Q&A: How Can I Get Leaner Thighs?

It’s Thursday once again and time to answer another one of your questions 🙂

Question from @hana_mkb: How can I reduce the size of my thighs? I do follow a healthy diet + I walk every morning (brisk walking). I lost so much weight but my thighs are stubborn. What is the solution? And will having them for so many years will leave them loose and flabby after losing weight?

And this time the answer will be from Mark Doherty, personal trainer and performance nutritionist:

Hi there,

Thank you for your question. In my 20 years of working in the fitness industry this is one very common area I often get asked about from many females. Having stubborn fat can be very frustrating for anyone and it can be easy to blame genetics or hormones which may not be the case in most instances. It may merely be that the correct training and nutritional protocols are not being applied, and on a consistent basis for a long enough period of time.

So firstly let’s talk about training. The fastest way to change the shape of your body and boost your metabolic rate is to incorporate resistance training into your routine. Yes, that’s right it’s time to hit those weights, and I can promise you, you will not get bulky.

Let’s look at bikini competitors – it’s imperative that these ladies have nicely shaped legs and low body fat levels. They achieve this by training their legs anywhere from 1 to 3 times per week using resistance based movements. Exercises such as squats, leg presses, leg curls, stiff legged deadlift and lunges are crucial to this process.

If you are not currently doing this, it is really important you find a trainer that can take you through these exercises and help design a program catered towards your needs.

Secondly we need to ensure that your nutritional needs are being met to ensure fat loss and also to maintain lean muscle tissue. The most common error females make is dropping their calories way too low and doing way too much cardio.

My top tips for a fat loss diet are:

• Create a calorie deficit (only a 5 to 10% deficit to start with)
• Keep your protein consumption at 1gram of protein per pound of lean body mass
• 90% of your diet should include one-ingredient, wholesome foods
• Some people prefer carbohydrates and while others prefer fats. Find out what works best for you with the help of a certified nutritionist.
• Ensure the plan is sustainable and fits into your lifestyle

One final point to take into consideration is that some females, even with the perfect diet and training program, may still struggle with fat loss in their leg/hip region. This may be due to an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone. In the past for these clients I have successfully used the supplement DIM (100mg per day). DIM has potent effects on estrogen metabolism and is able to keep the body’s estrogen levels relatively balanced.

I hope you found the above information helpful. Please feel free to contact us at Pinnacle Performance for a bespoke plan that is individualized to your needs.