Cankles

I began running in August. I have run 30-50 minutes 3-5 times a week consistently. I love how it has toned my thighs, hips, given me a flat tummy, and toned arms but....  i think i am starting to form cankles. I asked my boyfriend who was away for 4 months at medical school and i now live with in the caribbean while he attends medical school if they looked bigger and when i turn to the side he says, yeah, they look a bit bigger and like they may be forming cankles.

Is there a way to prevent this or should i switch from running to elipticals or power walking for an hour?

You are 5'11" and 126 lbs. Cankles are a physical impossibility on your person.

You are very thin. Perhaps you just are using some using some muscles you haven't used before and it's more noticeable because of your build

If your boy friend thinks you have cankles then it's time to get a new boyfriend.

I highly doubt that you have *cankles* at your size. I agree, it's pretty impossible. The only thing I can think of is that maybe you are on your feet too much or you are doing too much running and you are experiencing swelling in your ankle area. This could always be caused by too much sodium and not enough water. One or the other, but definitely not cankles. :P

Maybe the running has eaten up your calf muscle, so now your calves and ankles are the same size?

But seriously, there's no way you have cankles.

 Your boyfriend needs to see an optician immediately, there's something seriously wrong with his eyes.

 You might want to crosstrain a bit for injury prevention purposes, but I see no particular reason to stop running if you like what you're doing. Are you training for a particular event, like a 5K or Race for the Cure?

Yeah, not cankles. Since you're thin, the only thing that could look like cankles is if your little ankle bump bones are losing their definition due to swelling. That might look sort of like a cankle.

Actually, your boyfriend is a (pre-)doctor, so he probably knows what he is talking about. If he says cankles, I say cankles. Or he could be teasing you. If you do form full blown cankles, please post more pictures because they would look awesomely hilarious on someone of your build. :)

It's simple. Your ankles have a bone in them and it's not physically possible for them to get to be less than a certain diameter, and the rest of your legs are so very thin now that your ankles look fat in comparison. If your ankles really ARE swelling I'd see a doctor asap - your bmi is very low and it could be affecting your heart or your kidneys, which is a very very bad thing.

Cankles are something you either have or you don't.  Like attached earlobes.  You cannot "get" them, unless you get diabetes or something.  You don't gain fat or muscle there.  You and your boyfriend are hallucinating.

You are the same age as my neice who lives in SAN D, and if you went to Torrey Pines,  then  i know why you  have a very distorted view of what the human body should look like.  Looking at your Pictures, you look like a lovely young woman who is ready to embace what ever the world has to offer,  If your ankles are hurting, get it looked in to,  Personally, and I am sorry if this hurts,,,  I think your boyfriend sounds like a huge a**hole.  Move back home

OK here is an edit, just looked at your Gallery, is that your boyfriend pic?  Girl... if it is ? again, I am sorry, you deserve MUCH better than that.  You are WAY to pretty to be hangin out with that :/ And yeah I figured out that Matt is the guy in the middle.

Congrats, you have an emotionally abusive boyfriend. Enjoy your body image disorder.

yikes, these replies turned sort of ugly!

I was working under the assumption that this was a sort of lighthearted post. You are a lovely girl and you don't have cankles. Some people seem to be unhappy and a little judgmental today... Maybe it's because they've been in sitting on the computer all night on a friday.

Don't worry, they're probably just swollen! It's probably not even noticeable and will end up going away.

 When I sprained my ankles I had horrifying cankles!  

"Based upon your current Body Mass Index (BMI) of 17.6, you are currently classed as underweight." (from the BMI tool).

Cankles should be the least of your concerns.

really if your boyfriend is premed he should be smart enough to know that a comment like that could be triggering.

anyway i think you have a fabulous body, nice thin, lean legs.  in fact i honestly think your body looks equally as nice as the models (the body you want in your profile).

running may make your calf a bit more muscular but running will not make or give you a cankle (that would require making the bottom portion of the leg by the ankle thicker).

you really do look like a surfer girl =).    

and i disagree with kajikit your ankles do not look fat in comparison there is nothing on your legs that llook fat at all.

