Where you put weight on

rantyface

Hi,

Is your shape just genetically determined or can diet and exercise change it?

My ribs are just about visible but my thighs are 20.5'' and I'm only 5'3''! Should I just forget about them and accept that I'll never have slim legs? It always seems taller girls have proportionally slimmer legs.

My diet is good bar the odd binge and I'm a healthy weight.

Wonkagirl

yeah my thighs are my problem too. i've been working my ass off in the past yr to slim them down, and while they're reasonably slim now (running and weight training), they're definitely still a size bigger than the rest of me.. my arms,ribs/midriff etc are all a size 8 but i really dont think my thighs will ever allow me in to anything less than a 10 in jeans/trousers

still though, i'd rather carry weight there than on my belly or arms!

El_Dangeroso

FWIW, carrying weight on your thighs is the healthiest place to carry it. People with large thighs or bottoms have been observed to exhibit a reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes, belly fat (specifically visceral fat, the fat between your organs) is the 'dangerous' type of fat.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/339/sep03_2/b3292

Fat deposition is determined by genetics, diet and hormones. As far as I know there's no way to lose fat from your thighs without losing it elsewhere too, open to correction though if anyone has any of their own special tips.

Wonkagirl

that's good to know temple!

I am getting 10 sessions of endermologie done before my hols in sept. will report back if there's any thigh shrinkage, am going to get them measured before and after.

EileenG

There is one way to lose the hip and thigh fat, but it's a bit drastic - Breastfeed. Nature stockpiles that fat on the female body for the specific purpose of making sure there will be enough calories to make milk for the baby, even if there is a famine. And during breastfeeding is the only time the female body will willing give up that fat.

I don't mean breastfeeding is drastic, it's how babies should be fed. Just getting pregnant so you can breastfeed would be drastic.

Dotcomdolly

EileenG wrote: »

I don't mean breastfeeding is drastic, it's how babies should be fed. Just getting pregnant so you can breastfeed would be drastic.

And the subsequent 18+ years!!

I put on & carry any extra weight around my rib cage.

EileenG

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

And the subsequent 18+ years!!

I put on & carry any extra weight around my rib cage.

That's a bad news/good news situation. Bad because it's the worst place to carry it. Good because a good low carb diet is the most effective way to shift it. Weight on the hips and thighs will respond to any low calorie diet, but very very slowly.

metamorphosis

It's hard for me to know really where - i find i put on weight over a few places when i do put some on. Im a male so don't have (or notice) the thigh problem. My waist is usually a tell tale sign for me. Even if i go up a small amount the belt tells me. My lower leg and arms too.

nimhbal

I'm pretty much the same, most of my weight is on my hips and thighs - they are really out of proportion with the rest of my body. have tried everything to shift it, but interesting that running and weight training worked - might focus alittle more on that!!

I-Shot-Jr

I put weight on in KFC.

rantyface

EileenG wrote: »

Weight on the hips and thighs will respond to any low calorie diet, but very very slowly.

I haven't found that they've changed AT ALL while I've gone from size 12 to size 6-8 and that has been very gradual and not deliberate.

I have heard that pilates and yoga can lengthen out your muscles. Is this true? I also have very muscular legs under the fat, which doesn't help.

EileenG

No, nothing "lengthens" muscles, any more than you can lengthen bones. But yoga and Pilates are great for working the core muscles very hard, so you look taller and thinner.

Chances are the size of your muscle is less significant that you think. Take a look at this www.stumptuous.com/honesty-is-the-best-policy and scroll down to the cross section.

There was a study on overweight women who exercised on spin bikes for three months. One group did regular cardio (moderate activity for about 40 minutes at a time), while the other group did HIIT (high speed sprints followed by slower recovery periods) for 20 minutes three times a week. The HIIT group lost more hip and thigh fat than the control group.

Wonkagirl

yeah, my keepfit.ie instructor says the very same- that you burn more fat doing a 10 min interval run than a 30 min jog.. we did 12 x 200m sprints last nite, with 45 second boxing drill ''breaks'' in between- i'm feeling it in the thighs this morning!

Thumpette

I seem to carry all my weight on my belly area

In the past 6 months I've lost a fair bit of weight and it came off in the following order

Shoulders and collarbone showed the loss first
In the space of a couple of weeks my bum has more of less dissapeared
Hips and thighs reduce
Weight around the ribcage
Belly slowly starts to reduce- still have a bit of a tyre- no change in size to boobs!

poconnor16

Thumpette wrote: »

I seem to carry all my weight on my belly area

In the past 6 months I've lost a fair bit of weight and it came off in the following order

Shoulders and collarbone showed the loss first
In the space of a couple of weeks my bum has more of less dissapeared
Hips and thighs reduce
Weight around the ribcage
Belly slowly starts to reduce- still have a bit of a tyre- no change in size to boobs!

