How to get rid of these "thick" legs?????

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  • Lozze
    Lozze Posts: 1,917 Member
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    Just of intrest OP would you mind posting photos? Often people post these topics and they've got a distorted view of their body.

    I have the same issue but still have quite a bit of weight to lose so am hoping the more I lose the smaller my thighs and belly will get. My belly has just got to that squishy stage before you lose fat.
  • pkw58
    pkw58 Posts: 2,038 Member
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    I can tell you my body shaped changed pretty drastically from the waiste down when I dropped the last 7 pounds. I am 5'8" and weigh 132 now, and make sure I get my walking and yoga in, and in the last month have been a Barre 3 enthusiast, I can feel and see the difference.

    there is a new book out, "Ballet Beautiful".. It speaks to the daily exercises that are the discipline of ballet dancing. It also speaks to eatting correctly. it is written by a retired ballet dancer. It really speaks to the science of life long balance in body image and health.

    I strive for long lean toning. It is all about conditioning your core muscles . Try any of the new "Barre" classes (many on you tube) on line for free. I guarantee you will find muscles in your inner thighs you didn't know you had!

    Lastly, there is nothing wrong with optimizing what you have. If you don't like how you look in pants, don't wear pants. Wear dresses or tunics with leggings or skinny jeans. Don't buy or keep anything in your wardrobe that doesn't make you feel beautiful when you are wear it. even your work out clothes should make you look and feel great!
  • loreledesmax
    loreledesmax Posts: 92
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    I have the same issue, and came here hoping to get some kind of answer. Quite frankly, I'm now even more confused! Everyone has an opinion based on their experience, but since I believe every person is different, in order to get the most certain answer for YOU, I would recommend a visit to a specialist. Hope that helps in some way :smile:
  • contingencyplan
    contingencyplan Posts: 3,639 Member
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    I never saw a ballet dancer nor gymnast with clumpy legs - maybe there is a clue there to the type of exercises you should be doing.

    Clearly you don't watch the Olympics. The ones who walk away with the gold medal are anything but slender usually. They're built like little tanks with massive legs that look like they can be used as lethal weapons. Exception being rhythmic gymnastics and gymnasts who very obviously have extremely naturally slender frames such as Nastia Liukin.
  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
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    So for those of you in my same position - how have you/are you targeting your legs? I workout at least 4-5 days a week. Lately, I've been adding more squats, lunges, leg presses, stair stepping, and running.

    Also, please, please, please - DON'T respond with "you can't target certain areas" - I've heard this several times as well.

    You may not like to hear it, because you've heard it several times before... but the reason why you've heard it several times before is because it's TRUE. You should know, as a functioning adult, that asking the same question over and over again won't inevitably result in that answer changing any. It's not like the people of MFP can change scientific fact for you.

    That said, here is what I would do if I were you (I, for one, have the same body type. Smaller up top, tree-trunk legs... but I love my proportions, if not my weight. Once I'm through with fat loss, my legs are gonna be bangin'.):

    -Do plenty of strength training exercises for your upper body and core, to build up your upper torso, thereby balancing out your proportions somewhat, creating more of an hourglass figure. Make sure to consume protein (I'd say at least 20 grams. Get some whey protein concentrate or isolate, if nothing else is portable) within an hour of strength training. Continue to eat a high protein diet (about 1g per pound of lean mass. Go get your body composition tested, if you do not know those stats). The workouts are one half of the equation. Your body can't build muscle without enough protein.

    -Don't stop the squats, lunges, etc, as building those muscles will keep your legs shapely (instead of them turning into undefined, shlubby-looking stovepipes, like I've seen on some young women). I would throw in some deadlifts to build up your hamstrings and glutes, too. They're great for building a nice, round, firm bum. Do keep in mind, however, that these will generally only increase the size of the muscles, and will never spot reduce. If you're working on a calorie deficit, these will help you lose body fat overall... but no better than any other calorie-burning activity, regardless of what limbs you employ to perform it.

