Swell Skin: Fight That Cellulite

Cellulite sucks. Those cottage-cheese looking dimples can show up on your thighs or your butt - yuck. I was lucky, I didn't get cellulite until my late 30s, but it can appear on any woman, of any age, be she thick or thin. One of those equal opportunity downers, like the Bad Hair Day or a huge zit. Bleech.


It's believed to be caused by a a breakdown in the elasticity of the skin. The fat bulges around the fiber compartments in the skin, which shows up in the form of bumpy, dimply, uneven skin. Factors that effect skin elasticity include the female hormone estrogen, bad diet, smoking, some medications, crash diets, lack of exercise, not enough fluid (water) intake, and aging.

How do we prevent it? Well, one article I read that other day mentioned drinking large amounts of green tea. Will that work? I don't know, but I do enjoy tea, so I'm going to give it a try.

St. Ives sent me their new 2-part Cellulite smoothing system. The system consists of St. Ives®Cellulite Shield Gel Crème and Advanced Body Moisturizer. The products are made with green tea, caffeine, citrus extracts, menthol, and shea butter. They are clinically proven to show a reduction in the appearance of cellulite in 2 weeks.

Two Step Program:

*Step one: Increase circulation with the Cellulite Shield Gel.

*Step two: Smooth and tone with the Advanced Body Moisturizer.

I'm currently on Day 3 of the 2 weeks and so far I can say that the products are easy to use and my skin feels soft and moisturized. I will give you a full report when the 2 weeks are up - hopefully the results will be good, because cellulite smooth products can be pricey and this system is not - each product retails for only $6.99.

Image credit: Michelle Hamor Smith

Swell Fitness: Britney Spears and Her Candies Photos

Yesterday, I was clicking through some celebrity news and I saw the headline that had to do with Before and After shots of Britney Spear's new Candies promotional photos. Well, I'm a goofy Britney Spears fan, so I skipped over to Celebslam to see what they were talking about.



Celebslam has a .gif photo of Britney in a pink swimsuit with both a fuller and thinner version blinking back and forth. The before shot shows Britney with thicker legs and the tiniest shadows of possible cellulite.



In addition to this photo, there's a shot of Britney in a yellow swimsuit here. This shot, I don't know if it's a before or an after, it shows Britney with a little rounded tummy. I hope it's the shot they use. I feel that by altering photos that show the true shape of her body, a body most of us would love to have, that Candies is missing out on a great opportunity here. Why not give girls a more realistic view of what a healthy woman's body is supposed to look like?  I, for one, would feel more comfortable supporting a company like that.



Why is the world so set on trying to make Britney Spears out to be an overweight person? She is a girl with curves and muscular legs. Honestly, her shape is the one that I think of as my goal. I want those strong legs - I'm a runner, I appreciate some muscle. You can see what I mean in the photo below.





I wish that someone, somewhere would stop saying, "We should change this," and actually CHANGE it. Real women have a bit of cellulite. Nobody loves their cellulite, but what if we shine a little light on it and move on? Make it a normal part of an ad campaign because it's a normal part of a woman's body.



Another request, how about more shots with the cute mohawk man, too. He's purdy.



What do you think of the Britney photo "controversy"?



Image credit: Picapp.com