This article looks at some of the best and fastest ways to lose thigh fat through diet and exercise.
In our quest to get thinner thighs, many of us have fallen for the latest “miracle exercise gadget” that comes with the claim we will lose many pounds, inches, and clothing sizes simply by using the contraption for five minutes a day for two weeks. If only it were that simple!
That’s not to say there aren’t some useful fitness tools out there. Many do live up to their promise, but, unfortunately, it is not possible to spot reduce fat.
Losing thigh fat, or fat from anywhere for that matter involves diet as well as exercise. There is no specific diet to lose thigh fat and no magical exercises for thinner thighs, so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
If you lose weight, you will do so all over, and as a result, you will get smaller thighs. And while exercise alone won’t enable you to get thinner thighs, it will improve your muscle tone, so your legs will look slimmer.
The best way to lose thigh fat fast is to cut your calorie intake and do regular steady-state cardio or sustained aerobic activity workouts to burn calories. Add muscle toning exercises a minimum of three or four times a week, and results will come quickly.
Keep reading to find out more, starting with the best type of diet to lose thigh fat.
Table of Contents
Diet to Lose Thigh Fat
As mentioned above, there is no specific diet to lose thigh fat. If your upper legs are large, it may seem that every ounce of weight you gain goes straight to them. And when you diet, it may 
appear that you lose weight from everywhere but your thighs. However, this is not the case.
When we gain or lose weight, we do so all over, not in just one area. The parts of our body that already have excess fat appear to gain weight faster. Likewise, areas that have less fat to start with will seem to trim down more quickly.
To lose thigh fat, you will need to take in fewer calories each day than your body burns. When operating on a calorie deficit, your body will tap into its fat stores, including the fat on your thighs, using it as a source of energy.
Be mindful of the foods you eat and your portion size. If you make a note of everything you eat, you will be able to review your daily calorie intake and see areas that you can improve on. Tracking what you eat will also help to keep you accountable to yourself.
If you cut 500 calories a day, you will lose one pound of fat over the course of a week. You will lose weight, regardless of what you eat. However, you should choose your calorie sources wisely, as highly processed, sugary foods will not keep you satisfied for long. Nor are they nutritious.
Should I go low carb?
A popular school of thought these days is that the fastest way to lose weight is to follow a low-carb diet. Do so, by all means, but keep in mind that carb restriction is difficult to maintain long-term. Cutting out healthy carbs as are found in fruit and vegetables can also result in nutritional deficiencies.
Eating a variety of nutrient-rich foods that are filling, low in calories, and high in protein and fiber is a reliable way to lose weight without eliminating or drastically restricting specific food groups.
Foods to base your diet around include lean proteins such as fish, skinless poultry, and lean cuts of beef and pork. Grains, such as whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, and oatmeal, should also be consumed regularly.
Legumes, including peas, beans, and lentils, plus tofu and low-fat or fat-free dairy products, should also be on the menu. Along with being nutritious, these are filling, and they don’t contain a lot of calories.
Other nutritious foods to eat regularly include fruits and vegetables, particularly those that are fiber-rich, such as berries and apples, potatoes, and broccoli. Unsaturated fats are beneficial in small amounts, including nuts, seeds, avocados, salmon, and olive oil.
Eating this way, you will feel more satisfied, and so be less inclined to overeat.
Certain foods increase our metabolic rate, but the effect is slight. These foods are still beneficial and worth including in your diet for their healthful properties. They are also helpful for maintaining weight, or if you only have a few pounds to lose. If, however, you’re carrying a lot of excess weight, you won’t lose it by depending upon fat burning foods alone.
Anti-bloat dietary modifications to try
It’s common knowledge that fluid retention can cause abdominal bloat. However, what you may not know is 
that we can retain fluid all over, including in our thighs.
Sodium can cause the body to store fluid, so try cutting back on salt. Even if you don’t automatically reach for the salt shaker before tasting your meals, you may be taking in more salt than you realize, and the more salt you take in, the more water your body will retain.
Processed foods, ketchup and other sauces, canned foods, and precooked frozen meals often contain a high level of sodium, including some advertised as being low in calories. If you eat these regularly, your diet is probably too high in sodium.
According to the American Heart Association, adults need between 1,500mg and 2,300mg of sodium per day, so stay within that range.