    -Work on reducing your body fat percentage, overall. As I am currently obese, I am able to drop body fat while still gaining muscle. As you are not obese, from what I have read by other lifters, you will probably have to work to build muscle (called a "bulk", wherein you do not work at a calorie deficit, focusing on building muscle without losing weight), and reduce body fat (called a "cut", wherein you focus on losing body fat, without being able to build... even losing some of muscle mass), doing these two phases separately. This doesn't mean you will turn into some burly she-hulk; you can apply the same techniques that bodybuilders use, on a smaller scale, to get the figure you want. I would direct you to Google these terms, even dare to venture over to www.bodybuilding.com, to get a better idea of how this works, as I myself have not reached the point of doing either, specifically. Look for tips on how to do it naturally. There are a lot of articles out there, and some lifters use things like Hydroxycut, etc, that venture into iffy diet pill territory... which I don't condone.

    -Stop listening to your friends' critiques of your body. Your friends clearly don't know jack. Our society has had its view of a healthy body distorted from so many people being overweight; a healthy weight ends up looking worrisomely thin, to a lot of the now "average" people. If YOU know you are still in a healthy range (and at a BMI of 22.5, you most definitely are), then the only person whose business it is to be happy with your body is YOU.


    Great post ^^^

    Agreed!

    Edit to say that if that's you in the purple dress in your profile pics.....you have rocking, strong legs! You don't look out of proportion and you need to stop listening to your friends critiques of your body!!!!
  • bii14
    bii14 Posts: 192
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    i have the exact same problem with my legs and by now i have given up that i would ever have leaner legs. i just go with my everyday food and workout.. and if it has to happen it will happen. i cant spot reduce it i have tried
  • jllove871
    jllove871 Posts: 84 Member
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    I too have very muscular legs, like gymnist my husband says, all muscle and always hard as if flexing! So yea Im really interested in the answers here. It seems like everything I do just builds them up more. But.......... that stops at my butt (sigh) wouldnt mind that bulking up or my arms trimming down. Why is it some areas are just naturally physical and other parts just slackers? Thought body should work as a team, but my legs carry most of the weight, litrally!
  • m60kaf
    m60kaf Posts: 421 Member
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    If you have been quite overweight your legs will be massssive from lugging all that weight around (muscle).

    My legs are pretty big from that I reckon - I'm kinda stuck with them which is OK , I think you can make legs bigger, but less muscle is near impossible.

    If you are on about fat - if your legs are too fat you need to loose more body fat - end of
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    I'm not sure if you are saying that you have thick-muscular legs or thick-fat legs..

    If its thick muscular, start doing long distance running!!! Look up the difference between long distance runners legs and sprinters...... Thin legs on long distance runners, bulky muscular ones on the sprinters. Its probably the only way to "spot reduce" but its not the fat... Its the muscle and not really reduction, it is the way and type of muscle fiber that you are building... I wouldn't say stop the squats and lunges and blah even though you are just building muscle, which makes them look bigger... but um cut back and run and run and run. It is the only way (that I know of) to get thinner legs, besides.. well, starving.

    Just look into it and I'm sure you will find that I am right. Have you ever seen a long distance runner with thick legs? Didn't think so.

    It will take time, but don't give up if you want results! :]

    If she's eating in a deficit, then she is NOT building muscle by doing squats and lunges.

    Plus, running without some type of muscle preserving exercise to balance it, is just going to make her legs look bigger due to lack of muscle tone.. and personally I'd rather have thin legs, with muscle tone and then thin and flabby legs.

    If anything she should be doing both, and not one or the other.

    To OP:
    Everyone else has pretty much summed up what I was going to add.

    I've always had bigger thighs, and I finally have slim legs thanks to running and squats/lunges.
  • south001
    south001 Posts: 19
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    also you can change any body shape or type with the correct exercises and diet...

    its how hard you work at it, takes a lot of sweat.
    this is SO not true and quite frankly part of the reason so many girls end up getting eating disorders
    i think with the proper training and diet you can change anything, its been done before, just cant focus on one thing its a factor of all.

    l
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
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    also you can change any body shape or type with the correct exercises and diet...

    its how hard you work at it, takes a lot of sweat.
    this is SO not true and quite frankly part of the reason so many girls end up getting eating disorders

    Schwarzenegger didn't.

    friends_dont_let_friends_skip_leg_day-117118.jpg
  • south001
    south001 Posts: 19
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    also you can change any body shape or type with the correct exercises and diet...

