There are a few common areas of the body where fat accumulates, and are referred to as "problem areas". The thighs are one of those areas that gather fat, especially as we age and become less active. There is really no such thing as "spot reducing" and your thigh fat will go along with general reduction of body fat, however you can reduce the size of thighs by replacing the fat with lean muscle. Let's take a closer look at how to trim those thighs along with trimming body fat in general.
Diet to Lose Thighs
Diet is perhaps the most critical element in your fat loss strategy, and if the foods you eat are not conducive to fat loss, exercise can not get you reducing nearly as well all on its own. So, the first order of business is to get your eating right. If you eat a diet that's heavy in unhealthy fats, and too much sugar and heavily processed foods, you will retain fluid and fat. If your body type is predisposed to have fat thighs, these food choices can really pack it on.
To help speed up your metabolism, eat 5 or 6 small meals each day, instead of the traditional 3 large meals. This helps your body to produce sustained energy, while helping you to avoid over eating. Just make sure that the "small meals" are truly that, small. Some suggestions for snacks are vegetables and fruits that are high in fiber, like an apple or celery with organic peanut butter. Nuts are also a good choice, just be aware that although they contain high quality nutrients, they are also calorie dense, so take it easy on the quantity. Lean proteins, like hard cooked eggs, cooked chicken breast, and good quality cheese, are also good choices. It's best to eat some lean protein and vegetables at each meal with a smaller serving of starchy carbohydrates or whole grains. This should help your energy to stay high throughout the day, and still drop pounds, especially off the thighs.
Remember to drink plenty of water. As a good rule of thumb, you should try to get at least one quart of water per day for each 50 lbs. of body weight. That means plain water, not as part of coffee or other beverages, but in addition to. The importance of keeping your body well hydrated, especially when trying to lose weight, is sometimes overlooked.
Exercise to Lose Thighs
Cardio workouts are an integral part of any good weight loss exercise program. It not only helps you to trim down, but also has stress reducing benefits, and when you reduce stress your body will release the pounds easier.
Many of the high quality exercise programs recommend that you replace long and slow cardio with short bursts of high exertion followed by short periods of low exertion. In this manner you can rev up your metabolism even more, making your body burn fat even while you are at rest, plus save time! To slim down your thighs you'll need to do regular cardio workouts.
For extra thigh toning choose cardio exercises that focus on your legs, like walking, jogging, stair-climbing, etc. Kick-boxing is another good choice and exercise classes that include kick-boxing moves are offered by many gyms.
Walking and jogging are two activities that can most easily be modified to accommodate your needs. For example jogging along the bottom of a swimming pool will take the weight off your joints, and conversely, walking or jogging through sand increases the intensity and difficulty of your cardio workout.
Strength Training to Lose Thighs
At first glance, building muscle to slim down and reduce your size doesn't seem to make sense. But on looking at it more closely, a pound of muscle takes up approximately 1/7 the space of a pound of fat. So, the more muscle you have relative to fat, the smaller in size your body will be. In addition to muscle being more dense than fat, it also burns more calories than fat. This results in you burning more calories, even at rest, when you have more lean muscle tissue on your body...
Like your cardio choices, choosing strength training exercises that target the thighs is extra beneficial. Some of these exercises include leg presses, leg curls, and lunges. You can increase the weights as you get stronger.
You don't have to worry about "bulking up" as a woman. This is because women lack the quantity of the hormone testosterone that men have, which is necessary to build big bulky muscles. Women will build muscle, but it is compact and sleek, which is exactly the look we are going for!
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