teenager - 17 years old - need help with problem areas, mostly thighs

Hey everyone, i'm 17 years old, 5'7'' and i weigh 135 lbs. Although this does seem like a reasonable weight, and my BMI is 21, I know that I need to lose weight. My problem areas are defiently my thighs. That's it. Can't get any fat off my thighs. I exercise often. I walk a lot, I dance, I run a couple times per week, etc... However, they remain the same. This has nothing to do with genetics either. My parents and sister all look like manequins.  I'm the only "husky" kid. I'm exaggerating a bit but you get the point. I want to lose weight and look great by June 25th. My goal weight is 110 or 120 lbs. Any tips?

I really think it is genetics. I'm 5'6", and at one point I lost weight down to 115, and realized that there was a small difference in my thighs that the scale and tape measure both revealed, but I still looked more or less the same. Then I realized that I was just built to have that body shape, and will never have the trim, slender thighs that my sister has.

genetics, eh? *sigh. well if it is genetics, then that sucks. lol. well thanks for the reply :)

REPLIES ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!

well does anyone know any other reasons why this might have happened? please help me and give me some diet advice! i'm scared that as a teenager i won't meet the required nutrients...

If I were you Id talk to my parents about this "body image" of yourself you have developed, and maybe they can take you to the doctors/nutritionist and they can recommend a diet or exercise to help. I, personally, wouldnt give you any advice because I think you are too young to just take advice from someone online, but good luck! :)

*Amber*

amber, thanks for your advice. :) i'm happy that you replied and appreciate that you did. personally, i don't think there's anything wrong with taking advice from people older than me, and more experienced at weight loss.

please continue sharing your thoughs and giving advice :)

Hey russianchick, I'm a male so I'm not sure if my suggestion would have the same effect for you. But as for my family, we have pretty big thighs and hips. My thighs would jiggle a lot even tho I was in Cross-Country and Track.

But since I started cycling for my college last September, my thighs have become really muscular to the point that it took a hard time for an analyst to use a caliper to measure my thigh fat. It's a lot better to look at too!!

I do caution though that my weight did not decrease since I built muscle instead of fat. But my clothes do fit better.

Dont feel bad I have been trying for weeks, months even to lose some of my thigh jiggle. I just lost always lose the top half first .... :( like I need to loose anymore from my rib cage :(

aylwin, of course i definetly appreciate your comments! even if you're a guy, i take them just as seirously! thank you... i'll try cycling...  dziewcyna, i totally know wut u mean lol. oh well i suppose it's just structure.

Omg! I just posted something extremely similar to this! I know exactly how you feel, being so frustrated and all, because it seems so hopeless to even try anymore! If you happen to run across a miraculous way to solve this little (or in this case... big :) problem, seriously, let me know!

You can't spot reduce any part of your body.  The first place that your body places the fat is the last place it will come off.  Women tend to put weight on thier bums, thighs and arms first.  Men put it on their Stomachs.

You seem to do a lot of exercise using your legs.  This in turn will build muscle on your legs making them thicker.  Is it fat you have an issue with or do they feel hard when you tense?

russianchick,

I'm sorry, but 110 lbs and 120 lbs. are not healthy end-points for you at 5'7".

At a weight of 135, I don't think you're husky at all. Your BMI is 21.1, which is well into the healthy range.

Please reconsider your goals. They aren't healthy.

My suggestion for you is to stop triyng to lose weight and start working on getting fit and toned. Change your body composition more towards being a little muscular than a little extra fat.

And please please don't try to get down to 120 or 110. These are not healthy.

135 is a perfect weight for your height.  You are still growing, especially your bones.  If you don't eat enough you'll lose bone growth and have problems the rest of your life.  Don't do this to yourself!

You need help with body image and self esteem, not your weight.

Body Image & Self Esteem

It seems 135 is normal according to the CDC website for teens.

http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/dnpabmi/Calculator.a spx

Don't buy into the media garbage that sickly thin is in.  The sickly thin girls do internal damage to their vital organs and don't live as long as normal weigh girls.  The goal is to live as long as possible and stay as healthy as long as possible.

Your dancing and activities have a lot to do with your muscle tone.  You may have more leg muscles than your mother or sister. 

You could do squats to trim your thighs.  Or run up and down the bleachers at school. 

{{{russianchick}}}  ~ it can be difficult to find the perfect healthy weight, especially since we have fluctuations from water, food, salt, time of the month, etc, so i try to shoot for a range...

As a teenager, you are still growing.  The International WHO standards are different for teenagers (than the adult standards used by this site).

Check out this calculator for teenagers ~ it gives a lot of information including calorie recommendations...

http://www.kidsnutrition.org/bodycomp/bmiz2.h tml

according to the calculator, your goal of 110 lbs is underweight and would is considered dangerous.  The goal of 120 puts you into a normal low end range for your height now and even as an adult, but it may be too thin for your body structure... So be open to a higher goal weight. 

what does this mean?  that you are good now but your 120 goal is very low and your 110 goal is too low... 

so, please consider changing your goal to a healthy weight range so you don't become underweight or malnourished... 

let us know if you have any questions, k?

one more thought... athletes will sometimes require even a bit higher goal weight, to support the muscles they need to be athletic...

but as you increase your fitness, you may see your body get smaller even though your weight may not go down... so continue with the exercise and consider strength and resistance exercise to tone up your body...

So, if you are still seeing/feeling like you are overweight because of some extra thigh/belly weight, this is normal, and it is the last place you will be losing your weight.

And if your goal is to maintain or even lose a little weight, you will also need to start converting your body fat into lean muscle tissue.

