THE ROLE OF EXERCISE

Hopefully , the six weeks you have spent on the exercises have convinced you how good exercise makes you feel. If so, keep it up and the cellulite fighting will continue. You may not feel that way, however.

If you were not quite so sure about all the exercise,at least aim to integrate three 30 minute sessions of activity such as waliking, stair climbing, gardening or dancing and two toning exercises a week to keep up circulation, muscle mass and calorie burning. Also keep reminding yourself of your correct posture to keep your abductor muscles firm and the lymph flowing freely.

RINGING THE CHANGES

However, whatever level of exercise you decide do do, you will get better results if you shake your exercises a bit. Our bodies get used to six weeks of the same exercises, so while up until now results will have been steady, you could find they start to slow if you do not change things. Add some different activities to your calorie burning plans, or if you enjoy what you are doing already, change things about by adding intervals. This means that every 2-3 minutes of your exercise, you spend 30-90 seconds working faster or harder.

You will also need to switch things about on the toning plan. To do this, increase the weights you are using or, instead of doing sets of 12 repetitions, get a stopwatch and do as many as you can in 1 minute, and each session try to beat this. Every six weeks, switch things around again and remember that the more you challenge your body, the longer it will keep responding.

LOOKING AFTER YOUR SKIN

When it comes to the skin's role in preventing more cellulite, the most important thing you can do is step up your sun care regime. Sun damage causes massive destruction of the collagen and elastin fibres that support the skin and makes the septa shorten and tighten further, making even the limited fat stores you have left more prone to bulging and dimpling.

However, 80 per cent of the sun damage we expose our skins to is done by the time we are 18, it takes 15-20 years to show up. But this does not mean that all is lost; if you start applying sun sreen today, and wear it everytime you put your skin in the sun. You can actually reverse some of the damage. According to research, when sun screen is applied to the skin everyday, it actually begins to grow new collagen within ust ten weeks.

USING SUN SCREEN EFFECTIVELY

Research has shown that the majority of us do not use sun screen properly. If you want to live a cellulite free life, follow these five rules.

• Choose a sun screen with an SPF (sun protection factor) of at least 15 and make sure it protects against both UVB and UVA rays.
• Use enough of it or the protection will be reduced. You need a shot of glass of sun screen per limb and a teaspoonful for your face.
• Apply it before you leave home. Sun screens take 20-30 minutes to absorb into the skin.
• Reapply every 60-90 minutes or after towelling down your body if you are swimming. Waterproof sunscreens will stand up to swimming, but not the action of rubbing yourself dry after your dip.
• Do not stay out longer than your SPF allows. If you normally burn in 10 minutes, using an SPF 15 means you can stay out for 150 minutes. Reapplying at this point would not protect you any further.