That's Fit

If you've slipped on shorts this spring and been greeted by two long, skinny ghosts, never fear, O, The Oprah Magazine is here, offering a bunch of tips to uncover your hot legs this summer.

The closest I've come to purchasing a self-tanning product is a shimmering facial bronzing powder -- love it! Gives me warm, sparkly color in the middle of winter. Now if you're ready to try self-tanning, follow this guide:

• After purchasing one of O's favorite self-tanning products, dig out your loofah and exfoliate first for a more even tan.
• Then apply a thin layer of moisturizer to prevent streaks. It will dilute the tan a bit, but a uniform look is important. It's now time to grab the self-tanning bottle.
• Do not start from your feet and work up. Start where the sun hits most -- the thighs and calves -- blending outward. Apply while standing up to avoid too much product on stretched skin over the knees.
• If you have pale skin, try smoothing on a slightly iridescent lotion over the front/back of your thighs, shins and feet. This final step has a slimming effect!

Read the full article for more hot leg tips such as minimizing bruises, cellulite, saggy knees and visible veins.

Kinoki Detox Foot Pads claim to remove your cellulite through a pad you tape to the bottom of your foot while you sleep. When you awaken, it will be covered with icky brown junk -- these are the toxins your body needs to eliminate (apparently in the same way a tree eliminates toxins through its roots). In addition to removing cellulite, they are supposed to cure headaches, depression, and insomnia by helping your body detox through "Kinoki's Natural Power of Nature."

I'm not convinced. Not at all.

While there might be some merit in the ancient Japanese (or Chinese, depending on whether you're watching the infomercial or reading the website) secrets upon which these are based, they're not going to remove cellulite. This is one product I won't be spending my hard-earned cash on -- I'd rather use it toward a new set of running shoes or a healthy meal, both of which are more likely to yield real results.

12 "healthy" foods that really aren't:

Why? Click to find out!

I just picked up a fantastic book called Body Drama and I think it's something every female age fourteen years old and up should have. The book is based on the nitty gritty truth about all the weird things that happened to a woman's body and how to deal with it.

A woman's body is a wonderful thing. It's also confusing, stressful, a bit gross and totally out of control sometimes. Body Drama answers the questions ninety percent of us are way too embarrassed to ask. It is choc full of explicit pictures of REAL women who randomly volunteered to show their stuff.

• Uneven boobs? Check!
• Cellulite? Check!

Why is it that my husband lost 40 pounds on the same eating program I've implemented for myself, the one responsible for my 15-pound weight loss? Clearly, he had more weight to lose than I did. Still, his fat seemed to melt away while mine slowly dissolved. My hubby's once-soft body is now lean and defined. And while I have reached an ideal weight myself, I'm left with a fair amount of soft tummy skin that just won't go away. Why is female fat so stubborn, I wonder. According to the experts at speakingofwomenshealth.com, here's one explanation.

Women are more susceptible to showing cellulite because they store more of their fat just beneath the skin (subcutaneously). Men store their fat deep below the muscles. The more fat you have just beneath the skin, the more likely bulges will show. And even when men have a large stockpile of fat beneath the skin, they often escape the rippled look because the outer layers of a woman's skin are thinner, showing the contents underneath more clearly. Also, connective tissue compartments can be tighter and more restrictive in women. This increases the tendency of fat cells to bulge outward to a greater degree.

Another problem for the women of the world: Females concentrate their fat storage in the hips, thighs, and buttocks. If fat stores were more evenly distributed around the body, the fat effect would be reduced substantially.

There you have it, one viewpoint on why we women may never entirely escape the curse of cellulite.

Cellulite is something that affects almost every woman out there -- even seemingly perfect celebrities. Jessica Simpson, Kate Hudson and Mischa Barton are among those who are plagued with cottage cheese flab, according to Life & Style Magazine. But cellulite doesn't always have the final word; Here are some tips for avoiding it or getting rid of it:

• Do like Jessica Simpson and choose only sugar-free drinks
• Do like Kate Hudson and get some exercise in -- though exercise alone won't make all the difference
• Do as Mischa Barton does and eat a diet low in fat and high in estrogen.
  

Good advice? What do you think?

Forget horse asthma medication and cocaine and working out 17 hours a day: the newest way for celebs to lose weight is apparently to spend a little time with Victoria Beckham. Katie Holmes may have gotten diet tips from her, and now food stalkers say Eva Longoria is next. Fit & Healthy reports, "'They had bruschetta and an artichoke dip at the table for the group, and I never saw Eva eat a thing,' says an eyewitness. Victoria nibbled a tiny bit while drinking white wine." Okay, maybe Eva just wasn't hungry that night. I hope.

Shucks, I think we could all take a tip from Posh's husband, cuz a little junk in the trunk is way hot. And I have no idea how Victoria stays skinny, especially since celebs aren't always that up front with their true diet plans. But yes, not eating will make you lose weight. It's just not particularly healthy for, you know, functioning in the world. If the item is correct, and ladies really do get antsy being photographed next to Posh because she's such a rail, then yikes. Now, why would celebrities be anxious about a few photos?

Most expert will tell you that there's not getting rid of cellulite once you've got it. But that's all a bunch of hogwash, according to certified trainer Joyce Verdal, PhD, who weighs in on the subject on this eDiets article.

