[MarMar27]

What are good ways to tone up your inner thighs? I know I've heard lunges, and squats are good, I also have ankle weights, how can I put them to use?. I had a baby almost 3 years ago and my inner thighs are a bit flabby it's like loose skin as well as my tummy the skin is loose, it's sad to look at! well they've gotten a little better. But I really want to get my thighs in shape and then work on my tummy or find a good exercise of all in one. Everyone says I look great.. but that's with clothes on. I can't wear a bikini :0( which I really want to this summer.

[Eileen G]

For a start, stop worrying. No female over the age of 16 is happy with her inner thighs. I'd bet good money that they are not as bad as you think. Put on the bikini, strut your stuff, and no-one will be looking at your inner thighs!

You can't spot reduce, so you can't slim down inner thighs by doing specific inner thigh exercises. Instead, you have to work your whole body, especially the lower half, and the inner thighs will tone up to.

Good overall exercises are squats, lunges, stiffleg deadlifts, step-ups, pile squats (squats with feet much wider than usual). Also climb stairs as often as possible. Cycling is good too. They'll all help your tummy too.

Make sure your diet is in order. Cut out the while carbs and get plenty of quality protein, healthy fats and green vegetables.

[MarMar27]

Thanks Eileen, but My inner thighs are pretty bad and it looks like my left one is worse than my right one, its flabby skin from losing a lot of weight after I had my son.

So basically I was thinking to start on some walking/jogging, and finishing up with some squats/lunges and sit ups.

Also need to work on the diet, working at night I usually don't choose the healthiest foods being that I'm always in a hurry.

[Eileen G]

Maybe a good skin cream, one of the ones for pregnant women? Skin often looks loose and flabby for a while after a lot of weight has been lost, but often does tighten up.

The diet is a huge factor, especially for women. Damn it!

[redhed35]

Try and have food and healthy snacks ready for when your on the go,a little bit of forward thinking will help in those hungry moments,and stop you from loading up on carbs or junk food.

You can always find a banana or oats and honey bars in my bag.

Some seeds or dried fruit to snack on and 3 healthy meals each day.

Your diet will dictate your energy levels,try not to let your blood sugars dip too low where you will get a bad craving.

For me,swimming was fantastic,and I can take my daughter to the pool too!

It's a double whammy,my exercise and time together.

[mudweiser]

Eileen is correct, you cannot spot reduce. You just can't!

You already know what you can do to help with those areas; squats, lunges, jogging, walking.

You will NOT be in shape for this summer. It takes TIME for your body to go through these changes. All those bogus infomercials fill you with nothing but empty promises. You can have the best diet and work out every day but you won't see major results for quite a few months. So don't buy into those lies.

I hope your eating healthy! Without eating right your body won't change no matter how mant squats you do. And I surely hope you don't starve, you'll just store fat when you do start eating. And if you OVER eat your body start storing that fat because it thinks your going to starve soon. So in short, eat right and eat healthy.

Eat LEAN proteins, like salmon, skiness chicken breasts, beans are good too.

If you want to get those thighs in shape your whole body needs to get into shape.

Simple things like reducing your coffee intake, if you drink coffee that is. Stop drinking pop and juice and just stick to water. I love cold water, so I keep water bottles in my fridge as well as a brita water filter.

Never ever skip breakfast, I know most moms do. But you just can't do that. Skip dinner! You don't need to eat food at night-- that's nuts. Well to me anyway.

This is my eating schedual:

Wake Up:
Oatmeal (not that pre flavored crap) with fruits ontop and a dollop of honey.
A cup of oranges or just mixed fruit

Lunch (my biggest meal)
I eat some sort of protein, bean salad, or grilled salmon with a side of wild rice and some steamed veggies on the side.

4PM/5PM
A whole grain wrap with chicken breast pieces topped with loads of veggies and corn (corn gives my wrap a nice taste) and I just have a little dipping thing of EVOO mixed with lemon juice. It's really good! I also have some sort of fruit with that too.

Between those meal times I do eat! I eat almonds, I eat fruits, I eat veggies. I literally eat all day. But I eat HEALTHY!

Start eating healthy and you will see changes. Start eating healthy and you will feel better. Trust me!

There are days where I do want juice so I consume it in the morning with my breakfast, it's either 100% cranberry OR orange juice, anything else is not a good idea...

