I understand the issues with thick thighs. Your pants split at the seams, wear down between the thighs due to rubbing, and when summertime comes, the chafing can be so bad it can result in rashes (life hack: spray deodorant works great to prevent this!). Not to mention the struggle of finding shorts that don't cut off the circulation to the rest of your legs. I don't have the thickest of thighs, but I'd say that in proportion to the rest of my body, they're a decent size.

The issue I want to talk about, though, is thick calves. As a girl, I would argue this is an even bigger problem than thick thighs, at least at times. Don't agree? Let me shed some light on my situation.

One of the biggest issues that come to mind when I think about my thick calves is finding jeans (or pants in general) that fit properly. I hate jeans, I think they're very uncomfortable, and I've realized that my body proportions play a big role in this opinion. I prefer skinny jeans to any other style and I wear a size 5, which is the same size both of my older sisters wear.

If you know all three of us, you know that we have similarities in our body types, but we also have very different bodies. My oldest sister is shorter than me but has wider hips than I do. My middle sister is taller than me and has wider hips than I do. It doesn't make sense that I would wear the same size, does it?

This could have to do with the sizing system of women's clothing, which is a whole other article I could write, but it largely comes down to this: If the pants don't fit past my calves, I cannot wear them. Period. If I force it, they end up being the most uncomfortable things ever, not allowing me to even bend my knees due to the tightness of the fabric on my legs. Taking off jeans that are too small means you pretty much have to turn them inside out to do it, which gets frustrating.

So the simple solution is to just go up a size. The issue I then might face is finding pants that fit over my calves comfortably, but then are too loose around the waist because I don't have very wide hips. The simple solution then? Wear leggings and sweatpants in colder weather and skirts or dresses in warmer weather...

I have four years of marching band to thank for the thickness of my calves. Not to mention my adoration of high heels (I wore them a lot in high school, alright?) But when all is said and done, I would much rather have my toned legs than thin, potentially fragile legs (not that there's anything wrong with that either, bodies are built differently and I fully understand that!). I don't have a very feminine body to begin with (narrow hips, small chest, minimal curves), so it's actually really great to have nice legs because then I have something to feel good about.