Another way of flushing out extra fluid is to get more electrolytes in your diet. Most sports drink contains electrolytes, as do foods that are rich in calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Electrolyte-rich foods include yogurt, bananas, and dark leafy greens.
The more electrolytes you take in, the less salt your body will retain. This is because they help the body to expel the excess salt and fluids that your body doesn’t need and reduces bloating, so be sure to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day, or more when exercising.
Drinking a lot of water sounds counterintuitive if you are trying to reduce bloating. However, the reality is that if you aren’t taking in enough water, your body will hang onto its fluid stores.
We touched on low carb diets above. While not necessarily a long term solution, following a low carb eating plan can provide quick results if you want to get into shape for a special occasion.
The reason a low carb diet can help you to get smaller thighs is that when the body converts carbs into glycogen, these are stored in the liver and muscle, along with water. The more carbs you eat, the more water your body will potentially store.
If you go on a low carb diet, you will likely lose a few pounds very quickly. As a result, your thighs may look smaller. Something to keep in mind, though, is that the initial loss will be water, not fat, and it will usually be temporary.
Coffee has a very mild diuretic effect, so one or two cups a day may help you to get rid of excess fluid.
The roles Steady-State Cardio and Aerobic Activity Play
Sustained aerobic activity is one of the best ways to lose thigh fat and overall body fat. It doesn’t matter if you jog, 
walk, cycle, use a treadmill, do aerobics, a combination of all of these, or any other exercise that increases your metabolic rate, for that matter. The important thing is to be consistent.
Find a workout you enjoy and commit to doing it for between twenty minutes and an hour, at least three to five times a week. Doing longer sessions more often will result in faster weight loss and, ultimately, a quicker reduction in the size of your thighs.
Done regularly, steady-state cardio exercise, such as walking, is one of the best exercises for thinner thighs, and one of the simplest. It is also excellent for all-around good health, so do as much of it as you can.
A Fitbit, or similar device, will enable you to track how many steps you take each day. It will also allow you to set yourself goals to beat your previous week’s step count, which can be motivating and fun. By tracking your progress, you should also see faster results.
Think of ways to get more activity into your day. Go for a walk with a friend or your family after dinner every night. You don’t have to go too far to enjoy the benefits. Try to walk a route with some hills. You will burn more calories than when walking over flat terrain and you will tone your leg muscles faster.
Keep a pair of sneakers in your desk and go for a walk during your lunch break. Walk to work if you live close enough, and the weather permits. Or park your car a few blocks away and walk the rest of the way. Use the stairs instead of the lift. These are all things that won’t take much time, but they will hasten your results.
If walking isn’t your thing and you have access to a bicycle, hop on and cycle around your neighborhood. Cycling is one of the best exercises for thinner thighs, and it’s something you can do with friends or family.
If you have access to a pool, go for a swim, and try some pool noodle exercises. Both are excellent for cardio health, burning calories, and total-body toning.
Next, we will look at ten exercises that will help you to get thinner thighs if you do them regularly.
Exercises to Lose Thigh Fat Video
Exercises to Lose Thigh Fat
It’s never too soon to start doing thigh toning exercises. However, the results of these will show in improved muscle tone and firmness, after you lose your excess thigh fat. You could exercise your thighs for hours every day for years, and while their muscle tone would improve, if there is a lot of underlying fat, rather than look slimmer, your thighs would bulk up and appear even heavier.
Following are ten exercises for thinner thighs. If doing all of the exercises is too much for you, do the first five on day one and the last five the next time you work out, or mix them up.
Start with one set of ten to fifteen reps. Do this a minimum of two or three times a week. As you become fitter, do two sets, then up to three, five or six times a week, if desired.
To increase the intensity of the exercises, hold a light pair of hand weights when doing the Squats and Lunges.
Do some Warm-Up stretches before your workout, and some Cool-Down stretches afterward.
Standard Squats:
Love them or hate them, Squats are one of the best exercises you can do to lose thigh fat.
What muscles are worked?
Squats primarily target the glutes (buttocks muscles), the hip flexors, and the quads (fronts of the thighs). The hamstrings (backs of the thighs), calves, abs, and lower back are also worked.
How to do Standard Squats
- Start by standing up straight with your feet approximately should-width apart and your arms by your sides.
- Engage your core, and inhale as you slowly bend your knees. As you do this, shift your hips backward and bring your hands up in front of your chest. If preferred, you can extend your arms out to the front to help you to balance.
