Losing weight takes dedicated effort and the willingness to make sacrifices. Not only do you need to make changes to your diet, but you also have to familiarize yourself with exercise. Firming your legs and butt while losing weight is not that difficult, provided you follow the right game plan. The most important thing is that you zero in on the muscles in the legs and butt. These include the quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes.
Step 1
Reduce your calorie intake to start the weight loss process. A daily reduction of 500 to 1,000 calories will create about 1 to 2 pounds of weight loss a week. Determine your starting intake by tracking your calories for a week, adding up the totals and dividing by seven. For example, if you come up with 2,600 calories, your new intake will be between 2,100 and 1,600 calories.
Step 2
Consume several smaller meals throughout the course of the day instead of two or three larger ones. Eating frequent meals will keep your energy levels elevated, appetite regulated and metabolism high. This will aid your weight-loss efforts. Eat your first meal as soon as you get up and space the rest of your meals two to three hours apart. A bowl of fruit salad with cottage cheese mixed in is a healthy meal option.
Step 3
Engage in a form of cardiovascular exercise that works your butt and legs. This will melt fat and also help improve your muscle tone. Running, brisk walking, stair climbing, elliptical training, rowing and bicycling work effectively. Do your workouts using intervals to tax your muscles more strenuusly and burn a higher amount of calories. Start with a light five-minute warmup, then alternate back and forth between high and low intensity for 30 minutes. Finish with a light five-minute cooldown and work out three days a week on nonconsecutive days.
Step 4
Perform leg- and butt-firming exercises. Include as many compound exercises into this routine as possible. Compound exercises work more than one muscle at a time, which helps you two ways. First, it leads to a high amount of muscle recruitment. Second, adding muscle boosts your metabolism, which further promotes weight loss. Do exercises such as squats, leg presses, lunges, stepups and stiff-leg deadlifts. Squats work the glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings all at the same time. Aim for 10 to 12 reps, do four or five sets and work out three days a week on noncardio days.
Step 5
Lift with proper form to ensure you create firm muscles. Move through a full range of motion and pay attention to your body alignment. For lunges, stand with your feet about hip-width apart and hold dumbbells at your sides. Keep your back straight and abs tight as you take a long step forward with your right foot. Lower yourself down by bending both knees 90 degrees. Rise back up, step back to the starting position and repeat with your left leg. Continue to alternate back and forth in a controlled motion. Do not let your front knee go past your toes when lunging.
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