Well I tackled eating, now it's CARDIO time. You need to get up and exercise in order to trim you down and get cut.

You can still: jog, run, walk, do jumping jacks [may seem funny but try doing 100, you'll feel the burn], lunges, burpees... etc. Here are a few things you can search on YouTube:

•charliejames1975's Channel [I love her workouts, they make me sweat and I can really feel the burn! I love it!]
•10 Minute Jump Start Cardio Workout [These too are awesome]
• Scooby's What is good cardio? [Here is some info about Cardio, it was a good video, kind of goofy but it got to the point]

Just a few pointers here:
-If you can get a pedometer [it counts your steps]: It takes 70,000 steps to burn 1 lb of fat. So 10,000 a day would really help to lose 1lb a week!

-burning 3500 calories which equals 1 lb of fat

In short, get up and exercise. You need to do this for AT LEAST 20 min a day. I'm sure you have 20 min. I usually do my workout as soon as I wakeup. I get that out of my way and the rest of the day I feel fantastic.

Either way good luck and I hope you stay focused. I'm always here for that push. Sorry this thing was so long!

[Eileen G]

See if you can watch some old episodes of "How to look good naked" with Gok Wan. It's amazing the way yourself image dictates how you look, not your bodyshape. A killer swimsuit and a rock-on attitude, and no-one will eve thik about your inner thighs.

[MarMar27]

Red hed, your right on that, I do snack on healthy stuff, like oatmeal bars, and dried fruit such as cranberries, apricots, I like raisins and nuts, etc...

Eileen I will have to look into that Gok, Never heard of it until now.

Mudweiser thanks for all the input, chicken breasts is def one of my favs as well as salmon, I try to eat as much fruits and veggies as I can.

I usually do work out about 20 minutes a day doing sit-ups and leg raises and some squats, but I need to get in on some cardio. I agree on the whole juice and coffee, I am not a coffee drinker, I stick to water, I like it either room temperature or cold, If I drink Juice I usually buy a light cranberry juice or something like that.

That's a good work out plan, I know it will take time, just need to keep a routine intact.

[Eileen G]

Sit-ups and leg raises are really a waste of your workout time. You are working comparatively small muscle groups, so you are not burning many calories, and as you can't spot reduce, all you are doing is making the muscles under the fat stronger. If you have 20 minutes, then squats are good, climbing stairs is great, jumping rope, burpees if you are a masochist, press-ups too. You can use your toddler as a weight for added resistance.

Dancing to loud rock music, the sort with lots of head-banging and jumping around is good exercise.

GOK http://www.channel4.com/programmes/h...ed/4od#3007797

[MarMar27]

What I'm really aiming for is toning up I am already thin I guess just losing a lot of weight with hyperthyroidism after my son gave me the lose skin, that's funny cause I actually do use my son for working out, he loves it by the way, I carry him and jump with him and dance with him, and when I do sit ups I have him sit on me.

Unfortunately for some reason the video is not working.

[MarMar27]

Another question

Is reduced fat peanut butter and crackers a healthy snack ? I have always wondered that. I hear peanut butter is good and bad for you.

I love peanut butter.

[Eileen G]

Peanut butter can be a good snack, but not the reduced fat stuff. Go for PB where the only ingredient is peanuts. Maybe one with salt too, but nothing else. Reduced fat PB always has added sugar and other ingredients.

Crackers are variable. A good rye cracker is fine, but many crackers have a lot of white flour and partially hydrogentated vegetable fat, and other nasties. I'd eat my PB with a celery stick.

[Eileen G]

Here's a bit of classic Gok YouTube - How to Look Good Naked - Line up of thighs

[MarMar27]

Watched it, very interesting, I have never seen any of these.

[Eileen G]

Isn't it amazing to see REAL women naked, as opposed to models and actresses?

[MarMar27]

Yes it is,
In the model world, they strive for perfection, and there is no such thing as perfection. At least that's what it seems like to me.

[Eileen G]

There is no such thing as perfection. Even the supermodals are airbrushed. I've seen Julia Roberts and a few other A-listers without make-up, and honestly, they are just ordinary people like the rest of us. The way they look on the posters is not how they look when they get out of bed.

[MarMar27]

Yeah, it's all technology, and they are human like the rest of us.