Running WON’T get rid of your cellulite… but this 5-step plan will help banish the orange peel
Cardio doesn't smooth out cottage cheese thighs, but there are other things you can try
If you force yourself to spend hours on the treadmill in the hope of banishing orange peel skin, then you might have been going through hell for nothing.
Because it turns out that cardio might not be the cottage-cheese-thighs cure that many of us have always thought.
Cellulite can affect women of all fitness levels and body shapes - from ultra-marathon runners to couch potatoes.
And unsurprisingly it's the biggest body hang-up for many of us - with nearly 90 per cent of women experiencing it at some point in their life, according to research by Cellfina.
So just what is cellulite and why won’t cardio shift it?
That orange peel look isn’t excess fat - so that’s one reason why burning fat won’t do much to banish it.
The dimpled, lumpy skin you feel on your thighs and bum are actually the result of fat cells pushing up against the skin over fibrous connective tissue bands.
In other words, it’s nothing to do with weight.
Some believe that some of us are simply genetically predisposed to developing dimply skin, while others say that it can be made worse with poor diet.
It seems as though there’s no one agreed route cause of cellulite but various theories include age, hormones and genes.
Grades of cellulite severity
Cellulite comes in three grades of severity, put together in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.
Grade 1 (mild): There's an "orange-peel" appearance, with up to four little skin dent, and the skin has a slightly saggy appearance.
Grade 2 (moderate): There are between five and nine medium-depth dents, a "cottage cheese" appearance, and the skin has a draped appearance.
Grade 3 (severe): The skin has a "mattress" appearance, with 10 or more deep depressions and is 'severely' draped, in appearance.
Dr Robyn Gmyrek, founder of Columbia University’s Cosmetic Skin and Laser Center, told that while you may have the genetic predisposition, "the expression of the genes can be modified by your lifestyle choices".
While various procedures and products might help to lessen the appearance of dimples, if it’s in your genes, your body is just going to make more dimples.
But things like stress and inflammation are often blamed for making things worse.
So, how can you try to banish your cellulite?
1. Stress less
Sounds easy but it’s much harder to actually do if you’ve got a job/family/life.
Try to set aside some time to be on your own every day, to just calm down.
Apps like are really good at helping to slow down your mind - and they’re cheap.
Set yourself realistic bedtimes that you can stick to, and keep any distractions out of the bedroom (hello laptops, dogs, children, phones, etc).
2. Fix your diet
It might not fix the problem altogether, but trying to eat a diet low on sugar, alcohol and processed foods, and one that’s full of green, leafy veg, might help with inflammation.
While diet might not cause lumpy skin, many people believe that a bad diet can exacerbate it, so it’s worth cleaning up your act to see if it makes any difference.
Reducing fat intake would mean that there’s less fat to push through the tissues so a healthy, balanced diet that isn’t rich in saturated fats might also help.
3. Try weight training or body weight exercises
Simple lower body exercises to target thigh and bum cellulite:
Do each exercise for ten reps, moving onto the next one straight away. Go through the circuit three times, taking a 30-second rest at the end of each round
Squats: Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, and bend your knees with your bum out, as if you're about to sit down on a chair. Make sure that your knees don’t come over your toes and that all your weight is in your heels. Go down for a count of three and then come up and repeat.
Lunges: Stand in a split stance with your dominant foot out front and your non-dom foot behind. Bend both knees to 90’. Hold the position for five seconds and then return to your starting position. Keep going for ten reps on the same side before you swap feet.
Romanian split squat: Like a lunge but this time, rest one foot on a chair or bench so it’s elevated and bend the knee on your other leg until you come down to a 90’ angle.
Step-ups: Find a step/bench/chair and step up onto it and down again. Again, step with the same foot ten times before swapping feet.
Glute bridge: Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet on the floor near your bum - arms and hands flat on the floor. Lift your hips and bum off the ground and hold for five seconds before slowly coming back down.
While exercise might not banish the issue completely, weight training is going to help sculpt and tone muscle - decreasing the appearance of dimply skin in the process.
In order to smooth things out, you want to concentrate on improving circulation, firming up muscle and keeping body fat low.
You can be slim but still have a high body fat percentage - the more lean muscle you build, the lower the fat percentage becomes.
4. Treat yourself to a massage
After all that work, make sure you treat yourself to massages and treatments to kickstart your circulation.
Don't have time? allows you to book therapists to come to your house - so you can fit one in without having to disrupt your day.
After a gym session, carve out a few minutes to spend time in the sauna before jumping into a cool shower - something known to help with healthy blood flow.
5. Learn to embrace the peel
It’s a hard one, but with so few studies agreeing on what genuinely works, you’re probably best off trying to make peace with the peel.
As we say, women of all ages, shapes and sizes get it, so you’re not alone.
Eating well and exercising regularly are always going to make you feel more confident (even if they feel like a total faff), so start with a few healthy lifestyle changes and then go from there.
And the stronger you get, the less bothered you’ll (hopefully) become with something that even Kate Moss has to live with.
Earlier this summer, we tested a number of cellulite-busting treatments, and also revealed the £89 gadget that the Kardashians claim to use to banish cellulite