While no massage can actually make you slender overnight, regular visits to a massage therapist can be a benefit to your weight loss program for several reasons. In fact, studies have shown that when all else is equal, people who have regular full-body massages lose weight faster than people who don’t.

There are actually a couple of ways regular massage helps your weight loss efforts: it helps to break up cellulite and fat deposits, and it helps to ease the pain you may feel from exercise.

Massage and Cellulite
According to a study reported in the journal Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, endermologie, a type of machine-assisted massage therapy used to improve circulation and enhance body contour has shown promising weight loss results. The study was based on a group of 85 women between the ages of 21 and 61 of various weights and body types. After seven sessions (out of a total of fourteen), 46 of the women participating experienced a reduction in body-circumference of half an inch, and after all fourteen, thirty-nine of them showed reductions of almost three-quarters of an inch.

Even without the machine though, it is thought that deep-tissue massage helps break up cellulite and fatty deposits, allowing the body to more easily absorb them.

Massage and Exercise Pain
Even very fit people have pain from too-strenuous workouts, but when you’re trying to lose weight you might have a tendency to overdo it. Even if you’re extremely careful to warm up before every exercise session, cool down after, and drink plenty of water, you may still end up with muscle aches and pains. Over-the-counter pain relievers (like aspirin and ibuprofen) and ice packs may help, but massage will actually soothe away muscle strains and promote self-healing.

In addition, when you exercise you body excretes lactic and carbonic acids. A post-workout massage will help improve your circulation, giving you a much shorter recovery time.

These are just two of the ways massage can help enhance your weight loss plan, but massage also relaxes you, so if you’re stressed from dieting or worried that you’re not losing weight quickly enough, a therapeutic massage can be a benefit emotionally as well.

If you’ve never had a massage before, consider contacting a massage therapist for an introductory session. If you already have regular massages, ask your therapist if different types of massage can boost your efforts. Either way, use massage to help you be the healthiest you can be – you deserve it.