If you have 14 inch thighs or 15 inch thighs, then you have a very small thigh measurement indeed.
Having 15 inch legs as an adult or adolescent is a sign that you’re underweight. This is because you simply can’t have 15″ thighs without also having a low BMI.
With that in mind, this guide takes some common questions regarding thigh size and explains why having excessively small thighs is bad for your health.
Related:
Are 15 inch thighs big?
Considering that 15 inch thighs are normal for an 8-year-old, they’re much too small for an adolescent or adult.
15 inch legs will look extremely thin on any kind of body—tall or short, male or female.
Since research shows that having larger thighs can be beneficial for your health, [1] it’s wise to slowly increase the size of your thighs through a combination of diet and exercise if they’re currently too thin. More on that in a bit.
How about 14 inch thighs?
If you have 14 inch thighs, then that’s a strong sign that you’re severely underweight. Data collected by the CDC found that 1.6% of US adults over the age of 20 are underweight. [2]
Similar anthropometric data demonstrates that 14 inch legs are a whopping 7 inches smaller than average for both men and women.
Additionally, research shows that people who’re classed as underweight (a BMI below 18.5) have higher mortality rates than those who have a normal body weight. [3]
Does anyone have 12 inch thighs?
The only individuals who have 12 inch thighs are young children who are still developing.
No adult or adolescent should have or aim to have 12 inch thighs or 13 inch thighs because such a leg circumference means that you’d need to be deathly thin.
Indeed, attaining such a measurement may not be physically possible considering that 12 inches is a normal size for the upper arms and the forearms.
Is it dangerous to have 10 inch thighs and 11 inch thighs?
Unless these measurements are with regard to a young, developing child, then yes, only having 10 inch thighs or 11 inch thighs is extremely dangerous for your health because it means that your body is extremely weak and frail.
In fact, most people would simply never attain such a thigh measurement because their body would die before they reached it.
It’s easy to understand why having 10 inch legs and 11 inch legs is bad when you consider that such sizes are small for the upper arms.
Nobody should aim to make their thighs 10 inches. If you are concerned about your body due to an eating disorder, then you can get more information on how to beat it here and here.
How can you safely increase your 15 inch thighs?
To safely increase the size of your 15 inch thighs, you need to consume more calories than you burn so that your body can increase in mass and strength.
While regular exercise certainly burns calories and thus helps you to lose weight, this is only the case if you’re in an energy deficit. By increasing your food intake and starting a basic exercise regime, your body will develop lean muscle mass and grow in strength.
If you’re trying to slim your thighs, then lifting weights might seem counterintuitive.
However, research that examined university-aged women shows that resistance training actually makes you feel better about the way that your body looks. [4]
This might be due to the fact that when you lift weights, you’re watching your body grow in strength, which makes you feel good about yourself.
Aerobic exercise, which, like strength training, releases endorphins, has similar benefits when it comes to improving body image. [5]
In conclusion
While it’s true that some individuals naturally have much slimmer thighs than others, no healthy adult has 14 inch thighs or 15 inch thighs.
If you do have such a leg size, then you could gain 6 inches on each thigh, and your legs would still be slimmer than average.
Of course, attaining a 15 inch thigh circumference isn’t desirable because such a measurement is indicative of being too thin, which is bad for your health. You can safely increase the size of your legs by eating a healthy, wholesome, balanced diet and performing muscle strengthening exercises.
References
- Aleccia, J. N. (2009, September 4). Skinny thighs could spell your doom. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/body-odd/skinny-thighs-could-spell-your-doom-flna1c9926691
- Fryar CD, Carroll MD, Afful J. Prevalence of underweight among adults aged 20 and over: United States, 1960–1962 through 2017–2018. NCHS Health E-Stats. 2020.
- Flegal KM, Graubard BI, Williamson DF, Gail MH. Excess Deaths Associated With Underweight, Overweight, and Obesity. JAMA. 2005;293(15):1861–1867. doi:10.1001/jama.293.15.1861
- Ahmed, C., Hilton, W., & Pituch, K. (2002). Relations of Strength Training to Body Image Among a Sample of Female University Students. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 16(4), 645. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12423199/
- Martin Ginis, K. A., Strong, H. A., Arent, S. M., Bray, S. R., & Bassett-Gunter, R. L. (2014). The effects of aerobic- versus strength-training on body image among young women with pre-existing body image concerns. Body Image, 11(3), 219–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2014.02.004