Flabby Legs

[Yubagirl]

Does anyone know when the muscle replaces the cellulite saggy stuff.on my legs...I ride every other day for at least an hour..any insight to this ..Im 45 yrs old..help! I aint quittin riding however its discouraging! Im' riding rollers too!!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Hi Yuba,

Muscle will not "replace" either cellulite or flab. When you exercise more, you build more muscle. When you exercise enough to burn more calories than you ingest, then you also lose fat. Flab and cellulite is fat. Keep in mind that we need some body fat to be healthy.

So, if you exercise more and eat more calories than you are burning, then you could gain more muscle AND more fat on your legs.
If you don't exercise but eat less, you'd lose some fat off your legs but not gain muscle there. You'd wind up with skinny legs. Muscles on our legs (or anywhere else) make them look shapely in a nice way.

Cellulite is hard to get rid of completely, especially in us older women (i'm almost 54). Our skin texture is just never going to look like a 20 year old's skin again. But if you eat a bit healthier and exercise more, then the end result will slowly be that you add shapely muscles and lose some excess bulges of fat and cellulite. The layer of fat under the skin will become less.
Remember that muscle is heavier than fat. Many of us start exercising and get frustrated that we are not 'losing weight'...when in fact we are losing fat but also gaining muscle. Our overall body shape is changing in a good way. We look way better but might actually still weigh the same!

[shootingstar]

Keep at it, yuba..just fall in love with cycling.

You could also do some other secondary exercise, sport...hiking, stretching exercises (yoga, pilates),...to help legs.

One day after having alot of heart-pumping fun for a few months...you may see the diff.

Cycling does not demand that you wear a bikini panty..so no need to keep on worrying about cellulite.

[redrhodie]

Yubagirl, you're not alone! From what I've learned, and I'm kind of an expert the appearance of cellulite is actually due to the connective tissue over the fat, not the fat itself. I'm pretty well toned, and still the cellulite is there. There isn't a proven method of removing it, not even cycling.

Lucky for me, it's on my thighs, which is definitely preferable to my face! At least it's easy to hide. The rest of me looks pretty good in a bikini, so I wear one with a skirt bottom. I wear longer length cycling shorts. I know I've done all I can to try and lose it, but all that's done is made me fit instead!

Accentuate the positive! That's the best advice I can give.

[OakLeaf]

There are people who claim that making the connective tissue healthier (i.e. myofascial release/foam roller work) will reduce cellulite. I don't know if this is documented or not, but healthy fascia is a good goal in itself, and is definitely a separate pursuit from cardio and strength work.

[Yubagirl]

Thanks all that replied..You know most of it I already knew as in dieting to lose the fat, its frustrating because I have muscle under there and at certain positions my legs are fine. Its when I stand that stuff just kinda falls down to the inside of my knees!.Not alot but enough for me to pull my shorts down to cover!! I do not have big legs either and Im not overweight.

If someone out there knows of a cellulite product that works please give me the product info!

Thanks again for all the input.. I love this forum!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Thanks all that replied..You know most of it I already knew as in dieting to lose the fat, its frustrating because I have muscle under there and at certain positions my legs are fine. Its when I stand that stuff just kinda falls down to the inside of my knees!.Not alot but enough for me to pull my shorts down to cover!! I do not have big legs either and Im not overweight.

If someone out there knows of a cellulite product that works please give me the product info!

Thanks again for all the input.. I love this forum!

Another little thought...I think the longer you cycle the better you will feel on the inside and the less you will care about what strangers think about your leg flab. You say you are not 'overweight' so what's to worry about? I think that we tend to think that people are looking at us with a critical eye when in fact they probably aren't even thinking about us at all- they are far more likely busy worrying about their own stuff. I wear things now that I wouldn't have dreamed of wearing 2 years ago. I know I look just dandy, but I worried about how I looked back then, even though I looked pretty much the same. I think my perception of myself as being just fine the way I am is the difference.

[PscyclePath]

What the ladies said up above...

