Tips to Lose Weight From Your Thighs

Although toning exercises reduce the appearance of fat around the thighs, losing weight from your thighs and other areas of the body requires aerobic activity. Aerobic exercise increases respiration and heart rate and sustains this rate for at least 30 minutes. The good news is, the most effective aerobic exercises also build thigh muscle. So you get a twofer.

Walking

• Walking requires no more equipment than a good pair of athletic shoes. In addition to burning calories and fat, walking strengthens the quadriceps (front thigh muscles) and hamstring muscles (backs of thighs) as well as the buttocks, abs and other muscle groups. You should walk briskly--reaching and sustaining at least 60 percent of your maximum heart rate--and try to vary the terrain.

Running

• Some people consider running a little more sexy than walking. They strengthen the same muscles and provide the same overall benefits. Depending on how fast you walk, running could burn calories faster. Running does open opportunities for competition, like 5k runs, that can provide motivation. Start with walking and build gradually to a jog and then a run. "Too many people have been turned off of running simply by trying to start off too fast," Josh Clark writes on CoolRunning.com.

Jumping Rope

• If you think of a jump rope as child's play, think again. "Jumping rope is possibly the single most comprehensive and beneficial form of exercise a person can do," according to fitFAQ.com, which offers fitness advice. Jumping rope has the potential to burn as many as 1,000 calories per hour, provides all the benefits of aerobic exercise and tones muscles in the entire body, the website says. Boxers jump rope to get and stay in shape, as do other elite athletes. You can jump with a group at the gym or alone on your driveway. The equipment packs easily for travel--and it doesn't get any cheaper.