How to lose weight in your legs without building muscles: exercise and diet

Not every woman is satisfied with gaining muscle mass while losing weight. Namely, all fitness classes recommended for improving your figure and losing extra pounds are associated with regular physical activity on individual muscle groups.

Feet are often a particular problem. Depending on their body type, women may have massive thighs and calves. Pumping up these areas will only worsen the situation - the fat will go away, but the legs will not visually appear slender. And getting rid of excess muscle mass is much more difficult than getting rid of unpleasant fat deposits!

How to go to the gym to lose weight in your legs

Do you want to lose weight quickly, but don’t know anything about fitness programs or can’t cope with your own laziness? Your path lies in the gym. Instructors know: a well-chosen set of exercises should combine cardio exercises (thanks to them, the pulse increases, and the body loses excess fluid) with strength exercises (with their help, it is possible to pump up muscles and increase their tone).

The main cardio machine is the treadmill. It is unlikely that you will be able to build up powerful muscles by running, but losing weight and reducing the size of your legs is possible. Pay attention to steppers and exercise bikes. When you take up strength training, do not neglect the installations on which you bend and extend your legs, perform seated and lying presses. Lunges on a Smith machine will help you lose weight without pumping up your muscles too much.

Stretching

An excellent way to increase the effectiveness of strength and aerobic training for losing weight in your legs is stretching. During its implementation, microdamage to the muscles and ligaments of the legs occurs, to restore which the body spends a large number of calories. An increase in energy expenditure, in turn, will lead to an increase in the rate of fat burning.

If stretching is performed as a warm-up before strength exercises, you should not pull the ligaments and muscles too much - this can lead to their subsequent rupture.

To perform stretching exercises, you need to set aside 2 days (between the main workouts), for example, Tuesday and Friday.

Forward bends

Standing on straight legs, you need to stretch your palms forward and, as you exhale, slowly lower the upper part of your body. At the lowest point, when your fingers touch the floor, you need to fixate for 10-15 seconds, and then smoothly return to a vertical position. Perform 8-9 more similar bends.

Fold

You should sit on the floor in a sitting position, press your feet together and align your legs in front of you. Raise your palms up and slowly lean forward, trying to reach your toes with your fingers. If a burning sensation occurs on the back of the thighs, it is necessary to fix this position of the body for 10-15 seconds, and then return to the starting position while sitting. The number of inclinations should be from 8 to 12.

Leg-split

To perform the exercise correctly, you need to sit in a standing position and spread your legs as wide apart as possible (a burning sensation should appear in the muscles and ligaments on the inside of the thighs). Tilt your upper body forward, placing your palms on the floor in front of you. Within 2 minutes, you should lightly rock your body, trying to lower it as low as possible.

In order to minimize the risk of injury during stretching, it is recommended to perform it immediately after a bath or foot massage.

Leg training at home

Sometimes there is not enough time to visit gyms and fitness centers. However, you can just as easily lose weight at home. Leg exercises for girls necessarily include half-squats, lunges, swings, and lifts. Perform each element 15-20 times for 4-5 approaches, then change the working leg. In just a month or two you will be able to lose weight and enjoy stronger muscles.

Exercises for losing weight on legs

The following simple exercises will help you lose weight in your calves, thighs, buttocks, thighs, and strengthen your muscles:

From a standing position, squat until your thigh and shin form a right angle. Fix yourself for 15-20 seconds. Feel the muscle tension.
Stand with one leg in front of your body and the other behind it. Lower yourself until your front thigh and shin form a 90° angle, then rise to straight legs.
Stand on straight legs, holding onto the wall. Raising one limb to form a right angle, as in the previous exercises, push the bent leg up. Work your muscles.
Place your forearm on the floor and kneel down. Alternately lift your bent right leg to the side, sideways and up.

Physical exercise

Shaped, toned legs suit only a man. If you do not want to increase the volume of your legs, but rather make them thinner, then you should give up some exercises. These include intense running, slow squats and leg raises. The best options at home would be:

Stretching. Daily stretching will not only improve the appearance of your entire body, but will also improve your well-being and relieve stress. You can perform bodyflex or yoga exercises.
Fast walk. You can walk to work or get off public transport a couple of stops earlier. It is necessary to maintain a fast pace.
An excellent solution would be to forget about elevators. Walking on stairs makes your legs slimmer. To do this, it is enough to climb 8-10 flights of stairs a day at an accelerated pace.
Dancing will help you lose weight on your legs This will also help you get positive emotions and learn something new, develop flexibility and a sense of rhythm.
A ride on the bicycle. It is necessary to choose a medium intensity of the load to prevent muscle pumping.
Jogging will also help you lose excess leg fat. Do not forget to be in a state of proper heart rate, which will help you burn fat faster.

