Thigh help!

[Cassandra_Cain]

Hi...

I'm sporting big thighs here as well. Really, it runs in my family - my mom is like that, ditto my sisters. That's just where I tend to carry more weight, even when I'm fit and trim.

I really struggle with slim fit jeans, I suppose the manufacturers cut them for gals with super slim thighs perhaps. The one line of jeans I can sometimes get away with unaltered, are the Victoria Secret Boyfriend Jeans.

Anyway, I've got a great seamstress and realized this is the way to go. I'll get jeans a size bigger, so that my thighs fit comfortably, then have her alter the seat and waist for the exact fit I want.

Granted it costs me $15 or so, but I'd rather have one great fitting pair of jeans that cost me a bit more, than a bunch of less expensive ones that look lousy.

Happy shopping.

[Veronica]

Sounds like 15 bucks well spent to me.

V.

[KnottedYet]

I used to wear those Gap Reverse Fits!

Give the men's Levi 560's a try. They are very similar, but without the tighter ankles the Gaps had.

Mervyn's has the Levi 560's for $26. I pick up a few likely sizes from the mens dept and take 'em to the women's dept to try them on.

Levi 550 have smaller butts, so if 560 don't work or bag too much try the 550.

[Cassandra_Cain]

Sounds like 15 bucks well spent to me.

V.

You bet!

After seeing an ever increasing pile of jeans/slacks that didn't fit (and the money I spent on them!) - I said no mas~

[suhollyberry]

Yes I know I will always have bigger thighs (I'm a pear shape and I'll always be), but I want bigger thighs that fit into jean! lol

I still have plenty of fat to lose on my wonderful thighs, so I'm hoping that with good nutrition (which I'm doing), cycling (training for a century right now), and strength training I'll lose the fat and end up with the muscle.

What kind of strength training exercises does everyone do?

[Grog]

What kind of strength training exercises does everyone do?

None right now. Oh, well, push ups sometimes.

Some core training in the winter.

[cherinyc]

So, for many women, their thighs actually get larger when they begin riding, and since fat tissue is between the skin and the muscles, your legs might look worse than before you began riding.

Is that what's happening? I swear - I am burning more calories since I started cycling - yet my thighs are starting to look MORE dimply. They feel more firm, less jiggly - and definitely getting bigger.
That kinda sucks. I had a feeling that the new muscle might be pushing the "bad" dimply fat outwards, making it more noticable.
Isn't there a way we can somehow brainwash the world into thinking that celullite is an asset? Since we all have it? Why couldn't the men be plague with it?
OR - how about having 1 magazine out there that doesn't airbrush it off of the women within it.

[ridebikeme]

I'm like the rest of you... big thighs! I will however, agree with Knotted... I too, wear Levi's. .... used to wear 501's, then 550's or 560's. They fit well, and get better over time HA!! Another jean that many people wear in New England is Carhardt... they are a bit heavier in weight, offer many colors and look like the old painter jeans.

I enjoyed reading this thread, thanks for the info everyone!

[CycleChic06]

Ok, I'm so glad I'm not alone here. I have really big thighs as well, I attribute them to genetics and years and years of swim team, so much so that an old roommate who, for obvious reasons I don't speak to anymore, told said to me "you have a really flat stomach, but your thighs are HUGE!"

But up until I started seriously riding at the end of last summer, I NEVER had dimply legs and now I do!! It's so frustrating. I didn't start riding expecting to lose weight (though I'd be more than happy to lose the fat on my hips), but I certainly never expected to have my legs all dimply. I've def. noticed my legs are way more toned and sleek with really nice definition, so hopefully I can dump this little bit of extra fat before winter starts and I gain it all back (snowboarding, my winter activity, doesn't really do much for me by way of excercise, in fact, I think it's the anti-excercise).

[velogirl]

Of course, if jeans are the issue, just wear skirts and shorts. You worked hard for those legs so show em off! I quit wearing jeans about the 2nd or 3rd year I was riding for just that reason -- they didn't fit my muscular thighs anymore. Now you'll almost never find me in pants.

[Geonz]

As the song goes, "There's lightning in these thunder thighs!"

They'll shape up in good time...

[Cassandra_Cain]

OR - how about having 1 magazine out there that doesn't airbrush it off of the women within it.

That would be the day right?! Then again, the cover girls would look a heck of a lot more like us if they weren't airbrushed - all and all, a good thing

[GLC1968]

What kind of strength training exercises does everyone do?

Well, I've been lazy lately...but to see my legs get smaller it was HEAVY lifting. Squats (both with free weights and with a smith machine), tall box step ups, lunges, extensions, curls and leg press. Now that I'm cycling a lot more, I'm seeing the muscles reshape themselves a little differently. I've layed off the normal lower body gym routine to see how my legs end up.

You also don't want to neglect the upper body or core, either.

Knotted - I'll try the 560's! Thanks!!

[applegum]

I get lucky jeans, specifically the "easy rider" cut in any of the styles. They're pretty pricey, from $90-$120, but every year they have a half off sale at the beginning of the summer and in December/January. Plus, I wear them for two years until they completely fall apart. They don't have lycra in them so they won't lose their fit, and it's great for those of us who have unproportionate thighs and waists (ditto on that).

[maillotpois]

LL Bean relaxed fit jeans fit me well. They have a no questions asked return policy too! They also have some other jeans that are more "in" now with a lower waist. I can't wear most of those... too big of a difference between my waist and my thighs. That style always seems to come with a more fitted thigh. I suppose you can't make a lower waist and a relaxed thigh.

V.

I thought this til I tried JAG jeans (Nordies). Low waist, snug enough in the waist and the thighs fit comfy! I have a hard time finding jeans because my waist is pretty small relatively speaking, and my thighs are large.

I always lose weight from my upper body first. Even when I was 25 pounds less than I am now (which was NOT a healthy weight for me on many levels!), my collarbones stuck out and my thighs were still big. But after I discovered cycling, I felt like I finally realized what those big thighs had been made for!