- Keep lowering your hips until they lined up above your ankles.
- Pause momentarily, then exhale, pressing your heels into the floor as you lift your hips and straighten your legs to return to your starting position.
Tips and precautions: Do not allow your knees to extend past your toes, as doing this could result in an injury.
If you have trouble balancing, stand next to a wall, chair, or table, and use it for support. Don’t lean on, push off from, or pull on the support, as doing so will not enable you to get the best result from the exercise.
Sumo Squats
Sumo Squats target slightly different muscles than Standard Squats.
What muscles are worked?
Sumo Squats target the glutes, quads, hamstrings, hip flexors, and calves.
How to do Sumo Squats
- Stand up straight with your legs wide, and your toes pointed slightly outward.
- Bring your hands up in front of your chest, engage your core, then slowly lower your body as though you are going to sit, stopping when your knees are over your ankles.
- Hold this position for up to thirty seconds, then slowly straighten your legs to get back to your starting position.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Tips and precautions:
Keep your movements slow and controlled throughout the exercise and keep most of your weight over your heels.
To prevent injury, do not extend your knees too far forward.
Standard Lunges:
Standard Lunges are another excellent toning exercise.
What muscles are worked?
Standard Lunges target and strengthen the quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, and core.
How to do Standard Lunges
- With your upper body straight, your shoulders back and relaxed, and your chin slightly up, bring your hands together in front of your chest and engage your core.
- Take a big step forward with your right leg, letting your hips lower until your knees are bent at an angle of approximately 90-degrees.
- Keeping your weight over your heels, push up to your starting position.
- Repeat steps 1 to 3, leading with your left leg.
Tips and precautions:
If you have difficulty balancing, do the exercise beside a wall and use it to help you maintain your balance.
To avoid injury, be sure to keep your front knee directly above your ankle. Do not allow it to extend any further forward, and don’t let your inactive knee touch the floor.
Side Lunges:
Along with toning the lower body, Side Lunges improve balance and stability. To do this exercise, you will need a glider or a small folded towel.
What muscles are worked?
Side Lunges tone and strengthen the quads, glutes, hamstrings, and inner and outer thighs.
How to do Side Lunges
- Stand straight with your shoulders back and relaxed, with your legs a little wider than shoulder shoulder-distance apart and your toes pointing forward.
- Engage your abs and glutes and make fits with your hands in front of your chest, then take a large step to the right, lowering your body and bending your right knee until it is at a 90-degree angle and your left leg is straight.
- Shift your body back and up to the center.
- Complete the desired number of reps, then work your left side.
Tips and precautions:
Sit back into the lunge so that most of your weight is on your heels and try to keep your extended leg straight.
Lower yourself from the waist and hip, and don’t allow your knees to support your weight as doing so will put a lot of pressure on your quads and barely target your buttocks or hip muscles.
Reverse Lunges:
The Reverse Lunge is another excellent exercise that, when done regularly, will help you to get thinner thighs.
What muscles are worked?
Reverse Lunges target the quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves. They place less stress on the knees than other types of Lunges.
How to do Reverse Lunges
- Stand up straight, place your hands on your hips or by your sides, and engage your core.
- Lift your right foot off the floor and take a big step back, allowing your left knee to bend and pressing your left heel into the floor to help you balance.
- Keep lowering your right knee towards the floor, stopping when it reaches an angle of about 90 degrees.
- Pause momentarily, then steadily straighten both legs to return to your starting position.
- Repeat the above movements for the desired number of reps, then work your other side.
Tips and precautions
If you are unable to lower your body all of the way down, go as far as you can. Just make sure to keep the bend in both knees about the same.
Keep your chest lifted throughout the exercise. Don’t allow your leading knee to extend past your toes, as this could cause an injury.
Curtsy Lunges
This is one of the best exercises to lose thigh fat as it targets many different muscles simultaneously.
What muscles are worked?
Curtsy Lunges target the inner thighs, gluteus medius, quads, hamstrings, calves, and back. They also improve posture and balance.
How to do Curtsy Lunges
- Stand up straight with your feet hip-width apart, and your core engaged, then step your right foot back and to the left side of your body to a 7 o’clock position.
- As you do this, bend both of your knees into a lunge, leaning slightly forward from your waist for balance.
- Pause momentarily, then press your heels into the floor to lift your hips, straightening your body as you do and bringing your right foot back to its starting position.
