For weight loss, diet is more effective than exercise, but exercise is more effective than diet in keeping the weight off

Diet can successfully replace exercise when it comes to weight loss, as millions of women know. In fact, research has shown that exercise is not as effective as diet if you want to lose weight quickly, however it becomes necessary if you want to keep the weight off for ever. In the long run however, things change: continuous diet decreases metabolic rate and leads to muscle mass. After a few weeks of dieting, motivation  suffers and weight loss is minimized - and quite often reversed. On the other hand, after a few weeks of exercise, your metabolic rate increases, helping you keep the weight off. Whilst diet can give you impressive short-term results, exercise is clearly the real long-term winner. The best approach of course is to combine diet and exercise according to your own needs as part of a properly designed, fat loss plan.

For cellulite, however, exercise is a real winner

Calorie for calorie exercise is much better than diet in keeping cellulite at bay, or decreasing it, because on top of the calorie burning it offers the body an extra advantage: that of mechanical stimulation.

Mechanical stimulation prevents the conversion of connective tissue (that provides firmness, shape and structure to your skin) to fat tissue (that makes your skin bumpy, wobbly and flabby), in your thigh and bottom “pre-cellulite” areas.

What? Pre-cellulite?

Yes, that’s right, all women do possess an inclination to develop cellulite after puberty, and their skin in specific parts of the body is structured in such a way that if fat accumulates inside it, cellulite formation will occur. This "pre-cellulite" structure was originally invented by nature in order to give women a soft-yet-firm skin on the thighs and bottom and worked extremely well for hundreds of thousands of years, until things went pear-shaped with civilization foods and modern lifestyle...

Fat versus firmness: who will win?

Mechanical stimulation triggers the creation of collagen cells in your skin and inhibits the creation of fat cells, replacing fat with firmness. Vice versa, inactivity triggers the creation of fat cells inside your thigh and bum skin and decreases the number of collagen cells, replacing firmness with fat. In fact, fat cell number increases at the expense of collagen cells if there is no mechanical stimulation (sedentary lifestyle), if there are excessive carbohydrates and saturated fat circulating in the bloodstream or if certain hormones are present (typically cortisol or estrogen). To summarise, in a few simple words:

“The more you eat carbohydrate and saturated fat, take artificial hormones, sit on your bum or lie down on the couch, the more your firmness will be replaced by fat“.

Don't let your firmness be eaten away by fat! Exercise and/or have regular cellulite massages!

If you want to stay slim, diet may be enough. But if you want to stay firm, smooth and cellulite-free, you must exercise in order to provide your body with the necessary mechanical stimuli needed to maintain your firmness. Alternatively you can enjoy the same results with regular, cellulite-specific massages! Ideally, for a perfect body, you would like to both exercise and have regular treatments, as many models and celebrities do.

Cellulite-specific massage manipulation of the cellulite tissues: concentrated mechanical stimulation where it is needed

As you understand, the value of cellulite massages lies in the fact that they provide highly concentrated, yet effortless, mechanical stimulation directly to the cellulite-afflicted tissues, i.e. the surface of the thighs, bottom, arms and belly. Of course, some cellulite massages totally miss the point and are ineffective, whilst others are carefully designed to affect the cellulite tissues in an optimum manner.

For cellulite prevention, regular cellulite massages combined with an average diet may be all that is needed

However, for cellulite reduction a calorie deficit is important, as in this case we don't just have to fight fat cells but also we must burn already accumulated fat. And this fat can only be burned (oxidised) in muscle and other tissues, if we consume less calories than we spend. As we explained above, this calorie deficit can be the results of diet, exercise or both.

In either case, junk food, excessive alcohol consumption and excessive inactivity are not recommended, as they are detrimental to whole body health. However, for women who cannot exercise due to injury, disease or a heavy workload, regular cellulite treatments are indispensable in the fight against cellulite. There is simply no other way...

Exercises for mechanical stimulation

With regard to exercise-induced mechanical stimulation, power plate training seems to be the best exercise, followed by running, fast walking, aerobics and fast swimming. Static exercise like Yoga and Pilates do not induce significant stimulation and are not recommended as anti-cellulite exercises.

Exercises for calorie "burning"

Any exercise that significantly increases your heart rate and breathing rate is great for fat burning. This is because heart and breathing rate correlate pretty well to "calorie burning" in the muscles. Therefore, running, fast walking, aerobics, uphill walking, interval training, fast swimming, weight training with small rest periods, circuits, rowing, Bikram Yoga, intensive dancing, and all vigorous exercise are great in deflating those cellulite fat cells. Again, undemanding types of exercise such as mild forms of yoga and Pilates will not do very much.

Five things to remember regarding diet, exercise, cellulite and cellulite massages

1. If you want to prevent cellulite and love food, a decent - but not decadent - diet will do, as long as you either receive regular cellulite massages and/or you exercise. The more you like food the more regular cellulite massages you should have and the more exercise you should perform.
2. Whether you take care of your diet or not, if you cannot or do not want to exercise, you will need very regular treatments to avoid cellulite, especially after the age of 30.
3. For cellulite prevention diet alone is not enough, but treatments or exercise are sufficient.
4. For cellulite reduction, both a caloric deficit (brought on by diet and/or exercise) and a good cellulite massage or other treatment are needed.
5. Junk food, excessive eating and binge drinking are not recommended in any case. There is a difference between enjoying life and destroying your health...