If you find it difficult to force yourself to do exercises and take care of your body on your own, you need to do it in the gym. Exercise machines that simulate the loads described above - treadmill, stepper, exercise bike, elliptical. You can also ask a fitness trainer to create a training program for you and exercise under supervision.

How to run correctly to lose weight in your legs and thighs

Is sport within four walls not to your liking? Take up running – and the question of how to lose excess weight and lose weight in your thighs will disappear by itself. Running on a home exercise machine is effective, but the ideal option is to exercise outdoors. A couple of months dedicated to training coupled with proper nutrition will give you strong muscles and minus 10-15 kilograms. Tempting? How can you lose weight in your legs without pumping up your muscles with the help of exercise machines, without exhausting yourself with exercises, but by doing only jogging?

Exercise every day.
Starting with 10-15 minutes, increase the time allotted for running to 1-1.5 hours.
To lose weight healthy, run at the speed that is optimal for you, without being equal to others.
Professional sports shoes and clothing are not necessary for a beginner, but running in comfortable sneakers and a suit is much more comfortable.
Start training in the spring so that you have time to harden yourself before the cold season arrives.

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5th opinion: You can’t strengthen your muscles without weights...

Not at all. You always have your own body weight at your disposal. Try to maximally load the muscles that require your attention. If it’s your legs or buttocks, learn to squat on one leg (first with support on a chair or wall), if it’s your chest, arms, back, do push-ups (when this seems easy, place books under your arms). At the same time, you should not artificially limit yourself: use what you have at hand for classes.

For example, in the winter you can take a membership to a gym, where there are exercise machines and barbells with dumbbells, in warmer times of the year you can go to the sports ground in the park or at the nearest school, and at home you can do exercises against the wall, with a chair or with bottles of water instead of weights.

How to make your legs slim with diet

You won’t be able to lose weight in just one area: the weight is lost proportionally. However, correcting your figure by focusing on problem areas is quite possible. When it comes to your legs (especially your thighs), experts recommend losing weight on a low-fat diet. Cellulite, to which women are naturally predisposed, also adds extra volume in this area.

Principles of proper nutrition for weight loss

Are you determined to lose weight? When creating your menu for the week, adhere to the following rules:

eliminate products containing caffeine, sugar, alcohol - all of them contribute to the appearance of cellulite;
give up semi-finished products, smoked meats, canned food, cheeses - you won’t be able to lose weight on them, and the content of harmful fat is off the charts;
give preference to low-fat milk, fresh fruits, greens;
at least 2.5 liters of water per day is an indispensable condition for losing weight!

Diet for losing weight legs

If you need to lose weight quickly, use an express diet designed for 7 days. Tea is allowed, water is required. The menu for each day consists of certain products. Monday - fish, Tuesday - vegetables, Wednesday - chicken, Thursday - cereals, Friday - sour milk, Saturday - fruits. Sunday is a fasting day. Boil, stew, bake or eat fresh. Salt, sugar, vegetable oil are prohibited.

Dietary changes

So, here comes that unpleasant moment when you realized and admitted to yourself that you have fat legs. Don't panic! What steps should you take first? Initially, you need to reconsider your usual diet.

This is not about starvation and exhausting diets, because they only make the situation worse, slowing down the metabolism and returning the lost kilograms twice as much after stopping. You need to create a correct, balanced diet for yourself and stick to it constantly.

After prolonged indiscriminate eating, for example, during the holidays, fasting days should be carried out. Basic Rules:

Stick to your diet if your lifestyle allows. That is, you need to eat every day at the SAME TIME.
Break the number of meals up to 5-6 times a day, in small portions.
Do not eat food 2-3 hours before bedtime.
After 18-00, eat only low-calorie, easily digestible foods, for example, boiled fish or kefir.
Reduce the number of calories per day to 1500-1700.
Eliminate fast carbohydrates and unhealthy foods from your diet. These are baked goods, sweets, confectionery, fast food, soda, sausages, sauces, mayonnaise, ketchup.
Increase the amount of vegetables and fruits in your diet.
Give preference to protein foods, fish and chicken.
Eat more dairy products - kefir, cottage cheese, natural yogurt.
Eat grapefruits and oranges, they will help not only in the fight against extra pounds, but also against cellulite.
Limit your salt intake, as it retains excess fluid in the body.
Drink up to 3 cups of green tea, the caffeine it contains effectively helps burn fat, speeds up metabolism, and gives you energy.
Oatmeal is ideal for breakfast, saturating the body for a long time and being a rich source of fiber.

Which muscles grow faster?

According to experts, the easiest ways to pump up your legs are your calves and quadriceps. But you shouldn’t worry about the muscles of the arms and shoulder girdle - building up these muscles is not so easy even with intense loads.

Most often, the feeling of being pumped up occurs in those who have been going to the gym relatively recently, no more than three months. Changes are taking place in the body: the muscles have already begun to grow and tone, but the fat layer covering them has not yet decreased. This is where the excess volume appears, in your opinion. There's nothing wrong with that. There's no point in quitting because of this!

It’s much better to revise your training program a little. In particular, exclude from it activities that can add volume to your body. So, by practicing Pump it up with a fairly heavy barbell, you can pump up your thighs and calves. When training on the steppe, again, increase your hips. Yes, and on the slide - also gain in the thighs and calves.

Training

Exercises are performed 10–12 times in 1–2 sets with a break of 30–60 seconds. Gradually increase the load (repetitions, weight of dumbbells). If the goal is to reduce the size of your legs, then do aerobics an additional 3-4 times a week.

Warm-up

Classes begin with a warm-up. Cardio training is left for the end of the session, since it is energy-consuming and you will still need strength. Squats without weights are suitable as a warm-up.

Starting position (IP): feet shoulder-width apart, toes slightly apart. Do squats. The hips in the lower position are parallel to the floor, the body is slightly tilted forward, the knees do not protrude beyond the level of the toes, the back is straight. The legs are straightened simultaneously with exhalation. Total – 2 sets of 40 repetitions.

Side lunges

Sports equipment - body bar or barbell.I. P.: standing straight, feet shoulder-width apart. The palms hold the projectile behind the head.

Take one step sideways so that the distance between your feet reaches twice the width of your shoulders.
Without haste, lower the body, bending the knees to an angle of 90 degrees, pulling the pelvis back as if sitting on a chair.
Return to I.P.

Muscles worked: thighs, buttocks.

When squatting, you need to make sure that your knees do not go beyond the front edge of your feet. Body weight is distributed between the heel and the middle of the foot. It is difficult for beginners to hold their back; for them, the bend angle in the knees is at least 135 degrees.

Bridge on the shoulders

A simple but effective exercise.I. P.:

By extending the hip joints, the pelvis is pulled upward, resting on the shoulder blades.
The movements are performed slowly.
At the upper amplitude they are delayed for 1–2 seconds.
Return to I.P.

The movement begins from the hip joint. Loaded muscles: quadriceps, back muscles, buttocks. This exercise is used in physical therapy. It helps develop the stabilizing muscles of the trunk.

Leg abduction on a block

I.P.: The cuff is secured to the leg. The supporting leg is located at a height of 5 cm. To maintain stability, hold on to the handle of the block. The back is straight.

Smoothly move the lower limb to the side, using only the hip joint.
Stay at the top point for 1–2 seconds.
Again I.P.

Loaded muscles: muscles of the supporting leg. The main forces fall on the gluteus medius and minimus muscles. The leg should not rotate outward and abduct far, the initial position of the pelvis is maintained. All movements are controlled.

Mahi lying down

Swings tighten muscles well. I.P.:

The leg is raised.
Stay in the upper amplitude for 1–2 seconds.
Return to I.P.

Muscles worked: hamstrings, gluteus maximus. The movements are performed slowly. When lifting the leg, the navel is pulled towards the ridge.

Calf raises

I.P.: standing with the front of the foot on the edge of the step platform (step). The body is straightened, the abdominal muscles are tense.

Rise on your toes so that your heels take the highest position. Hold for 1–2 seconds.
Lower your heels until you feel a stretch in your calf muscles.
Repeat step 1.

Muscles worked: gastrocnemius, soleus, tibialis posterior, peroneus longus. When performing the exercise, keep the legs straight at the knee joints and do not straighten them. To place more stress on the calves, exclude the toes from the movement. The complex is completed by running - on a treadmill or around the stadium.

Features of weight loss for men and women

Women and men have different ratios of testosterone (the sex hormone largely responsible for muscle growth) and estrogen (its amount determines the speed of recovery after exercise and muscle endurance). For this reason, the training methodology will differ.

A man should perform the exercises by reducing the number of repetitions (to 8-10) and increasing the working weights. The rest time between sets and workouts should be slightly increased.

A woman, on the contrary, needs to do a larger volume of work per workout, but with lighter weights and short rest periods (no more than a minute) between series.

There are no significant differences in the diet for weight loss between women and men.