I lose weight in the exact same way...I too carry it all round the middle and its usually the last to go. Do you low carb Thumpette?

nimhbal

EileenG wrote: »

There was a study on overweight women who exercised on spin bikes for three months. One group did regular cardio (moderate activity for about 40 minutes at a time), while the other group did HIIT (high speed sprints followed by slower recovery periods) for 20 minutes three times a week. The HIIT group lost more hip and thigh fat than the control group.

What would be a good reccomendation for a HIIT programme? Wld beginning the Couch to 5k be a beginning? Or would you be better off sprinting for 1 min walking 2, etc and building that up?

Wonkagirl

yeah, complete the C25k, then introduce intervals..

we normally do 10 mins of intervals as follows (i'll leave out the 5 min warm up)

0-3 mins: Jog 10 seconds, Sprint 5 seconds- repeat for 3 mins
30 second recovery jog

3mins30- 6mins30, jog 10 seconds, sprint (and i mean flat out) for 5 seconds, repeat

30 second recovery jog

7- 10 mins- sprint 5 seconds, jog 5 seconds.

much tougher than it sounds, you'd be pumping sweat by the end. The important thing is there's a serious change of pace between the 2.

You can more fitness and burn more fat from that than you would a 30 min jog.

definitely finish the C25k first though. you need that to have the right base for interval training really.

Sprinting for 1 min is a bit much to ask- you can really only sprint at full capacity for 60 metres before compromising speed.

on the treadmill in the gym i do it slightly differently, I do a 10 min interval run which involves 30 seconds at 15km per/hour, then 30 seconds at 11km per/hour.. it's the changes of pace that really benefit you.

who.dunnit

I'm the same, weight on my thighs and lower abdomen, about a size smaller on top. Apparently running is good for it? I find if i tone up my thighs tone up slightly but i never drop a jeans size!!

nimhbal

Thanks Wonka Girl that sounds great will try it out. Will def build up stamina on the C25k first.

Delicate_Dlite

I'm the same, no matter how much weight I lose or train, my thighs aren't going anywhere.

I'm kind of happy with my overall weight/size but, dear God my thighs depress me! I can't get jeans/trousers to fit as they fit the thighs and gape up to 3/4 inches at the waist.

I'm 5'6, 124lbs, female. Any way to slim them, or should I just focus on lipo?:o:confused::(

Wonkagirl

well you're definitely not overweight or anything like it DD, i'm about the same, 5'7 and 122lbs as well.. i wear a size 8 in tops/dresses but im lucky to fit into a 10 in jeans/trousers.

Endermologie for the thighs is definitely worth looking into to. I'm trying it next month pre-holidays. U need about 10 sessions- which you pay 500 eur for.. we're worth it Im getting it done in NuEssence on sth anne st but lots of places do it, where do you live? google it..

Delicate_Dlite

Oh I know, I'm not fat, just unhappy with the porportion of my body, if that makes sense.

On top, I've a D-cup, so I'm an 8/10. It's only my thighs that I hate enough to want to change with surgery. (prefer to do it with exercise/diet if possible though.):o

I goggled that, it seems that it only work on cellulite, which I don't have. My thighs are just large, untoned, no orange peel (yet :rolleyes:). Is it a suitable treatment for large uncellulited thighs?

Love to know how you find it!

Wonkagirl

no you lose inches as well as cellulite- infact my friend who had it done lost more inches than cellulite. will report back!

maggot12345

Mine is all lodged around my middle with skinny legs and arms and non existant bum at this stage. I call my belly my new ass:D My boobs also seems to take the weight. I'd love if it would go on my rear end. It's almost impossible to get jeans for this shape that look nice.:(

jam_mac_jam

belly and boobs. not even my belly all middle kind of area.quite skinny legs and then a stupid belly, sigh. I am size ten to eight bottom and 12 top, stupid boobs.

Sapsorrow

I'm a pear shape too, although I as I get older I'm becoming more hour glass shaped (I'm at 34",26",36" these days) probably to do with hormones of some sort making fat deposit on my arms and shoulders more and partly to do with being lower carb lately and so getting an even smaller waist than I used to. I'm not complaining about my proportions though, it's a HELL of a lot easier to hide a pair of chunky thights than it is a belly or bingo wings, I just wear really flattering dresses all the time and no one's the wiser, I'd say my boyfriend doesn't even know it I could probably do something about it with weight training but I really can't be arsed... get it... bad dum bum! :pac: