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A guide to weight loss from a pretty awesome Black girl... follow me on my journey from 330lbs to personal trainer! 
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Q: What, exactly, are saddlebags?
In a post about the booty, I mentioned that a lot of women are holding onto a “big booty,” saying they don’t want to work out for fear of losing it, only to ignore the other issues that can come paired with it – like a large tummy or saddlebags.
But, as I was asked, what are saddlebags?
It can get confusing, but saddlebags are a very specific issue, and you know it when you see it.
Saddlebags appear on the thighs. They are not curves, in the sense of the coke-bottle shape. If hips – and you know what I mean by hips – are curves, then saddlebags are more like sharp angles.
The photo to the direct left shows “saddlebags.” These adorable little fat deposits get their name from the fact that people who have them apparently resemble horses with – yep, you guessed it – saddlebags on the back of a horse. The thick pink line shows the natural shape of this person’s body, while the black circles show what can be classified as saddlebags.
There is such a thing as simply having hips, but at the point where they protrude out like this, it’s saddlebags. Some also refer to it as “square booty.” Lots of women have fat on their outer thighs, but that’s just “outer thigh fat” and if you actually like the look it provides you, that’s okay. “Saddlebags” are a very specific kind of look, and if you want to change it, I have some advice.
It can come from a few things, the most important of which being when, as pictured, your booty rests on your thighs – notice the crease between the booty and the thigh – thereby pushing the fat that would rest in that space where your booty is outward toward your hips. It can alter the pattern of fat deposits on your body, thereby spreading it even higher up.
I had major saddlebags at my first start. I didn’t think anything of it – just thought it meant I had hips – but it wasn’t the same thing. I didn’t look the way I thought I’d looked. Now, with the tips I’m about to share, my thighs are much more shapely. Sure, there’s fat there, but I don’t mind it as long as I look the way I want it to look.
Now, I’ve seen explanations of saddlebags that said everything from “muscular displacement” to disorder, but my experiences were very different. Mine were, simply, fat.
I still have faint remnants of my old saddlebags, but three things are making a huge difference in their removal.
The first, is cardio. The reality of saddlebags is that, for most people, they’re fat accumulated along the sides of the body. Cardio, a beneficial component of fat loss, will help rid the body of them. The lower body won’t be the first place targeted for fat burn – depending upon how much fat you have to lose, it may start in the upper body first and work its way down – but once the body starts to burn in a more proportionate fashion, you can expect to see pretty awesome results after some dedication.
The second…is changing the way you eat. Something in your daily intake is contributing to that fat sticking to your thighs, so you have to be committed to changing how you eat in order to change that for good. Be willing to play around with that and find out what works best. (Here’s a tip – for me, I had to skip some of the refined carbs.)
The third and final tip? If saddlebags come from having a booty that rests a bit too comfortably on the thighs, then weight lifting will help to lift that booty up, up and awaaaaaaaay, thereby allowing the displaced fat to go back where it wanted. Squats, lunges, good mornings, dead lifts… all are exercises born to lift the booty and make you a happy camper. That’s also the fastest way to develop a “fit booty,” since a muscular booty – not one that is predominately fat – has less of a chance of “deflating,” going back to resting heavily on the thighs and pushing that fat outward again. Test it out yourself – look in a mirror, turn to the side. “Pick up” your booty cheek, now turn forward. Does the shape of the thigh change? Then go get your squat on!
Saddlebags are common in women who, as they age, the shape of their bodies change due to lack of activity. In other words, a thin woman with a “round booty” can wind up with saddlebags as she ages (the woman in the photo is actually rather petite) because of a lack of muscle and activity as well as a poor diet. They also appear in women who are simply accumulating a sizeable amount of fat. It happens.
If you’re not comfortable with it, it doesn’t have to stay that way. Try these tips and see how they help you!
Very informative.I was often wondering what they were and how I can prevent it from happening to me!
THANK YOU for sharing this! I felt alone. I honestly thought these were enlarged hips. I am so embarassed to say that. Noone could give me an anwer they just said I was “spreading”. So I thought I was stuck with them since I will be 30 this year..
OMG, I’m filled with so many emotions right now. I too have saddle bags that I thought was hips! I’m built like a runner so I don’t have much hips to begin with so I heavily relied on my “saddlebags”. I want to laugh and cry at the same time. lol… Thank you for making us aware of this. Now it’s time for me to do something about it!
Weird, I always thought saddlebags were the extra flab around the mid-section around the belly.. Guess I will just have to rename them my love handles or muffin-top. Be careful when you lose your saddlebags, though. I got rid of my outer thighs (stubborn stubborn inner thighs) through cardio, but I traded them in for stretch marks x_x.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to get rid of mine as well. What makes it worse is that on top of the saddlebags I have another dreaded misshapen body parts that people are calling high hips. If I was slimmer and didn’t have saddlebags the lower part of my torso would look sort of squarish. Unfortunately, working out doesn’t seem to be helping much. I’ve been reading a lot about waist training to help curve the waist more and flatten the belly to get rid of my little pooch that doesn’t seem to want to go anywhere.
I have been working out now for 3 months (classes like Zumba, Total Body Workout and Piyo. I haven’t lost any pounds in numbers but from doing cardio I have lost my saddlebags and whatever you call the fat that hangs out the bottom of your underwear that isn’t shaped. I will take our advice and continue to shape this area through weight training.
I have been working out now for 3 months (classes like Zumba, Total Body Workout and Piyo). I haven’t lost any pounds in numbers but from doing cardio I have lost my saddlebags and whatever you call the fat that hangs out the bottom of your underwear that isn’t shaped. I will take your advice and continue to shape this area through weight training.
What would you recommend for those of us with bad knees? Its hereditary. We lose cartilage early in the knees. This means i can’t do lunges or squats properly. And while I have a lot of weight to lose, I want to incorporate the muscle building activities early in my process. I can’t afford a gym membership right now either. Help!
Honestly, I’d probably suggest calisthenics. Yoga, pilates, something of that nature. Something that will softly and slowly help you build the muscles around where you’re losing cartilage, without the additional impact.
Maybe swimming????
Thanks for this post! I’m in the middle of losing 100 pounds, and as I’ve lost weight, I think I’ve actually ACQUIRED saddlebags that I didn’t have before! I mean, I think I was just all-around round, and now that excess fat is leaving (you’re right; it’s totally from the top down!), the saddlebags have become really pronounced and obvious. Ugh. Thanks for your clear words on this topic.
Yep! It’s just the way you’re losing fat is pushing fat into places its never been. The good thing is, as you continue to lose, the rest of THAT fat should start moving out, too!
Loathe my saddlebags. Lots of running and weight training works wonders.
I am a pretty slender girl but I still have saddlebags that look odd on my skinny legs, tried everything
Slender and skinny don’t exclude you from the possibility of having a high body fat percentage, which is what contributes to saddlebags, and is why cardio and muscle development helps alleviate them.
This has helped me feel a bit better about my saddlebags…That maybe I can get rid of them. I have read a lot of people with them have hormone imbalances from various conditions, which I happen to have (polycystic ovarian syndrome). Ever since my teen years when I was pretty small my thighs where always the biggest part of me (and noticeable so, I was an extreme pear). They also have been. And when I lose weight, it’s always from my waist which is the smallest part, and a bit from my chest and hips. But the legs seem to have little difference.
In fact, when I first started going to the gym I took my measurements and everything had gone down, expect my thighs which seemed to have gotten bigger (since I had been doing squats, leg press etc). I freaked out and started to basically do cardio and would only use upper body machines to work out.
But seeing this here makes me feel like maybe I will be out of proportion for awhile, but eventually my legs will get better. My biggest fear is that I will lose weight, but nothing from my legs and I will look monstrously disproportionate.
Can I make love until they disappear??
I support this. ROFL
I run all the time and I just started noticing that I have saddlebags right bellow my butt on the side. I hate them and I literally hate looking at myself. Can someone please tell me what to do? I really just want skinny thighs but I have cellulite and everything. I also have a very skinny upper half. It’s just my thighs and butt that I hate. I have a big butt.
Squats. Lift the skin around your behind, and it tugs at the skin on your hips and re-shapes it all. Your butt probably isn’t particularly muscular if you have saddlebags, so my guess is that you just need to commit to a good squat routine.