Sick of Thick Thighs? Me too! (pear-shaped women)

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Replies

  • hannahchipmunk
    hannahchipmunk Posts: 50
    I totally know what you mean; even at my lowest weight I still had substantial thighs! I think different things work for different people, but running has helped slim and tone my thighs a bit.
  • kim_mc
    kim_mc Posts: 321 Member
    I hear ya! I wear xs-s tops and still have HUGE thighs. Even with weights, cardio, squats, lunges, you name it, the weight stays on and they are not fit at all!!!! JIGGLE JIGGLE! If I gain weight it goes right to the lower half of my body.

    Don't really know what to do except try to come to terms with the fact that this is how I'm built and continue to work as hard as I can. I will always be self conscious about it because I don't think I look proportioned. Wish I could figure out a way to make things different but as of yet, no such luck!
  • auroranflash
    auroranflash Posts: 3,569 Member
    Texas Thighs. I haz them.

    I don't want them to go away, I want them to be toned and sexy. Stairstepper (intervals) and running (intervals) and squats have helped. I have thigh muscles like rocks. When I get bored, I start punching them for fun.
  • getfitdiva
    getfitdiva Posts: 1,148 Member
    I embrace my thighs and my husband loves them. I did lose some inches w/ a combo of running intervals/incline jog or walk, and step mill.

    I will just work on toning them so if they big at least they can look toned/sporty. Weekly I work on squats w/ weights such as weighted squats, leg presses, stiff-legged dead lifts, and leg curls.
  • MommaKit79
    MommaKit79 Posts: 852

    I spoke with a trainer, and he said to lift light. Stop trying to build muscle mass and work on sculpting. He said to go ridiculously light, and then do no more than 4-5 sets with 10-15 reps per set. So I've been doing that.

    I also do lunges as well as walking and biking.

    ^^YES...lift lighter to work that part of the leg. Unfortunately, it is part of the BODY TYPE that will cause issues with losing here but, lifting lighter for awhile and increasing VERY slowly helps tone and build muscle underneath any extra "insulation" we may have. Yes, you will always be pear shaped but, there are some things you can do to help with HOW muscle you will be different.

    I am Hour glass and the hips are a problem for me as well!
  • blynn2708
    blynn2708 Posts: 262 Member
    I am exactly like you! I am tiny all over, bony upper body, even little butt, but the thighs...my god!!! I hate them, It's not "all in my head" I really have huge thighs! lol I was doomed from both sides of my family!! I am starting "Killer Buns and Thighs" tonight. I started running a couple of months ago and I have lost an inch on each leg...I'll take that! :bigsmile:
  • _SpeshK_
    _SpeshK_ Posts: 496 Member
    Weight training/strength training will NOT bulk you up!
    Lifting heavy weights will actually make you lose fat cells and add muscle mass at the same time.
    Please do a forum search on this topic...so many women have asked this same question and it's just not in our genetics to
    "bulk up" so to speak. TONS of photos of women with drastic, amazing results from ONLY doing lifting.

    I guarantee if you start doing heavy lifting (like a MAN'S lifting regime) you will see the results you are wanting. No one can guarantee that your legs/thighs will get any smaller - that is your body type - but I can guarantee that your thighs will no longer be "thunderous" or "dimply" but you will replace it with lean defined muscle. You have to stick to a serious training program though.
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    5'9, 150 pound, size 4 pear over here.. and I advocate lifting heavy(or what heavy is to you).

    I do squats, lunges, step up's.. all with either 20 pound dumbells in each hand or 30-50 pound barbell on my back.. and all I've done is become smaller. If you lose the fat, then the big look goes away since muscle is denser than fat.. but if you have fat on top of the muscle, then it will look bigger.
  • ms_walker
    ms_walker Posts: 30 Member
    I'm built the same way. I find running to be the best cardio to lean out my legs - combined with sqauts and lunges for definition. Also, I'm told doing upper body weights to 'bulk out' top half so you appear more proportional will also help. That said I hate doing upper body work and have learned to love my thighs, they ain't going anywhere.
  • DeeVanderbles
    DeeVanderbles Posts: 589 Member
    Perhaps try BeachBody's Brazil Butt Lift? There was a post recently with before and after pics. If you search for it you should find it.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    just stick with it. at least you know where those last 10 pounds are :laugh:

    The point of this thread (I believe) is that for some of us .... this is where the 10 pounds will FOREVER be. Some people don't get it. It's like telling a really busty woman "with diet & exercise she can achieve an average figure."

    As stated before, I have weighed 106lbs (I'm 5'5") and had fat legs. The logic of your statment .... If I weigh 96 pounds, I would then have thin thighs? I get where anorexia comes from.

    wow you fail and you completely misunderstood me, obviously didnt read what i wrote previously about once a pear shape always a pear shape.

    i didnt say you're thighs would be thin, just that they would be slimmer. i'd never use the work "thin" because thin is relative so what i consider thin might not be considered thin by someone else. you will almost always have the same shape, but that shape will be slimmer.

    besides that you seem to not understand that weight has very little to do with your body composition. if you have "fat" thighs and are underweight then you obviously need to work on developing some muscle. plus if the issue looking imbalanced then exercise can also help with that (ie weight training to develop shoulder and more of a v shape to your back)

    and gee i had no idea i had that much power to make people develop anorexia :noway:

    I didn't say YOU had the power to make people develop anorexia. But, people who insist that every man or woman can have "a perfect body" and people who insist you can spot reduce, those people contribute to anorexia.

