Help me vanquish my thunder thighs!

Phoenix_Warrior

Quick question... I've only been doing deadlifts and squats (with the bar now) for about a week but will this help? Im not a huge fan of cardio, I do go for 30 minute walks about 3 days a week but other than that and chasing my kids, I weight lift every other day. I keep trying to remind myself that 30 lbs left to lose is still enough to shed quite a bit of fat but I am starting to become more and more aware of the "trouble" areas, so to speak.

JoRocka

only way to lose fat is through calorie deficit.

Generate that through proper diet control and watching the calories you burn with exercise.

You cant' spot reduce fat. So you have to lose it the way it wants to be lost. Meaning.. it usually goes on in reverse order that it showed up... so most of the time- for women- it starts in the lower body then creeps upward- so as you lose weight. You'll see a lot of upper body definition- and slowly lower body. Legs are **usually* last to go- for womeinz.

Keep lifting- keep watching what you eat.

DL and Squats are king/queen for whole body compound and legs.

froeschli

Yup, what ^^^ said.
I personally was under the impression my legs were getting bigger and bigger, and was quite shocked when my jeans were feeling tighter (after wearing shorts all summer) but then I realized I pulled them up a few more inches than I used to :happy:
Point is, things will shift, change, tighten, etc, but if you stare at your thighs long enough, they will appear bigger and bigger so relax and pay attention to the parts you like

Phoenix_Warrior

Thanks so much for advice! I've only been at it for 2 months, so I have a long journey ahead. Looking forward to lifting every other day and watching the weight slowly come off

taitmamly

Might I also add that if you want slimmer thighs, you need to be careful about what exercises you do because you can easily build bulk muscle on the thighs which can exacerbate the problem. Make sure you do plenty of stretching muscle exercises such as yoga and pilates (blogilates on youtube is good for it, and it's free) to build long, lean muscles.

sharonfoustmills

only way to lose fat is through calorie deficit.

Generate that through proper diet control and watching the calories you burn with exercise.

You cant' spot reduce fat. So you have to lose it the way it wants to be lost. Meaning.. it usually goes on in reverse order that it showed up... so most of the time- for women- it starts in the lower body then creeps upward- so as you lose weight. You'll see a lot of upper body definition- and slowly lower body. Legs are **usually* last to go- for womeinz.

Keep lifting- keep watching what you eat.

DL and Squats are king/queen for whole body compound and legs.

true, it comes off opposite how it goes on, but this is different for every woman- this is a part where genetics play a pretty good part in it, my face shows weight loss first, but as far as working out and doing weight/ resistance, my legs show progress before anything else and my legs never gain that much to begin with, all the women in my family have awesome legs..... my stomach leaves last (ugh)

it is true that you cannot spot reduce, however, you can spot tone, meaning you can work specific muscles and make it look reduced because it is more muscular- check out videos on the web for leg work, there are thousands of them you can find and do for free

JesterMFP

Might I also add that if you want slimmer thighs, you need to be careful about what exercises you do because you can easily build bulk muscle on the thighs which can exacerbate the problem. Make sure you do plenty of stretching muscle exercises such as yoga and pilates (blogilates on youtube is good for it, and it's free) to build long, lean muscles.

I kind of hope you're joking, but you can't "easily" build "bulk" muscle while eating at a deficit. Do you know how hard people work to build muscle while eating a surplus of calories? Doing a lot of strength training with those muscles may cause some water retention/swelling, which could make them temporarily bigger, but that would go away as soon as you stopped those exercises.

You also cannot make your muscles leaner or longer with yoga or pilates.

Phoenix_Warrior

Might I also add that if you want slimmer thighs, you need to be careful about what exercises you do because you can easily build bulk muscle on the thighs which can exacerbate the problem. Make sure you do plenty of stretching muscle exercises such as yoga and pilates (blogilates on youtube is good for it, and it's free) to build long, lean muscles.

I kind of hope you're joking, but you can't "easily" build "bulk" muscle while eating at a deficit. Do you know how hard people work to build muscle while eating a surplus of calories? Doing a lot of strength training with those muscles may cause some water retention/swelling, which could make them temporarily bigger, but that would go away as soon as you stopped those exercises.

You also cannot make your muscles leaner or longer with yoga or pilates.

