Skinnier thighs!

lisaelainee

Since starting to lose weight my thighs have been rubbing less and less.
I want to get to the point where there is an actual gap between my legs.
Do I need to get rid of fat and gain muscle?
What exercises will help with getting the gap?
What foods should I not eat (or less) and eat more of?

kaervaak

You can't spot reduce. If you want skinnier thighs you either need to lose fat everywhere and/or let your leg muscles catabolize/atrophy. Gaining muscle on your legs will make them thicker, not thinner.

Seems like you have a good grasp on weight loss so far, so keep that up. Catabolism occurs when you eat a protein deficit as well as a caloric deficit. You can speed the catabolism process by doing endurance work with your legs such as distance running (need to run at a moderate pace for at least an hour to really get the effects). You need to push past your muscle's glycogen reserves before catabolism really kicks in. This takes quite a while and you should definitely do this kind of training fasted.

Decreasing muscle mass isn't a great idea and can be pretty hard on your body, but if you've been very overweight for awhile, you might be packing a significant amount of lower body muscle from carrying all that weight.

JesterMFP

Unfortunately you can't decide which part of your body loses fat. A lot of women store most of their fat around their hips and thighs. The "thigh gap" (which I really don't understand the current craze for) is something that is genetically determined to some extent. It depends on the width of the hips, angle of the thigh bones, and where that person naturally stores fat. Some women will have a gap between their thighs even when overweight. Others could be underweight and still not have it.

If you have fat to lose, you can just continue eating at a calorie deficit and exercising, and hope that the fat comes off where you want it to. Strength training is good for losing fat, but building up muscle on your thighs won't create a gap.

In the end, depending on your body, you might have to accept that a thigh gap is not achievable. Luckily, it's not a requirement for health, fitness or attractiveness!

handle123

My thighs are the part id like to change most about myself. Im not bothered about a gap i just want thinner mor toned thighs. I told my personal trainer my goals and he set me up on a programme where i do interval training.

on cardio i do:

15 mins - bike - intervals for 2 mins lower level and 3 mins on high level (around level 22)
10 mins - rower - 1 min interval fast and hard on level 5 with 20 second rest
15 mins - cross trainer - intervals as bike 2 mins low - 3 mins high (level 17)

then i move onto the weights, squats, lunges etc.

psuLemon

Cutting fat will help. And will probably provide a better result then catabolizing lean body mass. You do this through strength training and eating around 20% below tdee.

ash190489

Do weights! I don't agree 100% with the reply of "Gaining muscle on your legs will make them thicker, not thinner."

Doing weights not only makes your muscles stronger and bigger, it SHEDS BODY FAT. Which is what you need to get rid of on your thighs! It takes a LOT of heavy weights over a LONG period of time for women to gain muscle and even then the visibility takes even longer!

I was 59kg in March and I still am approx 59kg - but since March I have started doing heavy weights 3-5 times per week and I have shed 2kg of FAT and put on 1.5kg of MUSCLE. The biggest change from these results is that the centimetres have dropped off all over my body even though I am the same weight... I lost 6cm off my thighs alone --- hence I went from my thighs just touching to a gap now!

So hit those weight love, particularly focus on squats, lunges & dead lifts on your lower body and then incorporate some upper body weights/exercises too, working your back, chest and arms. Trust me, you will not get all 'manly' and bulky looking - all you've got to lose are the centimetres and body fat percentage and thus you'll have a gap in no time!

Good luck!