Is Pregnancy Making Your Thighs & Hips Bigger & Wider? The Solution - Michelle Marie Fit (2023)

FAQs

Why my hips and thighs are getting bigger in pregnancy? ›

As you grow your baby, your body carries more water than it usually would. This excess water tends to drain into the lower parts of your body which can cause your legs in particular to look larger than usual.

Your ribs may have expanded, and your hips will often widen to make it easier for the baby to exit the birth canal. For some women wider ribs and hips will be permanent.

That's because, during pregnancy, estrogen directs fat to form below the abdomen and inhibits any growth above the waistline. Back Problems: Studies have demonstrated a link between lower back pain and fat accumulation. A poor posture can cause fat to accumulate within your inner and outer thighs.

What skin changes can happen after giving birth? You may have stretch marks on your belly where your skin stretched during pregnancy. Some women also get them on their thighs, hips and bottom. They may not disappear after giving birth, but they do fade over time.

In addition, your hips also need to widen to provide an easier exit down the birth canal during delivery. After pregnancy, however, your ribs and hips may not shift back to where they used to be. "Some women report that even after getting back to pre-baby weight, the shape of their body has changed," Dr. Ghodsi said.

With the onset of puberty, the male pelvis remains on the same developmental trajectory, while the female pelvis develops in an entirely new direction, becoming wider and reaching its full width around the age of 25-30 years. From the age of 40 onward, the female pelvis then begins to narrow again.

For the most part, your body will eliminate the circulating cells shortly after pregnancy, but sometimes the cells can avoid the immune system for a long time. In the case that the cells integrate into tissue, they become part of your body for a lifetime, giving you two sets of unique genetic material.

Participating in total-body, muscle-strengthening activities at least two days a week may help you burn calories, reduce fat mass , and strengthen your thighs. Include lower-body exercises such as lunges, wall sits, inner/outer thigh lifts, and step-ups with just your body weight.

What body part gets bigger during pregnancy? ›

During pregnancy, your growing baby stretches your abdominal muscles. Your abdominal muscles stretch as your uterus (womb) expands with the pregnancy.

Most women lose around 13 pounds (6 kg) right after childbirth, which includes the baby's weight, as well as the weight of the amniotic fluid and placenta. When it comes to fat loss, with a healthy diet and regular exercise, you may lose about 1 pound (0.5 kg) a week.

The main culprit behind weight gain in your thighs is estrogen. This hormone drives the increase in fat cells in females, causing deposits to form most commonly around the buttocks and thighs.

This is called 'chloasma'. It is also sometimes known as 'melasma' or the 'mask of pregnancy'. Chloasma is thought to be due to stimulation of pigment-producing cells by female sex hormones so that they produce more melanin pigments (dark coloured pigments) when the skin is exposed to sun.

Pregnancy hormones drive this unique pattern of fat accrual. Even worse news? For the average pregnant woman, a fifth or more of the fat she gains goes to her upper thighs. (I experienced this for all my pregnancies; I just had no idea it was so common.

As your belly grows during pregnancy, your skin may become marked with reddish lines called stretch marks. These marks occur when the skin stretches quickly as the fetus grows. By the third trimester, many pregnant women have stretch marks on the abdomen, buttocks, breasts, or thighs. Sometimes the marks are faint.

However, during pregnancy, too much relaxin can be released into the system. When this happens, the excess of relaxin causes the ligaments responsible for stabilizing the pelvis to loosen up too much. This can cause pain in the inner thigh and groin area.

Several factors cause your butt to get bigger during pregnancy, including weight gain and belly expansion. Skeletal, postural, and alignment changes also play a part.

Your postpartum belly won't instantly go back to how it was before you were pregnant – it's a process that can take months or even years, while some bellies may take on a different shape permanently. Some moms may experience a bulge caused by diastasis recti, a separation of the abdominal muscles during pregnancy.

The researchers found that women who had live births had telomeres that were an average of 4.2 percent shorter than their counterparts with no children. This equates to around 11 years of accelerated cellular aging, said Anna Pollack, an epidemiologist at George Mason University and the lead researcher of the study.

What hormone widens hips? ›

Estrogen is actually a group of sex hormones, each of them performing different roles in women's health and development. Estrogen helps make women curvier than men by making their pelvis and hips wider, and their breast grow.

Widening of the hip bones occurs as part of the female pubertal process, and sex hormones in females (estrogens) cause a widening of the pelvis as a part of sexual differentiation. Hence females generally have wider hips, permitting childbirth.

Although you can't spot-reduce fat in just one area of your body, you can trim hip fat by losing overall body fat. You can do this through regular fat-burning exercises, cutting back on calories, and toning your lower body.

Getting back into shape after having a baby is hard, even for women who were fit and strong before becoming pregnant, a new study shows. Pregnancy is known to put stress on many parts of the body, including the heart, lungs, muscles and joints.

