, marketing companies feed on this fearful fat-frenzy
by inventing miracle products to “rid” your body
of cellulite. In fact, I found 186,000 web-sites for such
products in a quick Internet search. But in the real world,
there’s no miracle drug, cream, gel, wrap, vibrating
machine, or quick fix that will banish fat forever, as some
companies would have you believe.
Cellulite Loss
The optimal way to combat cellulite is through strength training,
cardiovascular work and healthy nutrition.
First let’s look at strength training. As we age, our
bodies slow down metabolically, and women typically gain 15
pounds of fat, per decade, while simultaneously losing about
five pounds of muscle. Not only does this corporeal change
increase your pants size, it also increases your chance of
heart attack, high blood pressure and atherosclerosis. Strength
training will help combat this detrimental muscle loss while
simultaneously helping fight the fat gain. Building muscle
tissue will also increase your metabolic rate, as muscle cells
require energy just to exist, thus burning more calories per
hour, even when your body is at rest. Fat cells require no
energy to exist, and therefore just hang out and look bad.
What exercises to do?
So what exercises should you do? Logic would dictate that
you should work the area where you’d like to be rid
of the fat, but, unfortunately, our bodies aren’t that
simple. We burn and utilize body fat at an even rate throughout
the body, so the places you store the most fat, where you
see your cellulite, will likely be the last places you’ll
notice it coming off.
Be Patient
So, first and foremost, be patient. Now the good news: you
can increase tone of the muscles underneath the fat, so you’ll
have nice, shapely limbs to show for your efforts, once you’ve
decreased your overall body fat level. Concentrate on incorporating
exercises that hit your glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, adductors
and abductors to effectively train these often-troublesome
areas. Try performing lunges, walking lunges, squats, step-ups,
leg curls and leg extensions, starting with one set of 15
repetitions for each exercise twice a week. Once your muscles,
tendons and ligaments become stronger and you feel comfortable
with the program, work your way up to three sets of 8 to 10
repetitions, using a weight that challenges you but still
allows you to maintain proper form. I also recommend performing
an upper body program twice a week to further boost your metabolism,
increase your bone density and give you great arms for those
summertime tank tops. Be sure to work the chest, back, shoulders,
biceps, triceps and abdominal muscles equally to balance out
the leg program. No matter which body part you decide to train,
always warm up thoroughly by walking or cycling for 10 minutes
and stretching both before and after your training session.
You’ll recover more quickly, decrease your chance for
injury, and become a little more flexible in the process.
Is it time for a challenge?
Now, as for your cardio program, it sounds like you’re
doing plenty of walking, but perhaps it’s time to challenge
yourself a bit more. Your body has the amazing ability to
adapt to a repeated stimulus, and a walking program that you
began three months ago is probably not giving you the same
results it did initially. Try playing with your speed, duration,
and intensity level during your session. If you’re married
to the treadmill, try walking at an incline or test out one
of the pre-programmed courses that take you through hills
and varying speeds. Also try using different machines or engaging
in new activities. If your gym offers group classes, try kickboxing,
spinning, or power yoga to get in some variety and kick-start
your body into a fat burning mode.
Wear a heart rate monitor (HRM)
Invest in a heart
rate monitor (HRM) .
They are inexpensive and can give you an accurate reading
of how hard you’re working. The heart needs to be trained
like any other muscle in the body, and must be challenged
in order to improve. An HRM can also help you reduce your
body fat level. By training in your target heart rate zone
(see chart), you can actually increase the potential of the
body to utilize fat as fuel. Any activity performed below
this zone is not challenging enough, and any activity above
this zone becomes anaerobic—in other words, you’ll
no longer be burning fat, but will be using muscle and carbohydrate
stores for fuel instead. Wearing your HRM will keep you aware
of your zone, and will better enable you to maintain your
fat-burning state for the duration of your cardio session.
I recommend doing at least 40 to 55 minutes of cardio in this
zone three to five times a week for the maximum fat-burning
potential.
Good vs. bad nutrition
And once again, we must visit the issue of nutrition. If
you’re on a quest for a lean, cellulite-free physique,
take a look at your eating habits and evaluate your food choices.
Steer away from white flour, white rice, fatty proteins, commercial
fruit juices and fruit in the afternoon or evenings. Eat five
to six small, balanced meals a day, rich in low-glycemic carbohydrates
such as yams or oatmeal, and lean proteins such as fish and
chicken. Water is also vital for fat loss, as it aids in the
process of digestion and fat metabolism. Drink at least eight
cups of water a day, more if possible. If you’re a coffee
drinker, be sure to replace the water lost from the diuretic
effects of the caffeine with an extra cup of water. Caffeine-free
herbal teas also count as part of your water intake for the
day, so drink up! Just watch the added sugar or honey in your
beverage, as they add significant empty calories to an otherwise
healthful beverage. For more information on nutrition, go
to www.vistamagonline.com and check out “Cory’s
Ultimate Food Guide.”
Try not to waste time on worrying about cellulite. It can
and will disappear with diligent hard work and meticulous
attention to your exercise and diet plan. And don’t
get hung up what society determines as beautiful, and instead
focus on living healthy in body, mind and spirit. Be true
to thy self, and love your body, cellulite and all!
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