Okay, let's suppose a person does get on this thread that actually DOES have Cankles.....Okay, like me.  Is there anything that can be done to elongage the calf?  I mean can you do stretching or an exercise that can help that?

Geesh!  If I sit on my butt all day at work does that give me boinkles? 

ummmmm cankles are when the calves are a very similar size to the ankle, if you DO indeed hae CANKLES, then its because your calves are too skinny.

 Or it could be that you're dressing in an unflattering manner - actual cankles are much rarer than unflattering ankle-less boots and shoes or dresses and jeans that end in the wrong place.

 When it comes to calves, training them is tricky - bodybuilders say that calves are 70% genetic, and the other 30% is genetic.

 Yeah, like that - they're mostly connective tissue and Type I slow-twitch fibre and neither of those respond well to training for size, though high-rep work (15-20) has anectdotally worked for some people.

Original Post by corduroyfirekills3:

Yeah, not cankles. Since you're thin, the only thing that could look like cankles is if your little ankle bump bones are losing their definition due to swelling. That might look sort of like a cankle.

Actually, your boyfriend is a (pre-)doctor, so he probably knows what he is talking about. If he says cankles, I say cankles. Or he could be teasing you. If you do form full blown cankles, please post more pictures because they would look awesomely hilarious on someone of your build. :)

 Your boy friend may want to hit the books more. No way do you even look like you have "cankles". You look under weight from your toes to the top of your head.

Original Post by corduroyfirekills3:

yikes, these replies turned sort of ugly!

I was working under the assumption that this was a sort of lighthearted post. You are a lovely girl and you don't have cankles. Some people seem to be unhappy and a little judgmental today... Maybe it's because they've been in sitting on the computer all night on a friday.

 Okay, I get it, we were mean about the cankles...  but let me make this post about ME for a minute... ( ;)  now I am trying to be lighthearted...)

"Cankles" is one of the most derogatory "fat person" words.  It's a huge joke, like "muffin top" times 100000 and the general consensus is that cankles are only for obese people and if you have them, you are a hideous troll and need to have them covered at all times. 

But the calf-to-ankle ratio is TOTALLY GENETIC!!!  I have seen HUGE women with tiny, spindly ankles that can barely support them...and then there's me.

I am now 5'7.5"...size zero...pretty trim by any account.  But I have got some SERIOUS cankles.  My calves are large comparatively, 14 inches at the widest part (makes my jeans tight) and my ankles are 9.5 inches at the narrowest.  That means I have never, and never will, wear an ankle bracelet because they do not come in my size (this was a much bigger deal in the 90s when ankle bracelets were popular...but still).

So, I am generally pretty comfortable and happy with my body...but we all have our insecurities, and while I at least have accepted that i will always have cankles, I am still very embarrased about them. 

So anyway, not to be unsupportive of the original poster, but it PUSHES MY BUTTONS to have someone complaining that they are "getting cankles" when (a) you cannot "get" them, and (b) no...original poster, you are not getting cankles.  Obviously you have never seen a real cankle if you think you are getting them.  I could take a picture of my ankles to show you, but you would DIE of horror.

I suppose this is why people lash out when very thin people complain that they are "getting fat" if they wear a size 2, or when a person with real, legitimate hyposthyroidism has to listen to yet another lazy person claim to have the disease when, in fact, they are just using it as an excuse to gain weight without taking responsibility.

So, corduroyfirekills3, in response to your other post today, yes, this site is for giving support, but it is also a collection of people with their own insecurities and issues, and hearing someone belittle something that is a real issue in one's life is sure to make anyone snappish.

And to the OP, boys can be silly and say thoughtless things.  Trust me, you don't have cankles.