“In the last 24 years I have seen more than 4,100 women with cellulite (and some men) and I have to say that the ones who followed a strict healthy nutrition and exercise regime during their course of treatments also had the most spectacular results. Furthermore, I have seen hundreds of cases where women tried to reduce cellulite only with strict diet and exercise and results where poor for some of them, especially as age progressed. So diet and exercise are essential for cellulite reduction (and prevention) but sometimes not enough. Hence the need for treatments.”
Cellulite: diet and exercise are essential but often not enough
Cellulite, diet and exercise | In summary
Are diet and exercise all you need to beat cellulite?
Cellulite reduction: diet and exercise is absolutely essential
Cellulite reduction: diet and exercise is just not enough in most cases
Mild/severe cellulite vs exercise and diet
Treatments and creams vs cellulite
The myth of “For cellulite removal, all you need is diet and exercise”
Diet, exercise and cellulite: frequently asked questions (FAQs)
How long does it take to get rid of cellulite with diet and exercise?
Does collagen help with cellulite?
What is the best diet to get rid of cellulite?
Does red light therapy help cellulite?
Does running get rid of cellulite?
Does cellulite go away with exercise? Is cellulite reversible with exercise?
Does walking help cellulite?
Does diet affect cellulite?
Does cardio help cellulite?
Have a skin tightening/cellulite treatment in London with the cellulite experts
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Cellulite, diet and exercise | In summary
Diet and exercise play a crucial role in preventing and reducing cellulite, but in most cases, they are not enough on their own to achieve significant results—especially if you’re looking for visible improvement within a shorter time frame. While a healthy lifestyle is essential to stop cellulite from developing or worsening, reversing it—particularly when it’s severe or longstanding—often requires more targeted interventions.
These can include cellulite-specific massages, high-quality topical creams, contrast showers, and advanced treatments like radiofrequency and ultrasound cavitation.
Additionally, addressing contributing factors such as smoking, hormonal contraceptives, and exposure to environmental toxins like microplastics and BPA can help. Although exercise and a clean diet form the foundation of any cellulite-reduction strategy, they can’t produce dramatic improvements by themselves due to the deep tissue changes involved.
Ultimately, a multifaceted approach is needed. Believing that diet and exercise alone will eliminate cellulite is overly simplistic and overlooks the complex nature of the condition. A combination of lifestyle changes and targeted treatments offers the best chance for noticeable and lasting improvement.
Are diet and exercise all you need to beat cellulite?
For cellulite prevention, yes, diet and exercise are essential and enough
For cellulite reduction, healthy nutrition and exercise are also essential but usually not enough, especially if you want results within weeks and months, instead of months and years. For cellulite reduction, treatments, creams and other lifestyle changes are needed, always in addition to healthy eating and exercise.
Full analysis follows below.
Cellulite reduction with nutrition and exercise: absolutely essential
To get rid of cellulite all you need is diet and exercise, right? Wrong, in most cases at least.
Healthy nutrition and exercise are indeed absolutely essential for cellulite PREVENTION, as inactivity and unhealthy diet/nutrition are major causes of cellulite.
Furthermore, healthy nutrition and exercise are also 100% essential for cellulite REDUCTION, as you cannot improve something without stopping the habits that originally led to its creation and adopting new, better habits.
So, yes, diet and exercise are important for both cellulite prevention and reduction.
Cellulite reduction with nutrition and exercise: in most cases just not enough
However, in most cases, nutrition and exercise work quite slowly.
Plus, quite often they simply do not solve the problem of existing cellulite more than 10-20%, unless you spend your day at the gym and become anorexic, which are obviously not great options.
This is because some tissue changes in the hypodermis (the skin layer where cellulite is found) just cannot be effectively reversed solely with diet and exercise. They can’t:
For example, exercise cannot have a topical impact on cellulite - this is physiologically impossible, no matter what YouTube says
And, as we all know, diet does not have a localised impact on cellulite either. In fact, stubborn cellulite is the last to go with diet
It just doesn’t work that way.
Exercise and diet vs mild/severe cellulite
So exercise and diet usually work well on their own when cellulite is very limited or very recent. And they do not work well on their own when cellulite is extensive or if it has been there for years and decades.
For these cases you need to take more measures, ALWAYS IN ADDITION TO HEALTHY EATING AND EXERCISE.
Examples include:
Stopping other unhealthy habits, such as excessive alcohol consumption or smoking/vaping, if applicable
Stopping the contraceptive pill - a major cause of cellulite (discuss with your GP first)
Reducing your exposure to xenoestrogens, such as BPA in cans, tins and food packaging lining and microplastics, and forever chemicals in cooking utensils, clothes and carpets
Having contrast showers on your thighs / buttocks
Having strong, cellulite-specific massages
Applying a real cellulite cream, i.e. a cream with multiple, high-purity, high-concentration actives, well researched for the their action against multiple aspects of cellulite
Having a course of deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency and deep acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation treatments, the strongest SAFE anti-cellulite technologies available today
Treatments and creams vs cellulite
Again, treatments or creams, however great some are, will not be enough or sustainable long-term on their own:
If we keep making the dietary mistakes that led to the creation of cellulite in the past
If we keep inactive and expect to keep cellulite (and skin looseness) at bay just with treatments/creams or, for example, contrast showers / massages
It also doesn’t work that way.
The myth of “For cellulite removal, all you need is diet and exercise”
So, just diet and exercise, however great they are, they do not work amazingly well for cellulite reduction is most cases - except in recent or mild cellulite or for prevention.
