Tag healthy diet

There are several cellulite creams available on the market. You may have seen advertisements for these creams on late night infomercials or on ads at your local health store. The anti-cellulite product industry is a 12 million dollar a year industry.

A Huge Chunk of Money is Spent on Cellulite Cream Alone

These creams are marketed very professionally. There are testimonials from satisfied users who in many cases have been financially compensated for their “honest reviews.”

The ads will promise the world and guarantee to deliver results in a short time but of course, the fine print will usually state that results are not typical and may vary from individual to individual.

What Does One Cellulite Cream Have in Common With the Other?

The only thing that all cellulite creams share in common is their ineffectiveness and inability to produce long lasting results. Most cellulite creams make the skin swell a little and become tauter.

When this happens, the appearance of the cellulite diminishes because the skin is tighter. However, the effects of the cream will subside and the cellulite will return. So, will the woman’s disappointment.

Trade-in Your Cellulite Cream for Something That Works

The best way to get rid of cellulite is with a healthy diet and exercise. You will need to reduce your body fat percentage. If you can do this, your cellulite will to a large extent disappear.

Once you get your diet and training in place, your body will start burning off cellulite. Now you may wish to use cellulite cream to hasten the process. The best way to do this will be to make your own cream at home.

It will be a lot cheaper in the long run and is just as effective.

The cream will be beneficial if it gives you the psychological advantage. Many women feel better just by applying the cream. If it makes you feel better doing it, go for it.

The application and massaging will also improve blood circulation to the cellulite prone areas. That is a good thing. The crux of the matter is that the cream is just to supplement a proper eating and training regimen.

Make Your Own Cellulite Cream

After scouring the internet, the following creams were discovered to be the best that you can make at home. You may wish to give them a try.

1. Essential Oil Cellulite Cream

This good-smelling lotion not only pleases your sense of smell; the essential oils used are reputed to help tighten skin and reduce cellulite’s lumpy appearance.

* 1 cup unscented body lotion

* 1 tablespoon witch hazel (available at drug stores and large retailers in the pharmacy or first aid section)

* 3 to 5 drops each of the following essential oils: juniper, rosemary, cypress and grapefruit

First, mix the essential oils with the witch hazel by shaking or swirling. Then add the lotion and stir or shake vigorously. Use this lotion after you shower and before bedtime, working it into the skin with a circular, massaging motion.

2. Coffee Scrub

Caffeine is one of the main ingredients used in a lot of commercial cellulite creams. Using coffee grounds you can apply this caffeine to the skin, and also the abrasive/exfoliating action of the grounds can help increase circulation and skin tone. Here is how to make a coffee scrub for cellulite.

* 1 cup used coffee grounds (some sources say you can use the ground coffee fresh, without making coffee with it first. Presumably, this would have more caffeine but may seem more wasteful)

* 1/4 cup sweet almond oil

Mix these two ingredients and apply to wet, warm skin in small circles, massaging well. You can “wrap” the area with plastic wrap and then a towel, leaving the coffee scrub in place for about ten minutes before rinsing. Make sure you have a strainer over your shower drain so it doesn’t get clogged with coffee grounds!

3. Fruit Cream

The presence of acids such as tartaric and citric acid in fruits may help reduce the appearance of cellulite. This recipe also uses sugar, which can act like an exfoliant to increase circulation and tone up skin.

* 1 tablespoon sweet almond oil

* 3 tablespoons sugar

* 1/2 cup pureed fresh strawberries

Apply this cellulite cream as you would the one made from coffee grounds. It could also be used under a cellulite wrap.

That’s basically it. Use the cellulite cream separately or alternate if you wish, along with a good diet and train hard using a good exercise workout routine. You will see results, save money and be happy with your end results if you just keep after it.

Cellulite has a very bad reputation and a lot of nicknames to go with it. “Lumpy”, “bumpy”, “dimply”, “cottage cheese”, “orange rinds”, etc. are all terms used to describe the appearance of skin that has cellulite beneath it. The anti-cellulite industry is a multimillion dollar industry because women are desperate to get rid of their bumpy-lumpy dimples.

