"Real women have curves"

[Boozy]

Treadmill and elliptical workouts won't add bulk to legs. Bulk is added by heavy weightlifting with low reps. Your cardio will make your legs leaner. Muscles get denser, but not bigger.

[blas87]

It's not bulky man muscle, but my legs got bigger from working out.

I was a size 4, 120-125 lbs before I started going to the gym. After about 6 months or so of 5 days a week 1-2 hours at a time, my jeans no longer fit in the hips and thighs. Granted, size charts vary, but I had to buy pairs of size 9 from Vanity in their specialty "curvy" fit. I no longer shop at AE for jeans because I don't want to spend what I used to on jeans in the hopes that I can undo all that damage and be a 4 again.

Part of some weight gain was getting a little older, I think my metabolism is nowhere what it was when I was 20-22.

Cardio did nothing but make my legs bigger. Weight lifting has made them smaller, granted I don't do very much weight at a time and tons of reps.

[Boozy]

I no longer shop at AE for jeans because I don't want to spend what I used to on jeans in the hopes that I can undo all that damage and be a 4 again.

Part of some weight gain was getting a little older, I think my metabolism is nowhere what it was when I was 20-22.

You're right that your body changes as you get older, but it's not necessarily related to metabolism.

You mention you used to buy jeans at AE. I think I know what your problem is - AE is a store for teens and very young women. As a result, they design their pants to fit girls, not women. That means hips and thighs are roughly the same size as the waist.

When women get into their mid-20's, their body becomes more womanly - the hips and thighs fill out. So now if you find a pair of AE jeans that fit your waist, the legs will be too tight.

I'd give up dreams of shopping again at AE. I can no longer shop there. Just think of it as graduating.

Cardio did nothing but make my legs bigger. Weight lifting has made them smaller, granted I don't do very much weight at a time and tons of reps.

Weight lifting is better for general weight loss than cardio, so that's probably what you noticed. But unless you were doing high-resistance sprint training on the treadmill, the cardio was not adding bulk in the form of muscle to your legs. That's not how our muscles work.

[blas87]

I can still fit in junior size jeans at AE, just not a size I feel good about wearing.

I've noticed a lot of jean size standards are so tiny that maybe it's just me being vain.

I've been buying Vanity's special curvy fit jeans, they are tight in all the right places and comfy in all the right places. My legs look long and lean and I still look sexy curvy, instead of stumpy legged and like I shit my pants.

[Food Lady]

I'm built like a curvy man. Deal with that.