The truth, according to Verdal, is that cellulite can be a thing of the past, but it takes lots of hard work. Those creams that promise results will only work at draining your wallet -- blasting cellulite comes down to exercise, particularly weight training, and eating right.

And for those who are lucky enough to be cellulite-free (for now, at least), there are a number of steps you can take to avoid getting it, including flushing toxins from your body. For more information, check out the article.

While the controversy is raging over touching up photos to make them look impossibly perfect, there's another set of controversial photos floating around the Internet, but this time it's the opposite problem -- it's thought that photos of Victoria Beckham have been photoshopped to make her look worse, not better.

Check out these photos of Victoria Beckham (or, more specifically, Victoria Beckham's cellulite) and let me know what you think. Are those really her legs? Can she have that much cellulite and be as skinny as she is? Victoria's friends say she doesn't exercise at all--instead she keeps slim by eating next to nothing--so she might be missing all-important muscle mass. But really, those legs look like they belong to a 90-year-old.

Looking at this apparatus, you're probably thinking it's some bizarre new technology, maybe an at-home CAT scan machine? The sensationalistic multi-coloured lighting makes it seem out of this world, like a time machine. But what is it really? It's an exercise bike.

But it's not just any exercise bike -- It's a Cellubike. It uses infrared light to zap your cellulite while you peddle. And in just 15 40-minute sessions, you can be cellulite free, according to the website. I couldn't find any mention of the costs though, which is usually a bad sign.

I hate cellulite as much as the next person, but I have serious doubts about the cellubike. Am I just being a skeptic? Have you tried it?

Most of us have trouble feeling good in a bathing suit let alone completely buck naked. Myself included. But feeling great naked is a key aspect to developing a healthy sense of body image and body satisfaction. The problem with this is--well, duh--we usually don't like our bodies. Often, there's some extra weight to contend with and if that's not the problem, there's almost always cellulite. Um, ick.

But once you feel good about yourself naked, you're on your way to feeling good about your body fully clothed too, curves and all. You need to learn how to embrace you body, even with all its imperfections, and eDiets tells you how in this article. You don't need to fully embrace nudism -- just learn to love the skin you're in. After all, it's the only body you've got.

How do you feel about your body, naked or otherwise?

Nobody is thrilled about cellulite or, as Martha so hilariously referred to it here, cottage cheese butt. I know many women who can remember the exact day that they stood staring at themselves and realized that the dimples on their thighs weren't a terrible trick of the light, but actual cellulite. The horror!

Cellulite is so prevalent there are dozens of supposed cures out there including moderately-to extremely-expensive creams, plastic surgery procedures, ideas about how to mask the problem and views on who is doomed to a life of cellulite and who is safe. In a word, those dimples on your butt are misunderstood.

To learn a little bit more, check out this article that discusses seven truths and myths about cellulite. The bad news is that cellulite is genetic so if your mom has it, chances are you will too. In addition, according to the article, there's no magic cure so you can work out for hours every day and it still won't go away. I suppose the only really encouraging news is that anybody can get it -- super skinny girls aren't any more immune than those of us with a few extra pounds on our frames. So rather than obsess about it, just reassure yourself with the fact that you're not alone.

As much as we'd like to deny it, most women have some cellulite. It's a common misconception that cellulite is necessarily caused by being overweight -- many women at a healthy weight have dimples beyond the two cute ones on their faces. Despite knowing better, I've shelled out quite a few dollars for creams and lotions that claim to reduce the appearance of cellulite. Not surprisingly, I've had little to no results.

The FDA recently approved a new treatment, called Accent therapy, which uses radiofrequency to minimize cellulite. Supposedly, the process applies heat to reduce the size of fat cells. It also claims to improve circulation and stimulate collagen production to help smooth the area.

I have to admit I'm skeptical. It would be nice if it really worked, but it just sounds like fuzzy science to me. What do you think? Would you give this a treatment a try?

Cellulite is the worst! And lots of other people must think so too because the "anti-cellulite" industry is absolutely enormous -- I've contributed my share of dollars buying creams and treatments along with everyone else. But the real trick to getting rid of cellulite, and I think I knew this somewhere in the back of my mind all along, is really just to lose weight.

But not all ways of losing weight are equal, especially when it comes to reducing the appearance of those horrible dimples. Crash dieting won't help because your skin loses elasticity -- and what you want is healthy stretchy skin that doesn't show every little bump and lump hiding underneath. It will also help a lot if those bumps and lumps underneath are not only smaller (dieting) but firmer (toning and strength training). See here for an entire workout plan specially designed for helping to tone up and reduce the appearance of cellulite.

Be patient, stick with it, and good luck! (I know I'll need it)

I'll never forget when a friend of mine told me that she has 'cottage cheese butt,' meaning she has cellulite on her petite derriere. I laughed, because really, this girl weighs 100 pounds soaking wet. How could she possibly have cellulite? Well, it turns out, according to this article, that cellulite is a skin condition not dependent on how much you weigh. What's worse, it hereditary.

So how do you get rid of it? I see creams and lotions that promise results, but do they actually work? Possibly. There are also diets, as well as some high-tech treatments available, but these come at a price -- as high as $2000! That seems an extreme price to pay for a smooth rear. What do you think?