There are miracle creams, laser treatments, and books on dealing with cellulite, special diets, massage therapy and many other ways that purportedly treat cellulite effectively.

Most of these methods are ineffective, do not have any lasting effects and are just a drain on the wallet and emotions. Disappointment and regret often follow when women put their faith in these scams and poor products.

In this article, we’ll examine if anti-cellulite diets work. These apply to pills, and special diets formulated for women specifically addressing the cellulite issue. Before we go any further, the answer is neither a yes nor a no. It lies somewhere in between.

Anti-Cellulite Diets – No Different Than an Anti-Fat Diet

The first point to note about cellulite is this – it is fat. Cellulite is nothing more than fat pushing up against your skin. These fat pockets push up against the connective tissues beneath your thin skin and that causes the dimpled and bumpy appearance. Men do not normally have cellulite because their skin is thicker and more porous. The tissues beneath their skin are also connected differently.

Since cellulite is nothing more than fat, exercise and a healthy diet will get rid of cellulite easily and very effectively. It may be argued that slim women show signs of cellulite too. This is a fallacy. Many slim women have a high body fat percentage and low lean muscle mass. They are what are known as “skinny fat” in the fitness industry.

A woman who does her cardio and resistance training aimed at the thighs, legs and buttocks will have toned muscles in those areas. Once that happens they have lower chances of gaining fat in those areas. Less fat means less cellulite. It’s that simple.

The Best Anti-Cellulite Diet is Exercise and a Healthy Diet to Follow

So if all you need is a healthy diet and exercise to get rid of cellulite, why are there pills and special fad diets on the market?

Simple. To get your money. Women spend more than 12 million a year on treating cellulite. That is not chump change and many companies want in on the action. Nevertheless, the solution is very simple and straightforward.

Anti-Cellulite Diets are No Different Than a Fat Loss Diet

Avoid sugary and sweet foods, carbs that have a high GI, caffeine, sodas and other foods that will pile on the pounds. Most women usually know what those foods are but still indulge anyway.

If you wish to get rid of your cellulite, you will have to make these sacrifices. Limit the consumption of these foods to once a week.

It would be a good idea to limit your salt intake too. Sodium causes water retention and makes you feel bloated.

Consume flaxseed and kelp regularly. Collagen keeps your skin firm and taut. Flaxseed promotes collagen growth and 2 tablespoons flaxseed oil a day is sufficient. Kelp makes your body burn about 10 percent more fat. You may buy dried kelp and cook it or just purchase kelp supplements from a health store.

Include Plenty of Water in Your Anti-Cellulite Diet

It goes without saying that you need to drink 8 to 10 glasses of water a day for a glowing complexion, healthy skin and to flush out toxins. One ounce or 30ml for every 2 pounds of body weight is a good goal to set for your water consumption.

Basically, this is all you need for an anti-cellulite diet. Keep it healthy and clean. Natural foods and not processed foods. Get some moderate exercise daily and you’ll be well prepared to keep cellulite at bay while feeling happy and healthy at the same time.

Having six pack abs is the dream of many a guy…

Alas, the ability to take off the shirt and wow the girls is a fantasy is a dream come true.

Every year millions of dollars are spent on eBooks, paperbacks, gym memberships, weird ab contraptions sold on the late night infomercials, etc. The goal is the elusive six pack abs that so many want but so few achieve.

What You Need To Do For Six Pack Abs

The answer is simple. You need to watch what you eat, work out often and maintain a calorie deficit. It is that simple! So why do so many people fail?

Execution is the answer my friend, execution. The difficulty is executing the simple concepts stated above. It requires immense determination, dedication, patience and the ability to sacrifice small pleasures in life for the greater goal.

The first and most important step is to get your nutrition under control. Your diet needs to be clean and wholesome. This is so difficult to achieve that most guys never get past this step.

For Six Pack Abs Gaining Control over Your Diet is Top Priority

It’s not easy to give up the habit of eating whatever you desire and maintain an ever watchful eye over every morsel you place in your mouth. People with six packs watch their diets with an eagle eye and they do it religiously. No exceptions and no slip ups. Your diet is everything.

