Like What You See?

thighs that you can show off, thunder thighs may have been hot once but they are no longer sexy. If you want to flaunt slim thighs in your hot pants, it’s time you whittled away that excess fat. We tell you how.

Reality check

You believe you have fat thighs but do you have a lot of fat or more muscle? Try this simple test to find out. Straighten your leg and tighten your thigh muscles. Pinch the top layer of fat and skin of the thigh. If there’s a lot to pinch, there’s ample fat and you may also have cellulite. If you can barely get your hands around the layer, you have muscular thighs, less fat and – consequently – little cellulite. Women’s legs tend to slim at a body fat percentage of about 18 percent. Use a body fat calculator to determine your body fat percentage and aim at bringing it down.

The best exercises: 

The best thigh exercises for people with fat thighs are those that do more than firm and tone. Look for exercises that will strip fat from the thighs, making big thighs smaller. For slim thighs only come to those who burn their fat away. That said, there’s no one exercise or food that can help lose weight on the thighs. Work out your own combination and stick to it.

Try these three moves regularly to melt that stubborn thigh fat:

1. Pump up the cardio:
   

   Heat-pumping cardio is an important component of any workout to torch fat. Choose a kind that burns the most calories, be it running, biking or jumping rope. Endurance running helps as it may decrease the size of thigh muscles and reduce fat around them. Aim for 60-minute sessions five times a week to notice a difference.
   

2. Climb that mountain:

   Try and add a bit of incline to your daily workout. Notch up the treadmill’s incline, run up a hillside if you stay in the mountains or simply climb up the stairs to your home/office. Add a stair running workout to your weekly schedule. The instant increase in the heart rate makes you burn more calories than on a flat surface. The incline also targets the thighs, hamstrings and butt.
   

3. Try sculpting exercises: 

   With the cardio torching the extra layer of fat surrounding your lower body, it’s time to reveal strong and toned muscles. Make your legs look leaner by doing moves that sculpt your inner and outer thighs, hamstrings and butt. Try a variety of squats, lunges and curtseys to slim your thighs. You can also try yoga asanas to tone the thigh muscles.