running...

Running is cardio. Cardio burns fat. End of story!

I could not tell you what running would do to "your" body image, but it will do wonders for your cardiovascular abilities. It will make you lose weight quickly, but who knows where you will lose it. Do it, running is good for you and you just might enjoy it.

Every body is different. Not in the "we are all like little snowflakes" way, but every body responds differently to diet and exercise. Changing up your routine a bit is never a bad idea (unless you are training specifically for a race/event), but no one can tell you what your body will do.

From your post, I'm guessing your thighs are your trouble spot, and that's where you're going to lose last. It's a pain... you can't control how/where your body burns the fat, you just have to stay at it.

Patience patience patience. If you're seeing results elsewhere on your body, then you're in good shape. It'll happen, just keep going.

I have tried every kind of exercise, but only when I started running did my thighs get smaller, tighter, and the best they have EVER been. Mix up other cardio with running and weights and you should see a change! Good luck!

Love running! It's always done wonders for me, but mix it up with the strength training.

Running has deffinitely helped tone and thighten my legs. I say do it!

I am like you in that I am very much a pear shape, as is my sister. We both have pretty small waists (mine has pretty much always been 27-28" at the highest), "hips," and "curvy" legs - neither of our parents have skinny ankles, so we were kind of screwed in that department! Fourteen years ago, when she was 19 and I was 17, she started seeing a nutritionist at college and joined the track team. She threw shotput (and set records!) but did all the warm-up runs with the entire track team until she started running on her own. I remember then that her legs started looking different, in that they did slim down around the ankles and the knees. She definitely lost fat on her thighs and calves, but she had lost that knee-fat thing, and her legs looked nice and athletic.

Now I'm 31 and she's 33 (and has two kids, so unfortunately she hasn't maintained her loss), and since we live right near each other, we run 6 days/week. She started doing the Couch to 5K program, and I joined her at the end of week 2. It was a tough learning curve jumping into week 2 and then week 3 immediately afterwards, but now we're almost done with week 5, and I can tell the difference, at least in myself. (I don't see her bare-legged, so I can't speak for her.) My knees look, well, more like knees. The stupid thigh fat that likes to make my knees look ugly is disappearing. My ankles look less like cankles and, well, more like ankles! The place where my Achilles tendon and the bottom of my calf muscle come down towards my foot is starting to look more defined (more like my husband's, with his "soccer player" legs). It's also helped me lose weight a little faster than before.

I don't know if it's running vs. other cardio that is doing this, since I wasn't really working out prior, but in literally three weeks of running and pushing myself, I can see my legs taking on a different shape. Will I have little legs afterwards? Probably not. I would like to be able to, on the rare occasion, wear a skirt that ends above the knee... but I'd just be thrilled to have athletic-looking legs To me, that is much sexier than just thin legs. I will still probably have trouble finding knee-high boots that fit over my calves, but at least I won't have any fat spilling out over them. That's just not good for anybody!

But if you are doing weights, what harm can running (or any other good cardio) do? It will get your heart and lungs working more efficiently, which is just good for your overall health. I say GO FOR IT, and you can work on your legs with weight-bearing exercise to add to the effect of the fat-burning!!!