So, you will need to do the research and find out what are the foods you should avoid. The sodas, chocolates, pizzas, fried chicken wings, etc. Even reading this may be painful but it is a sacrifice that you must make. All is not lost. You may consume all these foods once a week on your cheat day.

The strange thing is that many people slowly develop an aversion to most of this unhealthy food once they start eating clean.

For Six Pack Abs Gaining Control over Your Exercise Routine is Second Priority

The next part of your plan will be to get your workouts right. You should be exercising no less than 4 times a week. 5 would be great. You’ll need to alternate between cardio workouts and resistance training or do a workout routine that is a combination of both; think kettlebells.

Your workouts must be intense and leave you panting and sweating profusely. Even your resistance training must have very short rest periods to create an oxygen deficit. This will cause an afterburn effect where your body burns calories for hours after your workout.

You will want to include compound movements such as pull-ups, deadlifts, squats, bench presses, renegade rows and other compound lifts. Working out with kettlebells is an excellent way to lose weight. Your core will be engaged and it will be a hard yet rewarding workout.

Cardio sessions need to be high intensity too. A 20 minute hardcore session will beat a slow 60 minute jog any day. Keep thinking intensity, intensity and more intensity.

It will be painful. You may feel like giving up. The whole six pack goal may not seem worth the effort. If you feel like this, then you know you are doing things right. Just pick yourself up and keep going.

Watch videos on YouTube and the ones found here at http://MyFitnessNut.com to motivate yourself. The six pack abs you want is already there and it’s waiting for you to develop and shoe them off. You just need to go through the hard yards to attain it. Rest assured if you keep on keeping on, you will get there.

The answer is that if you’re determined… It takes as long as required. Many men or women who wish to get a six pack always ask this question. How long will it take?

They want results fast. We live in a world of microwaves and text messages. Everything is fast and almost instant. So, it’s only normal to expect to see your six pack abs after 2 weeks of slow jogging.

But this will never ever happen unless you are already at 10 percent body fat and most people are way above that number.

Your body will burn off your excess fat slowly but surely and even then you will need to be doing the right workouts consistently and consuming a proper healthy diet.

You Can Calculate When Your Six Pack Abs Reveal Themselves…

But Not How Long It Will Take

Your body can only lose about 1 percent of your body weight per week. So, if you are 150 lbs., you can expect to lose about 1.5 lbs. per week if you are creating a daily calorie deficit of about 500 calories per day. So, if you need to lose 15 lbs. to reach a body fat percentage of 10 percent, that will take you about 10 weeks… or maybe even 3 months if your body plateaus and stops showing results for a week or two.

This happens even to the best athletes. The body decides to just stop burning the fat for some reason only it knows. You will then have to change up your workouts or your diet or go from intense cardio to long, slow cardio.

Sometimes the nervous system is under immense stress due to hard workouts constantly. The stress on your body puts it in shock and it goes into preservation mode. It holds on to whatever fat it can and you see no results on the scale.

Many people, who experience this, take a few days rest from training, or switch to lower intensity training. Basically, take things down a notch so that the body can recover and go back into fat burning mode.

So, it does take time. Nobody can give you an exact date when you will see your six pack abs. You will just have to stay the course till you reach your goal. You must be happy with small results over a longer period as long as you are seeing results, and the pounds on the scale are dropping, you will see your six pack abs.

You will need to calculate your daily calorie requirement for maintenance and the figure you need to be at to create a calorie deficit. You will also need to measure your body fat percentage. This is an important number to know because if you’re a man, you will need to get your body fat to a percentage of 10 or below. Women should aim for a body fat percentage below 20 percent. It may be difficult but it is definitely attainable.

Once you reach this level, your abs will be revealed and all the hard work will have paid off. It takes time but the best things in life usually do. That’s what makes it such an accomplishment and you will be one of the 2 percent who do have a six pack; definitely something to be proud of.

Learn More about Fitness Nutrition and Getting Six-Pack Abs

To help you create the six-pack abs that you’d be proud to call yours, get a free subscription to the My Fitness Nut Newsletter at http://MyFitnessNut.com and receive a full body workout video series to help get you into shape fast. Get yours now while we’re still giving them away.