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I’m only 23, not overweight, and yet I have some of the worst cellulite I have EVER seen on anyone. Seriously – I think my 95-year-old grandmother probably has less cellulite than I do.
Any ideas as to what causes this? I’ve read so many different theories.
I remember Matt saying that estrogen might be a factor, which would make sense as I’m very estrogen dominant. But then I read something else that said the estrogen theory is unlikely, as cellulite is worse in post-menopausal women. So I’m not really sure what to think.
Obviously, changing body composition can minimise the appearance of cellulite, but I wonder if there’s a way to get to the root cause!
Any thoughts?
Short answer to question: Probably not! :) In another thread I posted the Go Kaleo links on cellulite, i.e., it’s just fat, not special fat.
http://gokaleo.com/2013/03/06/cellulite-its-time-we-all-just-get-the-hell-over-it/
I bet it’s not as bad/as much as you think! That might be a touch of dysmorphia. I thought the same about myself at 23 too, and I was mistaken. I’m 37 now … with pretty much the same cellulite as then. But now I don’t give it a thought. Teenagers and very young women sometimes don’t have cellulite, because physical maturity isn’t really complete until ~25. So the memory of not having it is recent for young women, and you might still have some peers without any. But they’ll catch up soon. (I hope this older-and-wiser thing doesn’t sound condescending, because I really don’t mean it that way. My friends & I had to learn all this 15 years ago, too, because for some reason there’s a sort of popular hysteria that stigmatizes cellulite above and beyond fat in general … I think it’s just a manifestation of sexism, personally.)
All the airbrushing in the media is unfortunate, too, because people have come to believe that cellulite is *not* nearly universal, when it actually is.
I suspect moderate hip-zone fat (i.e., cellulite) is probably protective, hormone-wise. Just let it come along for the ride, is my 2c.
@mighty m – I have read that article before, but I’m not sure I agree! Body fat and cellulite don’t appear to have an obvious correlation. There are lots of thin women with cellulite, and lots of larger women with little to none. I honestly cannot remember a time when I didn’t have cellulite (even when I was 14!). Perhaps there’s a little dysmorphia going on, but I’m not sure… I truly seem to have more cellulite than the average woman. Most of my friends are at least 10 years older than me (I married an older man!), and they all seem to have less than I do. I’m not too worried about it from an appearance perspective, but if it’s an indicator of an underlying issue then I’d love to know what that is. I do agree that the airbrushing media has a lot to answer for, though. It makes me laugh when they have articles on cellulite, for which perfectly dimple-free models pose in their underwear!
I have heard it might be an imbalance in amino acids?? Something like too much muscle meat and not enough gelatin (or other types of protein). I have no idea if there is any truth to that though. (I have it, too, and although I’m pretty accepting of it I’d love to know if it is indicative of anything).
My understanding is that it’s very affected by the lymph system. Dry brushing, rebounding, and full-body movement exercise like yoga are supposedly the most effective – all get lymph moving. All of them feel really good, too.
Post-menopausal women are even more estrogen dominant as far as I know. There is obviously some hormonal connection or women and men with the same body fat percentage would statistically have the same chance of having cellulite, but women have far more than men on average.
There is probably a connection with inadequate collagen or poor collagen formation as well, as Ray Peat has mentioned. Some do note improvements when taking large amounts of gelatin, but the success stories there are exceedingly rare.
@Matt – Oh, really? I thought estrogen production slowed significantly at menopause. But maybe it’s to do with the ratio of estrogen to progesterone, rather than the total amount of estrogen? I also heard that the reason men have less than women is because they have stronger connective tissue (i.e. with less “gaps” for fat to poke through, which is supposedly what creates the dimpled look). But that’s just a theory. The collagen inadequacy theory makes sense too – I have hyper-mobile joints and flat feet, which are symptomatic of a collagen issue. If the sugar overload works for rebalancing my hormones then I’ll be able to report back as to whether the cellulite is reduced as a result. If not, then I’ll give the gelatin thing a try!
@bigbird – Dr Len Kravitz? There must be a joke in there somewhere. I will check it out – thanks!@The Real Amy – I always start with great intentions with the dry skin brushing, but then I get lazy after about a week. Maybe I’ll try again!
@karime22 – I definitely think that increasing gelatin intake certainly can’t hurt! Makes sense, if the collagen theory is correct.@bigbird – Just teasing ;) Thanks for the resource! The diagram comparing male and female is very interesting. But his only recommendation for getting rid of cellulite seems to be to eat less and do more exercise to reduce its appearance. Oh well! I guess it’s something that women just need to learn to live with.
I don’t think his information is totally accurate. Doctors love saying things are incurable or just “aging.” I’ve heard too many people say that their cellulite significantly decreased after rebounding to believe what he says.
I suspect it’s how the body stores toxins. Here are some success stories from the Cellulite Investigation site. Obviously they aren’t evidence-based or anything, but for most people it sounds like once they found a diet that was right for them, or did bikram yoga, the cellulite went away.
http://www.celluliteinvestigation.com/2010/12/cellulite-success-stories.html
@The Real Amy – Love that blog, some great info on there. Bikram yoga does seem to have a high success rate. I wonder if Pilates is effective too?
I don’t know. I have a feeling it’s the unique combination of sweating and yoga moves which bikram yoga provides.
The woman running the blog provided some evidence at one time that the areas of the body where people’s cellulite settles generally don’t sweat easily. So if you can get your whole body sweating, cellulite areas included, apparently it can be helpful.
Not that this will help you, but I have noticed that women with a peer figure (fat around hips) have far more problems with cellulite than women with a apple figure (fat around waist).
The photo of Scarlett in the link backs this up as well.
As to why there is this difference in storing fat, I don’t know.
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