My thighs used to be my nemesis . But not any more. I strength train legs 2x per week. A quad focused day and a glute/hami day. I've been doing this for about a year and have had awesome results. Here's what my work outs look like.

Leg Day 1 Quads.
Barbell Back Squats 4x8-10
Barbell Split Squats 3x10 per leg
Kneeling Squats 4x12
Calf Raises 4x15
Leg Curls 5x10

Leg Day 2 Glutes/Hami
Barbell Front Squats 4x8-10
Barbell Hip Thrust 3x10
SL Barbell Dead lift 4x10
Walking Weighted Lunges (i walk the length of the gym and back 4-5x)
Leg Curls 5x10

That is my basic leg workout. I do switch it up with higher/lower rep ranges and heavier/lighter weights. I do traditional Deadlifts on back day.Also the stair machine and using the incline on the treadmills also help time your legs.

It's hard work to get nice toned muscular legs. But its well worth the effort.

I'd say it really depends on how much you want to lose from that spot and how your genetics dictates where you're gonna lose first.

For me, upper arm/sleeve part is the most difficult area to lose fat and my thighs are the first to respond to those exercises I've been doing. Over the past 10 years I went from completely cardio (kickboxing, treadmill, etc) to a combination of weight training plus a little cardio (still kickboxing). Thighs are shrinking as I'd prefer, but definitely not my upper arms.

Looking at this past 10 years of mine, yes there is spot reducing (my thighs). But if we're talking about spot reducing my upper arm, I'd say "NO there is not" within 0.01 second when I heard the term, lol.

Same here! My thighs are the toughest place to lose fat, my upper body is the first place to shed the fat.
The best way to lose fat from thighs is just by simply losing it on your whole body, slowly your thighs will start to look toned. Doing HIIT and Weights helps a lot for fat loss, also you should be in a calorie defict. If your goal is gainning muscle you should def. eat in a surplus also do lots of Weights and higher your protein.

sardelsa wrote: »

I wanted to add another point and the user above just reminded me. It is very possible that you will lose weight, be within a healthy range and BF% and be happy with your upper body definition, but unhappy with your lower body. Typically women carry fat in their lower bodies and in order to get that definition you may have to get really lean.

In my case I didn't have the best definition in my legs after I initially lost weight. I had to bulk to build up the muscle, then I finally had great definition in my legs after I cut. Not saying you have to do all this, but if you don't have the muscle base you will likely be unhappy after weight loss which may require a bulk or recomp.
This is all a process and results can take months to years (unfortunately!)

Seconding @Sardelsa. I got down to 15% BF and still wasn't happy about how my legs looked. Because all the fat came off of my upper body and it looked skeletal. We can't control where our body stores fat unfortunately. I would probably need to do a couple rounds of bulk/cut as well as breast implants to look OK at a low enough BF where my legs looked defined.

Edit - age plays a role as well. I used to sport 11% BF as my norm in my youth (until about 32), but my body composition was different and I looked fine - legs too. I couldn't do that now without looking sickly.

kellyshell215 wrote: »

sardelsa wrote: »

I wanted to add another point and the user above just reminded me. It is very possible that you will lose weight, be within a healthy range and BF% and be happy with your upper body definition, but unhappy with your lower body. Typically women carry fat in their lower bodies and in order to get that definition you may have to get really lean.

In my case I didn't have the best definition in my legs after I initially lost weight. I had to bulk to build up the muscle, then I finally had great definition in my legs after I cut. Not saying you have to do all this, but if you don't have the muscle base you will likely be unhappy after weight loss which may require a bulk or recomp.
This is all a process and results can take months to years (unfortunately!)

Thats interesting, but when you bulk to build muscle did you gain some fat too? This looks interesting, because first place where I gain fat is my thighs, no matter I do lots or less workouts in a surplus. Did you ever eat in surplus or mantaince? How long did it take?

sorry for all these questions, I hope you don't mind.

No problem I definitely don't mind questions at all!

Yea that is the thing.. when you bulk you gain muscle and fat.. BUT when you cut most of what comes off is fat and you are left with more muscle. I have done both.. surplus to bulk as well as some recomp (although my time spent recomping is limited.. it is actually a very effective way of getting your BF% down especially if you still have a bit of fat to lose)

I spent about 4.5 months bulking, then about 3 months recomping and cutting. Then I got pregnant, lost the baby weight and now I am bulking again! It is a long process but honestly it is a really interesting adventure being able to shape your body through diet and exercise

Let me know if you have any more questions