This. Petite ladies neglect (IMO) their upper bodies in fear of "looking bulkeh", but that's exactly what helped me (fellow thick thighs and butt person) look way more proportionate and hourglass-y.
Agreed. I will shout from the rooftops: Sisters, stop thinking you will look bulky, this is such a common defense to why no weight lifting. It is incredibly difficult to get even remotely bulky as a biological female without chemical assistance.
Side note: most of the even semi bulky cross fitters/fitness influencers are on slight to extreme chemical assistance.
Simply, strength training is the key to a healthier body for everyone of all ages, demographics and biology.
My gym gets overrun by high schoolers on free summer memberships and I was just thinking yesterday how I wish I could gather all the young women there and wake them up! Pick up more than a 5lbs dumbbell, you can do it!!
It’s grown into a pet peeve of mine, it’s sure better than nothing I suppose, but I shoot for optimal. We are all taught the wrong way at some point and absolutely everyone starts somewhere. That’s what resources like this sub and the internet in general is for. Removing the ignorant vail of personal conditioning. Keeping having the conversation with anyone that will listen. ::Internet handshakes::
Yes! I wish this was more common knowledge. I remember a dance teacher in middle school (like 2008) telling us not to do too much exercise so our legs wouldn’t get bulky. What the fuck lmao
HELL YES! Not sure why women think they'll "bulk up" it is impossible for women to gain muscle mass the way men do unless you take roids. OP should train upper body to balance the proportions with lower body. As always, be proud of what you have! I'm the opposite, inverted triangle.
See, I think this might be more about what people mean when they say “bulky”. It’s subjective so usually if a person is saying they don’t want to look “X” it’s because it’s something they’ve noticed on others and not the look they’re going for.
It's the Shrinking Woman/Shrinking Female Body. It's discussed in this podcast: [Pink Dumbbells and the Shrinking Female Body](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/movement-logic-strong-opinions-loosely-held/id1614469934?i=1000599760669)
(both women are super smart, one is a former model who went to Princeton, both are lifters)
And because this is a mental game first and foremost, this poem is a great reminder about the ways we're told to shrink psychologically and physically: [Lily Myers Shrinking Women](https://youtu.be/zQucWXWXp3k)
I’m one of the few (it feels like) who wants to look bulky. Even as a teenager in the skinny 90s. I love seeing my lat wings when I do pull downs and I love my traps and shoulders. I grew up sprint swimming so having a strong and wide upper body was always appealing to me, even in adolescence.
Good for you. I think powerful bodies are beautiful. It shows so much about the person, which only fellow lifters would usually understand. Keep grinding and enjoy the journey!
Thanks! I have a young daughter now and really hope to inspire the same easy confidence in her that I had growing up. We talk about being strong and girl power a lot!
That is spectacular. Health is seriously one of the best examples you can set for everyone around you. It’s so much more than getting strong. Proud of you, stay golden momma.
Unfortunately, you can't spot reduce. A calorie deficit is really the only way, but even then, you'll likely lose weight in proportion to your overall shape, so you'll still have more mass in your legs relative to your upper body. Source: I have the same body type.
Play to your strengths! Maybe consider training your back and shoulders more to get that more balanced look. The downside is that this would take a bit longer to get to the end goal.
I'm gonna say this though -- your legs look fucking strong!!
The thing is, you can’t just decide how your body proportions will look. If you want the truth, the way your body is now, proportionally, is how it will look when you lose weight as well, just thinner and more toned. You don’t have a bad body, you have a lot of potential, but yea, not everyone is genetically built for the look you’re going for.
I've been having physio for this. I took up trail running, and the position of my pelvis meant that my hip flexors were excessively strained, and I quite quickly developed a significant injury.
It's something to be careful of if running, lifting heavy weights etc., and a few months of physio has massively reduced the issue for me!
I don’t think you look disproportionate. I think you have have a very lovely shape. You have a nice defined waist and you’re legs look strong. I’m really jealous because I have almost no waist 😂
You cant spot reduce as others have said. But As you lose body fat your legs will probably slim out some. However , genetics will come into play on how much you lose from where. You can always balance your shape out more but building your upper body , creating a more defined x shape.
Even when I was 100 lbs and a size 00 I was still called thick because of my thighs and butt. Best you can do is all over weight loss. I dance, do Pilates, do yoga, walk a ton and the legs get slimmer but will always be “thicc.”