Whoever advises otherwise are simply ignorant of the facts on the ground: they have either never treated cellulite and/or they haven’t studied the problem of cellulite in any detail at all.
It is really intellectually lazy to make the ignorant statement: “Cellulite is just fat, lose weight and get over it”.
The solution to cellulite removal is a COMBINATION OF diet and exercise PLUS treatments, creams and other measures, as outlined above.
Diet, exercise and cellulite: frequently asked questions (FAQs)
I hope everything is now clear regarding exercise, nutrition and cellulite.
Below are some straight, quick answers to the most common questions related to this subject, to clarify finer points and add more detail.
Does collagen help with cellulite?
Sure, a good collagen powder can help with cellulite reduction but it is not the main thing that can help. Diet, exercise and an overall healthy lifestyle are the most important things for cellulite reduction, with supplements and collagen assisting the whole process.
Does diet affect cellulite?
Poor diet is the number one cause of cellulite, with lack of exercise, smoking, alcohol, the contraceptive pill and micro and nano plastics (MNP) being also important but secondary.
Sugar, fried food, too many carbs, too much saturated fat and too many calories overall are the main culprits.
Of course, the best solution is to improve your diet, become more active and also change all the above factors.
What is the best diet to get rid of cellulite?
The best cellulite diet is a negative calorie diet packed with polyphenols, fibre, protein and omega-3 and poor in sugar, fried food, excess carbs and excess saturated fat. Read our full guide by clicking on the link above.
How long does it take to get rid of cellulite with diet and exercise?
In most cases cellulite cannot be eliminated / gotten rid of. However, cellulite can indeed be reduced with diet and exercise, with results being visible in as little as two weeks with an intensive diet and exercise regime, based on interval training (IWT, HIIT interval running, interval swimming etc) and a super healthy diet, as described just above.
For more impressive and long-term results you must have A 3-6 month outlook and to keep cellulite away healthy eating and exercise should be a permanent lifestyle, not a temporary effort.
Does cellulite go away with exercise? Is cellulite reversible with exercise?
Again, cellulite cannot be eliminated in most cases, unless it is very recent or very little. However, as mentioned above, exercise is essential for both cellulite reduction and cellulite prevention too.
Does running get rid of cellulite?
Although in most cases cellulite cannot be eliminated, running is probably THE best exercise reduction method, especially interval running.
Does walking help cellulite?
Walking is great for cellulite prevention and reduction, especially fast walking, interval walking and uphill walking. More vigorous training, such as running, HIIT, fast swimming, fast rowing etc are even better but not for all people - while walking is a highly accessible exercise for the vast majority of people to improve not just cellulite but overall health.
Does cardio help cellulite?
Absolutely. Cardiovascular (CV) exercise is one of the best methods to reduce cellulite and far better than weight training. Don’t get me wrong, resistance exercise is better for an overall toned muscle effect on the body but it won’t have much impact on cellulite itself.
The best thing is to combine both, with main emphasis on CV exercise.
Does red light therapy help cellulite?
Red light therapy can help with cellulite prevention, as part of an overall healthy lifestyle regime. However, where red light really shines is maximising the results of proper cellulite reduction methods (such as deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency and deep-acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation), if provided right after those treatments.
Have a treatment in London with the cellulite experts
At LipoTherapeia we have specialised 100% in skin tightening and cellulite reduction for more than two decades and 20,000+ sessions.
This is all we study and practise every day and have researched and tried hands-on all the important skin tightening equipment and their manufacturers.
As strong, deep acting radiofrequency and deep-acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation are the technologies of choice for skin tightening and cellulite reduction, we have invested in the best RF/ultrasound technologies in the world.
(Of course, we keep looking for new technologies every day and if/when a better technology materialises we will be the first to provide it. However, we will never follow the latest ineffective gimmick, just because it’s good marketing to offer the latest hyped up - yet ineffective and/or unsafe treatment.)
Furthermore, over the last two decades we have developed advanced RF and cavitation treatment protocols in order to make the most of our technologies, for maximum results, naturally and safely.
And for even better, faster results, we now combine our RF/ultrasound treatments with high-power red/infrared light LED treatment.
Our radiofrequency/ultrasound/LED treatments are comfortable, pain-free, downtime-free, injection-free, 99.5%+ safe and always non-invasive.
(No unsafe and ineffective RF microneedling or HIFU and no safe but ineffective acoustic wave therapy, superficial RF (bipolar/tripolar/multipolar etc), low power RF/cavitation, electrical muscle stimulation, lymphatic massage, cupping, dry brushing and no ridiculous bum bum creams.)
Our focus is on honest, realistic, science-based treatment, combined with caring, professional service, with a smile.
We will be pleased to see you, assess your cellulite, skin laxity or fibrosis, listen to your story, discuss your case and offer you the best possible treatment.
The Cellulite School™: Get advanced training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening
Why train with The Cellulite School™?
We all know that training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening is as basic as it gets. It is typically a 4-6 hour training, involving only basic instruction from the manufacturer on how operators can use the machine; lots of myths, erroneous information and misconceptions; and some basic health and safety on how to use the machine.
There is no proper, real training in the science or cellulite, skin tightening, radiofrequency, ultrasound and all related technologies is non-existent - worldwide.
Do you want to deeply understand radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, LED phototherapy, cellulite and skin tightening?
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