 The
fat on the side of the legs are the stuff women's nightmares are made of, as women
tend to carry more weight on the thighs and buttocks. But cheer up; these saddlebags
as many people call them are not your fault. You can blame your mum and your dad
for this genetic trait as genes determine where the majority of fat cells are
placed around various areas of the body. Unfortunately for some of us, these fat
cells get concentrated around the thigh area. This placement of fat cells cannot
be changed.
How to tone thighs
One needs to trim the overall body fat to shed the fat from the hips and thighs.
One has to follow a healthy, low-fat diet and take regular exercise. Men generally
start off losing weight on their face, then upper body and stomach area while
women generally lose weight first on their face, then legs, thighs, and hips
area. If you burn fat from all areas then eventually fat will get removed from
difficult spots like your thighs. Here are a few things you can try.
1. Cardiovascular (aerobic) exercises. They burn a lot of calories. Running
is a high calorie burner, but you'll need to run for 45 minutes four to five
time a week for lasting results. Walking is a good alternative to running because
there is less impact on your joints and it is easier than running.
2. Ride a bike or spend a couple of hours hiking. These low impact activities,
along with doing the stepping machine in your gym, will help to firm your legs
and hips. Try doing something you've never done like going for a swim, climbing
etc to keep your muscles from becoming too accustomed to any one exercise.
3.Now this may sound strange since we're talking about your legs, but try weight
training for your upper body. Getting stronger above your waist will increase
your overall muscularity. And don't worry; you won't look like a bodybuilder.
Because by increasing lean muscle mass you'll have a higher resting metabolism
which means you'll burn more calories throughout the day, even if you're at
rest.
A basic upper body circuit would include bench presses (for your chest), one-arm
dumbbell rows (for your back) and seated overhead presses (for your shoulders).
Do some biceps curls and triceps extensions for your arms.
4. Another exercise for toning the thighs is squats. Try to do squats around
thrice a week on alternate days. In the beginning do 2-3 easy sets of 10 repetitions,
and then slowly you can increase the pace over 3-4 weeks.
Your body will take the decision about where and when to lose fat and you can't
control your genes. What you can control and do is to do cardiovascular exercises,
weight training and keep to a well balanced nutritive low fat diet.
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