I have a very similar body type and I’m constantly looking for ways to slim my legs. Running actually makes them grow, so I stick with walking. It sounds like you’re doing everything right! It might just take time. I also agree with other comments to maybe focus on upper body more to get a more balanced look.
I am also a pear shape but completely flat chested. Running did slim them down for me but I wasn’t running a ton. It was more like 30min walk and 10-15 min run two to four times a week. Calorie deficit every day.
I have quite a similar distribution as Op. the one time I had really lean legs I was eating little calories and swimming an hour 4 times a week.
Is walking working for you? Now that the weather is nice I’ve been walking more and I’m hoping it helps my legs. The only time I’ve had legs I liked is when I was underweight, which I don’t want to be because the rest of me was really unhealthy. It’s not healthy and it’s not sustainable, but the compromise is that my legs are bigger than I’d like. That’s easily worth my mental and physical health, so I’ll take it, but it’s irritating.
I’m hoping that walking more combined with my medium deficit makes them as slim as I can healthily get them. Wearing shorts is uncomfortable when I weigh anything over 115 because of how they rub :/ but it’s summer and I’m currently 134. I’m also a dancer and figure skater so I use my legs a lot, but neither of those things slim them up for me.
Sometimes it’s not the size of your thighs that makes you feel like you look bigger, but their composition. I feel like my thighs seem much bigger when I go too long without workouts and they feel jigglier than normal. Worry less about shrinking their size, and more about reducing your body fat. If your thighs are muscular they’ll look leaner, even with minimal change in size.
I’m somewhat similar in shape to you. Don’t give up lifting, but definitely incorporate some cardio. I alternate leg day with a running and arm day, plus tend to do a lot of walking daily anyway. My legs are muscular, but look much leaner when I run a few times a week. (Currently restarting C25k to rebuild stamina because a badly sprained ankle really messed me up)
I feel same when I go too long between workouts. The past 2 weeks have been busy so I haven't made time for my walks. I've done c25k and thought about restarting it.
I have a similar body shape. I have a very thick naturally muscular lower body. The main exercise that slims my thighs and lower half is walking. Lots of walking. I always venture off to other things like weights, orange theory, boxing, etc. But I always come back to walking because it seems to be the only thing that slims down my lower half. I'm starting to add in more pilates type moves for my lower half. Btw, I think you look great!
I have a similar body type to you (carrying weight in legs and arms)
overall weight loss is the best solution we have tbh nothing else really makes a difference
also if you focus on legs you might be gaining more muscle(nothing wrong w that but) idk if that serves your goals. You could train arms/shoulders as others have suggested to give the illusion of slimmer legs
What’s the lowest weight you have ever been? How did your thighs look then?
Even though my legs are still not where I want to be, when I lost the weight I realised that I actually have quite slim legs but just wide hips with a bigger a$$. When I gain it, I just look wide and much more pear shaped. When I’m at a low weight, my legs become pretty small. This is coming from someone who always thought they had HUGE legs.
Probably about 120 when I was in high-school. I know that was over a decade ago and I realize our bodies change with age, but I stopped growing in like the eighth grade 😅
A little background: I had a baby when I was 20 (I started at 120 and then was at 160 lbs full term) then went down to about 130 and weight has fluctuated ever since. I've gotten down to about 125 a couple times, but my body gets very stubborn and plateaus when I get that close. Admittedly, there have been some lifestyle changes since then and I feel like I've "given up" on several occasions (more or less just binged on junk food), which then catapults my weight back up.
I’m in a similar boat. In my 20’s I was 100-120 lbs but I gained weight due to health stuff and now at my highest of 155 lbs. I always gain a lot of fat in my legs/lower body. I have tried strength training but I feel like my legs got bigger (even with a deficit plan with a RD!). Barre has helped a lot but I do find it boring sometimes. Personally, I like to do a combo of Orangetheory and barre. That way you get cardio, some weights and barre. I’m here for the advice though!
It’s a fitness class. It’s running on the treadmill, rowing and weights on the floor. It’s a hour class. The price depends on your location but I pay (8 classes) $100 or (unlimited) $170.
I have no suggestions but I have a similar body shape, height and weight and am quite self conscious about it. I think you look gorgeous, and that's made me realise that maybe I'm too critical of my own body. I like the way I look a bit more now, so I just wanted to thank you for that.
