'For some people, a thigh gap is a natural part of their bone structure and genetics,' says Dr Rekha Tailor, GP, cosmetic doctor and medical director at Health & Aesthetics. 'For the majority of people, however, genetics mean that their hips are set too close together to exhibit a thigh gap.
A person's ability to have a thigh gap largely comes down to their genetic predisposition and bone structure. This means that even naturally slim people won't necessarily have a thigh gap, or that someone who is curvier may have a thigh gap.
Few women achieve a thigh gap without the assistance of genetics, extreme dieting, or even surgery. In most cases, a thigh gap means a body is underweight. Several of my patients have told me that their weight was dangerously low when they had a thigh gap.
Anatomically speaking however, femurs should hang fairly vertical from the pelvis in standing posture. Unless you are underweight or have femurs that are extremely bowed or your hip joints live unusually far apart inside the pelvis, your thighs will touch.
Basically, having a gap between your thighs was considered beautiful, which shamed a ton of women whose thighs naturally touch. The mermaid thigh movement recognizes that other group of women—those who don't have a natural thigh gap—effectively giving every woman a body-positive trend to identify with.
Diet to reduce thigh fat
The biggest culprits are pasta, white rice and bread, pastries, sodas, and desserts. These foods cause your blood sugar levels to spike, then crash soon after.
So how can you get rid of that inner thigh fat? The short answer is that you probably won't lose much if genetics predispose you to fat storage in that area. The longer answer is that you can reduce your body fat with exercise and diet, but you'll lose that fat from all over your body.
The main culprit behind weight gain in your thighs is estrogen. This hormone drives the increase in fat cells in females, causing deposits to form most commonly around the buttocks and thighs.
In practise, it's rare enough that something like 5% women in this world will have a natural thigh gap without resorting to drastic and dangerous measures. Despite this (or maybe because of this) teeny, tiny percentage, thigh gaps have become the most coveted “It accessory”.
A thigh gap is a space between the inner thighs of someone who is standing with their knees straight and their feet together. It's a so-called standard of beauty particularly applied to women's bodies.
The thigh gap has been notable for its recent internet craze, but surgical procedures to help people remove unwanted fat between the thighs aren't new. While there's no medical benefit to having a thigh gap, you may be interested in creating one to help you feel better in certain clothes.
Although some people swear you can get a thigh gap by methods or hacks, like targeted fat loss, inner thigh exercises, or excessive dieting, these won't work for everyone. And over time, they can be dangerous since extreme calorie restriction can cause bone loss and cardiovascular problems.
Can flabby inner thighs be toned? While it isn't possible to spot reduce fat, you can target specific areas of the body with the right exercises. If the inner thighs are one of those areas you'd like to see some change, there are exercises that will strengthen the area, increasing muscle tone and slimming the leg.
More importantly, brisk walking can help you tone your legs and reduce thigh fat. Walking tones your calves, quads and hamstrings and lifts the glutes.
Even if you have saggy skin, it doesn't mean you have to give up on exercise. Try and exercise every single day to stay in shape. Trust us, exercise will also help to tighten and tone your skin.
Can walking reduce thigh fat? Yes, it can. Brisk walking is considered a good cardio exercise.
According to Channa, one must cycle for at an hour or more, for fat loss. "Cycling is a cardio workout, in which one usually begins to burn fat only after the first 20 minutes. If you are walking, the fat burn will begin after that amount of time. So make sure that you do cycling for at least 30 minutes," he says.
Squats increase the size of your leg muscles (especially quads, hamstrings and glutes) and don't do much to decrease the fat, so overall your legs will look bigger. If you're trying to decrease the muscles in your legs, you need to stop squatting.
“In general, it can take anywhere from weeks to months—even years,” says Dr. Chen. If after one to two years skin is still loose, it may not get any tighter, she says.
This is because when you are stressed, cortisol levels in the body rise, resulting in storage of fat around the belly area. Another reason responsible for a stubborn belly fat is genetics. It has been noticed that if your parents have belly fat, you might also have the same body type.