Fit Villains: Selfish, Shameless, Sassy, Fitness.

“Why don’t men get cellulite?”

I get this question a lot, so I thought I’d settle it once and for all!

All humans, men AND women, have and need fat to survive. We also all have connective tissue that connects our fat cells (where our energy is stored) to our skin (otherwise, it’d just be floating around in there). But the quality and shape of our connective tissue is different. That, and women need a much higher percentage of body fat in order to survive.

In women, these fibers form a honeycomb like pattern: thin strands laced over each other, forming holes where fat may push through, like stuffing in a mattress (not the best image, but there you go). In general, the more body fat you have, the more fat there is to push through these gaps, giving a more pronounced dimpled effect. But you don’t have to be overweight to have cellulite or even very overweight to have lots of it: it doesn’t take MUCH fat to showcase the dimples. There are women who are incredibly lean, with low body fat percentages who will always have cellulite. Some women may have thicker strands and smaller holes (hence why, even with higher body fat percentages, they may not appear to have cellulite, or have smaller dimples). How much cellulite you may have is determined primarily by your genetics.

You see LESS or NO cellulite in men because their fibers form a criss-cross pattern (like a net) that prevents bulging or dimpling. They also have thicker connective tissue and much more of it: the result is kind of like a hair net. Fat appears more even on the surface because the tissues keep it from bulging out. You MAY see cellulite on some men, but in most cases it’s indicative of a hormonal imbalance (something to check out if you know men with cellulite). Similarly, some women with imbalances may have no cellulite. That’s genetic, and accounts for roughly 5-10% of all women.

So men don’t have cellulite because their bodies are designed differently. It’s not ‘unfair’. What’s unfair is that we live in a world where something as natural, common and womanly as cellulite is treated like something disgusting.

You can minimize (reduce) cellulite with diet & exercise, but your body has it’s limitations. Assuming it will disappear completely like in the commercials may be setting yourself up for disappointment. Creams, lotions, laser treatments and more are ways for companies to make money off reducing the appearance of cellulite: but they don’t always work and won’t rid you of it completely, especially if you have a lot to begin with.

Learning to embrace your lumps is the BEST way to tackle cellulite stress. You don’t have to hide it. You aren’t stuck wearing long pants in the summer. 90% of your sisters out there have it too. And the only people who’ll notice are either insecure about their own (comparing - nothing to do with you) or have been fed so much mis-information that they have no idea what they’re talking about (feel sorry for them).

‘The only cure for cellulite is good lighting’ - Dita Von Teese