A firm, round bottom is a popular beauty ideal, thanks to celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian, who confidently strut their booties. However, our genetics, hormones, and lifestyles often dictate a different look. Instead of a naturally toned, rounded backside, many of us have to contend with banana rolls.
This article explains why banana rolls appear and how to get rid of them.
What Is Banana Roll Fat?
Banana rolls are stubborn fat bulges below the buttocks and above the upper thighs. They interrupt the natural curve between the buttocks and hamstrings, jutting out to varying degrees. They often make women self-conscious and uncomfortable in tight-fitting clothes.
What Causes Banana Rolls Fat?
Banana rolls can appear for many reasons. The most common include:
- Genetics. Our genes determine our anatomy and where we store fat, so a banana roll is often a hereditary trait.
- Hormonal imbalance. Hormones regulate our metabolism and how fast we burn calories. Irregular hormone production caused by aging, disease, or the onset of one of life’s natural phases (pregnancy, menopause), can result in an accumulation of banana roll fat.
- Sedentary lifestyle. A lack of physical exercise leads to weak, flabby muscles. A sedentary lifestyle contributes to the loss of muscle tone and fat accumulation in the buttocks.
- Unhealthy diet. High-calorie foods such as sweets, pasta, and greasy snacks contribute to faster fat accumulation and the formation of fat bulges, including banana rolls.
Note: If you are struggling with hormonal imbalance, learn about hormone replacement therapy.
How to Get Rid of Banana Rolls?
There are three ways to get rid of banana rolls:
- A healthy diet and regular exercise
- Non-surgical cosmetic treatments
- Plastic surgery (liposuction)
Liposuction has been the go-to procedure for banana roll removal for a long time. However, surgery requires anesthesia, carries the risk of scarring, and requires weeks of recovery.
Instead, we recommend safer and healthier ways to eliminate banana rolls.
Clean Up Your Diet
Healthy nutrition is a staple of overall health, and it can help you get rid of extra fat, including banana rolls. Medical professionals and fitness experts emphasize that the only way to lose weight and eliminate fat effectively is through a comprehensive lifestyle change that involves calorie-restricted diets. To lose fat, you need to ingest fewer calories than you burn.
The basic principles of a healthy diet include:
- Avoid sugary, salty, and greasy foods.
- Replace white flour with whole grains.
- Eat at least five cups of vegetables and at least two cups of fruit every day.
- Replace high-fat meats with lean protein.
- Add nuts to your daily meal plan.
- Drink at least eight cups of water a day.
This lifestyle habit takes time to adopt and show results, but it provides long-term health and beauty benefits.
Non-Surgical Banana Roll Fat Treatments
Cosmetic treatments are your best option for stubborn pockets of banana roll fat that don’t go away even after months of calorie-restricted diets and targeted workouts.
CoolSculpting
CoolSculpting is an FDA-approved cosmetic treatment that freezes and eliminates fat in areas that don’t respond to diets and exercise. It is a safe and FDA-approved treatment that requires no anesthesia or downtime. Patients can expect a fat reduction of up to 25% in the treatment area and permanent results for those who stick with a balanced diet and daily workouts.
For the best results, try CoolSculpting with CoolTone – a muscle-toning treatment that will perfectly sculpt your backside after the excess fat has been eliminated.
Kybella
Kybella is an FDA-approved treatment for eliminating a double chin. However, its safety profile and effective results allow off-label applications in other areas, including the buttocks. It is an injectable that uses deoxycholic acid, a naturally occurring compound in the body, to dissolve fat in the injected area. Patients typically need several treatments spaced at least one month apart to achieve a desired banana roll reduction. Like CoolSculpting, Kybella provides permanent results, but you need to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Note: Learn how Kybella can help you get rid of a double chin.
Sculptra Dermal Filler
Sculptra is a dermal filler generally used to smooth wrinkles and add volume to sunken facial features. It is also popular in an off-label application called the Sculptra Butt Lift. The injected filler helps to lift and sculpt the buttocks, tightening the backside and reducing the bulge underneath.
Banana Roll Fat Exercises
Health experts recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate weekly activity for overall well-being. Add specific exercises for the area underneath your bum to tone those muscles and reduce banana roll fat. The following are some of the best exercises that target this area.
- Squats - tone glutes, legs, and inner thighs, burning calories and improving balance and posture.
- Lunges - strengthen the back and hips, tone legs, and sculpt buttocks, improving balance and mobility.
- Donkey kicks - tighten and tone glutes and strengthen the core.
- Single leg glute bridges - engage various muscles, including hamstrings and gluteal muscles, helping to burn banana rolls.
- Grasshopper - a Pilates exercise designed to strengthen and tone glutes, lengthen hamstrings, and stretch abdominal muscles.
- Hamstring curls - another excellent exercise for hamstrings, glutes, and sculpted thighs.
- Side leg raises - strengthen outer thighs, engaging hip abductors and glutes.
- Side plank with leg lifts - a more advanced version of side leg raises.
- Lying single-leg kickbacks - one of the best exercises to activate glutes and hamstrings and sculpt buttocks.
- Deadlifts - work various upper and lower body muscles, especially glutes, hamstrings, and lower back.
Implement weekly cardio sessions in addition to targeted buttock exercises to reduce your overall fat. The effort will also minimize prominent fat pockets like banana rolls.
Conclusion
Banana roll fat is an unappealing feature that makes people self-conscious. Follow these tips to get rid of banana rolls safely, tone your body, and improve your health in the process.
