Posts by aedansma

You do NOT want to lose muscle, because if you lose actual muscle you will either need to add the same amount elsewhere on your body or accept that you are LOWERING your metabolism drastically. Muscle needs are a HUGE portion of WHY we eat - its a huge bit of our metabolisms period.

I have danced all my life, and I have STRONG legs. I also did many different sprints and assorted 'burst" sports (which need powerful shorter muscles instead of longer ones) and i can honestly say....

The more you work a muscle, the smaller (tighter) it gets.

I also have laboratory confirmed high level testosterone for a female so i build muscle very easily when i weight train. (therefore i do higher reps so i don't build bulk as easily)

It could just be that you are a strong person with larger muscular legs and a good portion of your extra weight is evenly distributed over the leg as well ( i have that)

But much fashion is made for skinny legs. i don't fight it. Wear a shorter skirt instead and show off those sexy legs! muscle is GOOD and in females, it is very very difficult to get BULK. Most women have to work very hard and methodically to even get the appearance of bulk when they want it!

As for boredom on the treadmill....have you taken a look at itrain.com ? they have a treadmill workout that is 40 minutes long treadmill ballet which also incorporates semi-ballet style body sculpting as well. Dancers have VERY strong legs....but they low body fat is what makes them look lean ( that and they work to elongate the muscles with their movements and stretches. )

I find itrain keeps me on the treadmill pushing myself when i normally would quit of boredom on my own. Worth a look.

And, the lower your body fat ( note i did not say weight. dieting only had me at a lower weight but ended up higher body fat than when i excercised....which only made the scale happy, not me!) the leaner your legs will look. I didn't think i had much fat on my legs because they were FIRM and HARD. Still when i lost 60 pounds, my legs stayed as firm and hard, but those inches kept going down anyway.

moral of the story: exercise and maintaining/gaining that muscle is the ONLY way to get lean legs ( or anything ) and lower your body fat, along with eating for fat loss (not just weight loss) (40-30-30 is the ratio my trainer currently is working with me) and it seems to be working great so far!! And my energy is better.

itrain is good tho...i am happy i found it

love your strong legs...just work em and make them happy and you will find people do love curvy legs :)

Take a look at some fitness models and fitness competitors - gorgeous VERY strong let lean legs....hardly small - but simply gorgeous. I have a big butt and i use Marzia Prince as my guide - NOT thin legs, full rounded butt - but lean. I had to find a goal with my own size issues proportionally -- i will NEVER have bird legs and a flat butt so i finally (at 36!) had to accept i needed to find someone gorgeous with larger legs and bum as a motivator :)

i gained the same amount of weight with my pregnancy so i know how you feel :)

 Hate to admit it to myself, but the thing that did it for me was ensuring  i didnt overeat carbs, tried to eat at least half my carbs as vegetables and the odd piece of fruit and eat no more than 50% carbs each day.  This is moderate, not low carb but low carb after baby = really really low energy.  Body still recuperating :)  Also mae sure i ate protein at EVERY meal and eat small meals instead of traditional plates. 

AND EXERCISE.  I forced myself to walk 45minutes to an hour each day!!  If i had to wake up early an take my son in the stroller I did. 

 And carrying a LARGE baby worked awesomeas weight lfiting too because i got fabulously defined muscles. 

I know the walking and weight (him!) was a HUGE part of because when i stopped both (he is walking now) i gained back 20 of the EIGHTY i lost - now have to lose it again.,  iT WAS A good lesson though because now i am really convinced of the importance of eating healthy but moderately and how my metabolism (which has always been hideous when not exercising) just geared up after a few months of daily exercise.  I hated doing it but man i learned to LOVE the resullts. I just need to get back into it again, once again its hard for me to fit it in my day but i am determined to find a way - even if its 20 morning and 20 at night. 

I was a sight to behold, overweight sometimes crying from postpartum and huffing as I pushed my little boy around in the stroller LOL  The walking is so fabulous for so many things, health, endurance, the sun for mood (exercise for mood too) and assisting body composition changes (which i now prefer over weight loss...i want to LOOK good not tell people I weigh 135 and look smaller but flabby lol)

 Behind the rambling, in short:  eat in moderation, eat smaller regularly, eat protein with each meal, eat EFAs (help satiate you and in general just awesome for you) and regular daily exercise (i took a weekend day off sometimes two)

Plain and boring and wouldnt sell a million diet books but i have learned thats the way it really works :)  Darn that! lol

 YOu can do it, i dieted my whole life and stayed 20 pounds overweight and it was the exercise i think that made the biggest difference.  Dieting just reduces your metabolism further.  Moderate calories + exercise = WOOHOO

:)