*Not* bulking up thighs

[KimchiLaLa]

Sorry for the ramble but...

I'm trying to tone up post baby (well, toddler, but the weight has stayed!) and I've been going to gym classes...they have me doing so many squats and lunges and it feels like my thighs are bulking up rather than building lean muscle/getting skinny. (Or maybe It's just fat!)

I've attached a photo of my untensed and tensed legs...any thoughts on what I can do to make them leaner?

Right now it's a run/fast walk and two HIIT sessions a week which I know I need to increase and eating a balanced diet.

Your legs look great to me. If you build muscle and don't have much fat to cover it, it will show a bit. Most women can't really bulk up without spending days in the gym or taking testosterone.

You look good.

Running is a good way to tone legs without building large muscles.

Yoga and Pilates.

Thanks all. I run, but not enough I think to get what I want. My local gym also does free yoga and Pilates classes so I'll check some of those out too.

Do you think all the squats and lunges are counter productive to what I'm trying to achieve? They are in literally every class.

Op did you doctor those pics? It looks like you've stretched it.

The exercises shouldn't bulk you up, it's very very difficult for women to bulk up, very difficult indeed.

Squats in particular and lunges are specifically for building up muscles BUT if you're not doing them with additional weights they won't build large muscles, more just toning. You'd have to do a LOT of squats to build big muscles.

You don’t look bulky at all; and the exercises you are doing will support your running and prevent injury.

I used to be scared of building any muscle as I always thought I'd look really masculine, but you'd have to be eating a shit lot and doing specific muscle building work outs to get like that! I found a big difference in the shape of my legs by working on my bum tum areas! Once they tightened and toned it keep what your doing, you look great!

If you go lower on squats, i.e goblet squat it will work your glutes more than your quads, also easier on the knees. Same for lunges. Most people don't go low enough on squats which builds your quads and puts pressure on your knees. Agree Pilates is good for strengthening and lengthening muscles as well though.

Op did you doctor those pics? It looks like you've stretched it.

This is hilarious, absolutely not! How would i do that on my iPhone 8?!!

Thanks all for your tips. I've always not bothered with Pilates and yoga as I didn't think I would get an intense workout but I guess that is actually what I need.

Ha ha, your legs are amazing!!
Would love to have your legs, mine are twice as wide as that!

You tilt the pic up, in edit, it's very simple. It's a great big button...

I'm only asking because I've messed with it myself and it looks that way from the ankles up.

Do you do heavily weighted squats, at least 50% body weight or more for reps? If not you're unlikely to get anything like what you would consider 'big' leg muscles. My partner trains weightlifters and it's a lot of effort for women to put on muscle mass. You won't do it by accident!
For what it's worth in both pics I think your legs look really slim/skinny

Nope, not weighted squats unless the class instructor tells us to grab a weight, which is every other class maybe - and even then I take the 2kg weight as a. I can't handle too much more for a lengthened amount of time and b. In a HIIT session I don't want to waste all my energy on the squats part...

*You tilt the pic up, in edit, it's very simple. It's a great big button...

I'm only asking because I've messed with it myself and it looks that way from the ankles up.*

I don't doctor my pics. I have bent slightly so you can see all of my legs - because I have the sort of wardrobes where there are bars in the middle. No point in asking for advice on an anon forum on how to get leaner legs and then doctoring the pic!

Thank you to all of you who said I have nice legs however. Like I said, I just want to go back to my pre baby weight. At my weigh in, I was 64kg, and I'm now 67, so while there's not masses to lose, it's taking ages, and at one point, during my wedding, I was 57kg. So having more on me makes me feel like I'm not myself.

OP - you're hardly doing olympic level exercise here. A few classes and running a week aren't going to 'bulk' anything up.

Bulking takes a LOT of work to do properly.

If your thighs are getting bigger, it's because you're eating more than you were and you're getting fat. Nothing more.
But more than likely, they're changing shape over time due to exercise. It's a slow process to drop fat. But cardio and a few squats will do sod all to bulk you up!

Struggling to understand how you could consider those legs ‘bulky’... have you had body dysmorphic symptoms before? Perhaps just relax your expectations of yourself a bit.

not sure which picture is showing what but the one where you can't see your feet looks best. The other one - your legs are a bit shapeless

I think you look great! Make sure your form is correct when doing the squats.

My form is probably not correct when doing any of the exercises but with each class, I'm getting better and I can handle more.

I don't think I have body dysmorphia but I am surrounded by fit, thin people so it's easy to feel bigger when everyone around you is petite and relatively small!

Is this a joke thread?

You look great OP. Keep on doing what you're doing.

Don't know what kind of gym you go to that has 'fit thin people'. All the fit women in my gym have thighs like superhero's. Not scrawny. If the women you admire have skinnier legs than you then I would question why you would want to look like them.