How To Lose Thigh Fat

Losing weight mainly comes down to achieving a calorie deficit – consuming fewer calories than you burn. This can be attained by sticking to a healthy meal plan. Ideally, this diet would also be giving you energy used for regular physical activity to burn calories, tone muscles, and boost metabolism.

When you’re trying to lose fat, remember that body fat distribution is different for everybody and is usually tied to genetics. Some people may find it easier to slim down certain areas when they lose weight than others. Furthermore, if you want to reduce fat only in one specific area, like your thighs, you will need to work on your weight as a whole because you can’t spot reduce fat in just one place.[1]

The difficulty with having a target area for weight loss lies in the fact that the body doesn’t restrict its energy consumption to the cells in the area where you’re focusing your efforts. It gets its power from the entire body. So doing leg-centric workouts won’t actually target thigh fat, but they can make them look more toned by developing muscle.[2]

While it is true that working out a specific muscle group or area of the body may not be effective at helping you shed fat from that area, it can still help you achieve your muscle-building and body-shaping goals.

Instead of focusing solely on ‘how to lose thigh fat’, you can focus on your diet to decrease the amount of overall fat your body stores and your activity level as a whole to try to burn the fat that has already been stored throughout the body. 

It’s not always as easy as cutting calories and increasing physical activity to lose fat, but the overall goal stays the same. If you burn more than your intake, you’ll create an energy deficit and force your body to draw from its fat reserves (which include the ones in your thighs) to meet its caloric needs, so controlling your intake is not a bad place to start.

It’s important to strike a balance here, as a severe caloric deficit can have the opposite effect of what you want and cause your metabolism to slow down.[3]

If you want to know how to lose thigh fat with your diet, a calorie-restricted one that prioritises nutritious, high-quality meals while minimising those that aren’t optimal for weight loss is key. The majority of your diet should consist of whole grains, healthy fats, and protein, while highly processed products with refined sugar, fried foods, and high-glycemic foods should be eaten rarely or not at all.[4]

 Instead of counting calories solely for the sake of achieving the lowest possible number, you should focus on getting to a healthy weight through both calorie restriction and good calorie selection. That’s why we connect you to doctors who can suggest a weight loss plan to suit your specific needs.

The doctors here at Mosh won’t simply hand you a weight loss plan and expect you to follow it. They will assess your unique situation, recommend a plan only if appropriate, and modify it for you so that you can use it successfully on a regular basis and continue to shed those kilos for as long as needed.

 A Mosh subscription provides you with a doctor-recommended and personalised plan to help you lose weight. If recommended by a doctor, you will also receive weight loss shakes as part of the Mosh weight loss program for the benefit of your metabolism. 

Mealtimes and meal prep can be made faster, more enjoyable, and healthier with these shakes, making it easier for you to stick to your meal plan and keep track of your food intake.

If you want to know how to lose thigh fat through exercise, choose an activity that you can do at a moderate intensity, such as walking, swimming, or cycling, to raise your heart rate and maximise calorie burn.

As an aerobic activity, cycling is particularly beneficial for the legs. The low intensity is great for novices and keeps the stress off of the knees. Plus, muscle endurance in the thigh, hip, and glute muscles is also improved by the movement. If you invest in an exercise bike, you don’t even have to sign up for a spin class; you can just hop on the bike at home while watching TV.[5]

The effect strength training has on body fat is often underplayed because a single session of strength training results in a smaller calorie burn than cardio and high-intensity interval training (HIIT). But simply cutting calories won’t give you toned legs and can even lessen whatever definition you have, so it’s important to work on building muscle mass at the same time.[6]

You can practise strength training on your legs with or without equipment. Lunges, which can be done hands-free or while holding a dumbbell in each hand, get a special mention here because they work out quads, hamstrings, inner thighs, and buttocks, making them one of the most beneficial leg exercises. However, changing things up with other exercises like squats and box jumps is also good.

HIIT is a powerful method for increasing muscle mass, reducing body fat, and improving metabolism. While HIIT does allow for some variation, at its core, it consists of short bursts of extremely high intensity followed by shorter, less intense recovery bursts.[7] This means you can apply the exercises from both strength training and cardio to a HIIT routine.

The time it takes to see improvements in the tone and size of your thighs can vary. The speed with which you lose fat may be determined by factors beyond your control, such as your medical background and your genetic makeup. That is why personalised weight loss plans are a great way to do it because they take each person’s needs, limitations, and goals into account.

Mosh has an online weight loss questionnaire that takes these factors into account so that our doctors can use this information in tailoring their advice to you. By checking in with your doctor on a regular basis throughout your program, you can keep them apprised of how things are going and request adjustments to your treatment plan if necessary as your weight loss goals evolve. 

You can ask your doctor questions about ‘how to lose thigh fat’ and other target areas like ‘how to get rid of back fat’, ‘how to get rid of underarm fat’ or ‘how to lose face fat’. You can even bring up specific goals and concerns like ‘how much weight can I lose in a week’ and ‘how to run to lose weight’.

Mosh is an online platform for men’s health that has services for skincare, weight loss, hair loss, mental health, and sexual health, among others. You can consult with AHPRA-registered Australian doctors who can give you science-backed advice on different health issues.

There’s no need to keep asking about how to lose thigh fat. When you’re ready to work on those thighs, talk to us at Mosh!