Cardio exercise is very important for health of your heart and cardio vascular system, stamina, energy and all that, but you need to add in some more strength and resistance exercise.  It can include weight lifting but there are other things you can do... ab workout, pushups and all sorts of stuff.

Check out the core exercises at this link with more links to a lot of fitness articles...

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness.a sp

Here's a nice beginning strength routine with links to more difficult levels

http://exercise.about.com/cs/exbeginners/l/bl begstrength.htm

Here's a good article on strength training

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/strength-tra ining/HQ01710

Hope this helps :)  Cheers,

I have abotu the same prob... I'm 17 as well, though 'childbearing' hips and thighs run in my family (ah Irish catholic genes...)I'm trying to get my hips down to a nice 36" Cycling is great, tones without giving the impact that jogging does, but also try jogging and lots of swimming. Toning doesnt work so much for these areas sadly... has to be speedier actions. Building muscle over already largish bones isnt always the best :P Especially if already at a healthy weight...
I have a friend your height and she weighs 118 on a good day. She's perfectly healthy even if a little on the small side. 120 is good for your height if you are a small frame. 110 would probably be unhealthy though. I am aiming for 130 at my height of 5'11"... (Natalia Vodianova is just a bit shorter than me and she has said she was too small at 120 and that high 120s are her healthiest size. For those of you who dont know, she's one of the very few models who has been outspoken with the issue of eating disorders, having suffered from bulimia and anorexia herself. She supports health and weight regulations)
Despite what this site says, the international cut off for healthy BMI is 18. US just boosted it to 19 for their country. Those of asian decent can be lower, and those of african decent should be higher.
I do agree with the fact that you shoudl talk to your parents. I actually spoke ot my mom today, and she supports me losing weight and bought a shitload of my favorite 0cal things. It can be hard being already healthy sized and losing weight because no one thinks you need to. Just make sure you let someone close to you know so that you don't fall into an eating disorder. Dancing is known for being a danger zone for that, just as is modelling.

Here are the newer International WHO (World Health Organization) standards which are also used by the US CDC (Center for Disease Control) and now by this website:

http://www.who.int/bmi/index.jsp?introPage=in tro_3.html

for adults (over age 19), a bmi (body mass index) lower than < 18.50 is considered underweight.

the WHO is considering different guidelines for the Asian groups, and anticipate issuing guidlines within the next year, but the low end doesn't appear to be changing.  It looks like the high end of normal will drop to 23.3 because of body stature and the tendancy to carry weight around the belly (apple shape). 

The current guidelines may need to be higher for other groups like highly trained athletes and body builders who have more muscle structure to support.

Also, there are different standards for Teenagers (age 19 and under) because they are still growing and require more food and nutrition... 

If the teenager is already in a normal range, it is NOT recommended that they lose weight to drop to a below normal range.  If teenagers are a little overweight, the recommendation is to try to maintain and grow into the weight which will lower bmi as they become taller and fill out their adult body structure.

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Ok I have a suggestion.   This is just something that has worked for me... and yeah another guy's suggestion but... hey it may work for you.

Besides Cycling, long distance running, squats, & the machines at the gym that target squeezing the legs together as well as apart....

MASSAGE helps!

Seriously.

I've been massaging my stomach and lately my inner thighs and as akward and whatnot it seems... it's helped me reduce fat in these areas.   My legs are already looking a lot better and my stomach is too.

Also... make sure you are eating enough.   With all that exercise & dance you do are you sure you are eating enough calories?   If not this is a good reason for your body to hold on to that extra fat.

And as others have said you need not aim to lose that much weight.  Sure maybe a couple pounds might drop... but also you are building muscle and growing and in the process your overall weight may not change.   The idea is body shaping, not necessarily dieting to lose the weight.  But again it's not recommended at all that you aim to lose weight.

Instead of focusing on the # of pounds you need to lose, try doing different toning exercises instead.  I had some success doing the Bar Method workout, which is a series of muscle-toning exercises that focus mostly on the thigh/hip/behind area.  It really helped me to get a different shape - my hips are definitely slimmer, which I didn't think would happen.  Try doing it or similar toning exercises that focus on those areas and see what kind of results you get.  Even if they do not get smaller, they will get firmer and you will feel better about it :)

As others have said 110 is way too low, and even 120 is on the low side.  Don't focus on particular weight (it will drive you crazy, especially since losing 10lbs does not guarentee that any of the weight will come off your thighs).  Focus on eating healthy foods  and toning and maybe try observing how "firm" your thighs are or measure them with a measuring tape instead of trying to track your progress with a scale.    Really, you have a great activity level and probably don't need to worry about counting calories as long as you are eating enough and eating healthy food instead of junk food.

thank you all very much for those replies. you're right, the goal of 110 is too thin. however, please keep in mind that i do have a small body frame, and that my new goal will be 125 lbs. i will do my best to lose the 10 pounds safely, without putting my health into any sort of danger. (Niiko, ya having those "child-bearing" hips and thighs can get old after a while lol) let me just tell all of you, that i'm not one of those "crazy" teenagers who obsess about their weight and who want to look like nicole richie by the time they hit 25. when i was 14, i took the CHSPE, the high school exiting exam and went straight to college. since then, i've been taking a lot of nutrition courses and learned about calories, diets, etc... so please rest assured... i am NOT pro-anarexia and i NOT pro-bulemia. those diseases are terrible and frightening, and i am aware of their outcomes. and although i am only 17 years of age, i do understand a lot about weight management, hence there is no need to worry about me being unaware of healthy dieting :) thank you all once again and i await to hear your replies :)