This article looks at some of the most reliable ways to lose thigh fat fast 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 it for five minutes a day for two weeks. If only it were that simple!
That’s not to say there aren’t some excellent fitness tools out there. Many do live up to their promise, but, unfortunately, it’s impossible 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, making your legs 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 at least three or four times a week, and results will come quickly.
Keep reading to learn more, starting with the best diet to lose thigh fat.
Diet to Lose Thigh Fat
As mentioned above, there is no specific diet to lose thigh fat.
If your upper legs are large, every ounce of weight you gain may seem to go 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 appear 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 sizes.
Note everything you eat and how much of it for a week, then review your notes.
Being aware of your food intake rather than mindlessly eating will enable you to see areas you can improve. It will also help keep you accountable to yourself.
If you cut 500 calories daily, you will lose one pound of fat per week regardless of what you eat. However, you should choose your calorie sources wisely.
Highly processed, sugary foods may appeal if you have a sweet tooth, but they will only satisfy you briefly and aren’t nutritious.
Should I go low carb?
A popular school of thought is that following a low-carb diet is the fastest way to lose weight. Do so, by all means, but be aware that carbohydrate restriction is difficult to maintain long-term. Cutting healthy carbs, as 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, lentils, tofu, and low-fat or fat-free dairy products, should also be on the menu. Along with being nutritious, these are filling and low in calories.
Other nutritious foods to eat regularly include fruits and vegetables, particularly fiber-rich ones, such as berries and apples, potatoes, and broccoli.
Unsaturated fats, including nuts, seeds, avocados, salmon, and olive oil, are beneficial in small amounts.
When eating this way will feel satisfied for longer, 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:
Go easy on salt and processed foods –
It’s common knowledge that fluid retention can cause abdominal bloat. However, you may not know 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 consuming more salt than you realize, and the more of it 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 lot of sodium, including some advertised as low in calories. If you eat these regularly, your diet is likely higher in sodium than it should be.
According to the American Heart Association, adults need between 1,500 and 2,300mg of sodium daily to stay within a healthy range.
Take in more electrolytes –
Another way of flushing out extra fluid is to get more electrolytes in your diet.
Most sports drink contains electrolytes, as do foods 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 expel the excess salt and fluids it doesn’t need, reducing bloating.
Drink plenty of water –
Drink at least 8 x 8 oz glasses of water daily and more when exercising.
This may sound 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.
Drink coffee in moderation –
Coffee has a very mild diuretic effect, so one or two cups daily may help eliminate excess fluid.
When to go low-carb –
We touched on low-carb diets above. While not necessarily a long-term solution, a low-carb eating plan can provide quick results if you want to get into shape for a special occasion.
This type of diet can help you get smaller thighs because when the body converts carbs into glycogen, they are stored in the liver and muscles, along with water.
So potentially, the more carbs you eat, the more water your body will 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.
The roles Steady-State Cardio and Aerobic Activity Play
Get moving –
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 at least twenty or thirty minutes 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, but there’s no need to do more than sixty minutes at a time.
Regular 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 overall good health.
Count steps –
A step-counting phone app, Fitbit, or a similar device will enable you to track how many steps you take each day.
It will also allow you to set goals to beat your previous week’s step count, which can be motivating and fun.
Walk more –
Think of ways to get more activity into your day. Go for a walk with your family or a friend after dinner every night.
You don’t have to go too far to enjoy the benefits.
Try to walk a route with some hills. This way, you will burn more calories than when walking over flat terrain and tone your leg muscles faster.
Keep a pair of sneakers at work 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 things take little time and will hasten your results.
Dust off your bike –
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 you can do it with friends or family.
Hit the pool –
If you can access a pool, swim, or try some pool noodle exercises or aqua jogging. All are excellent for cardio health, burning calories, and total-body toning.
Click this link to learn how to get an inner thigh gap.
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, you won’t see much in the way of improved muscle tone and firmness until 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 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.
Hold a light pair of hand weights when doing the Squats and Lunges to increase the intensity of the exercises.
Do some Warm-Up stretches before your workout and some Cool-Down stretches afterward.
Standard Squats:
Love or hate them, Squats are one of the best exercises 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). They also work the hamstrings (backs of the thighs), calves, abs, and lower back.
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 balance.
- Keep lowering your hips until they line 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 so could cause 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 go 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 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 maintain your balance.
To avoid injury, keep your front knee directly above your ankle. Do not allow it to extend 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.
You will need a fitness slider or a small folded towel to do this exercise.
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, your legs just wider than shoulder-width apart, your toes pointing forward, and your hands curled into fists in front of your chest.
- Engaging your abs and glutes, 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 and rise, returning to your starting position.
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, keeping your extended leg as straight as possible.
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, pressing its 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 cannot lower your body all the way, go as far as possible, making sure the bend in both knees is 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 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 targeted 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.
Repeat the steps above for the desired number of repetitions.
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 challenging 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 to support 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 onto 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 with 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 to 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 it, 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, swim, or do any other activity you like.
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. Or click here for a 28 Day Squat Challenge.
