I am sooo frustrated with the state of my legs. No matter what I have done in the past, they don't seem to look any better. All I can see is cellulite, yet I can FEEL the muscles underneath. They just look like blobs. The stretch marks and paleness of my skin doesn't help either.

I just REALLY REALLY want to be able to wear shorts this summer. I know I still have 15 lb to lose, which I am working on.

How many times per week do I need to work on my legs in order to get them in awesome shape?

I have some great exercises for them (50 walking lunges, tabata squats, etc.) but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I"m wondering if maybe i'm not doing enough? how much time should I spend on them per workout sessions, and how many times per week should I work them?

Any help or suggestion is appreciated -- thanks!!!

Choirgirl x0x0

How hard would you say you are working them when you work them? Are you using weights at all? Do you kinda hurt for a day or so when you are done? If you do that's good, also (from all my reading) you need 48 hrs for them to recover before you work them that hard again. What you want, is to build muscle. My inner thighs are my tough spot, and I am determined that this year they are going to behave. Add some weight I would say. Read up on the best moves for legs.

Well, my butt and thighs hurt a lot the next day for sure. So I would say I'm working them hard. But I guess I'm not working them enough times during the week? I know it says wait 48 hours -- but what about people like Jessica Biel, etc. who have personal trainers and apparently work out every day? If I waited 48 hours, that would only meant working them 3x weekly. Is that enough?

maybe you need to do more aerobic exercises to target the fat over the muscles.

Jessica Biel and others who workout every day are likely doing splits. Legs on alternating days, upper body on other days, and just cardio and abs on the third day. I would add some dumbbells to your lunges and do some regular squats if you can't hold dumbbells on the tabatas. About 10 lbs should make a diff, and then would also add in alot of cardio to burn the fat that might be hiding your muscles and to do what you can to clear the cellulite. Cardio is the kryptonite of fat.

As Hrbabe said, JB is probably doing different parts of her body on alternating days. What actually is happening when you work out, is that the muscles are tearing or being injured slightly. When you are at rest, and those muscles are healing, is when the muscle is actually being built. If you don't give them a chance to heal, that process is never happening. Also, you want to make sure you have some good protein after working out, to give the muscles what they need to heal. So work hard, and rest hard, hehe if that makes sense.

You are running headlong into one of the strongest myths of weightloss - spot reduction of fat.

The ab machines on TV always promise the "rock hard abs you've always wanted". That could be true, but your abs will be covered by a layer of fat that will only be removed at a rate equal to all the rest of the fat on your body.

If you can feel the muscles of your legs, that is GREAT! It shows that the excersizing you are doing is working on strengthening your legs. If you are using weights, don't excersize the same body part more than twice a week.

Now the hard part - to get rid of the fat on your legs, you have to get rid of fat in general, and your body will take the fat from wherever it wants to. (And that is rarely where you want it to.) I have some belly fat below my belly button that is not budging even after losing 45 pounds. It is aggrevating, but I am confident that once I get my overall body fat down low enough, that troublesome fat will have to leave sometime. Like hrbabe said, aerobics is the answer to reducing fat.

Clean eating, weight training and aerobics, all three in that order are the most important.

Couple of questions: Are you drinking plenty of water? Are you eating as clean or as unprocessed as possible? If you think you are, then really REALLY have a hard look at what you're eating, sometimes we tend to take bits and bites of things without even noticing. Are you eating 5-6 mini meals per day? I strongly feel that this is extremely helpful to weightloss, when I am digilent in doing this is when I notice the most weightloss....

You shouldn't work any body part more than twice/week. I work legs sometimes twice, the first time I will work them heavily with squats, leg extensions, leg curls, leg presses... the second time I will do core stuff with a bosu ball, plyometric type workouts this week I worked them by doing a workout with a variety of lunges, I found this in the March issue of Oxygen, it was fun and I was very sore the next day ...

Unfortunately, genetics can and will play a large part in cellulite we just have to smile, grin and bear it and lastly as Dent said the fatest part of our body will usually be last to go ...

I've found that since I started running, because of the intensity of this type of cardio, this is when the fat really started to melt off my thighs...

Just some suggestions, keep us posted on your progress...

TTFN

Yes to the water. I have no problem with that.
I would say 80-90% clean eating.
Yes to the mini meals -- that's the only way I can survive!

Also, the cellulite I have never had a problem with, nor has anyone in my family. I think it's just from the fat I need to lose. *sigh*

I think the main thing to do would be do continue doing what I'm doing, but just LOSE MORE FAT.

Thanks everyone!

Yep for sure, if you're doing everything right, eventually, the weight WILL fall off...Good luck and let's ALL be patient in our weightloss attemps...

you know what's funny? My mom visited me and I haven't seen her since christmas. I walked out into the room with my tiny sleep shorts on and she exclaimed "wow! your legs look great, you can really tell you've lost weight in them and they so firm and nice".

i almost cried with happiness -- it has totally made my day since then and given me back hope.

i wuv my mom

I wuv your mom too.

Chiorgirlhotel, thank you for posting this about your legs. I could have written that. I hate my legs, cellulite in the front, more than in the back, ugh...and white, pasty looking skin...I cannot wait to get some color on them once this weather breaks. I'm beginning to realize that the weather has a lot to do with my ambition and I feel so blah and lazy right now.
Thank you, Ilene, for your response. You've taught me a few things that I've been questioning. How to get rid of the layer(s) of fat. But I do have a question, do you do aerobic exercise first to get rid of the fat and then do weight training to begin to build muscle? I hear so many diff. things, I'm not sure which to do first. I've "heard" doing weights and working the thighs, BEFORE losing the fat layer, will make your thighs look larger, because you're building muscle under that layer. ...I wish it were easier than this. I think I understand something, then I hear something else and am even more confused. Any more suggestions and tips would help clarify things for me. I'm new at wanting (and needing) to begin weight training. Help?

If you are meaning doing aerobic first and weight training second in that order, in ONE gym session -- i have heard you should do weight training and then cardio. something about the lactic acid in your muscle, etc. i have tried both ways and i have to admit (even though its not my preference) i am able to do so many more lunges, abs, weights, etc. if i do them first and then cardio.

If you are meaning in the long run, you can do both at once because even though you are creating muscle, in the long run muscle burns fat. so you are essentially creating two ways to burn fat! yay for that.

Yup, Build the muscle and burn the fat!

I do heavy legwork only once a week- but it's HEAVY. It usually takes 3-4 days for complete muscle recovery. Squats, lunges, step-ups. leg presses, deadlifts and all the variation of them all. It take me just a little over an hour to do legs. I do cardio about 5 times a week and varing intensities, so that gives me a light leg workout and a lot of fat burning cardio.

Running is great cardio if you can do it and enjoy it, but it's not the only way to achieve great legs and burn fat. The high impact just makes it feel like you are working harder than if you were on an elliptical, cross-trainer or stair stepper.

Yay for mom! Wouldn't it be nice if all moms gave compliments?
Try some self-tanner. I use Jergens and it looks really natural and smells ok. Great for beating the pastey-white winter leg look!

Mel