- Repeat for the desired number of reps.
Tips and precautions:
Go slowly until you get your balance.
To increase the intensity, pulse up and down ten to fifteen times every time you lower your body.
Frog Bends:
Frog Bends are one of the easiest exercises for losing thigh fat that uses gravity for resistance.
What muscles are worked?
Frog Bends primarily work the inner thighs, with the outer thighs also worked to a lesser extent.
How to do Frog Bends
- Lie on your back and lift your legs straight up above your hips. Place your heels together, and point your toes slightly out to the sides.
- With your arms flat by your sides and your hands on the floor, engage your core muscles, then slowly bend and straighten your knees, using your inner thighs to control the movement.
Tips and precautions:
Go slowly at first until you get your balance.
To get the most benefit from this exercise, move at a steady pace.
Inner-Thigh Circles
Inner-Thigh Circles are difficult to do at first but it’s worth persevering as they offer an effective means of getting thinner thighs.
What muscles are worked?
Inner-Thigh Circles target the entire leg with a particular emphasis on the inner thighs.
How to do Inner-Thigh Circles
- Lie on the floor on your right side and bend your right arm at the elbow so that it supports the side of your head.
- Bend your left leg, resting your left knee on the floor in front of your right leg, or place your left foot on the floor and hold onto your left ankle for stability.
- Engage your core and with the toes of your left foot pointed, lift and lengthen your leg and trace circles in the air with your foot, first clockwise, then anticlockwise.
- Repeat the movements, leading with your left foot.
Tips and precautions
The bigger the circle you make with your working leg, the more muscles you will target.
Keep your hips stacked on top of each other, and do not allow them to roll back.
Step-Ups:
Step-Ups are excellent for losing thigh fat, as along with toning your muscles, you will get a great cardio workout. 
You’ll need a knee-height aerobic step or bench for this one.
What muscles are worked?
Step-Ups primarily work the quads. The glutes, hamstrings, and calves are also targeted to a lesser degree.
How to do Step-Ups
- Stand straight facing one of the long sides of the bench and place your hands in front of you at chest height. If preferred, interlace your hands behind your head with your elbows back.
- Looking straight ahead and with your back slightly arched, step onto the bench with your right foot, then immediately lift your left leg to hip height before placing your left foot on to the bench. As you lift your leg, your knee should be bent at a 90-degree angle, and your foot should be flexed.
- Step back onto the floor, first with your left leg, then your right.
- Repeat, leading with your left leg.
Tips and precautions:
If you feel you may fall, rest your hand lightly against a wall while doing the exercise until your balance improves. Alternatively, touch the foot of your active leg to the top of the bench without raising your knee hip-high.
To protect your knees and ankles from strains and sprains, always step onto the center of the platform.
Outer and Inner Thigh Kick Stretches
To do Outer and Inner Thigh Kick Stretches, you will need a chair that has a back, or another suitable piece of furniture of a similar height.
What muscles are worked?
Outer and Inner Thigh Kick Stretches work the outer and inner thighs and the glutes.
How to do Outer and Inner Thigh Kick Stretches
- Stand approximately 24 inches behind a chair lightly holding onto the top of its backrest. With your shoulder blades back and down, engage your abs. Lift your heels, allowing your weight to rest on the balls of your feet.
- Lift your right foot a couple of inches above floor height, and flex it, keeping your toes slightly out the right.
- Steadily swing your right leg out to the side, then bring it back and across the front of your left leg.
- Repeat, leading with your left leg.
Tips and precautions:
Keep your hips facing forward at all times, and stand far enough from the chair that you don’t hit your foot on the chair, but not so far that you hunch over.
Lose Thigh Fat Fast Summary
If you eat sensibly, undertake regular cardio workouts, and do thigh toning exercises, you will lose thigh fat and firm your thighs. The 
aerobic exercise you do can be as simple as brisk walking. Or you can jog, run, cycle, or swim.
If you’d rather work out at home, there are many machines and fitness tools that combine cardio and toning. One I love and recommend is the Maxi Climber. (Click the previous link to read a review.) It’s affordable; the workouts are short, and it’s made a big difference to the tone of my thighs and butt.
Home workout DVDs are another great option. Click this link to read about some of my favorite DVD & DVD Workout Kits.
You may also like to read this article on how to get rid of saddlebags on thighs.
