Slimming thighs?

horseshowmom

horseshowmom

Cathlete
First off, I confess, my diet needs cleaning up....but...I significantly increased my cardio in January...typical week.... 4 days ~ 90 minutes, 2 days ~60 minute minimum...combination of running, walking, elliptical and spinning, doing a combo of steady state, intervals, high intensity. I'm also upping my weight training to *go heavy!*, but have also added lots of yoga, kettlebell, and pilates. Today I measured and in 1 month, my thighs have grown a full inch!!!!! (no weight gain, hips down 1/2 an inch,waist down 2")What the heck!?!?!? I swear it's the spinning? Suggestions ,my knowledgable friends?

Thanks for any advice,opinions,comments! :D

Becky
 
Do you notice a difference in how your thighs actually look? I know they measure bigger, but do you see more muscle, are they more defined? If you had any cellulite, has it diminished? If you answer yes to these questions, I would say that you've lost some fat and gained some muscle in that area.
 
Becky
I have no degree in exercise and nutrition and there are a numerous ladies here far more knowledgeable in this area but here are my two cents.

Even if you did notice and increase in your thighs, it is most likely muscle. While the thought of having bigger legs may be disconcerting, remember that with more muscle your metabolism will increase. Resulting in more fat loss in the long run which I would say far outweighs the size increase. Eventually any fat that you may have particularly in the thighs, and I do not know if you do or don't, will come off. That is just my humble and uneducated guess of course. Hopefully some of the other ladies who are far better educated will be able to correct me if I am wrong and share their insights and knowledge.
Best of luck,
Booboo
 
sounds like muscle

And it may be the spinning. I always notice fat loss in the thigh area from running intervals 3x a week. The clean diet is key. But, so is keeping the calories up from eating enough protein and good fats. Try shifting to organic dairy and skipping nuts for a week. Dairy and nuts tend to have hormones which can interfere with fat loss. That said, I still think its muscle based on the other measurements on your body.
 
Thank you ladies!
I know it's 90% diet/nutrition, but it's soooooo much easier for me to do the workouts!:( Must clean up the food...it's 71 here today, so shorts are coming out soon!
 
Um, can I also mention that perhaps it was a bad day to measure? Sometimes we retain water... either due to cyclical matters, high sodium intake the day prior, or simply from muscle repair (did you do a leg workout the day prior?). Try measuring tomorrow and double check the figures. I know water goes straight to my thighs! (fat too :eek:)
 
Last fall I had a month long period when I did far more cardio and far less strength training ... I was on travel, which meant I was down to the hotel exercise room and my exercise band.

What I found is that I began to pick up a little body fat (according to my Tanita and also my tape measure, jeans and eyesight) despite burning more calories (according to my HRM). I put it down to burning up muscle from too much cardio. [edited afterwards - steady state long duration cardio, as opposed to interval training]

Whether that was the right diagnosis I don't know - but as soon as I shifted back to more strength training and reduced my cardio again, the body fat shifted back where it had been. There was no weight change. And my travel schedule is just as bad, so it wasn't the hotel meals that made the difference :)

Don't know if that helps - we're all so different!
 
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Nevermind..I was going to suggest jogging but i see that you already do that. I started jogging faithfully back on janurary first and my thighs went down 3/4 of an inch in one month.

Good Luck to you!
 
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Just another thought: If you have alot of muscle in your thighs and want to slim them, then don't lift heavy with your legs and do more of an endurance or freestyle workout.

You can search for "freestyle" and find loads of threads. That type of workout will usually slim the thigh but keep it toned. Do you have Leaner Legs? That is a freestyle type of Cathe workout - or some of the others where she uses body weight for the legs/lunges.
 
Sunshine1528 said:
Just another thought: If you have alot of muscle in your thighs and want to slim them, then don't lift heavy with your legs and do more of an endurance or freestyle workout.

You can search for "freestyle" and find loads of threads. That type of workout will usually slim the thigh but keep it toned. Do you have Leaner Legs? That is a freestyle type of Cathe workout - or some of the others where she uses body weight for the legs/lunges.
Click to expand...

Would you consider B&G that type of workout? I think the leg portion of Legs & Back Ripper from P90X falls into that category, too..
 
I agree with Jacque. I know people say that women don't bulk up with going heavier, but I think it's individual. I slim down with muscle endurance weights and my clothes get tighter (especially in my thighs) when I do Gym Styles and Pyramids (they slim a bit with 4DS though -- not sure why).
 
You ladies are the best! Thank you for all your suggestions and comments!
This forum has such a wealth of educated fitness minded women, I don't know what I'd do without you! Thank you!
 
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