I've been wondering about this these few days... I'm not sure if this makes sense, but I have a feeling that if I massage the fats in my "problem" areas, will it help in weight loss? No, I'm not talking about massaging the muscles, but the fat cells directly.

My "theory" is this.. we know that the way fat is lost that we through diet and exercise gereate the liplosis, that is the conversion of stored fat back to usable energy. This is done through the blood streams surrounding the fat cells. Now if I help increase the blood circulation to the fat cells, won't that help the liplosis process along? Perhaps even to speed it up a bit? Of course this has to be done in conjunction with liplosis acivators such as low-carb diet, thermogenic supplements, and low-intensity aerobic exercises. I "think" massage will help the process along and may help in reducing problem areas like the abdominal region for me.

Does this make sense to anyone? Has anyone tried something similar? If so, what's the effect? I know that way back in the 70's there were a weight-loss machine fad which basically tie your bootie to a belt on machine which vibrates the fatty areas.. I wonder there's some glimmer of truth to it? I mean I don't believe those machine would help you loose fat just by themselves, but perhaps with all the right things like diet and exercise massaging the fatty tissues may help.

I'm going to give it a shot and see if it would help somewhat... I shower twice a day anyway and after my night shower I've always put on lotion all over my body as per doctor's instruction; that would be a good time for me to massage areas such as the belly and the love handles. Heck, maybe it does absolutely nothing, but I think mentally anything helps.

Any thoughts on this idea? Am I nuts?

Brushing and rubbing fat cells stimulates the lymphatic system which helps you lose weight.

Have you heard of dry brushing?

No I have not heard of dry brushing... is that like using a hair brush on your body? Anyone doing that?

I've heard of the lymphatic system's role but I've always thought one should stimulate the lymph nodes near the arm pits directly or something... I was thinking about just use your hands and knead the fats.

I noticed right before I lose inches on my abs they'll get really gushy and soft and jiggly feeling, I wonder if that's the moment when the massage idea would be the best.

Aegis your avatar is darling.

There were some quite long posts on dry brushing on the board. You can do a search. And it is like using a hair brush on your body.

nawchem, I've noticed that too thus my question... it does seemed that the fat is getting "looser" when you're burning fat. I think massage will help too.

My Avatar is Yotsuba (meaning Four Leaves), probably my favorite comic character ever. She's from a Japanese comic book (manga) called "Yotsuba&" about an endearing little adopted girl and her mis-adventures. The book is the main reason why my wife and I ended up wanting to have kids (and thus need to lose weight) after years of convincing ourselves we're better off as dinks. It's really funny cus I know this 19 years old kid who had same reaction after reading the same book. There are English versions of this series on sale everywhere, including Amazon .

Zuleikaa, thanks for the tip I'll look into it. I think I basically do the same thing when I shower; I use these really cool shower scrubbing towels which the Japanese use to scrub their bodies before entering their baths. Using it with a moisturizing liquid soap and it really increase the blood flow to my skin, not to mention shedding of old skin cells. I *THINK* that's kind of close to dry brushing. I hope this in addition to the fat massage I give myself will help the pounds to melt away!

Thats funny a comic book can have that much of an affect on you, I'm going to have to check this out. I was adopted and love stories about other orphans.

Aegis - can you tell me more about the Japanese towel thing? What's it called, etc

waywardsis, these are towels made from plastic-like product which can be found in many Japanese super-markets or drug stores. In the US they can be purchased in a well-stocked Asian or Japanese supermarkets, such as the Uwajimaya here in Seattle. I bought mine at the ID Uwajimaya. I don't know exactly what they're called in Japanese or what brand it was, but I can definately find out next time I shop there. Since you're in Toronto you have an excellent chance of finding a place which sells these towels; probably the best place in Canada outside of Vancouver.

I found these cotton versions on eBay ; although they're probably higher quality, you really don't need the cotton versions to achieve the effects (these are used in public baths and hot springs in Japan for both scrubbing and drying, something we don't need to worry about). I found something very similar to what I have here , and there's a cheaper version of the Scrubbing Towels via google (Koreans also take daily baths in similar ways). I think the first one is a good one to get to try it out; the second one is looks too cheap to me.

There are actual several version of the product I've purchased, from smooth ones to really rough ones which gives you a great scrubbing. The closest product you can find in the Western stores are the sponge based "exfoliators", but they really don't do as good of a job as these simple towels. Plus they are much easier to clean. Although you need time to get used to it, right now I can't feel clean without using it in a shower. You can also feel the blood rushing to your skin after rinsing, which is the feeling the Japanese wanted before they enter their daily hot baths.

I'll keep you posted as I find out more about them. Good luck!