thigh muscles from walking

i powerwalk A LOT and due to this i've gotten really bulky thigh muscles. i'm short so my thighs kind of just look like stumps--i hate it. is there any form of exercise i can do to make my legs look leaner and thinner rather than bulky? oh, and i'm a girl by the way.

Were you previously bed ridden because otherwise walking is not really an activity that gains a lot of muscle. It's not like you're going to see fitness competitors power walking around the track instead of oh let's say doing squats.

If the mere act of walking turns you into man-legs, I guess don't get off the couch anymore. When I had knee surgery my left leg turned into a toothpick because all the muscle atrophied from lack of use.

Just throwing it out there: how's your diet? Are you sure that's muscle?

not bed ridden literally but not very active. i walk 7 miles a day, a little under 5mph. from the way it feels, it's got to be muscle.

I'm a walker, too, due to an injury-and yes, I've noticed us walkers do have thicker legs than our running counterparts.  What I'm doing right now to try to work those muscles that would normally be used in running is alternating the stairmaster, bicycle, elliptical, and treadmill with elevation on my aerobic days.  On my lower body days I do lunges and squats (with weight).  I also take jiu-jitsu once a week, but I'm not sure thats the kind of workout you're looking for   While my thighs and glutes are still bigger than I'd like, I'm definitely seeing improvement in muscle tone. 

I would think swimming would be a good option, too, but unfortunately that's not an option for me right now.

Walkers might have thicker legs than runners (on average), but that's not because walking makes you grow huge muscles.  I suspect there's two factors in play.  First, running long distance tends to burn muscle.  So, if someone starts out having muscle and takes up running while doing no strength training to keep their muscle, it'll go away.  (Personally, I consider that a bad thing as it slows down your metabolism.)  Second, people who are larger tend to take up walking rather than running because it's lower impact.  Since the people who choose to take up running tend to start off smaller, they're going to continue to be smaller.  I think this is actually the biggest factor.

To the original poster, any form of exercise you do that contributes to having a caloric deficit will make you thinner all over your body (over time).  Depending how long ago you took up the power walking, you might also find that your muscles are just retaining water for a couple of weeks and will get smaller all by themselves when they release that water.

^unfortunately my body doesn't burn very many calories, i have actually gained weight in fat lately, even though i haven't been eating any more than usual. so that's not an option...

thanks for the suggestions though you two.

bump for more suggestions.. they just keep getting bigger ]:

You said that you're gaining fat; if so, that's probably why your legs are looking bulkier.  Are you logging all your calories every day?  If so, what's your daily deficit?  If not, it would be a good idea to start as most people have a tendency to massively underestimate what we're eating.

Original Post by dice72:

^unfortunately my body doesn't burn very many calories, i have actually gained weight in fat lately, even though i haven't been eating any more than usual. so that's not an option...

thanks for the suggestions though you two.

There's your answer.

i've been gaining fat in every area except my thighs, where it's really, really obvious it's muscle just by attempting to squeeze it.

and yeah, i keep very close track of my calories and i have been eating even LESS than i had during the summer where i weighed less, i'm not sure what happened there but that =/= the discussion.

But are you as active now as you were during the summer?  I know I don't have as much time for long walks/bike rides now (especially with the snow on the ground) as I had in the summer.  If you're gaining any significant weight (i.e. not just 1-5 pounds which might be water weight), you must be either eating more than you think or burning less calories than you think.  When you log a 1 hour walk and CC (or another source) tells you you've burned 300 calories (for example), are you factoring in that 50-75 of those calories are ones you would have burned anyway just by existing?

With regard to the thighs, they might be acquiring intramuscular fat (rather than a layer of fat over top).  That's a lot more likely than them getting muscular/bulky from just walking.  To combat that, you just need to make sure you eat fewer calories than you burn and it'll eventually go away.

Original Post by susiecue:

But are you as active now as you were during the summer?  I know I don't have as much time for long walks/bike rides now (especially with the snow on the ground) as I had in the summer.  If you're gaining any significant weight (i.e. not just 1-5 pounds which might be water weight), you must be either eating more than you think or burning less calories than you think.  When you log a 1 hour walk and CC (or another source) tells you you've burned 300 calories (for example), are you factoring in that 50-75 of those calories are ones you would have burned anyway just by existing?

With regard to the thighs, they might be acquiring intramuscular fat (rather than a layer of fat over top).  That's a lot more likely than them getting muscular/bulky from just walking.  To combat that, you just need to make sure you eat fewer calories than you burn and it'll eventually go away.

 actually i'm even more active. over the summer i walked 3-7 miles a day and now i'm walking 7 EVERY day , plus an additional 3-4 every other day in walking fitness class (although this isn't as intense as my power walks). during the summer i was also just sitting at my computer all day aside from my walking, but now i'm up and running at school.

i don't log my calories online but i eat the exact same things every day so i KNOW i shouldn't be gaining weight on this many calories, especially considering i've dropped a lot of them since the summer. the problem is that my body does NOT want to burn fat for some reason. i figure my BMR must be ridiculously low, but i'm not even at a low weight.

have you gotten your thyroid checked? 

over the summer i got a blood test and my doctor said my thyroid was fine. it's not like i haven't lost weight before, i'm just having a hard time losing it again. i lost maybe 10 pounds a little before the summer and it's all come back even though i've been more active.

