Let’s talk about what causes inner thigh fat. If you’re not so sure what thigh fat is, it’s the fat formed around the thigh region (that is the area between your knee and your hip).
That said, thigh fats are caused by a variety of different things ranging from estrogen (in women) to sitting too much and even the type of food you eat.
Do you have fat thighs and wonder how you came about it? You try your best by eating right, getting more active, etc. But it seems your legs can’t fit into that new pair of jeans you just purchased, no thanks to your thigh fat.
Here is what you need to know about what causes inner thigh fat.
Why You Gain Weight on Your Thighs
I hear people ask “why are my legs so fat compared to the rest of my body?” and “why are my legs so fat but I’m skinny?” The obvious reason for this is thigh fat.
In most cases, women tend to build more fat around the thighs than men. And the #1 culprit behind that additional weight gain in your thighs is estrogen.
Estrogen is the hormone that is highly responsible for driving the massive increase in fat cells in females so you know.
Of course with estrogen doing its work, the results will show, albeit not as most women would have loved it.
Instead, there will be a deposit of fat around the thighs and buttocks, which helps by serving as reserve energy for both pregnancy and breastfeeding. During these periods – i.e. pregnancy and breastfeeding – the human body needs about 1,000 extra calories per day.
And since this ability to store fat in the thigh region and hips was passed down through several generations, it may be a contributing factor to why it is increasingly difficult to get rid of thigh fat.
It is a known fact that the size of body fat cells tends to significantly increase in females than males right from the age of eight. And this is as a result of an increase in female hormone levels and the onset of puberty.
However, although your estrogen levels may start declining as soon as you hit menopause, your metabolism begins to slow with age. This means that weight gain in every area will become a common concern.
Lower estrogen levels also lead to a reduction in the production of collagen as well as the loss of skin elasticity. All these form the perfect onslaught of cellulite which develops as a result of the weakening of connective tissues of the human body with age.
Up to 90 percent of all women – including those who are classified as ‘thin’ or ‘slim’ – will develop cellulite at a particular point in their lifetime.
The Two Levels of Fat
There are two primary levels of fat in the legs: a superficial layer and a much deeper one. The superficial layer of fat is where the puckered tufted-mattress look known as cellulite resides.
Cellulites occur when extra fat bulges outward between tissues that connect your skin to the underlying muscle.
The main problem is that most women are often afraid of getting bulky thighs and calves that they ignore strength-training their legs.
As a result of very poor eating habits and lack of activity, you may start accumulating fat around the waist to the top of the knees. This may end up affecting the strength and function of the muscle.
This deeper layer is usually the first layer of fat that starts shrinking when you start an intense workout.
What Causes Inner Thigh Fat? When You Sit Too Much…
Sitting is as insidious as smoking, according to a physiology professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. When you sit too much, the muscle of your legs will turn to mush.
Standing while you talk on the phone is not an exercise by anyone’s standard. However, when you stand, you increase your metabolic rate to a small degree. This is why it is highly recommended that you perform what is known as “light office work” while sitting.
This subtle physical activity can burn up to 96 calories an hour for an average 140-pound female as opposed to 147 calories while standing.
Moreover, when you sit for extended periods, thousands of bad genes are activated, including the ones that evoke muscle atrophy.
Read: How to Reduce Thigh Fat in 1 Week at Home
Minimizing the Appearance of Cellulite
You can reduce the appearance of cellulite on your thighs while shaping your legs, though this is not an indication that this is a permanent treatment:
Targeted Exercise: You should start engaging with targeted exercise by creating workouts designed to target the problem area, i.e. your thighs. Check the video below for a 15 minutes inner thigh workout you can do.
Aerobic activity may be helpful for overall weight loss. Still, in most cases, the fat around your thighs will respond less effectively to cardio exercises like running, walking, swimming, bicycling, etc.
So, start paying more attention to strength training because it also helps in burning calories while you lift as well as build lean muscles. This will end up giving your thighs a very pleasing shape as that excess thigh fat slip away.
Do lots of exercises such as lunges and squats that help to shape and tone the muscles of your thighs, butt, and hamstrings, thereby making them look really great.
PS: Take supplements like TestoGen to give you the stamina you need for your exercises.
Read: Benefits of Working out in The Evening
Create New and Healthy Eating Habits: Steer clear from foods that may significantly alter or affect your hormone levels. Start concentrating and incorporating dairy products, and hormone-free meats along with chemical-free and preservative-free foods.
What foods cause thigh fat?
Note that thigh fat is typically caused by consuming too many calories. So, you might want to steer clear of processed foods and those rich in fats, added sugar, and added sodium. Instead eat right, especially whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.
Alternative Treatments: Spa treatments and massages may also help in treating some types of cellulite. However, if you want more effective results for all skin tones, you need to consider non-invasive body-shaping treatments that involve the use of magnetic and radio-frequency therapies.
These therapies can bring about a thermal reaction that will help to shrink the volume of fat cells in your thighs.
Drink More Water: The #1 enemy of most diets is sugary drinks, not unhealthy snacks or dessert. Drinking fruit juice, soda, or other sweetened beverages increases the number of calories in your body without any additional nutrition.
So, drink lots of water, instead. Water will keep you hydrated, and this is highly crucial for your body so that fat can burn off while you build muscle. It will also help you to stay full for extended periods as well.
Get Enough Sleep: If you are not getting enough sleep, you will not lose fat, no matter how intensely you may be working out.
Your body needs enough sleep to rest as well as recover from daily activities while your body gets back into shape. So, if you are not getting enough rest, you will not see the results you are looking for.
Moreover, you will be more likely to snack on lots of unhealthy stuff during the day.
Hopefully, you picked some clue on what causes inner thigh fat and would use the information provided to work on reducing your thigh fight. Let us know if you need help with anything while on your journey to a slimmer thigh.