Help me maximize fat loss without bulking up more

Overall I'd just like my thighs to be smaller. I think at some point you have to just accept that you have a certain body type. It sounds like you are in great shape. When I was 21, I hated my big thighs and now at 32 I look back at pictures of myself then and want to slap myself as hard as possible, because I looked fantastic, and my thighs were not anywhere near as big in reality as they were in my head. They are still big, but I've learned to accept that larger-than-average thighs are my lot in life. You can't lose weight in certain spots, and if you don't work out your leg muscles then the cellulite will be even worse if you lose the muscle tone that you have. If anything, your best bet is to have killer arms to balance your hourglass out. If you only have 5-15lb to lose, then I have little doubt that your arms look more like http://www.womenshealthmag.com/files/wh6_uploads/images/michelle-obama_5.jpg even though you seem to think they look like https://lifewithasideofsarcasm.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/michelle-obama-arms.jpg?w=570.

I just want to say that as an AFAB person not on hormones, I started lifting weights and "bulked up" enough that I'm having trouble with my clothes fitting. I am visibly bigger and different looking than I was six months ago. I haven't "bulked up" like a competitive lifter and - being kind of pudgy - I don't have a lot of muscle definition, but I do look different. This is perfectly possible for women, depending on your body type and how easily you put on muscle. Everyone likes to say that women don't get big from exercise - and up to a point that's true - but you can certainly get bigger enough to notice.

There are generally two ways to achieve what you're trying to do: 1. Let the muscles in your lower body atrophy. Drop your caloric intake significantly so that you lose fat in addition to muscle. As you lose fat and muscle, your lower body will get smaller. Unfortunately, losing fat and muscle will also slow your metabolism dramatically and you will need to lower your caloric intake in turn. Your risk of injury will increase as the protective muscle around your knees and hips disappears. There is no predicting if you will lose faster from your upper or lower body, so while you will get smaller in an absolute sense, you may still look out of proportion. 2. Train intelligently and with a purpose. I suspect that http://bretcontreras.com/how-to-attain-a-slender-look-like-jessica-alba-zoe-saldana/ would be a good jumping off point for you in terms of determining what the right training methodology is for your goals. Building strength in your upper body will make your lower body look more proportional. It will also increase your metabolic rate, leading to a slow recomposition as your body gains muscle and loses fat.

It really doesn't matter what exercises you are doing as long as you are getting a good work out. The burn from your exercise is largely determined by your target heart rate. There are different "zones" that burn different kinds of calories at different levels. It's popular to go into the moderate heart-rate zone where you burn the most fat, but many will argue if you do HIIT (high intensity interval training), you will burn more of all kind of calories, which will include fat. The notion that a woman will bulk up just from exercising is a ridiculous myth -- unless you have crazy genetics, you're not going to turn into a muscle man because you did some strength training. That said, you cannot spot reduce fat, so if you really don't want muscular legs or muscular arms, stop doing exercises that involve strength training for those body parts. Use an elliptical or something that is pure cardio. What I think will probably end up happening though, is you will just look less toned -- you cannot control your body composition, so I think you should accept however your body looks when you are working out. Women generally have larger hips and thighs than their upper body -- we all just have to accept it.

Your upper body probably seems bulky to you because you are probably doing high repetitions, frequently; this can lead to temporary swelling of the muscles (with water). Since you are at the high end of a normal BMI range, I would guess that you still have a bit of fat over that swollen muscle, and the whole effect appears "bulky" to you. The thing with fat in the thighs is that it's usually the last to go in women, for hormonal reasons. And you have to get to quite a low body fat percentage to get it to go, which isn't really sustainable over the long haul. If you're a pear, that also means your upper half is going to get quite thin-looking first. All you can do is try to build muscle in ways that lead to the proportions you prefer. But you're probably going to run into some kind of limit (namely your natural frame, but also your interest in training and willingness to tolerate protein shakes and/or chicken). I would definitely not miss out on resistance training, though, because that a) helps with function and b) gives your legs more shape and firmness under whatever fat is there. I 100% agree with working to accept your basic shape. There's only so much you can do to reconfigure your proportions. I think pear shapes are lovely (but I might, since I'm a pear). (1400 is really low for an active 5'6 person, imo. I would shoot for somewhere between 1700-1800, if you're not going to be doing much exercise at all, and 1800-2100 higher, if you're going to be doing more cardio and lifting.)

As the above person said, look at your goals first. It sounds like you're aiming without actually meaning to for the "skinny-fat" look wherein you are technically skinny, but when the clothes come off there is no healthy definition or vitality going on. Weightlifting won't bulk you up. It will make you look a lot healthier. Women have to go to such ridiculous extreme lengths to get "bulky" in the traditional muscly sense that I'm not sure how it ever permeated culture as what happens when you lift weights. Do a lot of leg lifting including squats. Do some regular core and arm lifting. Your top half will not expand, if anything it will condense once the fat starts going away... and your bottom half will as well. Caloric intake is the correct method for removing fat, but you can't spot check this. Your body will hold onto the fat in what it has decided is the best place until the very end! For you, it's probably going to be your thighs if that's already where your body has put a lot of it.

I wouldn't necessarily do more exercise, especially if you won't like it. I'd cut calories, while making sure you're still getting enough protein. It's really easy to eat a few hundred more calories in a day and it's hard to burn a few hundred calories.

How old are you? That will affect how your body chooses to distribute fat, and your metabolic rate, among other things. Consider lowering the carbs and reading up on low-carb diets: a calorie is not necessarily a calorie. Try getting more protein and fat in your diet, while maintaining a healthy caloric deficit roughly 10-20% below your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) -- google to find TDEE calculators out there on the net. See how that makes you feel, and up your calories if you can't maintain the level of exercise intensity you want or if you're feeling more fatigued than you were before the switch. You also might want to consider intermittent fasting. At this stage, cardio (except maybe HIIT) won't have much of an effect on your body composition or fat loss as getting your diet in order will. I also wouldn't worry about bulking up: even men have a tough time bulking up without really careful attention to their diet and pushing themselves 100% every time they're in the gym, multiple days a week. Some have to take steroids to get there. As other commenters have pointed out, lifting and resistance training in general will help to fill you out once you've lost fat, and you won't look bulky -- you'll look "toned", for the lack of a better term. And that extra muscle will help you lose fat all over your body even more quickly.

Getting "bulky" is pretty hard. Like, REALLY hard -- most female weightlifters can't bulk unless they are eating upwards of 2000 calories a day and lifting heavy 3+ times a week. I'm guessing what you are seeing is fat -- it may be on top of slightly more muscle, but it's not like you are all of the sudden making HUGE GAINZ from doing Pilates and yoga. This times a billion. It is SO HARD to make significant muscle gains as a woman of any age. What you're seeing is basically just increased muscle definition beneath tenacious fat. To lose that fat you need more cardio plus fewer calories per day. If you're doing the kind of yoga where everyone is drenched with sweat and exhaustion (not bikram, just regular strenuous yoga) 3-4x a week that may be enough - it works really well for me but of course as always ymmv. You may need to add extra cardio like elliptical or treadmill or bike or whatever, at least 30min per day, even on rest days. Definitely look into getting most of your calories from protein and fat, and cut back on carbs as much as you can without it making you have terrible carbless despair. Stop drinking soda, even diet soda, and no alcohol of any kind. No fruit juices either, really, it's just garbage sugar calories without the benefit of the fibre from the actual fruit.