Resize Your Hips and Thighs

The only way to lose fat from your hips and thighs or any other area of the body is to burn it off. This means you will need to increase the calories, you burn per day through exercise and decrease the amount of calories you take in through food and drink.

To burn calories you will need to do some form of aerobic activity each day in order to get rid of the fat. You will also need to do strength-building workouts to strengthen and tone the muscles.

You can get thin with only doing aerobics; however, you will not have muscle tone. Which will leave you as a skinny/flabby person and that is not attractive or healthy. If you only do strength building such as Pilate's, weightlifting etc. you will have great muscle tone but no one will see it due to the layer of fat covering the muscle.

Therefore, you need a combination of aerobic and strength building if you really want to achieve a beautiful balanced body. By doing a combination of aerobic exercise along with strength building you will be ridding your body of excess fat while also improving muscle tone. I would personally recommend concentrating the strength building or toning moves to the area you are concerned about, however, don't limit your strength-building and toning to only those area's.

My personal favorite moves that are excellent for concentrated toning of the hips and thighs are:

Wall Sit:

The wall sit is an easy yet very effective exercise for this area. In order to do the wall sit you will need to back up against a wall, and then walk your feet out until you look like you are sitting in a chair. Hold this position as long as possible. You can also add some arm toning with lightweights if you want while in this position.

Lunges and Squats:

When doing lunges and squats it is important to keep your knees even with your ankles. Your knees should never jut out over your toes. In order to learn to do a lunge or a squat correctly it is wise to practice in front of a mirror if possible so you can keep an eye on your form. When learning squats, it is sometimes beneficial to practice with a chair, so that you can mimic the sitting motion you use to sit in a chair and then lift back up as soon as your rear touches the seat of the chair.

Bicycles:

Bicycles done while lying on your side are another excellent move for the thighs and hips. To do these start by lying on your side take your top leg thru bicycle type movements. Both forward and reverse. Then switch and lay on your other-side. I like to be at an angle by resting my elbow on the floor and resting my head in my hand. This helps you target the abdominal area while you are working your legs.

Side Leg Lifts:

In order to do these start by lying on your side. I like to bend my arm and rest my head in my hand, so that I am at a slight angle. Then with the bottom leg bent at the knee a bit, lift the top leg up as high as you can. I generally do this 10 times and then modify it a bit to hit the hips with more intensity.

Modified Leg Lifts:

In order to do this, you hold the same starting position as in the previous leg lifts. Lift your leg up as before and then while in the lifted position bend the knee and bring the leg toward the chest. Lift leg back up and lower. I like to do this about 10 times also.

Pilates:

Pilates are my favorite strength-building workout since it lengthens and strengthens your body at the same time while causing my appearance to be thinner very quickly. It is important to learn to do the moves correctly therefore it is best to begin by taking a Pilates class or learn with a beginners Pilates video. Denise Austin has the best beginners Pilates video's I have ever found.

You can't spot reduce or choose which area's you want to loose fat first. However, if you concentrate on toning certain area's as you are burning the fat off your body you can achieve quicker results on your problem area's.

Remember to do both legs evenly. If you do ten on one leg be sure and do ten on the other leg. I think it is usually best to start with, one set of ten and then do that on both legs. If you want to do more after that you can follow with another set or two of ten on each leg. It is important to start out slow and work your way up you don't want to overdo it when you are just getting started.

You will also need to do some stretches both before and after doing these leg moves. Any time you are working your muscles it is a good idea to warm those muscles up with a good stretch before working them and then stretch them out after working them.

To burn fat, you need to do aerobic exercise whether it is walking, jogging, swimming, dancing etc... You need aerobic exercise to get rid of the fat covering the muscles and to keep your heart healthy and strong. You then need strength building to tone the muscles so they are strong, toned and shapely.