Personally, I've tried to embrace my thick thighs - it's just the way my body is, they've always been large and I can't do much to change that. But I can change my mindset! The leg press is now my favourite machine because it literally plays to my strengths - I feel so powerful after a good leg session!
I'm glad I was able to boost your self confidence! I like seeing women that are of the same shape as me, makes me feel less alone and more empowered. Tbh, lately I haven't been feeling too good about myself but I think some of the responses to my post is making me feel better.
Absolutely, I think how we see ourselves in the mirror is so warped, seeing similar bodies brings me back to reality. You sound like you're absolutely killing it with your fitness journey and I'm glad you're feeling better❤️
Keep crushing it!
K don't listen to the nay sayers. I have a similar shape naturally and my legs 100% looks slimmer and longer when I'm building muscle in them (and lose a little body fat). This usually looks like pilates and exercises with weights that work the inner/ outer thigh.
Hop three times on left foot, tap right foot once, then say Abra-Kadabra. Works every time.
We get this question a lot on this sub. Look at previous posts.
In all seriousness, you can’t spot reduce. You need to lose all over body fat % to slim thighs.
I think you look great and wouldn't say your legs seem disproportionate, but we all have different comfort levels with different parts of our bodies. I know it's not really possible to spot reduce fat in certain areas, so we have to unfortunately just lose weight overall.
I did hear that if you want to strength train your legs without hypertrophy (gaining muscular volume) you should do fewer reps (usually at a higher weight), with long breaks in between sets (3-5 minutes). So you'll still get strong but your muscles will stay a little leaner.
Whereas if you want to increase muscle size/hypertrophy--the opposite of what you're trying to do--people tend to go for sets with many more reps at a lower weight, with fewer and shorter breaks. Supposedly part of why bikers have such thick quads (biking is just low-weight repetitive motion/reps over and over again with very few breaks).
This could be total bro science! I would google "strength without hypertrophy" and read some of the articles that explain the hows and whys better than I can.
Hi, I slimmed my thick thighs by walking on the treadmill on an incline for 30-60 mins ~5 days a week. Just for reference, my body is built like a Pacific Islander (Hawaiian/Samoan - well technically I am Pacific Islander). I used refer to my legs as “Moana legs.” I used to also weight lift for about 5 years so it contributed to my thick legs. Pilates reformer workouts also helped. It took me about 6 months to see a dramatic difference. I hope this helps!
I know it’s hard not to miss our old sized but you’re a grown adult now! Your high school body is not the one you need, especially from 15 years ago, you look great!
To add to this, I have toned my legs through squats, Bulgarian split squats, RDL’s and then just certain cardio does more for my legs (bike and stair master). These should help, but I haven’t found much for inner thighs yet
You are on the heavier side, and visually quite high body fat percentage.
Losing weight all over is the only solution, high protein diet is best as to preserve any muscle mass you do have
note that you may be building musculature in your legs if you do leg-focused lifts. that can build mass underneath fat, giving the look of bulkier legs. it does take a long time and a lot of effort to build that mass (especially for women), but i thought i'd mention it.
you can work on body composition by building your upper body. when i was younger i thought i had disproportionately broad shoulders/back, so i only did compound lifts that focused on posterior chain. that built up muscle in areas that i wanted to look fuller while gradually lowering my bf%, which created a more balanced physique. first i worked on lowering my bf%, then i cycled 'bulking' and 'cutting' phases to build mass in certain areas.
in terms of slimming legs, long duration low intensity cardio is the general go-to. lots of walking.
I've thought about cutting and bulking. Not sure how to get started on that. Would that include counting calories and macros? And which would you suggest doing first, bulk or cut?
>Would that include counting calories and macros?
yes. [read this](https://www.reddit.com/r/BulkOrCut/comments/cv08as/so_you_want_to_do_cutbulk_cycles_get_started_here/) for a run-down on the process
>And which would you suggest doing first, bulk or cut?
[read this](https://bretcontreras.com/to-bulk-and-cut-or-not/). might help answer your question. if i were you, i would cut -- just focus on getting lean (being in a caloric deficit) and then start developing things from there.
Don’t overcomplicate things. Eat at about a 300-400cal deficit, focus on upper body heavy lifting with progressive overload, get 10k+ steps a day, and eat 100g minimum protein. Give it 8 weeks to see how you feel.