    its how hard you work at it, takes a lot of sweat.
    this is SO not true and quite frankly part of the reason so many girls end up getting eating disorders

    Schwarzenegger didn't.

    friends_dont_let_friends_skip_leg_day-117118.jpg
    lmao, has to be photo shopped, he had massive legs in his comp days, looks like half the guys at my gym that only focus on upperbody :D
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
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    NO!, That's not Arnie! I'm illustrating a point.
  • m60kaf
    m60kaf Posts: 421 Member
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    also you can change any body shape or type with the correct exercises and diet...

    its how hard you work at it, takes a lot of sweat.
    this is SO not true and quite frankly part of the reason so many girls end up getting eating disorders
    i think with the proper training and diet you can change anything, its been done before, just cant focus on one thing its a factor of all.

    l

    awww why did you edit off "Truth is most people cry into their Cheesburgers" I propper LOLZ'd at that
  • cherham
    cherham Posts: 13
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    My legs don't even look like mine anymore and all I've done is walk a dog around 1 block at a very fast pace every day for the entire summer. Want better looking legs, get out there and walk.
  • alpine1994
    alpine1994 Posts: 1,915 Member
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    3. I never saw a ballet dancer nor gymnast with clumpy legs - maybe there is a clue there to the type of exercises you should be doing.
    Or a clue as to what kind of body type is most successful in ballet or gymnastics? :smile:

    Yeah, I was gonna say! In my ballet classes most of the girls have very well defined (muscular) arms and big, strong legs. I couldn't imagine trying to do some of the routines we do in class without having those big, strong legs to support my body!

    I have naturally big thighs too. I've lost 16 lbs, and I lost inches everywhere EXCEPT my thighs. Not. one. inch. BUT, they look a hell of a lot better with 24" of muscle as opposed to 24" of fat and they power me through my workouts/ballet/life so I heart them for that. Oh, and I rock skinny jeans anyway. My boyfriend drools over them and I got compliments I thought I would never hear, like "I wish I had your legs so I could wear jeans like that!" WHAT?? Love yourself and you'll find that others will quickly see how great you AND your big strong legs are! :)
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    Maybe you should believe it. It's unlikely that it's fat you've got on your legs, given the rest of your proportions. You are short and many short women have relatively short and thus thicker legs. You need something to hold you up!

    Tone and exercise. When I was dancing, I developed rather lovely thin ankles and shapely calves - because of the muscular structure. 40 years later, I still have that. Walking a lot, as I do now, really brings that out.

    No amount of under-eating is going to give you shapely (that's the key word) legs without exercise. If people tell you you are too thin, you may well be. If all you want is nice looking legs, you need to do something else.

    Even Natalie Portman, when she was working for the role in The Black Swan couldn't get her legs thin because she was so short, even though the already very thin woman lost a lot of weight for the role. She needed to do a lot of work on her toes and strengthen those tendons and bring out those muscles to give her legs definition.
  • jllove871
    jllove871 Posts: 84 Member
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    it's your body type type learn to love it. start working with your body instead of against it by wasting time trying to look like a different body shape.

    if you're a pear or hourglass shape then odds are you're going to always have thick legs. you can either bemoan the situation and play chase your tail trying all kinds of things trying to fight your genetic code or just continue to work out and create the best body for YOUR body type

    Best Answer Ever!
  • FeatherBoBeather
    FeatherBoBeather Posts: 255 Member
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    Well.. other than everything everyone else has already said (cardio/minor strength training to build lean muscle & reduce fat).... I'd say learn to love exactly how your body is! :-) I know that sounds cheesy.. but find confidence in yourself as-is and you won't need to change anything at all. ^_^
  • Enigmatica
    Enigmatica Posts: 879 Member
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    I had "thick" legs ever since I was a teen but they've finally slimmed down. I'm 5'4" and 125 pounds but have been this weight before and had thicker legs - big thighs and calves. Not sure what finally did it though. I lost the 90 pounds by walking as much as 3 hours per day, half in the morning and half at night. After losing all the weight I eventually started jogging, which is what I still do. I've never done weight training or gone to a gym for anything. Wish I could tell you whether it was the exercise, the drastic dietary changes, or the drastic hormonal changes I've been through in the past few years that finally slimmed down my legs. It could be all the above.

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