Reality Check: Jennifer Aniston's Expensive Anti-cellulite Treatment

FitSugar — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:00:00 PDT

Along with the fountain of youth, I'm sure many of us are looking for a way to erase cellulite from our bodies. Realistically speaking though, since 95 percent of women have cellulite, most of us have come to terms with those little dimples on our backsides since creams and lotions don't really work.

There are many expensive anti-cellulite treatments at spas though. According to Us Weekly, Jennifer Aniston recently headed to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Spa for a 110-minute lymphatic-draining massage and algae wrap. She paid $290 for this treatment that the spa says is designed to reduce "the dimpled, uneven appearance of cellulite." To find out if it works

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I wish I could break the bad news to you gently, but there's no sensitive way to tell you. Cellulite, which is just another word for fat, cannot be eliminated with expensive massages or body wraps. You can however reduce the appearance of that indented skin by decreasing your overall amount of body fat. You do this with old-fashioned cardio that burns calories and strength training to tone your muscles. You'll have to learn to love squats, lunges, and any other exercises that target your booty and thighs, where cellulite tends to show up. I guess this makes me feel better because there's no way I'd drop almost $300 for a special spa treatment.

Source

Can Leggings Fight Cellulite?

Self — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 06:30:51 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from Self here on FitSugar!

Dimples on your face? Adorable! On your thighs and butt? Well, not so much.

Cellulite is a genetic reality for almost 90 percent of women, which is why we're always intrigued and - we'll admit it - tempted by products such as these Turbocell Leggings. The manufacturer claims the compression technology will "micro-massage" away cellulite, reducing dimples by 20 percent and taking 2 inches off your thighs and butt.

The catch: You must wear the leggings eight hours a day, for eight weeks. And could they possibly work anyway? To find out if they're brilliant or bogus, we spoke to two leading cellulite experts.

The first thing to understand is what, exactly, cellulite is.

"If you imagine your skin . . . under that skin is a subcutaneous fatty layer and the next layer is the fascia, a shiny surface that overlies the muscle," says Barry M. Weintraub, MD, spokesman for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. "From the back of the skin, going through the fat and attaching to the fascia layer are bands called fibrous bands. Those fibrous bands keep the skin sitting where it needs to be."

When you gain weight, the number of fat cells don't increase (you're born with a set number), rather the size of the cells increase so they can store more fat in the individual cell. This pushes everything up around the back of the band, which can cause a dimple.

So, could the leggings be a magic bullet?