If God gave you naturally large thighs listen up

ignore the haters, if you have acheived your goal good for you! i have also been blessed with large thighs & calves. part of my goal is to have them smaller. i am not a fan of the super muscular legs on women, probably because i have always had large legs. its all about personal preference. i want pretty legs, not super skinny where your thighs dont touch up top. i meet with a new trainer tonight so i'll see what they say for me to do.

thanks for your posting. Makes sense, and I will consider your advice when exercising.

Hopefully not the OP's advice as it is terrible advice.

See? This is why we argue with posts like this. We don't won't people taking bad advice. OP can do what she wants but we hope to prevent misinformation from spreading.

I'm blessed with naturally large thighs...if that's how you're calling it. I was 220# not long ago...my thighs were *really* large then. Amazing how when you take off some body fat they just kinda start to slim out. Slowly...slowly.
I'm the proud owner of 23" thighs right now...just this week I squatted 175-185#...and some random guy at the gym told my husband he was gonna hit on me (he didn't know I was married) and started to describe how "nice" he thought my legs were (in great detail). Total NSV, for sure. At any rate - I don't do cardio. I keep my legs nice and eh hem, "big" by squatting, deadlifting, doing weighted lunges...you know...all that weight lifting crap. And if they get bigger - so be it...but I'm pretty sure they aren't going to get much bigger, it's just a matter of fat coming off before I can have Erin Stern's or Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet's awesome legs.

You were 220 lbs? WOW you look great! Are you following a specific weight lifting program like Jamie Eason's Live Fit or you just doing your own thing? I'd love to squat what you are squating. I hate not having a lifting partner at the gym when I want to go up in weight but not sure if I need a spot.

Oh and that's a great NSV. What was your husbands reaction to that guy telling him how great you looked?

Thank you! Yeah, 220 lbs and well over 40% bodyfat. Am sitting around 155-158# these days and who knows what my bf is since nothing is accurate. Anyway....I started getting introduced to heavy lifting with NROL4W. I went through stage 5 and abandoned ship because I started to not enjoy my workouts. Then on advice of a friend I began Starting Strength (just 3x5 of squats, bench, OHP, rows, and deads) and eventually added on some accessory work (lat pull-downs, glute bridges/thrusters). THEN...I was getting frustrated because I had hit some walls in my lifts...and I wanted to change things up. In November, I joined a local pseudo-Crossfit style gym (it's not Crossfit) and began doing the workouts the coach posted (a varied mix of powerlifting and oly lifts with a lot of push/pull bodyweight strength moves thrown in for good measure). I log my workouts at fitocracy.com if you wanna check 'em out. My handle is mfkn_titanium there. Before this gym though I worked out at home. We bought a power cage/rack with lat pull-down attachment, bench, and oly barbell & plates. Power racks are great because they have the safety bars so you can confidently squat and bench without needing another person there to help if you fail.

As for how my husband reacted - he said he had a proud moment. It was the first thing he told me when he got home after so I'm sure he had been thinking about it his whole workout. He's not a jealous guy so it didn't bother him.

OP , I am glad that you are happy with your body. There are too many women who have a poor body image and it is refreshing to see a woman who does not. You will find that the public forums have a lot of people who say they are trying to help. Some of their advice is actually good but it is the rude condescending way it is presented that makes all that they have to say useless! It is because they believe offending will open someones eyes. I hope you won't let this experience turn you off of mfp. As long as you are healthy and happy good for you!

I do squats, deadlifts, weighted lunges of all varieties. 32Fx24x37 with 21.5" thighs which I think looks just fine and not "thick" or "disproportionate". I'm hoping to lose a tad more fat in the area, which I plan on accomplishing by a caloric deficit WITH weights to make sure I keep my sexy thigh muscles and lose only fat :-)

thanks for your posting. Makes sense, and I will consider your advice when exercising.

Hopefully not the OP's advice as it is terrible advice.

See? This is why we argue with posts like this. We don't won't people taking bad advice. OP can do what she wants but we hope to prevent misinformation from spreading.

I am living proof. I have sexy long lean legs. You guys are not proving anything.

Right now you are words on a screen. That doesn't prove anything.

Telling women to neglect half of their muscles is bad advice.

thanks for your posting. Makes sense, and I will consider your advice when exercising.

Hopefully not the OP's advice as it is terrible advice.

My advice is great advice as is the heavy lifting group. It's up to your personal goals.

stop the hate and just admit that long distance runners can have nice muscular legs too without the lunges, deadlifts and squats. I am living proof.

I do elliptical 4 times a week for 40 minutes and have great legs as a result.

No offense---I totally understand and respect your choice to not post pictures of yourself--but you are not "living proof" of anything. You could be a 500 pound man for all we know.

I don't think there was anything wrong with OP's statements. For those of you who think she is steering unsuspecting newbies the wrong way, I don't think she has that much power. For anyone who commits to losing weight and improving fitness, it's going to take considerable time and effort. There will be plenty of opportunity to read about the benefits of heavy lifting for women - to offset this thread topic. Unfortunately, disagreements easily become heated and it makes the participants look sillier than they actually are. The details for one person don't really matter that much. OP sounds as if she's worked hard and is in great shape, as a bunch of you heavy lifting women are! I celebrate all of your successes. Be proud of each other; this is hard work!