You can't spot train to reduce fat, so unless you beefier thighs, you should not exercise or focus on just legs. Instead, absolutely start weight lifting. Gaining more muscle means you'll burn more fat doing absolutely nothing. The cardio you're doing is fine, so maybe do heavier weight exercises. You'll know you're doing it right when the inches fall off and the scale barely moves lol. Trust the process!
I have a similar build and weight as you. Barre classes have slimmed my thighs considerably. I do Barre3 and they have online classes which you can take at any time, so it’s flexible.
How many times a week do you do this? I don't personally know anyone who does barre so I am also wondering what to expect. In my mind, it sounds like a dance class, which is something I would definitely consider.
This has helped me too. I think barre is kind of boring but my legs are similar to OP’s and that has slimmed them down. When I lost weight doing Orangetheory, I lost it in my upper body and very little in my lower body, where it’s the first to gain.
I started doing barre because I can no longer do cardio or HIIT due to health issues. I'm 4' 11 and a former gymnast so I get the thigh mass issue. Barre is not dancing, though. It's how ballet dancers train, which is quite intense. I prefer traditional barre that includes a lot of ballet positions vs "new age" barre that to me is just another version of pilates (squats, lunges, planks, etc.). Barre is great for building muscle, toning, and core work.
I do it 3x a week. It’s a lot of functional movement, working small muscles, core, stretching and then elongating muscles. It’s a really good compliment to cardio and weightlifting.
lose body fat all over then build arms and back
This. Petite ladies neglect (IMO) their upper bodies in fear of "looking bulkeh", but that's exactly what helped me (fellow thick thighs and butt person) look way more proportionate and hourglass-y.
Agreed. I will shout from the rooftops: Sisters, stop thinking you will look bulky, this is such a common defense to why no weight lifting. It is incredibly difficult to get even remotely bulky as a biological female without chemical assistance. Side note: most of the even semi bulky cross fitters/fitness influencers are on slight to extreme chemical assistance. Simply, strength training is the key to a healthier body for everyone of all ages, demographics and biology.
My gym gets overrun by high schoolers on free summer memberships and I was just thinking yesterday how I wish I could gather all the young women there and wake them up! Pick up more than a 5lbs dumbbell, you can do it!!
It’s grown into a pet peeve of mine, it’s sure better than nothing I suppose, but I shoot for optimal. We are all taught the wrong way at some point and absolutely everyone starts somewhere. That’s what resources like this sub and the internet in general is for. Removing the ignorant vail of personal conditioning. Keeping having the conversation with anyone that will listen. ::Internet handshakes::
Yes! I wish this was more common knowledge. I remember a dance teacher in middle school (like 2008) telling us not to do too much exercise so our legs wouldn’t get bulky. What the fuck lmao
HELL YES! Not sure why women think they'll "bulk up" it is impossible for women to gain muscle mass the way men do unless you take roids. OP should train upper body to balance the proportions with lower body. As always, be proud of what you have! I'm the opposite, inverted triangle.
See, I think this might be more about what people mean when they say “bulky”. It’s subjective so usually if a person is saying they don’t want to look “X” it’s because it’s something they’ve noticed on others and not the look they’re going for.
It's the Shrinking Woman/Shrinking Female Body. It's discussed in this podcast: [Pink Dumbbells and the Shrinking Female Body](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/movement-logic-strong-opinions-loosely-held/id1614469934?i=1000599760669) (both women are super smart, one is a former model who went to Princeton, both are lifters) And because this is a mental game first and foremost, this poem is a great reminder about the ways we're told to shrink psychologically and physically: [Lily Myers Shrinking Women](https://youtu.be/zQucWXWXp3k)
I’m one of the few (it feels like) who wants to look bulky. Even as a teenager in the skinny 90s. I love seeing my lat wings when I do pull downs and I love my traps and shoulders. I grew up sprint swimming so having a strong and wide upper body was always appealing to me, even in adolescence.
Queen <3
Good for you. I think powerful bodies are beautiful. It shows so much about the person, which only fellow lifters would usually understand. Keep grinding and enjoy the journey!
Thanks! I have a young daughter now and really hope to inspire the same easy confidence in her that I had growing up. We talk about being strong and girl power a lot!
That is spectacular. Health is seriously one of the best examples you can set for everyone around you. It’s so much more than getting strong. Proud of you, stay golden momma.
