If you’re anything like me, there are always various bits of your body that you want to change the shape of; with some people it’s the shape of their shoulders and arms but with most people (me included) it’s the lower body – namely the entire area from the bottom of the rib cage to just above the knee.
This area, which gives most women most of their nightmares, encompasses the abdominals, hip and butt area and the thighs. Oh how we worry about the size of our thighs! The shape of your lower body depends on various factors; obviously lifestyle plays a big part, especially as you are growing older and stubborn fat is beginning to settle around those areas.
Some of your shape is genetic and yes, you can blame your mother 
– if most of the girls in your family are what we call strapping lasses in Yorkshire-speak then the chances are you will have a good childbearing pelvis and hefty bones resulting in – you guessed it – big hips, buns and thighs!
I’m always being asked by ladies what they can do to specifically reduce the fat around the lower body and sadly, I have to tell them that you can’t spot- reduce body fat; you need to do a full body exercise program and reduce your calorie intake to lose fat. But when you do, Mother Nature decides where the fat is going to come off first; usually the face and neck, and in my case the chest area (which wasn’t funny as I didn’t have much there in the first place!). Abdominals, hips and thighs are usually the last place that the fat is reduced from; sad but true 
.
But don’t throw your healthy eating guide out of the window and reach for the chocolate biscuits just yet, because the good news is that you can spot-tone that hip, thigh and butt area; if you specifically target the muscles in this area you will make them firmer, leaner and more shapely and even though your weight may not go down all that much, your hips, buns and thighs will be slimmer, sleeker and more shapely.
There are many exercises that target the lower body; squats and lunges are very good, exercising with a Step is a good way to tone up and there are also some interesting home fitness gadgets on the market like the Thigh Glider which means you can exercise in the privacy and comfort of your own home. But whatever lower body exercises you pick, you have to do them regularly for at least three weeks before you’ll start seeing any results, so don’t give up.