Why are my calves so big female Reddit

What causes genetically big calves? I can’t fit into most pants and need to get them tailored lol from moreplatesmoredates

http://imgur.com/a/srjX1

Here's a few pictures of my calves, just to give you a general idea. I would appreciate it if you ladies can be blunt with what you think.

It's not just the front that look big either.. The back bulges out. I can't tell if it's muscle or just fat. What's worse is that my torso is thin and my arms are stick skinny (5'3", ~113 pounds, pear shape), so the proportion looks very off.

I don't think I can wear high top sneakers because they make my calves look bigger, which sucks because I love them. My guy friend pointed out to me that my calves were big the other day when I wore high top converse out. Another guy friend asked me if I do squats. I've been self conscious about my calves since about 12 (when people started pointing out my big calves to me), and I am 18 now.

The only time I've received compliments about my calves is when I ran everyday and went from 120 pounds to 110 pounds. I don't know if I can lose 10 more pounds because I know everyone just says to "lose overall body fat" to get thinner calves.

Will yoga/pilates/stretching really help all that much? How can I reduce my calf size? Or is it my mindset that I need to change?

I'm sure all of you have heard the notion that genetics play a huge role in calf size. But in my observation, I've noticed that it appears to be much more weight based.

I saw a girl walking through the hallway at uni that was quite overweight, probably about 350 pounds @ ~5'4", but her calves looked ripped as shit (literally like a pro male bodybuilder's calves).

She is just 1 case that I have noticed, but in general I have noticed that the more a person looks like they weigh, the larger their calves are. Regardless of whether or not the person works out, the more they weigh, the larger their calves seem to be. But this isn't genetic, its simply based on bodyweight.

Am I wrong here?

Hey everyone! Hope you are doing fantastic today.

I’ve had nice slender legs when I was young but then I started gaining weight when I was 16 and one of my hobbies back then was Dance Dance Revolution which made a terrible impact on my legs! All the jumping and stomping along with eating lots of food resulted to me being overweight and having bulky muscles on my calves.

Now, I’m 24, and I’ve recently lost weight. From 210 lbs I’m now 135 lbs. my goal weight is around 115-125 lbs (I’m 5’3”). My current routine is mainly cardio with a bit of lifting weights too. I do 10 minutes on the stairmaster then 50-65 minutes on elliptical.

I’ve read some articles that advise not to use stairmasters and recommends rowing machine. My gym doesn’t have that so I’m not sure what to substitute it with. Can I just do stationary biking or keep using elliptical? Should I do some pilates or body weight exercises?

Here are some pics of my calves: https://imgur.com/a/LsLkqU5

I just would love to have my legs back again!

Thank you :)

EDIT: Thanks to everyone! For the compliments, tips, suggestions, and even your calves stories. I appreciate it all ☺️

I'm fairly slim all over (5'4", 115 pounds) except my HUGE calves that measure 14" in circumference at the biggest part. My boyfriend once said that they were "rather manly" (gee, thanks honey...). I've heard them referred to as athletic calves, but I'm not that athletic at all so I don't know how I got them. I've tried exercising (mostly walking, running, and yoga), but that only seemed to make them bigger. :(

I'm really self-conscious about wearing dresses and skirts that end at the knee or shorter and I can't fit into most styles of boots.

Does anyone have this problem? Any tips on how to get the sexy legs of my dreams?

Regardless of my weight in my life, I have always had huge calves. I can add a picture upon request. I am now trying to get to my normal weight -->132 lbs, but also want to lose fat in my calves. Does anyone have suggestions?

Currently, I am not exercising but cycling approx one hour a day in order to commute to work.

Many thanks!

Not sure if this is the best place to submit this post, but I'm a long time lurker and just now made an account to post this. I was going to post this under r/fitness, but I thought I might get better advice from the ladies here! :)

It's not considered a very "pretty" or feminine thing to have large calves... which is what I have. I'm an 18y/o female and I have bulging muscle on each of my calves, and it's pretty much all muscle and no fat, which is (from what I've heard) harder to get rid of. Does anyone have advice on how to thin down my calves?

It's really a blow on my self esteem; my legs look terrible in jeggings/skinny jeans, capris ending right below the knee look terrible because my leg just bulges out underneath, crossing my legs when I'm wearing shorts is embarrassing because the muscle completely bulges out... I realize I should love my body the way it is, but I'd also love to have prettier legs.

tl;dr: I have ridiculously muscular calves and am looking for advice on how to thin them!

EDIT: Thank you everyone who responded! You are all such wonderful people with such uplifting words of encouragement :) I think the overwhelming response has been advice to alter my perception of myself. It's hard, living in a society where for one's body to be considered pretty they must be either Cameron Diaz or Kim Kardashian. I'm still going to try slimming down my calves (first step is endurance running! this will be a healthy step as well :D) but I realize that it's not going to be the solution. The long-term solution is fixing how I look at myself. Thanks again, ladies of 2X <3 UPVOTES FOR EVERYONE

Hey Fittit, this has been frustrating me for months. I am 5'6.5 and 110 lbs. I jog for an hour 5 days per week. I don't really do any other lower-body exercises except squats maybe once a week. I don't bike.

Other than my calves, I think my body is very proportionate. I feel like I have been wasting a lot of time running with very little to show for it. I know that there is no way to do targeted fat loss, but is there anything I could do to make my calves smaller? Or is weight loss the only way?

Edit: I went to my cat lady neighbor's house and borrowed her tape measure. My calves are 14.5 inches in circumference at the widest part. In comparison, the thickest part of my thigh is not quite 18 inches.