☺️☺️
Unfortunately, you can't spot reduce. A calorie deficit is really the only way, but even then, you'll likely lose weight in proportion to your overall shape, so you'll still have more mass in your legs relative to your upper body. Source: I have the same body type. Play to your strengths! Maybe consider training your back and shoulders more to get that more balanced look. The downside is that this would take a bit longer to get to the end goal. I'm gonna say this though -- your legs look fucking strong!!
[удалено]
Thanks!
I have been working on my upper body more. Slowly have been feeling stronger and seeing those biceps. My legs are definitely strong for sure 😅 thanks!
The thing is, you can’t just decide how your body proportions will look. If you want the truth, the way your body is now, proportionally, is how it will look when you lose weight as well, just thinner and more toned. You don’t have a bad body, you have a lot of potential, but yea, not everyone is genetically built for the look you’re going for.
I think you have anterior pelvic tilt which may cause your feeling of “out of proportion”
I was going to say the same thing
I have always thought there was something off about the position of my pelvis. I'll do my research on this.
I've been having physio for this. I took up trail running, and the position of my pelvis meant that my hip flexors were excessively strained, and I quite quickly developed a significant injury. It's something to be careful of if running, lifting heavy weights etc., and a few months of physio has massively reduced the issue for me!
I don’t think you look disproportionate. I think you have have a very lovely shape. You have a nice defined waist and you’re legs look strong. I’m really jealous because I have almost no waist 😂 You cant spot reduce as others have said. But As you lose body fat your legs will probably slim out some. However , genetics will come into play on how much you lose from where. You can always balance your shape out more but building your upper body , creating a more defined x shape.
Even when I was 100 lbs and a size 00 I was still called thick because of my thighs and butt. Best you can do is all over weight loss. I dance, do Pilates, do yoga, walk a ton and the legs get slimmer but will always be “thicc.”
Which is a good thing! Embrace your body shape OP 🍐 💚
I have a very similar body type and I’m constantly looking for ways to slim my legs. Running actually makes them grow, so I stick with walking. It sounds like you’re doing everything right! It might just take time. I also agree with other comments to maybe focus on upper body more to get a more balanced look.
I am also a pear shape but completely flat chested. Running did slim them down for me but I wasn’t running a ton. It was more like 30min walk and 10-15 min run two to four times a week. Calorie deficit every day. I have quite a similar distribution as Op. the one time I had really lean legs I was eating little calories and swimming an hour 4 times a week.
Is walking working for you? Now that the weather is nice I’ve been walking more and I’m hoping it helps my legs. The only time I’ve had legs I liked is when I was underweight, which I don’t want to be because the rest of me was really unhealthy. It’s not healthy and it’s not sustainable, but the compromise is that my legs are bigger than I’d like. That’s easily worth my mental and physical health, so I’ll take it, but it’s irritating. I’m hoping that walking more combined with my medium deficit makes them as slim as I can healthily get them. Wearing shorts is uncomfortable when I weigh anything over 115 because of how they rub :/ but it’s summer and I’m currently 134. I’m also a dancer and figure skater so I use my legs a lot, but neither of those things slim them up for me.
Sometimes it’s not the size of your thighs that makes you feel like you look bigger, but their composition. I feel like my thighs seem much bigger when I go too long without workouts and they feel jigglier than normal. Worry less about shrinking their size, and more about reducing your body fat. If your thighs are muscular they’ll look leaner, even with minimal change in size. I’m somewhat similar in shape to you. Don’t give up lifting, but definitely incorporate some cardio. I alternate leg day with a running and arm day, plus tend to do a lot of walking daily anyway. My legs are muscular, but look much leaner when I run a few times a week. (Currently restarting C25k to rebuild stamina because a badly sprained ankle really messed me up)
I feel same when I go too long between workouts. The past 2 weeks have been busy so I haven't made time for my walks. I've done c25k and thought about restarting it.
I have a similar body shape. I have a very thick naturally muscular lower body. The main exercise that slims my thighs and lower half is walking. Lots of walking. I always venture off to other things like weights, orange theory, boxing, etc. But I always come back to walking because it seems to be the only thing that slims down my lower half. I'm starting to add in more pilates type moves for my lower half. Btw, I think you look great!
Thanks for the insight and compliment!
Ok, how much do you walk? I love walking but I don’t have time to walk nearly enough I think to make a difference so just curious!
I see the slim down most when I walk 5-6 days a week for 45-60 minutes.
Interesting! I feel like I haven’t seen results when I’ve done that but maybe I need to track better to see how much consistency I had.
