Are you looking for a body shop that will smooth out cellulite? If so, you don’t have the only chassis with dents. You may be surprised that the lean and muscular woman on the stair-master next to you has pockets of cellulite in her saddle bag area. You’ve watched her “stair-master” to heaven for the past six months, her face beet-red and dripping with sweat. But, will she ever get rid of the dimples in her thighs?

James S. Fell, writing for the Los Angeles Times, says, “According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, ‘Almost all women (and some men) have cellulite, stemming from genetic predisposition, hormonal changes and weight gain.’” Cellulite is caused by clumps of fat cells pushing against the skin interspersed with fibrous cords connected to the muscle underneath. The cords pull the skin down in places and the fat bulges up in between, creating dimpling.

Fell wondered if the loss of body fat would lessen the visible effects of cellulite. He polled 100 women who had lost at least 10 pounds through exercise and diet, asking what effect weight loss had on their cellulite. Three percent said cellulite increased, 22 percent reported no change, 48 percent acknowledged minor decreases and 26 percent said there was a major decrease. One person said cellulite disappeared completely.

The major cellulite decrease was reported mostly, but just barely, in women who lost the most weight and exercised the most. Some women who lost more than 50 pounds saw no change in their cellulite. The woman in whom cellulite completely disappeared was in the 10 to 20 pound weight loss group. Fell concluded that cellulite can affect you regardless of your body mass index; however, weight gain can accentuate the appearance of cellulite.

A 2006 study in a leading plastic surgery journal was not optimistic about weight loss or for cellulite. “Treatments such as weight loss have variable effects on the improvement or worsening of this condition.” Another plastic surgery journal discussed lasers for cellulite reduction, “Results with devices alone are usually moderate in benefit and short lived; therefore, frequent touch-up treatments may be required.” As for liposuction, the American Academy of Dermatology states that, “Liposuction does not improve the appearance of cellulite,” and “liposuction can make the appearance of cellulite worse by creating more depressions in the skin.”

The only winner is Photoshop. According to Fell, “An entire Photoshop industry is built around air-brushing cellulite from actresses.”