But you can get nice and flexible *wink wink nudge nudge*

taitmamly

Might I also add that if you want slimmer thighs, you need to be careful about what exercises you do because you can easily build bulk muscle on the thighs which can exacerbate the problem. Make sure you do plenty of stretching muscle exercises such as yoga and pilates (blogilates on youtube is good for it, and it's free) to build long, lean muscles.

I kind of hope you're joking, but you can't "easily" build "bulk" muscle while eating at a deficit. Do you know how hard people work to build muscle while eating a surplus of calories? Doing a lot of strength training with those muscles may cause some water retention/swelling, which could make them temporarily bigger, but that would go away as soon as you stopped those exercises.

You also cannot make your muscles leaner or longer with yoga or pilates.

I really hope you're joking. Some people have to work hard to build muscle because they're not naturally muscular, and some people have to work hard to lose weight or not gain it because they're not naturally slim. Personally, it's a problem I've always had. As soon as I start doing lunges or squats I gain bulky-looking muscle on my legs and thighs because (despite being female) I am naturally a muscly person if I can be bothered to maintain it - regardless of how much I'm eating.

And yoga and pilates do build longer, lean looking muscles because they're strenuous on the muscle (particularly pilates) and you're stretching them at the same time, therefore building them up to be longer looking as opposed to thick, bulky muscles. If you don't believe pilates can build long, strong muscles, try this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I-c-yw5ZrQ

ANYWAY, good luck and just keep trying:)

JesterMFP

Might I also add that if you want slimmer thighs, you need to be careful about what exercises you do because you can easily build bulk muscle on the thighs which can exacerbate the problem. Make sure you do plenty of stretching muscle exercises such as yoga and pilates (blogilates on youtube is good for it, and it's free) to build long, lean muscles.

I kind of hope you're joking, but you can't "easily" build "bulk" muscle while eating at a deficit. Do you know how hard people work to build muscle while eating a surplus of calories? Doing a lot of strength training with those muscles may cause some water retention/swelling, which could make them temporarily bigger, but that would go away as soon as you stopped those exercises.

You also cannot make your muscles leaner or longer with yoga or pilates.

I really hope you're joking. Some people have to work hard to build muscle because they're not naturally muscular, and some people have to work hard to lose weight or not gain it because they're not naturally slim. Personally, it's a problem I've always had. As soon as I start doing lunges or squats I gain bulky-looking muscle on my legs and thighs because (despite being female) I am naturally a muscly person if I can be bothered to maintain it - regardless of how much I'm eating.

Cool, I'd love to see pictures of your overnight bulky muscle growth (that's clearly nothing to do with fat reduction or muscle swelling from water retention). Curious as to exactly how one builds that bulky muscle on a deficit? I'm serious, a lot of people on these boards would love to know that secret.

And yoga and pilates do build longer, lean looking muscles because they're strenuous on the muscle (particularly pilates) and you're stretching them at the same time, therefore building them up to be longer looking as opposed to thick, bulky muscles. If you don't believe pilates can build long, strong muscles, try this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I-c-yw5ZrQ

I don't think yoga and pilates (or muscles for that matter) work the way you think they do.

JoRocka

Might I also add that if you want slimmer thighs, you need to be careful about what exercises you do because you can easily build bulk muscle on the thighs which can exacerbate the problem. Make sure you do plenty of stretching muscle exercises such as yoga and pilates (blogilates on youtube is good for it, and it's free) to build long, lean muscles.

horse malarkey.
muscles are muscles- you cant' build "lean" muscle.

true, it comes off opposite how it goes on, but this is different for every woman- this is a part where genetics play a pretty good part in it, my face shows weight loss first, but as far as working out and doing weight/ resistance, my legs show progress before anything else and my legs never gain that much to begin with, all the women in my family have awesome legs..... my stomach leaves last (ugh)

very true- hence the "mostly" comments... it is VERY different for every one- but I'd say the general trend for women is upper body and they carry more weight lower.

ShaneOZ

If you want to burn fat, cardio is key.
But if you want to turn fat into muscle, I recommend checking
out this program I have been using to get the muscle gains I want.

I have also shed fat, which has turned into muscle.

Check it out here: http://www.epicmusclemass.com

Hope this helps.