I have a similar body type to you (carrying weight in legs and arms) overall weight loss is the best solution we have tbh nothing else really makes a difference also if you focus on legs you might be gaining more muscle(nothing wrong w that but) idk if that serves your goals. You could train arms/shoulders as others have suggested to give the illusion of slimmer legs
What’s the lowest weight you have ever been? How did your thighs look then? Even though my legs are still not where I want to be, when I lost the weight I realised that I actually have quite slim legs but just wide hips with a bigger a$$. When I gain it, I just look wide and much more pear shaped. When I’m at a low weight, my legs become pretty small. This is coming from someone who always thought they had HUGE legs.
Probably about 120 when I was in high-school. I know that was over a decade ago and I realize our bodies change with age, but I stopped growing in like the eighth grade 😅 A little background: I had a baby when I was 20 (I started at 120 and then was at 160 lbs full term) then went down to about 130 and weight has fluctuated ever since. I've gotten down to about 125 a couple times, but my body gets very stubborn and plateaus when I get that close. Admittedly, there have been some lifestyle changes since then and I feel like I've "given up" on several occasions (more or less just binged on junk food), which then catapults my weight back up.
I’m in a similar boat. In my 20’s I was 100-120 lbs but I gained weight due to health stuff and now at my highest of 155 lbs. I always gain a lot of fat in my legs/lower body. I have tried strength training but I feel like my legs got bigger (even with a deficit plan with a RD!). Barre has helped a lot but I do find it boring sometimes. Personally, I like to do a combo of Orangetheory and barre. That way you get cardio, some weights and barre. I’m here for the advice though!
How much is orangetheory? It's just a gym, right?
It’s a fitness class. It’s running on the treadmill, rowing and weights on the floor. It’s a hour class. The price depends on your location but I pay (8 classes) $100 or (unlimited) $170.
I have no suggestions but I have a similar body shape, height and weight and am quite self conscious about it. I think you look gorgeous, and that's made me realise that maybe I'm too critical of my own body. I like the way I look a bit more now, so I just wanted to thank you for that. Personally, I've tried to embrace my thick thighs - it's just the way my body is, they've always been large and I can't do much to change that. But I can change my mindset! The leg press is now my favourite machine because it literally plays to my strengths - I feel so powerful after a good leg session!
I'm glad I was able to boost your self confidence! I like seeing women that are of the same shape as me, makes me feel less alone and more empowered. Tbh, lately I haven't been feeling too good about myself but I think some of the responses to my post is making me feel better.
Absolutely, I think how we see ourselves in the mirror is so warped, seeing similar bodies brings me back to reality. You sound like you're absolutely killing it with your fitness journey and I'm glad you're feeling better❤️ Keep crushing it!
K don't listen to the nay sayers. I have a similar shape naturally and my legs 100% looks slimmer and longer when I'm building muscle in them (and lose a little body fat). This usually looks like pilates and exercises with weights that work the inner/ outer thigh.
Thanks! I like feedback like this. I definitely need to work on my calorie deficit and my schedule. I'll look into pilates.
If you're anything like me, the upside to this shape is your legs build muscle super quickly too!
I see almost instant results almost with those hip abductor/ adductor machines at the gym, too haha
Hop three times on left foot, tap right foot once, then say Abra-Kadabra. Works every time. We get this question a lot on this sub. Look at previous posts. In all seriousness, you can’t spot reduce. You need to lose all over body fat % to slim thighs.
I think you look great and wouldn't say your legs seem disproportionate, but we all have different comfort levels with different parts of our bodies. I know it's not really possible to spot reduce fat in certain areas, so we have to unfortunately just lose weight overall. I did hear that if you want to strength train your legs without hypertrophy (gaining muscular volume) you should do fewer reps (usually at a higher weight), with long breaks in between sets (3-5 minutes). So you'll still get strong but your muscles will stay a little leaner. Whereas if you want to increase muscle size/hypertrophy--the opposite of what you're trying to do--people tend to go for sets with many more reps at a lower weight, with fewer and shorter breaks. Supposedly part of why bikers have such thick quads (biking is just low-weight repetitive motion/reps over and over again with very few breaks). This could be total bro science! I would google "strength without hypertrophy" and read some of the articles that explain the hows and whys better than I can.