I have been a walker for years and walk a lot of hills and my thigh muscles have gotten bigger and my butt has been lifted, which is a good thing.  I am just like you I have short legs and my thights look huge, but I know it is just muscle.  It might be because you have short legs that it is more noticeable.   

I walk a TON, and while I do have muscle definition in my thighs, I mostly attribute that to the weight training I do. If anything, I find walking slims my legs down. My legs love to build muscle. (they're the only body part I can make that statement for) I'd agree with previous posts that you need to focus on burning fat. Maybe you've plateau'd because your body has gotten so used to doing what it's doing. Our bodies are made to be completely efficient machines burning through as little as possible once we get set in a routine. That's why it's important to shake things up and give your body a little shock every now and then. Try weight training. I promise you won't get beefy, it will be just the opposite as long as you burn the fat as well. Also, maybe switch up your diet a little.

Original Post by dice72:

i don't log my calories online but i eat the exact same things every day so i KNOW i shouldn't be gaining weight on this many calories, especially considering i've dropped a lot of them since the summer. the problem is that my body does NOT want to burn fat for some reason. i figure my BMR must be ridiculously low, but i'm not even at a low weight.

 The sentence I've bolded is the one that concerns me - and may be related to you having a low BMR.  Are you saying that you're eating less food now than you did in the summer?  If so, it's possible that you're actually eating too little food and that's why your body is trying so hard to store fat.  Are you sure you're eating at least 1200 calories/day?

no, i'm probably not eating that much. to be honest, over the summer i was eating about 1000 calories (which i had been doing for a long time previous, i just randomly started losing weight before the summer without changing my diet). i'm eating a couple hundred less now with the occasional over 1000 which i haven't done in a while, since i had seen that i was gaining weight.

but i've been undereating for over a year and have never gained weight before until last december when i gained weight after a short period of eating about 1800 calories. i understand that i'm in starvation mode, but i've been in starvation mode for a long time and with all of the walking i'm doing now i don't understand why NOW i'm gaining weight rather than before.

Original Post by dice72:

no, i'm probably not eating that much. to be honest, over the summer i was eating about 1000 calories (which i had been doing for a long time previous, i just randomly started losing weight before the summer without changing my diet). i'm eating a couple hundred less now with the occasional over 1000 which i haven't done in a while, since i had seen that i was gaining weight.

 

but i've been undereating for over a year and have never gained weight before until last december when i gained weight after a short period of eating about 1800 calories. i understand that i'm in starvation mode, but i've been in starvation mode for a long time and with all of the walking i'm doing now i don't understand why NOW i'm gaining weight rather than before.

So I'm not trying to sound rude, but without any other information to go on, maybe your body image is a little distorted? Or maybe you are gaining muscle, muscle weighs more than fat. Try slowly increasing your calories. Say 200 every two weeks until you get where you're supposed to be. 

how can you gain muscle when there is a calorie deficit?  i don't think she gained muscle.  but maybe you should take a look at what you're eating.

If she's in starvation mode (which I suspect she is if she ate 1000 cals/day all summer and is now eating less than that), she's definitely not gaining muscle.  What's probably happening is that her body is cannibalizing her muscle for energy - then, any time she eats a tiny bit more than normal, it stores that energy away as fat.  So, it looks like her body's getting bigger because 1 pound of fat takes up more space than 1 pound of muscle.

I strongly recommend reading this article ( http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/core_march_8. htm ) which points out how it's possible to gain fat while chronically undereating.  I suspect that the OP is not, in fact "obese on 700 cals/day" but she doesn't want to get there so she needs to break her cycle of undereating. 

Dice, what you need to do is:

1. Eat more.  Increase your calories to, say 1500 cals/day for several weeks.  (If you need to slowly ramp up, try to get up to 1200 as fast as possible then ramp up to 1500 - but don't start counting the weeks until you get to 1500.)  You need to get your body out of starvation mode.  If you're under 21, change those recommended calories to 1800 cals/day.

You can keep walking if you like, but do not increase your exercise to try and counteract the increased calories.  We're trying to convince your body that you're feeding it enough - and it'll only believe you if you do actually feed it enough.

You will gain a few pounds doing this.  It will be mostly water weight and it will go away after a few weeks.  Do not freak out if the scale shows a weight gain.  It's not "real" weight.  In fact, best case scenario?  Don't step on the scale until you've been at the higher calories for at least three weeks.

2. After several weeks (maybe a month?) at the higher calories, your body will start to trust you and will let go of the water weight.  If you absolutely must, after you see that, you could consider lowering your calories by 100-200/day.  Do not go under 1200 cals/day again (1500 if you're under 21).

3. To help get your metabolism working again, it would be a good idea to build up a little muscle.  Unlike fat, muscle is dense and won't make you bulky.  Between two people who weigh the same and are the same height, the more muscular one will (almost) always be the one who looks slimmer.  Try doing exercises like push-ups, squats and lunges.  Once you get to the point of being able to do 15 in a row without too much trouble, add some weight.  This will *not* make you bulky.