Not on topic, but you people seem to be knowledgable about so many things, I figure somebody on this board will have some tips for me. ( Plus it is a good distraction from Santa Claus-ha ha) So, I'm trying to get in shape and have been working out more. What can I do to specifically target my inner thighs (my big problem area!) TIA for any suggestions.

Targeting your inner thighs probably isn't the best plan. You can't target reduce fat. The only thing you can do is reduce overall fat and target add muscle. So by targeting your inner thighs all you can really do is add muscle which will make them bigger. With that said, some light weight work on your inner things could help tone the muscle and make your inner thighs look slightly better.

For good looking legs including inner thighs:
run
bike

These exercises tone leg muscles without adding too much bulk while reducing fat.

You can also do that humiliating machine that looks like stirrups but as stated above everything I've read indicates that it doesn't actually do any good, and if anything makes it worse.

It's not bulky muscle, but long lean muscle.

I also do cardio on the days I don't do pilates.

You must also find your target heart rate, stay within those numbers for at least 20 minutes to get any results.

That's what I do and it seems to be working. :)

Good luck!

Depends on what you mean by target. There is no such thing as losing fat mass in certain areas. It will generally go away the same it came on. So, if your thighs are problem areas, they will probably be the ones to have the most noticeable improvement, but may take the longest to get the desired results. To lose weight, eat well, use more calories than you take in, and do cardio 30 minutes, 5 days a week. Carbs are important, but make sure you restrict simple carbs such as from sugars. The food you eat, make sure it is more nutrient dense. Spinach is an excellent example of high nutrient density. You get a ton of vitamins, minerals, proteins, etc, for very few calories. Don't starve, I would recommend talking to your doctor about your target caloric intake.

You can, however, target your thighs in regards to increasing muscle mass or toning the muscle (does little for fat on the surface). Do this if you feel particularly weak in your legs, or feel knee or hip pain due to muscle/tendon/ligament strain. Some good exercises for your thighs include: lunges (go easy at first, your butt will thank you), squats, tuck jumps, and dead lifts. If you have access to gym equipment, the weight machines can be good, but try to do exercises that use multiple muscle groups. And make sure you pay attention to both the flexion and extension muscles, because otherwise you can end up with muscle imbalance, which makes you prone to injury.

Thanks everyone for your input. It has been very helpful. I need to lose some weight all over, but for some reason, my inner thighs seem to be fatter than any other part of me. I guess all women have an area that they dislike more than any other.

Inner thighs and gut are the last to go for fat loss. Don't know why, sucks, but just works that way. ---- For most people anyway.

I agree with everything said above. In addition, I would make improving your overall fitness and health the main goal. Weight loss is a like a fringe benefit of the larger goal, which is a better you.

You need to have the mindset that will allow you to continue to workout week after week without seeing a rapid decline in your body weight. In my experience, weight loss always happens, but it takes some time to shift all of the metabolic processes. Changing your body's metabolic rate is like turning a large ship around. If you are focused solely on losing weight, you may not have the mental stamina needed to continue with an intense exercise program. This is a long term lifestyle change.

What worked for me was making small incremental changes and building on small successes. I started with the easy stuff, like eliminating soda and fast food. Then each week I improved on both my eating habits and my workouts. Over several months, I improved to where I now mostly eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and nuts. I've eliminated most manufactured food from my diet. I slowly increased the duration, frequency and intensity of my workouts. I sometimes slip on my diet and I sometimes skip workouts, but I always go back to my routine because I've made it a part of my life. I feel terrific and my doctor is happy.

Good luck to you.

It just ain't possible, and anyone who says otherwise is trying to sell something.

Diet. Eat the right things and a little bit less of everything. Splurge occasionally as a reward.

Exercise. Cardio. Walk at a brisk pace, use a treadmill and/or elliptical trainer, maybe a bike. DON'T start off by running. You can injure yourself too easily that way. There's an old saying that "You don't run to get in shape, you get in shape to run." Once you've built up your lung capacity and strengthened your legs a bit, then you can try some jogging.

LOL, thanks Stray Mutt. I think I'll try the suggestions by the other posters first, but if I'm still unhappy, lipsuction is certainly an option!

Go to beachbody.com and choose from one of their programs. I've done Insanity and Asylum and love them. Going P90X next and they have Turbo Fire and many others. Well worth the $120 or so in my opinion.

Helps me track what I eat and how much I exercise to make sure I'm getting the right proportions to lose weight. And its free!

I did 2 rounds of P90X and got in crazy good shape but didn't lose a single pound or inch where I wanted to. Seems to be more geared towards a male body type than female--even with following their diet I wasn't thrilled with the results. I bought mine on Ebay so I wasn't out $120.

Have you thought of horseback riding? It works your whole body but especially your inner thighs and legs. When I was riding all the time I was in the best shape of my life. Or look for books/videos geared towards horseback riders. Those will target your inner thighs for sure, as well as your core, because that's what riders use the most.

Leg lifts that target and isolate the various leg muscles wll help tone your inner thighs. I'm terrible at explaining how to do exercise through writing, so I suggest youtube and google to find decent leg lift videos. Cosmopolitan also has good exercise plans everymonth. Weights and swimming are really great at toning and building muscle.

I'm in the process of slowly getting back in shape; The inner thigh is a tough one to get nice and toned. Good luck! :)

Dance classes. Zumba, salsa, jazz, hip hop, whatever.

