Estrogen and cellulite: the reason why women get cellulite and men don’t

Female hormones and cellulite

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• Does estrogen cause cellulite?

• Pre-cellulite, oestrogen hormones and cellulite

• Estrogen dominance / high estrogen levels and cellulite

• High estrogen levels in men due to testosterone-to-estrogen conversion

• Estrogen, cellulite in men and gynaecomastia

• Xenoestrogens, phytoestrogens and cellulite in men

• Transexuals and cellulite

• In summary: feminisation and cellulite

• Check our professional consultancy in cellulite, skin tightening, ultrasound and radiofrequency

Men, women, cellulite and estrogen hormones

This is a very common question at the clinic: “It’s so unfair, why do women need to get cellulite and men not”?

Well, there is an answer to that and in short it’s called ‘estrogen’.

Does estrogen cause cellulite?

Generally, everybody, man or woman, can get cellulite if both two following conditions are met:

• Their body is loaded with enough of the hormone estrogen - natural or artificial

• They ingest more calories than they spend and/or they sit down too much/walk too little

Estrogen on its own does NOT cause cellulite, neither inactivity or calorie surplus do.

There are hundreds of millions of women in the developing world without cellulite because they move a lot and eat traditional, healthy, non-fattening food in reasonable amounts.

And there are billions of men who do not exercise/eat too much and do not develop cellulite (they just get a big belly).

You need both oestrogen + calorie surplus/inactivity to develop cellulite.

Let’s see why.

Pre-cellulite, oestrogen hormones and cellulite

The aptly named "pre-cellulite" fat pocket infrastructure exists on the skin of hips and thighs of both sexes.

All it takes is:

• Estrogen to stimulate the proliferation (multiplication) of adipocytes (fat cells) in those areas. The fat tissue on the butt and thighs of all human beings - male or female - is very responsive to oestrogen, leading to fat cell proliferation, i.e. more fat cells.

• Excess and “unhealthy” calories (typically derived from hydrogenated fat, saturated fat, sugar, alcohol and high glycaemic index starches) to fill up those multiplied fat cells with fat

• A sedentary lifestyle makes things worse, by encouraging skin to become loose and fat cells to proliferate. it also makes blood and lymph vessels weaker, which in turns leads to water retention and consequent inflammation.

Water retention, excess superficial fat, inflammation and skin looseness are the hallmarks of cellulite.

All three of the above conditions (more estrogen, calorie imbalance, inactivity) have to be met for humans to develop cellulite. In the absence of high levels of estrogen, humans who overeat can only get "fat", especially on the stomach/waist area (as is the case with men) and perhaps develop loose skin - but they do not develop cellulite.

Similarly, in the absence of excess calorie consumption or sedentary living, humans with high oestrogen levels can only get looser skin or overweight but they will not develop cellulite - or they will develop very little cellulite.

Naturally, with both high levels of oestrogen and calorie surplus/inactivity, most humans will develop a lot of cellulite.

Estrogen dominance / high estrogen levels and cellulite

Quite a lot of women suffer from what is described as estrogen dominance, i.e. excessive estrogen levels in relation to other female hormones.

Needless to say that estrogen dominance does not just cause internal problems but also more cellulite.

High estrogen levels in men due to testosterone-to-estrogen conversion

As I mentioned above, oestrogen is a precondition for a human to develop cellulite. Men normally have low estrogen levels, so if they overeat and/or live a sedentary lifestyle they typically become overweight and develop loose skin.

However, some men have higher estrogen levels, so those men if they overeat and/or do not move enough will develop cellulite. Men with high estrogen levels are usually either older or overweight/obese:

• In older men, testosterone is more readily transformed into estrogen (via a process called aromatisation) than in younger men. This, combined with excess calorie consumption and a sedentary lifestyle, leads to the development of cellulite.

• On the other hand, in overweight men it is fat cells that produce the estrogen needed for cellulite development. Fat cells are not inactive fat storage depots - they do secrete several ‘adipokines’ and hormones, one of which is estrogen. The more adipose cells a man's (or woman's) body has, they more estrogen is produced by those fat cells. As we saw above, this can lead to cellulite development, if combined with a calorie surplus and/or inactivity.

Estrogen, cellulite in men and gynaecomastia

The same things that lead to the creation of cellulite in men can also lead to the development of what is known as gynaecomastia, also known as "man breasts", "man boobs" or "moobs". Again, the culprit here is a combination of excess estrogen and excess calorie surplus.

Estrogen stimulates the development of breast tissue, in both men and women, in the same way it stimulates the development of cellulite in both men and women.

Xenoestrogens, phytoestrogens and cellulite in men

Some man-made chemicals, known as xenoestrogens, act as estrogen-like substances in the body and disrupt endocrine balance. Bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates in plastics and microplastics are known examples of xenoestrogens.

Some foods and drinks also contain high amounts of estrogen-like substances, called phytoestrogens. Soya and beer are well-known examples of phytoestrogen-containing foods.

All these estrogen-like substances can have an estrogenic effect on the body, and can possibly lead to cellulite creation.

Phytoestrogens can be quite benign, even helping to balance estrogenicity by weakly attaching to the cells’ estrogen receptor, thereby not allowing actual estrogen or xenoestrogens to do so.

Xenoestrogens can be quite nasty, as they lead to a dysfunctional estrogenic response on the estrogen receptor of cells.

Trans women and cellulite

There is one more case of high estrogen levels in men.

Those who undergo sex change (male to female transgender / transexuals) take high levels of oestrogen medication and testosterone blockers in order to transform their bodies into a more feminine form.

These high levels of estrogen can easily lead to cellulite creation, much faster than in obese and/or older men, due to the high dosage. So, many trans women (male-to-female trans people) do develop cellulite after some years of estrogen intake, always in combination with a positive calorie balance and/or inactivity, in exactly the same way as biological women do.

Photographs of famous transexual women can be seen in the press with clear signs of cellulite - sometimes even with excessive cellulite on their thighs and buttock areas.

It is clear that by becoming a transexual woman you face the same problems biological women face, unfortunately one of them being cellulite.

In summary: feminisation and cellulite

All in all, feminisation (due to old age, obesity or artificial/environmental chemicals), COMBINED WITH excess calorie consumption and inactivity, will inevitably lead to the development of cellulite.

Women, being more feminine (see estrogenic), are more prone to this aesthetic condition, but men can also develop cellulite.

The solution to the problem of excess estrogen remains the same, for both men and women: eat healthy, non-processed, organic food, avoid plastics and tins/cans (they are lined with BPA-laden resin) in your food and water supply and do loads of exercise. And for women, lose the contraceptive pill.

For established cellulite, do all the above and for extra help have some high-power, deep tissue radiofrequency/ultrasound treatments and use a quality cellulite cream with high concentrations of anti-cellulite actives.

Check our professional consultancy in cellulite, skin tightening, ultrasound and radiofrequency

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