To be so upset that exercise has effectively ruined my figure?

[MyBodySucks]

I was a size 6-8 until about a year ago, when I started Pole Fitness classes, as well as a few other classes at the same club, things like Body Pump.

I've eaten the same as always (clean!) but the exercising has given me a body that I hate and I'm so upset about it.

Basically my thighs and upper arms have beefed up, for want of a better expression. I can barely even get size 10 jeans over my thighs now, and my arms look like men's arms. My waist, and tummy look good I suppose but everything else is just horrible and I hate how I look!

I'm quite short at 5ft 4 inches and so in clothes I just look large and stocky.

Has anyone else found the same thing? I am stopping classes and going to just walk and do pilates in future and hopefully my muscles will shrink and I'll look ok again.

AIBU to be upset?

Oh gosh that must be awful for you. Forts and prairs (yes, yes I know).

You can do what you want it doesn't make you unreasonable

I have insulin resistance so my fat arse can't relate.

Do you love the classes? If not I would suggest changing to other forms of exercise. If you do then I suppose you have to embrace it.

Funnily enough I was talking about this to DH today as I started running a few years ago, ramped up the miles during lockdown and now have really chunky, muscular thighs!

I'm only 5'3 with short legs and I do think it's a height thing! However I would definitely rather be healthy and fit as I was previously quite slim but didn't do any exercise at all

Could you have a few sessions with a personal trainer who could help with toning up without building too much muscle?

Wither you are tubby in which case you have gained fat, you will still lose the muscle and look tubby. Or you are not tubby in which case you could just switch to more cardio less strength based training to lose some of the muscle

I stopped doing spinning classes for this reason. I loved the endorphin hit but my jeans got tighter (size 14) not looser, as my thighs started to develop Mr Tumnus style forward protruding musculature.

That's weight gain.

To put on muscle, you need to eat a calorific surplus. If you've been doing strength training and eating a surplus, you will grow. However you won't grow 2 clothes sizes. Putting on muscle is not easy or fast.

Just keep a closer eye on what you're eating. And don't eat a surplus.

If you want long, lean, flat muscles then you need to take up ballet and Pilates.

How does something over a 20 year period 'ruin' your thighs? Surely you had time to notice you didnt like where it was going in 20 fucking years!

They are hardly ruined. It is just muscle, 2 weeks on the sofa and you can easily lose plenty of muscle mass.

(I powerlift and deliberately hone a muscular figure.)

Op, i know someone who's been doing pole for a few years now and although she's petite she has upper arms to rival Popeye, and her thighs look bulky compared to the rest of her, and id say she can't be bigger than a suze ten dress size. So I absolutely see where you must be coming from. I would just go back to cardio and let your shape settle into its more natural, pre pole shape over time

I sympathise, I have the muscles of a body builder. I cannot doing any resistance training or I become huge. I love running, swimming etc and luckily they seem to tone me up and burn calories so I don't get the butch look. I still have mens thighs, how do I get rid of them?!

That’s terrible that size 10 jeans are a squeeze 🤣

I don’t understand what you expected to happen, exercise that involves using muscles are going to make muscles grow? If you don’t like it then stop doing it or maybe start running instead.

Your body shape definitely changes depending on the exercise, and on your body type, and pole fitness will definitely beef your arms up. All the pump classes will definitely beef up the thighs and i didn't like the affect they had on my body either (years ago...). OP, swimming might be an option for your body type. Or just a bit of cycling and running, not too much, with some low level toning exercises. Or balletcize, if that is still around, doing ballet moves to tone up.

@YellowandGreenToBeSeen

Pilates. Long, lean, toned muscles. I have defined thighs, arse, arms and stomach but no bulk. I am not a fan of the big arse, thick thighs look currently being peddled as ‘the ideal’.

This.

I do ultra reformer Pilates 4x times a week. It's amazing.

Some of the other ladies who attend the classes (who you can tell have been regulars for years) also have great muscle tone but are not bulky at all.

You could try Pilates or yoga to stretch out the bulky muscles you don’t like on you

You suddenly realised your body had changed?

Even pro-athletes'bodies do not change that much, so you might want to have a look at your diet more than your exercise.

Oh and then I notice others have said similar! Sorry - didn’t RTT

Do you have a foam roller? I build up enormous calves as I walk miles every day but I try to do a roller session every few weeks to break down the tissue. You can do thighs with one, it's a bit ungainly so do it when the house is empty!

Me too, didn't rtt! at least we are all suggesting similar things!

Op, I know what you mean.
This is why I reduced the amount of weights and spin classes . I was bulking up and my size 10 /12 clothes were too tight
Since the lockdown , I have started power walking , doing some light weights and a bit of Callanetics and I am now an 8/10.
You have to find the right exercise for your body.

@TempestHayes

That's weight gain.

To put on muscle, you need to eat a calorific surplus. If you've been doing strength training and eating a surplus, you will grow. However you won't grow 2 clothes sizes. Putting on muscle is not easy or fast.

Just keep a closer eye on what you're eating. And don't eat a surplus.

I agree, I've weight trained for years and remain a size 8 albeit not in skirts as my butts got bigger point is it's muscle, weight training will make your muscles grow...

Try Pilates as others have said and see how your body changes again

I've been doing pole fitness for a few years now and still don't have big muscles..

Anyway whats the problem with a fit and athletic body and having to wear the next size up jeans?

Cool story bro.

Did everyone in the gym clap and cheer as well?

@growinggreyer as far as I’m aware foam rolling relieves tension in muscles and stops a build up of lactic acid. If you are breaking muscle fibres and eating a surplus calorie wise (plenty of protein) your body will build muscle. That’s just what happens.

From a former size 20 that’s now a size 10 weightlifter. Purely from calorie deficit and weightlifting.