What I've learned:

1. Cardio buurns fat.
2. I got awesome thighs (solid muscle) from doing a ton of squats and lunges to condition for the dance classes.
3. I'd take two dance classes a week and two conditioning classes a week.
4. Pilates and yoga are great for flexibility and toning, but don't really build much muscle and are not cardio-intensive. Still, either one is a great place to start.
5. I got off the couch by getting a Wii Fit. I'd spend 15 minutes to an hour each day after work on that thing. After about three months, I'd lost maybe 5 pounds. Then I found my dance studio and started going there 1-3 hours a night, 4-5 days a week. I dropped about 30 pounds in a few months, but my goal was NOT to lose weight. (My doc's goal was for me to lose weight. I did not care.) My goal was to build muscle and increase my strength and flexibility. The weight loss was a nice side effect of my strength/conditioning efforts.
6. You cannot target a specific spot; it just doesn't work that way. You can target a specific spot to build muscle, so if you want to work on your thighs, do a lot of squats and lunges. Biking is also really helpful there. Keep in mind, though, if you are not doing enough cardio (to increase your heartrate and therefore, your metabolism, which is how you burn fat), you will have really strong, toned, defined thighs... that are covered in a layer of fat.
7. Watch your carbs and avoid:
• refined carbs (easy rule of thumb: do not eat white food)
• sugar
• salt
• fat (olive oil is a good example of "good" fat. Keep taking that in, in moderation. French fries or anything deep-fried is a good example of "really bad" fat. Avoid at all costs)
• eat nothing that comes from a can or a box: too much salt, sugar, and other garbage
• Try to eat mostly plant-based foods and lean proteins. Eat all the veggies and fruits you like. Watch portion sizes. Go for healthy snacks: veggies, nuts, fruits, rather than chips & soda.
• drink water and little else

Note: A lot of people recommend avoiding alcohol when trying to lose weight or tone up. I say avoid carby alcohol and sugary "chick" drinks. No beer, no fruity girly cocktails, no margaritas or daquiris. Wine, in moderation, isn't to sugary or carby. Cocktails made with liquor and say diet tonic water or diet soda are better for than cocktails made with liquers and fatty/fruity/sugary mixers.

Perfect "diet" cocktail: Vodka and diet sprite or 7-up. I prefer vodka and diet tonic with lime.

Forget beer, too carby.

Yeah, I agree, go low carb. Eat more protein (I take at least 100g, try the Optimum Nutrition natural gold standard whey isolate). Work out everyday.

Very low carb diet with weight training and cardio has me leaner and harder than ever, or at least since youth! :)

I'm never hungry, and my energy level is still increasing.

The fat weight just falls off.

And my upper body muscles are coming back nicely, skin much tighter. Mobility and strength are way better.

^ great advice above! :) I just wanted to mention that I think the reason people ask about things O/T on this board is because we have all finally found a place where people will be straight up with us! :) You can't ask a TBM a question like this because you would get an answer like this- You don't need to work out,God loves you the way you are. You need to love and accept yourself for who you are.

Thanks for asking this question :) Got some really good advice I can use too!

Alright, I'm going to give you my quick run on what I've found works over the long years I've spent experimenting:

1-If you're looking for long and lean muscle (which I assume you are), balance weight training and cardio. A lot of people will tell you weights automatically will add lots of muscle, but this is only true if your body is supporting anabolic conditions (so, your protein and caloric levels would have to be right, lifting with good form and consistently without burning yourself, constant progression, etc). If you are lifting in the lighter range of your spectrum of strength, it will actually just engage your muscles but not tear them so you won't get bigger.

2-Cardio burns fat no matter the form. Some will argue that doing high intensity work like sprints will burn a lot more fat but it's not true. Whether you do your cardio on a sprint-stop-sprint style or a flat out run, it will burn calories and, thereby, fat. The fat is lost based on your body's loss of calories. A lot of people will argue running at a moderate pace over time will burn fat itself but the fat actually is lost by trying to replace the calories in your system, but studies have shown(I'm sorry I don't have links, but if you look up Alan Aragon's work, you'll see what I mean) that it either way will decrease your daily intake of calories and will cause fat loss.

3-Consider intermittent fasting if it seems like your thing. A lot of people have used it and found success. Also, don't believe what people say about eating every 2 hours or whatever will cause you to go into "starvation" mode. An army study has proven that it would take a man's body fat dropping to around 5% before "starvation" would be a problem, and I'm guessing for women that would be around 8-7% before that's a problem.

4-Experiment and find what you like to do. Take it one step at a time. What works for someone might not work for you. Take me and my mom for example. We've both been trying to lose weight these last few months. I love running and boxing and weights but my mom doesn't like any of them. She likes walking and aerobics and yoga/pilates classes and even sometimes takes zumba.

Anyways, that's my advice. You SHOULD have some sort of resistance training no matter what, even if it's yoga and not weights because that will help you preserve muscle.

I was not willing to pay what they where asking for a gym membership around here, it is ludicrous! I joined a zumba class that meets twice a week, and its a blast...

You guys are all great and I really appreciate the straight-talk advice!

I was unable to sleep so I was channel surfing and came across the infomercial fo the "THIGH MASTER" ..Seems to be just what you need. Specifically "engineered " for the reduction and shaping of the inner thighs..

Try GOOGLE and type in THIGHMASTER

Anywhere from $15.99 -$39.99
Good Luck
JB