Skinny with large legs? Look into it

After spending over 15 years trying to understand why I couldn’t lose weight on my legs with diet and exercise, a medical diagnosis revealed the cause

I think I was about 14 when I started comparing my body to those of other women. At 5'7" and 127 lbs, my body looked like that of most skinny girls, but only from the waist up. My legs, however, looked like they belonged to someone else — someone twice my weight.

For years, I made an effort not to care, while trying a little bit of everything to lose weight. I visited countless doctors, who could only tell me to exercise more, and one of them even misdiagnosed me with varicose veins(!). At one point I was spending 2 hours a day at the gym and eating only 200 calories. At my lowest, I weighed 108 lbs, but my body didn’t change a lot, other than the bones being more apparent on my arms and shoulders. My legs were the same.

As I got older, I gained a little bit of weight. Today, at 29, I weigh about 145 lbs. My BMI is 22.5 — still within the normal range. For me to be considered overweight, I’d have to gain at least 15 lbs. And to be obese, I’d need to put on at least 46 lbs. However… these are my legs: