Expert: Ken Alan - 5/23/2008

Question
my build is pear shape.  i am an 18-year old golfer and have found that the more i work out, the bigger my thighs and butt are getting!  i don't like it.  what can i do to make these areas smaller?

Answer
Hi,


You say you are getting bigger from "working out", but don't say what your workout is.  It's hard to determine what the culprit may be without any information about your physical activity.  If you are getting bigger, it may be water retention as muscles utilize a lot of water once they start moving regularly.  Also, food intake sometimes increases when exercising, and getting bigger may be a result of that.

Regular cardiovascular exercise helps to burn calories and bodyfat, and reduce bodyfat stores on your physique.  Strength training tones and firms muscles, and will also help to burn calories. You have to lift an awful lot of weight many times to build pounds of muscle on your body, so it's hard to think that "working out" is causing you to get bigger, rather, it is likely an increase in calorie consumption.  

Without any info provided, it's a guess, but the above situation is quite common.