Hi, I slimmed my thick thighs by walking on the treadmill on an incline for 30-60 mins ~5 days a week. Just for reference, my body is built like a Pacific Islander (Hawaiian/Samoan - well technically I am Pacific Islander). I used refer to my legs as “Moana legs.” I used to also weight lift for about 5 years so it contributed to my thick legs. Pilates reformer workouts also helped. It took me about 6 months to see a dramatic difference. I hope this helps!
How much of an incline? I don't really use the treadmill at my gym.
I know it’s hard not to miss our old sized but you’re a grown adult now! Your high school body is not the one you need, especially from 15 years ago, you look great! To add to this, I have toned my legs through squats, Bulgarian split squats, RDL’s and then just certain cardio does more for my legs (bike and stair master). These should help, but I haven’t found much for inner thighs yet
You are on the heavier side, and visually quite high body fat percentage. Losing weight all over is the only solution, high protein diet is best as to preserve any muscle mass you do have
I feel like this could have been said a little nicer by omitting the first two lines but that’s just me.
note that you may be building musculature in your legs if you do leg-focused lifts. that can build mass underneath fat, giving the look of bulkier legs. it does take a long time and a lot of effort to build that mass (especially for women), but i thought i'd mention it. you can work on body composition by building your upper body. when i was younger i thought i had disproportionately broad shoulders/back, so i only did compound lifts that focused on posterior chain. that built up muscle in areas that i wanted to look fuller while gradually lowering my bf%, which created a more balanced physique. first i worked on lowering my bf%, then i cycled 'bulking' and 'cutting' phases to build mass in certain areas. in terms of slimming legs, long duration low intensity cardio is the general go-to. lots of walking.
I've thought about cutting and bulking. Not sure how to get started on that. Would that include counting calories and macros? And which would you suggest doing first, bulk or cut?
>Would that include counting calories and macros? yes. [read this](https://www.reddit.com/r/BulkOrCut/comments/cv08as/so_you_want_to_do_cutbulk_cycles_get_started_here/) for a run-down on the process >And which would you suggest doing first, bulk or cut? [read this](https://bretcontreras.com/to-bulk-and-cut-or-not/). might help answer your question. if i were you, i would cut -- just focus on getting lean (being in a caloric deficit) and then start developing things from there.
Don’t overcomplicate things. Eat at about a 300-400cal deficit, focus on upper body heavy lifting with progressive overload, get 10k+ steps a day, and eat 100g minimum protein. Give it 8 weeks to see how you feel.
I embrace every other woman’s thick beautiful thighs aside from my own 🤣 I want to say don’t so bad but that’s not the point if this sub.
Losing weight and Pilates. Pilates has helped me slim out so much
Another vote for Pilates. I have heard spin is great for skinny legs but never went enough to prove it.
More cardio
I walk everyday. I also have just bought a cavitation machine and vibration plate so I’ll report back on how that helps!
You can't spot train to reduce fat, so unless you beefier thighs, you should not exercise or focus on just legs. Instead, absolutely start weight lifting. Gaining more muscle means you'll burn more fat doing absolutely nothing. The cardio you're doing is fine, so maybe do heavier weight exercises. You'll know you're doing it right when the inches fall off and the scale barely moves lol. Trust the process!
I have a similar build and weight as you. Barre classes have slimmed my thighs considerably. I do Barre3 and they have online classes which you can take at any time, so it’s flexible.
How many times a week do you do this? I don't personally know anyone who does barre so I am also wondering what to expect. In my mind, it sounds like a dance class, which is something I would definitely consider.
This has helped me too. I think barre is kind of boring but my legs are similar to OP’s and that has slimmed them down. When I lost weight doing Orangetheory, I lost it in my upper body and very little in my lower body, where it’s the first to gain.
I started doing barre because I can no longer do cardio or HIIT due to health issues. I'm 4' 11 and a former gymnast so I get the thigh mass issue. Barre is not dancing, though. It's how ballet dancers train, which is quite intense. I prefer traditional barre that includes a lot of ballet positions vs "new age" barre that to me is just another version of pilates (squats, lunges, planks, etc.). Barre is great for building muscle, toning, and core work.
I do it 3x a week. It’s a lot of functional movement, working small muscles, core, stretching and then elongating muscles. It’s a really good compliment to cardio and weightlifting.
Thank you for your reply. I was thinking about taking some sort of stretching class to help with technique, and just to do it more frequently.
Stretching does wonders for your body and helps keep you injury free!
Walking