How to Get Rid of Love Handles & Thick Thighs

In a perfect world, we would be able to pinpoint exactly where the fat would disappear from our bodies when we attempt to lose weight. Unfortunately, this is still just about impossible. "We all have patterns of weight loss and weight gain that tend to repeat (you typically gain and lose weight in the same pattern over and over), and we don't have any control over this," according to MedicineNet.com. Still, there are certain things you can do and other things you can avoid to nudge your body in the right direction.

Instructions

    • 1

      Find a fitness professional who can measure your body fat with calipers. Most trainers and nutritionists are skilled in this area. It is easy to determine that your love handles are due to too much body fat--you can see them. Thick thighs, on the other hand, might be because you are storing a lot of fat in that area, because your thighs are very muscular, or both.

    • 2

      Decide on a diet low in calories that suits your lifestyle. In addition to exercise, you will need to restrict your calories in order to efficiently lose weight anywhere on your body.

    • 3

      Customize your exercise program according to the result from your body fat measurements. If you have lots of muscle and little fat on your thighs, stay away from doing heavy weights and low reps when doing exercises such as leg presses and squats. Your rep range should be from 20 to 25. If your thick thighs are mostly due to fat, you can use heavier weights and a rep range of 12 to 15. Run or use the elliptical for cardio (aerobic activity).

    • 4

      Weight train your entire body to lose body fat all over. "In addition to burning calories through aerobic activity, strength training will increase the amount of muscle, which burns even more calories," according to the American Council on Exercise. Spend more time doing cardio than weight training if your legs are very muscular, as you likely have lots of muscle in other body areas, too.

    • 5

      Skip spinning exercises. "Spinning will increase the storage of intramuscular and subcutaneous fat in the hip and thigh areas to provide a more readily available source of fuel for the muscles," explains Upfitness.co.uk.

    • 6

      Eat little amounts throughout the day rather than big meals two or three times, and limit carbs. "For the subscapular and supra-iliac, controlling the blood sugar levels of the body with more frequent meals, reduced daily carbohydrate and low GI food choices is critical," according to Upfitness.co.uk. The supra-iliac" is where your love handles are located.