Huge calves, HELP!!

Yes I would focus on fat loss, however, doing some light leg work (muscle exercises) wouldn't hurt because it wouldn't build much but still keep your leg muscles active; that's important because tired/working muscles increase your metabolism

I'm not an expert but this is what I have learned through personal experience, and quite frankly spending too much time reading articles and forums on this stuff haha. Have fun, and good work so far

I have 20.5 inch calves (down from 22 inches! Woo!), so I know your pain there. It's a family thing, so I don't have much hope for them. Like the other poster mentioned, all you can do is try to work out your calves. Hopefully you'll build muscle on them which will (hopefully) make them smaller.

You don't have to wait until you lose the fat though. Doing strength training on your calves will help you keep the muscles on there, while your body burns off the fat. It'll both help them to look nice and make them smaller.

If you add muscle to the muscle you already have, they will get bigger not smaller.

Muscle tissue doesn't directly feed on adjacent fat tissue when it grows. Muscle tissue generally doesn't grow when you eat a calorie deficit unless you have a very high BF%, and when it does your body metabolizes fat stores from it's genetically-determined least important storage places first, not whatever fat happens to be next to the recovering muscle tissue.

What's your body fat percentage? If it's over 30% or so, don't even sweat it.

I'm not even sure... Where would I go to get something like that done?

My current weight is152 pounds and a height of 5'4 if that helps with any estimates at all?

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/becker11.htm use method no.2, I don't know why I keep replying either, no worries.

I have 20.5 inch calves (down from 22 inches! Woo!), so I know your pain there. It's a family thing, so I don't have much hope for them. Like the other poster mentioned, all you can do is try to work out your calves. Hopefully you'll build muscle on them which will (hopefully) make them smaller.

You don't have to wait until you lose the fat though. Doing strength training on your calves will help you keep the muscles on there, while your body burns off the fat. It'll both help them to look nice and make them smaller.

If you add muscle to the muscle you already have, they will get bigger not smaller.

Muscle tissue doesn't directly feed on adjacent fat tissue when it grows. Muscle tissue generally doesn't grow when you eat a calorie deficit unless you have a very high BF%, and when it does your body metabolizes fat stores from it's genetically-determined least important storage places first, not whatever fat happens to be next to the recovering muscle tissue.

That doesn't mean she shouldn't work her legs, when they are clearly an area that she wants to be better (for her). So if she is to work any muscles, as I suggested - only lightly (probably without weights), it should be those; as this will result in a metabolism boost, which is beneficial overall, and also firmer calves when they do get smaller.

or this, haha: http://spotmebro.com/how-to-get-bigger-calves/

I never said she shouldn't "work her legs." The OPs original question was whether or not any exercise would help her calves to be smaller, and the answer is no. She already has an exercise routine that she's content with, no reason to mess with it.

Adding a few BW leg raises to an exercise routine is not going to give anyone a "metabolism" boost, either. In a calorie deficit, you're not going to build significant enough muscle in the calves (even if you're doing heavy deadlifts) to increase your metabolism enough to make a difference for weight loss.

Her calves are going to be awesome when she reaches her goal weight. If she wants to do some calf exercises because she finds them fun or motivating, that's one thing, but they're not going to make any aesthetic difference. The "firmness" comes from the swelling during muscle recovery, and any standing exercise will give you that in your calves, even walking. Other than that, the only thing that is going to increase muscle definition is loosing the fat on top.

The answer isn't necessarily no though is the thing. She's losing weight, so she's eating at a deficit, which as you said means she won't put on muscle. However, by working out her calves she'll keep more muscle in that area and, if her body does decide to take energy stores from that area, it will be fat instead of muscle. This will make her calves at least look better, and possibly smaller.

The reason I said building muscle might make her calves smaller is because they will be tighter and more compact. You can look at lots of women who started lifting and other areas of their body got smaller because even though they put on a lot of muscle, or kept a lot of muscle as they lost weight, it takes up less space than fat and gets them into smaller clothes. By focusing on getting a higher muscle/fat ratio in her calves, it'll make them smaller.

I believe the first poster said that it was hard to do that. I didn't feel there was any need to reiterate that fact. You work out your calves every day just by walking, but that's not to say it's hopeless to try to work on them.

when you lose weight overall your calves will get smaller. that's it, easy peasy.

Sadly, this is often an issue of genetics as well. My mother often tells me that when she was 18 and 95lbs (she's 5ft tall), her calves were still too big to fit into any boots. Now, I too have big calves. Being overweight now makes it worse of course, but once upon a time I was a dancer and my calves were CUT (my instructor once stopped in the middle of an exercise to comment on them - the only time ever I've been admired for anything fitness related ) but even then, I couldn't fit them comfortably into boots or skates. So, you may always have larger calves than normal. But, if there's a squiqqly layer as you mention, general weight loss will help with that so that you can end up with some awesomely cut calves, even if they still are larger than you'd like.