Why women have saddlebags

Your email address will not be published. Ready to start your weight loss journey? Ideal You offers free consultations so that you can learn more about weight loss, your body, and the Ideal You program at no cost.

Book Consult. Take our free weight loss quiz to find out how you can lose a life-changing amount of weight in just 40 days. Before you go, join our newsletter to receive expert insights, tips, and information from our weight loss team. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Contact Us. Could Ideal You Help You? Take our free weight loss quiz to find out how you can lose a life-changing amount of weight in just 40 days Take Quiz.

Recent Posts. Contact us Social Media. Schedule Your Consultation. Thank You! Estrogen seems to have a big effect on the accumulation of fat in the thigh area area.

So, even though you may not have much extra weight on other parts of your body, estrogen may cause you to be more prone to developing saddlebags. If you suspect that you might have a hormonal imbalance, I suggest going to the doctor and a naturopath.

For many women, saddlebags are just genetic. Look at your mom or grandma. If they have saddlebags, there is a good chance you will have them too. Diet and exercise can make a difference! Remember, it is impossible to spot reduce. But you can lower your body weight, which can reduce the appearance of saddlebags, and you can tone your lower body to make it look more shapely.

Yes, running should help your saddlebags by reducing your overall body weight. Running helps you burn a lot of calories and it improves your cardiovascular fitness which also increases your anaerobic threshold. And the longer you stay in the aerobic zone, the more fat your body will burn!

I have a very detailed blog post where I explain all about aerobic and aerobic types of workouts and how to lean out your legs with cardio. I typically suggest that you try to pair running with regular walking too. Walking is less intense than running and burns fewer calories.

But, when you walk, your body uses fat as an energy source. You can learn more about the benefits of walking and running here. Squats and other lower-body resistance training can be really helpful for saddlebags. Any type of resistance training is going to tone your muscles and speed up your resting metabolic rate. But I know that some women actually have issues with building their thigh muscles.

And I also know that certain body types are more likely to build too much muscles. Saddlebags, as I mentioned, can come from many different reasons. In order to really help your saddlebags, you need to do a few different things for them. So, first of all, I would advise you to lose extra body fat. As I mentioned, you cannot spot reduce fat so if you want to lose saddlebag fat, losing overall body fat will help.

Also, you should do some kind of resistance training. This will help you tone your legs and butt and reduce your saddlebags. Clean eating is all about eating food in its most natural state. Try to limit processed foods, especially ones that are full of sugar or unhealthy fats. I also avoid alcohol, sugary drinks including refined fruit juice , white bread, and fast food. You can read more about what I do to eat clean here.

Clean eating will help you stay full, keep your calories lower, and give you the nutrients your body needs. It can also help you regulate your hormones, as processed foods and gut problems can contribute to hormonal imbalances.

If you have extra body weight, reducing your caloric intake will help your body lose weight all over, including in your thighs. I suggest that you try eating at a slight caloric deficit. Just like any other fat deposit in the body, this is an area that many women want to target and get rid of. As far as we know saddlebags are genetic.

Women on average, carry more fat cells in the hips than men. Because we carry pregnancies. Our hips need to be strong enough to support ourselves, plus a growing fetus. In fact, research has consistently shown that you cannot target fat loss to specific areas of your body. In order to lose your saddlebags, you need to decrease your overall body fat first. Exercise will only be the icing on the cake after you have made the necessary dietary changes for fat loss.

Remember, your genetics determine how and where your body stores fat. The first thing you need to do to decrease your body fat is to improve your diet. Additionally, I have written an entire post on losing body fat post-baby here. With that said, saddlebags may be the last place where you lose fat. You can get this entire post with pictures in one convenient PDF. You pick your price! That way, you can print it out and have it with you as you go through the exercises.

Before we start, I want to reiterate that exercise alone will not be enough to get rid of stubborn saddlebags. Use the following exercises in conjunction with a healthy diet to give yourself the best chance of success.

The absolute best way to lose fat and build muscle is to increase the strength and muscle tone in your legs.

Compound exercises train multiple muscle groups at once. As a result, you will be able to strengthen all of your leg muscles at once. The more muscles you use, the greater the resistance you can lift, and the more fat you can burn. But even if saddlebags are encoded into your DNA, there is a silver lining: Pear-shaped women are significantly less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke than those who carry weight around their middle, according to a study published September in the European Heart Journal.

Saddlebags, on the other hand, are just unsightly. Even if you're not able to totally rid yourself of these unwanted companions, there are things you can do to lessen their appearance. If you've got saddlebags, the unfortunate truth is that any extra calories you consume are likely to head straight for your thighs. If you struggle with calorie-counting, Dr. Peeke suggests trying time-restricted feeding, also known as intermittent fasting. Indeed, a host of budding research backs up intermittent fasting's positive effect on weight management.

One study, published October in the Journal of Translational Medicine , found that people who adopted this type of eating plan lost more body fat than those who ate the same amount of calories at any time of the day or night. It's worth noting, though, that this study only included males. Did you know that keeping a food diary is one of the most effective ways to manage your weight? Download the MyPlate app to easily track calories, stay focused and achieve your goals!

Beyond eating right, the key to blasting all stubborn body fat — including saddlebags — is to incorporate high-intensity interval training HIIT into your workout regimen two to three times a week, says Dr. These routines involve short bursts of high-intensity exercises like jumping jacks or burpees followed by short periods of rest or recovery. Science backs up this idea: A meta-analysis review in the British Journal of Sports Medicine , published in February , found that people who incorporate HIIT into their exercise routines lose on average about 30 percent more body fat than those who don't.

There are no specific exercises that are guaranteed to obliterate your saddlebags. But doing a basic thigh-strengthening routine three days a week can help tighten and tone the area, whittling saddlebags down, says Ashley Borden , a Hollywood-based certified personal trainer. If, despite all your best diet and exercise efforts, you're still unhappy with your thighs, cosmetic intervention is an option, says Anthony Youn, MD , a plastic surgeon at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, and author of The Age Fix.