How much weight do you lose after giving birth? Once baby has been delivered (along with their accompanying placenta and amniotic fluid), most women lose an average of 10 to 13 pounds.

Loose skin may never regain its prepregnancy appearance without medical treatment. However, diet and exercise can help reduce the appearance of loose skin after pregnancy over time.

They're a colloquial term for the inward curve between your lower hip bone and your upper femur joint. They can also be known as “violin hips.” It's a very standard feature. If you're facing a mirror and looking for them, they'll appear like dents on either side of your body.

This is easiest to do by reducing your daily caloric intake by 250 calories and burning 250 calories per day through exercise. Focus on eating low-fat dairy products, lean protein, whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products.

If you're looking to lose inner thigh fat, your goal should be to reduce body fat overall since you can't spot reduce. To lose thigh fat and tone your legs, focus on eating a healthy diet, doing cardio three days a week, and strength training three to four days a week.

Can you get rid of naturally thick thighs? ›

It is impossible to spot reduce (lose weight from just one area of your choice), but you can get leaner legs by combining body fat reduction strategies, ample cardio, and muscle building routines.

‍Can walking reduce thigh fat? Yes, it can. Brisk walking is considered a good cardio exercise.

Months four through six of your pregnancy will mark major fetal growth spurts, resulting in you gaining quite a bit of weight.

Typically, your bump becomes noticeable during your second trimester. Between 16-20 weeks, your body will start showing your baby's growth. For some women, their bump may not be noticeable until the end of the second trimester and even into the third trimester. The second trimester starts in the fourth month.

Walking on an incline will help you shed off the extra fat from the hip and thigh area. The higher the incline, the more calories are burnt. Since, fat reduction is based on caloric burning process, walking on a hill or incline will help in slimming the hip and thigh area.

Generally speaking, fat cells accumulate when your body takes in too many calories or you don't burn as many calories as you're consuming. Over time, these fat cells can become noticeable as they accumulate in certain areas, such as around your waist and hips.

It often takes six to nine months to get back to your pre-pregnancy weight. But it can take a lot longer, even 10 months to two years, especially if a woman gained 35 pounds or more during her pregnancy.

Can you lose fat during pregnancy? ›

The fetus can use their body's fat stores for energy. By not gaining any weight during pregnancy, a woman will usually be losing fat stores. After pregnancy, she may naturally have a lower body weight than before becoming pregnant.

You won't get big legs if you walk

And yet, many people believe that this exercise can make your leg muscles bigger. But unlike the general perception, larger legs are caused due to stored fat rather than muscle.

An unhealthy diet can result in extra fat

When you eat a diet filled with processed foods, refined carbohydrates, and sugary drinks, it results in stubborn fat on your abdomen, hips, and buttocks. These types of foods lead to insulin resistance, which leads to increased fat storage, ending in fat that's hard to lose.

Diet to reduce thigh fat

The biggest culprits are pasta, white rice and bread, pastries, sodas, and desserts.

As you grow your baby, your body carries more water than it usually would. This excess water tends to drain into the lower parts of your body which can cause your legs in particular to look larger than usual.

As she explains, increasing estrogen levels during pregnancy cause the blood vessels in your nose to relax and dilate in order to increase blood flow, which leads to swollen nose tissue… aka the bigger noses that pregnant moms have been noticing on social media.

In the early stages of pregnancy, our body begins to loosen our ligaments, aiding us in handling a different center of gravity and providing the base for our structure to expand. This evolution allows the uterus to expand rapidly after the first trimester as the hips widen and the ribcage flares.

Maternal tissue accretion contributes mainly with fat deposition (average 27%, although highly variable between women). The majority of the maternal fat deposited during pregnancy is subcutaneous. In healthy pregnant women, fat appears to be deposited mainly in the hips, back, and upper thighs.

During pregnancy, the lining of your uterus thickens and its blood vessels enlarge to provide nourishment to the fetus. As pregnancy progresses, your uterus expands to make room for the fetus. By the time your baby is born, your uterus will have expanded to many times its normal size.

Relaxin is a reproductive hormone produced by your ovaries and the placenta. It loosens and relaxes your muscles, joints and ligaments during pregnancy to help your body stretch. Relaxin also helps your body prepare for delivery by loosening the muscles and ligaments in your pelvis.

Do you put weight on your thighs when pregnant? ›

(And realistically…you won't lose weight during pregnancy, but you will probably gain weight around your thighs, face, and arms as your body needs more fat reserves.

It's not unusual for your labia and vagina to appear swollen and feel fuller. The swelling and increased blood flow may also increase your libido and make you feel easily aroused. Hormonal changes and increased blood flow may also cause your vagina and labia to darken and take on a bluish tint.