Are There Certain Foods That Will Help You Gain Weight in Your Thighs and Buttocks?

If you find yourself hoping for sudden weight gain in your hips and thighs, you may wonder what you can eat to get the figure you want. While there is no single food that goes straight to your bum and thighs, certain choices can help.

Whether you want to find a diet that rounds out your booty or foods that make your thighs thinner, you may be disappointed to find out that diets don't work that way. Similarly, working out just one set of muscles will not reduce fat in just the surrounding area. This theory of exercise is called "spot reducing," and it has been largely debunked.

The American Council on Exercise (ACE) explains that while exercises that attempt to reduce fat in just one area of the body remain popular, they are ineffective. Instead, it's important to take a comprehensive approach to fat burning. That's because the body takes the excess energy from every part of the body, though genetics may make you gain and lose weight in different spots first.

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On the flip side of that coin, your body deposits excess energy (calories) throughout the body, regardless of what kinds of foods you get the calories from. As such, you cannot eat a certain type of food to get an hourglass figure. However, you can create an exercise routine and diet that support muscle growth in your butt and thighs.

To get the thick bottom and legs that you want, you may have to gain some weight. However, you may not want the kind of sudden weight gain in your hips and thighs that leads to increased body fat percentages. Instead, the aim should be to gain lean muscle.

While an increase in either fat or muscle will lead to a higher Body Mass Index (BMI), that may not be the most accurate measure of health. A May 2018 study in the ‌Journal of Clinical Medicine ‌found that body fat percentage, visceral fat level and body mass are better predictors for insulin resistance than BMI. Insulin resistance is related to several disorders, including heart disease.

Diet is a critical factor in building muscle anywhere in the body, including the butt and thighs. You can incorporate healthy servings of muscle-building foods like eggs, chicken breast, grass-fed beef and quinoa. Furthermore, be sure to properly hydrate all that new muscle with plenty of water.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics warns that while protein is essential to building muscle, more is not always better. Nutrition experts can help people design well-rounded diets that include plenty of lean protein with carbohydrates and fats, as well. People who need help getting enough protein to build muscle can supplement with things like creatine, whey and glutamine.

‌Read more:‌ 20 Best Muscle Building Foods

If you want to build muscle, you not only need to eat a balanced diet, but you also need to do the right kind of exercise for your goals. Your exercise routine should include resistance training for your glutes, thighs and hips. In addition to squats and deadlifts, ACE recommends including the following exercises for the perfect butt:

• Hip bridges with abduction
• Clam shells
• Squats with hip extensions

‌Read more:‌ How to Gain Muscle Mass at Home Fast

You may also want to include the following exercises to work your full lower-body:

• Glute bridges
• Romanian deadlift
• Step-ups
• Rear lunges
• Lateral lunges

First, test your One Rep Max (1RM) for each exercise. Then, perform these exercises with 65 to 85 percent of your 1RM weight. Ideally, you should do six to 12 repetitions for three to six sets. Your rest time between sets should be 20 to 90 seconds.

You should not only focus on working out your lower body. Make sure your thigh and butt exercises are part of a well-rounded routine.