Can big thighs save your life?!

So. Part one of Learning to Love the Thighs of Doooom...

I'm going to try to collect good news stuff about having bigger-than-average bits (if you'll pardon the expression) because I don't want to just moan about my legs. If I'm going to do this, I need all the positive encouragement I can get.

And it starts here...

According to an article on the BBC news website, scientists have discovered that the larger a person's thighs are, the more their hearts are protected. Crazy, but true. Science fact. Scientists studied 3,000 people and, men and women with thighs over 23.6" (60cm) in circumference have a lower risk of heart disease and early death. It's something to do with insulin, apparently - muscle mass is important to help the body deal properly with insulin levels. So narrow thighs could lead to an increased risk of diabetes, according to the report.

I'm not looking for justification for being the size I am - after all, one of the main objectives of my year-long challenge is to lose some of the inches from my almost-three-feet-in-circumference thighs - but it just goes to show that our bodies are amazing things we're still learning about. So today, I feel a little less ashamed of my bulky friends (thighs, that is. Not actual friends. All of my friends are of the decidedly non-bulky variety...) - and that can only be a good thing.

And so it begins...

I am in shock.

My thighs are nearly 3 FEET in circumference. Each.

Seriously.

I've always had large thighs compared the rest of my body - looking a little like Wallace in The Wrong Trousers - but now I'm losing weight everywhere else but and it's completely frustrating.

Don't get me wrong - this isn't another whingey woman with woeful body image issues: this is an average-sized British lady who is fed up to the back teeth of looking like she's wearing someone else's (huge) thighs. As for the rest of my body, it's not going too bad, actually. Boobs are good (natch), waist is nicely small for my frame and bum is significantly better thanks to regular yoga. But the thighs are stubbornly refusing to reduce - and with everything else shrinking around them, they're becoming more noticeable by the day.

The only way I'm going to do something about this is if I force myself into it (being, as I am, renowned for starting things I never finish) - so drastic action is necessary. So here's the plan:

1 year - starting right now.
1 mission - to love my thighs and be good to them, no matter what.
1 goal - 2 shrinking thighs (hopefully...)

I know it's a crazy thing to start a year's challenge on October 14th... I realise that Wednesdays are not generally renowned for being particularly famous days for starting things. But if I leave it until New Year, I will be (a) thoroughly depressed for two-and-a-half months; and (b) much more likely to have given up the whole shebang. And if I leave it till next Monday, I wil have talked myself out of it by Friday teatime.

So it starts. Right here. Right now.

I have no idea whether I will be successful in this or just end up amusing myself with yet another hare-brained scheme that seemed like a good idea at the time. But I have to give it a go. I have no idea what I'm going to do to try to reach my desired goal of loved-up thighs (that looks so wrong, but you get the idea), but I'm willing to try almost anything, as long as it isn't expensive (I'm broke), or requires surgery (I'm a wuss).

So, here goes. I'm sure I'm not alone in all this, so maybe if someone else is reading with similar problematic appendages, maybe they'll let me know and we can encourage each other. If not, I hope my random witterings make you smile.

Alright, thighs. Let's do this...

Day 1:

Thigh circumference: A whoppingly depressing 34" (that's 86.3cms, metric fans...)

Ugh... Here goes...