skinny upper but fat lower body. continue cardio or start lifting?

[sujun]

Not sure whether to post this at the losing fat or bb section, so i'm sorry if this is the wrong section!

For the past 11 weeks, i have been doing HIIT/interval and minimal of swimming/p90x/gym (like once a week). Cardio is my main exercise.

This is what i have been doing for 3-4x/week:
warm up- 400m light paced jog (about 4-5min)
20s sprint, 40s jog repeat for 15 times (15min)
light paced jog for 10mins
1 min sprint and 1 min light paced jog for 5 time (10min)

My main goal when i started exercising was to lose my thighs. Sure, i have lost some weight and fats around my thighs but my upper body is losing more than my lower body. I look kinda in-proportional now, smaller face, smaller upper body but larger lower body. I'm concern on whether i'm doing it right. Even though i lost around 7 kg, i feel that those were my muscles. I read that too much cardio will eat your muscles (need some light here!) but I want to keep my muscles as they help to burn fats faster! I do my HIIT in the morning on empty stomach. Is there anything i should have before/after my session?
Also, i noticed that when i cut my carbs, i lost weight even faster but is it safe to just get carbs indirectly from other food instead of rice and sweet potato?

I'm a female.
Weight: ~57kg when i started and now ~50kg.
Height: 156 - 158cm (last time i measured was 2 years ago so yeah...)
Food: mainly chicken breast, salmon, eggs, tofu, sweet potato, yams, broccoli, spinach, mushroom.

Question: 1)Should i continue with what i am doing (HIIT) or start lifting and stop HIIT or do both HIIT and lift?
2) What should i have for my pre and post meal? Will having proper nutrition minimize my muscle loss during HIIT?
I want to continue to lose my thighs but at the same time maintain my upper body so i dont look weird. Please advise. Please share some workout routine, links/guide will be much appreciated!

Your advice is greatly appreciated, thank you! Sorry for such a long post..
I will include more details if needed.

[DaniSP]

Dont worry its normal that your lower body stores more fat as you are a woman. Just keep the fat loss and lift weights.

Do you even train your upper body?

[sujun]

Dont worry its normal that your lower body stores more fat as you are a woman. Just keep the fat loss and lift weights.

Do you even train your upper body?

Hey thanks for the reply. I'm starting to lift BUT I have no plan/ routine. I just go to the gym and start using the dumbells and doing all sort of exercise (not optimal at all, I know) I really do need a routine to follow.
I used to play a lot of basketball when I was younger. I guess that's why my calves are huge and had a bit of muscles on my biceps.

Are you saying that I continue with HIIT and at the same time start lifting? Should I be doing both of them on the same day or on alternate days? What would be a typical routine, full body or split? Last question, should I be doing legs workout, I don't want my thighs to get bigger.

Edit: my concern about doing both weights and cardio is about losing muscles, why gain and yet lose it all? Doesnt make much sense to me, unless whatever I read is not true. After thinking for abit, I think what I really want is to maintain/build my upper body and at the same time lose my thighs.

[sujun]

anyone?

[Doc.Happy]

I am a bottom heavy female and have struggled and still struggle with it. So dont lose heart!!

So here is the deal, number one, do NOT stop working out. Muscle burns calories better than anything else probably!

You need to get your calories figured out. I am a big person and my calories for loss are 1852 a day. i am 5'8" 170#. Diet is truly atleast 80% of it and if you arent devoting 80% of your time and dedication to your diet, you will struggle for a lot longer. (like me, i suck at diet)

You cant maintain your upper body and only get fat off your lower body unfortunately. For us bottom heavy gals we need to get pretty lean on the top in order to get the fat off of our ass.

For example i am at about 13.8% right now. My goal is 12% but i will probably have to drop down to 10% to get the fat off my ass and thighs and then slowly add back to get a smoother and more feminine look.

You really need to push your lower body if you want your legs to firm up and to match your upper body. I have been in the gym for 2 1/2 years now and i have gone from 175# 32% bf to 170# 13.8% body fat. my clothes have stayed the same but i have replaced fat with muscle! I am just starting a new program, DoggCrapp, in which if i give it my all, will totally transform my body.

So all that rambling to say that if you want the results you have to dedicate yourself to a lifestyle of fitness for a long time! We fat bottoms dont get the luxury of spending a few months in the gym and getting the results that we want!

good luck.

here is a link to my DC log. you might want to take a look at it for a few weeks and see if it is something you think you can do.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=142673591

remember, we get out of something what we put into it.

have a great day!

[lunchboy]

Look at the losing fat for noobs threads at the top of this forum and read read read. It will instruct you how to train and how to construct a proper diet.

[rhino71]

Basically everyone holds onto fat in there own little hard to loose areas. The leaner you get over time, the better those areas will get. If you get lean enuf it will go away eventually...
But yeah, check out the noob info on the basics of diet and exercise.... you can learn a lot of valuable info

[sujun]

Thank you all for your responses.

I have already checked the stickies. My question is: should i be lifting and doing HIIT? Can i replace squat (other leg workout) with HIIT?

Right now i'm going to follow allpro routine until i can find something that suits me better. Thoughts?

Anyway, i have attached a picture of myself. Feedbacks are welcome.

[Doc.Happy]

Thank you all for your responses.

I have already checked the stickies. My question is: should i be lifting and doing HIIT? Can i replace squat (other leg workout) with HIIT?

Right now i'm going to follow allpro routine until i can find something that suits me better. Thoughts?

Anyway, i have attached a picture of myself. Feedbacks are welcome.

you look great! you are so young!

if i were you i would NOT be replacing squats with anything but rather doing them and lots of them as they are going to make your legs look the way you want. HIIT isnt going to change the shape of your leg, just make it a smaller version of the same thing! squats will burn way more calories than HIIT if you are using an appropriate weight and going ass to grass and they will transform your body where as HIIT only makes it a smaller size with no change in shape!

[sujun]

you look great! you are so young!

if i were you i would NOT be replacing squats with anything but rather doing them and lots of them as they are going to make your legs look the way you want. HIIT isnt going to change the shape of your leg, just make it a smaller version of the same thing! squats will burn way more calories than HIIT if you are using an appropriate weight and going ass to grass and they will transform your body where as HIIT only makes it a smaller size with no change in shape!

It took me 11 weeks to decrease my thighs, i'm really scared that working my legs will make them big again Is squats going to decrease the size of my thighs?

What do you think of the program i'm currently doing? Would you recommend me other routine?

[Doc.Happy]

It took me 11 weeks to decrease my thighs, i'm really scared that working my legs will make them big again Is squats going to decrease the size of my thighs?

What do you think of the program i'm currently doing? Would you recommend me other routine?

sweetheart, you are a female. you are not going to increase the size of your thighs by doing squats, trust me. we dont have the hormonal ability for great leaps in hypertrophy! I squat and i squat ATG and my thighs have actually decreased in size and gotten stronger! the whole increase size is a myth! the only way your thighs are going to get bigger is if you eat wrong and gain more fat on them.

unfortunately your decrease in size of your thighs was probably all muscle loss and not fat loss. i have been there and done that.