If you burn more calories (basic metabolism, plus work/exercise) than you eat, you will lose weight. And sadly, there's no way to take it off in just one place... the legs, gut, or the butt; when the fat starts coming off it's a little bit from every where. With time in the saddle, your leg muscles should start toning up enough that nobody will really care about the cellulite anyway.

[redrhodie]

There are people who claim that making the connective tissue healthier (i.e. myofascial release/foam roller work) will reduce cellulite. I don't know if this is documented or not, but healthy fascia is a good goal in itself, and is definitely a separate pursuit from cardio and strength work.

Well, I'm certainly willing to give this a try. If nothing else, it will work out some kinks.

Anyone experience good results with a foam roller?

[Grog]

I am afraid that there are no cellulite products that work... except in advertising.

As the others have said, exercise will help with toning, so will perhaps loosing a pound of fat or two, but please do not focus on that. Think about the fitness you're accomplishing first... You'll be happier, and happy people look better.

[Yen]

Don't quit just because you're not seeing the results you want. There's a LOT more to gain by continuing to ride your bike, and exercise in general, then just smoothing out the bumps.

Four years ago I was about 35 lbs. overweight, sluggish, tired, weak, and my legs were like two pillars of jello. I began walking and eating healthier, then we bought a treadmill, and last spring we bought bikes. This past year, we rode a few times during the week, and longer on the weekends. In the past 4 years I s-l-o-w-l-y lost 50 lbs. (about 1 to 1-1/2 lbs./month average), I feel TERRIFIC, and my legs are taking shape! They are like new legs! There is still cellulite especially in the back of my thighs, but I feel so good, my endurance/energy/strength are as good if not better than 20+ years ago, and I'm having so much fun on the bike that I don't want to quit. The cellulite will never go away -- I'm fair-skinned which makes it show more -- but it's not nearly as important as your overall fitness which includes strength and endurance. There are many women who are "thin" but not fit and strong; it's much more important to be fit even if there are some bumps.

BTW, I'm almost 52 years old.

Hang in there -- don't quit! Focus on making exercise part of your lifestyle, not using exercise just to lose weight. If you do it right, you'll gradually lose the fat and build muscle and look (and feel) better overall.

[Tuckervill]

This is wonderful advice, Yen!

I'm on that slow boat to 50 lbs, too. Down 30. just hearing the message to keep on going is very helpful. Thanks!

Karen

[Yen]

This is wonderful advice, Yen!

I'm on that slow boat to 50 lbs, too. Down 30. just hearing the message to keep on going is very helpful. Thanks!

Karen

Karen, congratulations on your weight loss. If you can do 30, then you can do 20 more, and slow is the way to go! Slow is easy and real life..... fast is self-deprivation and increases the chances it will come back on. I plan to continue always eating like this. I must have done it right because I have not felt tired or fatigued and I haven't been sick in over a year and I've been around a lot of sick people the past few months. Easy does it!

[Andrea]

Don't get discouraged! Keep riding consistently and, if it's possible, add in some strength training. If you're not sure how, a good place to start is the weight machines at your local health club. Almost all clubs will give you a free orientation where they'll show you how to use all of them and give you some basic recommendations. If you go through the whole circuit a couple of times a week and continue to challenge yourself by adding some weight as you get stronger, you'll see changes in the firmness of the muscles underneath the saggy parts you hate!

[KSH]

Well, everyone else had a lot of really great input and advice.

I would also add, that it might help you some... to ride more.

From what you are saying... you ride about 4 hours a week... or 16 hours a month. That's a great start, but you won't see your body change drastically with so little time on the bike.

It took me riding 400+ miles a month... or... around 26-30 hours a month on the bike to see improvement.

Still so, even with running up to 80 miles a month, with the riding... I still have cellulite on my legs. On the back and front. It looks better toned and tanned, but it's not gone. Such is life. It's there. If they don't like it, they don't have to look.

Of course, I have gotten compliments on how muscular my legs are these days!

Like I said though, you gotta ride longer than 1-hour sessions to start seeing some improvement. Good luck!