    You are right, I can balance things out with bigger shoulders. I know most women can't get bulky ... I unfortunately can. Lifting for thighs ....(again a bulky look .... ala Mary Lou Retton)... unfortunately not really what I'm looking for.

    What I should have said ... 106 lbs and thighs larger .... in porportion to everything else. Yes, muscle helps, but the layer of fat (over the muscle) certainly should have gone away at 106.
  • DeeVanderbles
    DeeVanderbles Posts: 589 Member
    I also just came across this lean leg HIIT elliptical training. Might be worth a shot if you have access to one.

    http://www.heandsheeatclean.com/2012/06/she-sweats-sunday-shred-elliptical-hiit.html
  • hhamada
    hhamada Posts: 27
    I'm also naturally pear-shaped. A combination of weights, cardio, and nutrition helped me to build up the upper body and slim down the lower body. P90X, P90X2, Insanity, and Asylum are good programs to follow. While exercise is important, nutrition is even more important and will help you lose body fat in the bottom half.



    ,
  • CoryIda
    CoryIda Posts: 7,870 Member
    Lift heavy, eat well.

    You will NOT get bulky.

    Women lack the testosterone and even the body builders you see put in massive amounts of work to get that way just for competitions - they look a lot more "normal" in the off season.

    Seriously.

    Also, big thighs or small thighs, the important thing is that you are HEALTHY.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    "Pear shaped" is "normal". Probably the most common shape. First, try to embrace it. Like it. Love it. Or at least get comfortable with it.

    Lift weights. Building up upper body muscles really made me look more balanced. My legs haven't not changed in size more than an inch here or there and I ate at a surplus and gained 10lbs while lifting. (You won't gain pounds of muscles while dieting).
  • kseier
    kseier Posts: 91 Member
    thick thighed unit!!!! add me!!
    www.facebook.com/seier10 and make sure you message me about the thick-thighed-thread so i know who you are!
  • Chantal34
    Chantal34 Posts: 128
    Im working on slimming mine down too. I have toned up everywhere else but my thighs remain stubborn. I do plenty of walking and stationary lunges and squats at the gym. I carry the majority of my weight in my hips and thighs. I do see them changing though albeit slowly.
  • QuirkyPanda
    QuirkyPanda Posts: 44 Member
    I completely understand the thigh/butt problem! I used to hate my pear shape, but I've actually come to enjoy having a J-Lo booty. It's not the size that bothers me anymore, but the excess jiggle. I'm trying to focus on toning and tightening rather than making that part of my body "proportionate." This photo helps motivate me to turn that fat into muscle: http://media-cache-ec8.pinterest.com/upload/255508978828881769_kY86r09h_f.jpg

    Don't be afraid to strength train! Long live the pears! :)
  • d4webb
    d4webb Posts: 2 Member
    Sorry ladies...really I am. Because I know my comments are going to come off as harsh or insensitive.
    But please understand that it is not my intent. Although my perspective is male and partially testosterone driven, I think
    it still warrants some value....so here it is.

    Every where you go, in every store, at every mall, in every restaurant...you can find skinny women with skinny legs and thin calves. Literally everywhere! It's common...it's the norm. I know we're inundated with images of skinny models every time we go to the grocery store, but please believe this is not the ideal. Having strong, muscular thighs and shapely calves is nothing less than a Godsend. Maybe the reason you can't get rid of them is that you were meant to have them. Maybe those same people that you think are appalled by your thick legs are actually green with envy. Another phenomenon I've noticed on the guy side. Guys that like thin do just that...they "like/prefer" thin. Guys that like thick/muscular legs "LOVE-LOVE-LOVE" them to the extreme. I even see women taking note of women with curves. Take a moment to really evaluate the kind of attention your legs are getting. You may soon realize that it's more admiration/envy/jealousy rather than pity at your genetic predicament. I remember seeing this woman at my daughter's Christian school...she was wearing tight fitting jeans. She was a slim lady from the waist up...Oh but what lied beneath...those jeans stretched around that derrière and big, sculpted thighs. LADIES...when I say I had no choice (surroundings notwithstanding) but to say something, I really mean I was devoid of all ability to resist. I walked right up to her and said," You were BORN to wear those jeans!" I really meant it! Because of her body, the jeans looked like they were custom made. All she could do was blush, smile and thank me. My comment made her day, but her confidence in what God gave her, made the day of many a lucky chap that crossed her path. Don't reckon this gift a curse...celebrate it. That skinny girl in the knee-high boots is glancing over at you, wishing she could trade places with you.

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