I work in a job where I sit all day, but I walk 2 miles (up hill) each day, swim once a week(18 laps), and take a Pilates and Yoga class once a week. I've been doing this for half a year now (except for the swimming, started that when summer hit), but I see no change in my legs. It's still flabby and the cellulite areas don't seem to be going anywhere. Any good suggestions of how to lose fat on legs? I can't run because I've got a strained knee. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

your doctor said you have a strained knee? or you determined this?

if you'r enot losing weight, you're eating too many calories for your lifestyle to burn off. its really taht simple.

either more exercise (including weight training for the WHOLE body) or less food.

and you cannot spot reduce, so don't focus on leg exercises only.

My doctor told me that I have a strained knee.

I've lost like 8lbs over the 6 months. I think it's hard for me to count calories because I'm Asian. We don't eat the same food that magazines or books would normally list. I do admit I cheat once in a while, but I don't think I eat a lot, but a decent portion. 1 bowl of rice ( I need my rice), stir fried vegetables, and some meat. That's pretty much my lunch and dinner. I don't really eat breakfast.

I can see changes in my upper body, it's just lower body doesn't seem to have any affect. So I shouldn't do a little more on my lower body?

www.fitday.com

they have everything that a typical asian diet would include...and if they don't, you can add custom foods.

teh web version is free...the PC version is $30. I've yet to find a reason to pay for it, since I can access the web version from anywhere I have a net connection.


*edit*
i forgot to add, you need to eat more than 2x a day..eating like that slows your metabolism down. eat 5-6 times a day.
and, I eat rice, veggies, and chicken at least once, if not twice a day.

Let's see if you really need to eat your rice, make it brown, or wild rice. Stir fried veggies, steam them instead. Soya sauce, scrap it (too salty).

Start to do more weights. It makes me sad to see all these women relying solely on the pilates (I now wish that pilates would go away). You will not have a body like Cindy Crawford by solely relying on pilates. She also does weights.

If you can afford it find yourself a good personal trainer, preferably one with a pro card in body building, or some acolaids in fitness modelling and competition, these people tend to be more knowledgeable then the kinesiology grads. They have the bodies to prove it. If you can't afford a trainer then I would suggest joining the local YMCA and finding one of the faculty who has the best looking body and picking their brains they evidently know what they are talking about.

From what you said in your post you have absolutely no weights in your routine.

Thanks for the advice and link.

I use to take a Msucle conditioning class, but the instructor got sick and no one is teaching it anymore.

also, asians tend to have bigger looking legs because they have higher lower body muscle mass. (i know this because i'm asian myself lol). i have pretty much the same problem.. i'm skinny throughout (5'5, 103 lbs), but i feel that my legs are big looking.

who says you have to eat like that? eat your ethnic food once a day and have a sour or salad for your other meal.

and eat breakfast; fruit, yogurt, something with whole grains.

and DEF. do weights!

I know it has been said by every trainer out there that you "cannot spot reduce." This is just crazy.
You CAN spot reduce. Otherwise, there wouldn't be different exercises for different body parts. We wouldn't work our abs one day and biceps the next.
To get your legs in shape and toned you DO have to lose weight to rid yourself of cellulite. But you can put on muscle to help get rid of it. Muscle will take off inches and your legs will most likely look smaller.
Believe me, I know from experience.
The best exercises for all around leg toning are 1. The leg press! This hits every muscle. 2. Squats. (one legged ones are the best but some people are not in shape enough to do this.)
You mentioned you have knee problems. This can complicate your leg routine. Just lift light, don't ever let your knee go over your toe, and try to get some muscle put on around the knee to support it. It's that simple! Good luck!

So you CAN spot reduce ?? Leg presses are the best leg exercise ?? Umm do you have any data to back this up or did you have some wild dream ?? Please do not give BS info on here. We are trying to help out peeps, not mislead them.

Okay no you cannot spot reduce. You will lose fat simultaniuosly all over the body. If you are female than the hips and legs are last to respond. Since you have a strained knee that will limit what you can do till it heals. Firstly as was already said watch what you eat and be sure you are burning more calories than you consume. Have you timed how long it takes you to walk the 2 miles? Too many people make the mistake of basing this on how far they walk. Its not how far you walk it how long you are in an aerobic state. So you simply may need to increase your aerobic activity to longer durations to see the results you want. And some legs excercises will help because muscle burns more calories than fat so building a little leg muscle will help in the fat burning process. Since you have a strained knee stay away from weights and just use gravity. In pilates dont you do some leg and hip exercises on the floor??

I hate how confused people get by simple exercise facts.

1. During a weight training session, you will burn calories. Therefore people often lose weight just by weight training. Also, many calories you are already consuming are taken to build muscles.

2. Yes, muscle requires more calories than fat, but this is really not significant unless you build quite a bit of muscle.

3. The leg press is not the best exercise for the legs. Most gym machines are a joke to trainers. The best thing you can do to get sexy legs are squats, lunges, glute-hams or reverse hypers if you have a machines at the gym, hyperextensions if you don't (not great, but they work) step-ups, properly and safely executed deadlifts (do not allow the lower back to curl under), safely executed good mornings (again, make sure you keep the spine from going out of alignment)

4. Losing weight is about keeping the calories in the body out of equilibrium: less coming in than your body uses. You probably lost as much weight as you could, but then your body probably reached a new equilibrium point at your current weight. Adding in weight training will cause your body to use more calories, so you'll start losing weight again.

Give your knee a chance to heal. Also consider wearing a knee brace or compression bandage.

Then, you should do a full-body three times a week.

"New Rules of Lifting" has a three stage fat loss program (after a month long break-in program). I recommend you pick up a copy. You may be able to find a copy at a Half-Price store or a used one somewhere.

Just to emphasize that this book is good - I want to echo Cynic. That is one of the better books written. It busts all the worse fitness myths out there, including the idea that putting on muscle will significantly increase your metabolism.

Just adding my voice...

You need to start by getting your goals written down. Then determine exactly what you need to do in the following arenas: nutrition, cardio and weight training.

I'll post some tips I use below. It may help you. The bottom line is you have to workout/eat according to your goals. Spot reduction is not possible. We have certain exercises to work certain muscles and make them stronger- not to reduce fat in that area.

1) Eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day. Each meal should be 2-3 hours apart. Each meal should contain one protein and one carb. The first meal should be eaten within an hour after waking.


2) Drink a cup of water at each meal.


3) Rest properly. This means taking at least 48 hours between strength training the same muscles, and it also means getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Lastly, it means taking 1-2 days off from exercising per week.


4) Cardio. This should be done at different intensity levels and different session lengths. Consider doing a low intensity/long session, a high intensity/short session and a few medium intensity/medium length sessions.


5) Strength Training. Strength train each muscle 1-3 times per week. You should lift a proper weight and perform the proper amount of sets/reps for your strength training method. If you need more guidance or exercise ideas you can head over here.


All of the above things combined will result in fat loss.