Losing weight can be difficult, even frustrating, especially when you are trying to lose weight around pesky trouble spots like the thighs and hips. It can become maddening to perform hours of exercise in those problem spots and not see results. At least for women, losing weight on the hips and thighs is an eternal dream and to confess the truth, the same issue has intrigued most weight loss doctors, because many methods used for weight-loss simply do not show results in these problem areas.

Many people attempt to lose weight on the hips and thighs by spot reduction methods like soaps, gels, mechanical gadgets etc. The soaps and gels have never been proven to show any results and neither have those mechanical devises proven fruitful. So the most important question is: what actually works?

In order to lose weight from your hips and thighs, you will need to attack the problem on two fronts: exercise and diet. There are different methods which work for different people which have proven benefits -- we elaborate upon them in the following pages.

• Check the amount and type of oil and fat in your diet. Some people gain a lot of fat on the hips and thighs if they consume butter, ghee, cheese, milk and curd .The smart option is to switch to olive oil or vegetable oil.
• Avoid too much paneer, oil in dals (pulses) or even combinations of oil and cereal like matthi, chips, fries, parathas, samosas, biryani etc.
• For breakfast, one can make a vegetable stuffed toast or a mushroom toast and for a change on Sundays, toasted garlic bread with olive oil is a yummy option. You can even have low Glycemic index (GI) fruits for breakfast.
• Pump up the fibre in your diet by going for fruits with skin, multigrain atta (wheat flour) with wheat bran, jowar, bajra, channa, soy etc.
• For non-vegetarians, eat fish upto four times a week and chicken no more than twice a week. However, go easy on red meat.
• Make dinners light and have two teaspoons of triphala (Ayurvedic herbal formula) every night to detoxify the body, along with ginger water to boost liver function, which will speed up the fat breakdown process.

• Change the proportion of carbohydrates and proteins in the diet to eat less carbs and more proteins. Many body constitutions end up storing excess carbs as fat on hips and thighs, so the best option is to limit high carb foods like rice, potato, pasta, bread etc.
• Eat more of channa roti (chapati), wheat and soya mixed roti or the diabetic atta roti, which is made with dals and other cereals, leaving out pure wheat.
• Non-vegetarians can eat all varieties of food including fish and chicken. Go easy on red meat; you can have it once a week.
• Eat lots of vegetables in cooked, raw salad form or in soups. This helps in maintaining the acid-alkali balance of protein diets.
• Avoid fruit juice. Instead, drink lot of tulsi water and you can consume up to four fruits of low GI per day.

• Forgive us for stating the bare truth: all exercises do not work to lose weight on the hips and thighs, whether you're using the exer-cycle or the cross-trainer. The only thing they do is tighten the muscles and bulk them up!
• The best method to lose weight specifically on hips and thighs is to walk briskly -- as much as your body can, comfortably -- and finally take it up to four kilometres.
• For people who already walk, conduct a reality check on your diet and then take the walk to five or six kilometres. Thrice a week, skip the walk and do calisthenics (calisthenics are floor exercises which stretch and tone the body muscles).
• Remember to add one teaspoon karela (bitter gourd) juice to the regime.

Of course, taking advantage of all three methods is extremely beneficial. You can tailor them to suit yourself by gradually lowering intake and increasing exercise. As long as you make the effort, you will see the results. Remember you can lose fat from your thighs and hips and look absolutely fabulous -- you just have to start. Set a goal, make sure it is realistic and most importantly give it time. It will work!