I've reached my target, should I lose more weight?

I'm 18 and when I started calorie count about 2 years ago I was at my heaviest - 68 kg/150 lb - and it had made me overweight as I was 5'4 tall back then. 

Long story short, I began to make changes and eat healthier and include exercise in my life. I had relapses too but today I finally reached my goal of 58 kg/130 lb and now I'm 5'5 tall so it kinda helps to look thinner too haha. It took me two years because my metabolism is awfully slow. 

My collarbone is very visible now (sometimes it scares me) but not in a skeleton way I guess. I've noticed my arms and legs are smaller and lots of my clothes are too big for me now.

It's all good, except for the thighs. I admit they got a bit smaller but they are still too much! When I stand normally, there's only a tiny gap between them, and I was always so shy about my huge tighs. I guess having an hourglass body shape isn't perfect. I've researched about it and it seems like all the fat is deposited in tighs and hips, and none on the stomach and around waist which I'm thankful for (flat stomach and tiny waist) but my tighs REALLY bother me and are the main reason I hate swimming. 

Should I lose more weight to make them smaller, or I should just give up?!

According to BMI the lowest weight I can have and still be healthy is 52 kg/114 lb, but I feel fit and amazing now. It's just the freaking thighs. 

Eh.. :/ Truthfully, if you are not satisfied with your body you could afford to lose a few more pounds, considering that it would still be healthy in the normal BMI range for your height :) If that is what makes you happy, then do it ^^ If you were able to get to this point with determination then you can do much more :D But.. It may just be how you see yourself.. If your legs don't even touch they probably are not as big as they seem to you.. It is probably just your perception of yourself.. I have the same problem except I am actually underweight, severely underweight, and I see fat where there is none.. :/ But.. For you, either way is fine. :) As long as you love yourself ^-^

While I do understand, I still think that "normal" women's thighs don't really have a gap? I've only met rather thin women with a gap :)

When I was 67 kg (I'm 5'6) people would say I had gotten close to being too thin. So it's really about muscle mass and body type.
I can also, BMI-wise, weigh around 52-53 without being underweight. But based on my (back then) muscle mass and body type, my doctor recommended I shouldn't weigh less than 64 kg. She recommended I should be 64-68 kgs. 

SO what I'm thinking is that maybe you should consult your doctor and ask? Or maybe you can have your fat percentage measured by a trainer? That way you will know if you have unheatlhy fat to lose.  
Or if your thighs are actually muscles. 

You can also measure your thighs and other body parts with a measuring tape. Maybe you can find other girls measurements online and compare what is "normal". (thighs compared to waist/hip and so forth) 


 If you feel fit and amazing now, maybe just stay healthy and try to tone your thighs? If you build muscle in them, they can look more lean and thin as opposed to flabby. 

- But then again, I don't know the condition of your thighs :) And some of us just has bigger thighs, where some has bigger bellies and so on.

Good luck! 

You should lift weights.  If you change your body composition, your thighs will get thinner.  New Rules of Lifting for Women, Female Body Breakthrough, Starting Strength, etc.

Definitely find out what your body fat percentage is. It's a better indicator of health than BMI.  Also, I agree with metteris. Your thighs could actually be muscle. If that's it, you can make the gap bigger by shaping the muscles with certain types of exercise. Pilates is supposed to help. Try the pop pilates videos on youtube. (She posts under blogilates and blogilatestv.)

Original Post by piano_princess:

Definitely find out what your body fat percentage is. It's a better indicator of health than BMI.  Also, I agree with metteris. Your thighs could actually be muscle. If that's it, you can make the gap bigger by shaping the muscles with certain types of exercise. Pilates is supposed to help. Try the pop pilates videos on youtube. (She posts under blogilates and blogilatestv.)

You can't shape your muscles with Pilates. If your thighs are fat, it's probably fat over muscle, which is what causes them to look bulky.  

Not that I know a ton about women's fitness, but I would have to agree with smashley, have you thought about lifting weights?

Thigh gaps are rarely about how thin you are. I've seen exceedingly thin women with no gap at all.. it's actually got more to do with your hips and how your legs are attached.. in other words.. genetic. Structural... and not anything you can change without surgery. 

I agree with smashley, since you are now at a healthy weight, I strongly suggest you begin to eat at maintenance level and start a weight training program (such as any of the ones smashley posted: all excellent). 

Do not try to lose any more weight. Change your focus instead!

At this point, a strength training program will do more to change and improve your shape and body composition than any other form of exercise.

You may not be destined for more slender thighs. It is not physically possible for everyone. But IF you still have some fat there, then a weight training program (incorporating composition movements such as squats and lunges) will help you.

Example: Me: I began losing weight with diet and a moderate amount of exercise. Weight went down, clothing size got smaller. Great. Then I started weight training. OMG. I lost INCHES off my thighs .. so fast! What was I doing?.. mostly squats and lunges with a 40 lb backpack (BTW: I gradually went up to that weight). 

Weights (heavy ones) = your friend.

I know how you feel - when I was 18, I was sure I had the biggest thighs in the world (I weighed 117 and was 5' 5 1/4"), but even though I was insecure about them, no one else ever mentioned it. Now that I'm ancient (well 48) with a bit more experience in the world, I have noticed there are lots of different body types - some have peg legs, some have thicker ones, but there is quite a wide range among all of them, even among skinny people. Just look at the gymnasts that are competing this weekend to see what a wide range there is. 

Hi! I didn't read through the other ladies posts yet so im sorry if I repeat anything already said, first congratulations on your hard work!! Secondly this is my thought, you said you feel healthy at happy at the weight you are at just unhappy with ur thighs?, SO if u are naturally an hour glass shape, chances are even with weightless, you will have slightly bigger thighs, but u really don't need any loss. I would recommend doing Pilates and yoga and focusing on ur legs and hips- I love Pilates and yoga and the point of these excersizes is to lengthen and tone, to create a long lean body- perhaps that is your best answer?? Simply because you stated you feel healthy and happy at this weight, why not just try excersizes that are made for creating a long lean look?

Pilates cannot lengthen your body, despite their marketing techniques.

First of all, you can't lengthen your muscles unless you use a torture device to stretch your body.  

Second of all, Pilates are a rehabilitative exercise.  It was designed for injured war veterans who needed to rehabilitate their core muscles.  

Yoga is a practice of seeking salvation through meditation.  

No I know what ur saying,i guess what i really meant was creating lean muscles and not adding bulk, it's more for toning which may be what she is looking for, but u are correct, that is how they advertise which is odd. Yoga is a form of meditation but NOT at all just that- yoga can kick your ass, especially if you are doing intermediate to advanced Ashtunga yoga or bikram yoga, or some vinyasa flow yoga's- depends on the class u take. I have been doing yoga for years now, it really can be very challenging and I definatly work up a sweat doing it, some yoga is meant for easy stretching and meditation, others are much more intense but all focus on body positions in which you are using your own body as "strength training".

I became quite toned on yoga alone, and the occasional walks with my kids, that's all I do. I recently added some Pilates, that may be how Pilates started but it is an amazing form of excersize, and also can be quite difficult. Even after years of advanced yoga, Pilates can be tough, I stick with beginners/ to intermediate classes for now.

Keep in mind while the above will definately help a good part of weight distribution is also genetic. Even when I was down to a good healthy weight I still had a pear shape, as that is the shape that runs in my mom's family.

 

^^^^^ absolutely- you are totally Right, a lot of our shape is genetic- but it this is simply extra fat on her thighs or midsection, toning can help. You are right though, it's really important to remember our genetic shapes as well