How to Get Rid of Fat Above Your Knee – Simple Plan

As women, we tend to accumulate body fat below our waist. The men tend to carry it around their midsection. One of the places that our body fat seems to hold on for dear life is around our knees, and it can be super frustrating.

The best thing you can do to get rid of fat above your knee is to dial in your nutrition by eating a bit healthier, followed by adding some cardio and resistance training exercises to what will now be a calorie deficit.

In this post, I’m going to explain how to get rid of fat above your knee by incorporating some exercise, eating properly, and some tips on how to get rid of fat pockets around the knee quickly.

What causes knee fat?

The first thing you should know is that genetics will play a big role in this. Some women, who I think have hit the genetic jackpot don’t store much body fat. They’re just naturally thin, no matter if it’s a fast metabolism, genetics, or maybe they store fat elsewhere. Regardless they aren’t looking online right now on how to get rid of fat above the knees, because their body doesn’t store fat there. So to say you’re fighting an uphill battle is kind of an understatement because you just can’t beat genetics.

However, where there’s a will, there’s a way. And I’ll explain some things you can adjust to get rid of that fat above the knee.

Growing Older

Another cause of fat around the knee is age. As we get older, our skin loses its elasticity and it begins to sag down. Thanks a lot, gravity. But there are things you can do to help the skin regain some of its elasticity. Things that contribute to or that can excel elasticity are exposure to the sun, air pollution, poor diet, and smoking. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that wearing sunscreen prevents sagging, wrinkles, and leathery-looking skin.

To help regain some of that elasticity there are actionable steps we can take to help. The list below are things you can do to help prevent fat above the knee when it comes to improving skin elasticity.

• Use collagen supplements
• Use retinol and retinoids
• You’ll like this one, but consume more dark chocolate
• Use safe chemical peals to revitalize the skin
• Do deep exfoliation like dermabrasion

Putting on muscle mass

A small number of women seem to add muscle mass to their legs pretty easily. As a matter of fact, the men with chicken legs are super envious of women that can do this. But sometimes putting on muscle mass can give the appearance of bulkier knees.

The quadriceps and hamstrings both help flex the knee. If you’re lifting heavy, you’re likely putting on leg muscle. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with this. I prefer to have a bit of leg muscle or definition but not all women have that preference.

When it comes to leg workouts and bulky knees, you might have to find a happy medium on this. If you prefer to have a bit of leg muscle, but simultaneously, prefer to have a more toned knee, it would be beneficial to make sure you’re not doing heavy squats and deadlifts. Using lighter weights or dumbbells is great, and will accommodate for a more shapely knee.

Exercises to get rid of fat above your knee

Body fat is accumulated when you take in excess calories and store those calories as fat. And one of the best ways to burn those calories before they get stored as fat is to do some exercise. There are two main types of exercise you’ll want to incorporate into your life, and that is high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and bodyweight resistance exercise.

HIIT Workouts

If you don’t know what HIIT is, it’s the process of pushing your body to the max for a period of time (say about 20 seconds) and then slowing back down (60 seconds). You repeat this yo-yo effect for about 20 minutes.

Studies show this form of exercise has shown to burn through more calories than just straight cardio workouts. In addition to burning through more calories, people tend to find this kind of exercise a bit more engaging and less likely to get burned out on it, as you might with a slow run on a treadmill.

You can do this on a treadmill, an indoor bicycle (Best Spin Bikes for Short Riders), a home elliptical machine (Best Ellipticals for Short People), a rowing machine, or anything that you enjoy doing. It’s just the process of elevating your heart rate and then slowing it back down.

If HIIT doesn’t sound like it’s your ball of wax, I would highly encourage you to do bodyweight resistance workouts.

Bodyweight Training

There’s a common misperception that bodyweight workouts don’t work very well. I can tell you from personal experience I along with thousands of others have dropped a ton of fat by engaging in enthusiastic bodyweight exercises. Your bodyweight routine should work your entire body, but to get rid of fat above the knee, you’ll want to focus on lower body exercises.

Things like squats, lunges, and box jumps or jump rope are great examples of bodyweight exercises.

Keep in mind, when you’re only using your bodyweight and light dumbbells for resistance this will do a great job of elevating your heart, so you can burn calories without adding on muscle or bulking up. I realize that some women can bulk up pretty easy, but by working your lower body you’ll burn through more calories quicker. The goal here is to burn through calories while toning the muscle.

There are two programs that I have personally used that do a great job of ramping up your heart rate, while simultaneously completing a full-body workout. And those two programs are Bodyweight Burn and Turbulence Training. You can click on the links to learn more about those programs as well as my review of each.

Ankle Weights

Ankle weights (Best Ankle Weights For Sculpted Glutes) were very popular when they first came out, but then they died out again. I guess they were kind of a fad, but in the last handful of years, they’ve started to make a comeback again. With the recent pandemic (at the time of this post) ankle weights are flying off the shelves with people working from home.

Ankle weights are a perfect amount of weight for firming and toning up the lower body. Some of the better ankle weights are adjustable and allow you to increase or decrease the amount of weight. Getting rid of fat above your knee will be quicker if you can manage to include ankle weights into your workout routine.

The next thing that needs to be discussed is proper nutrition.

Get rid of fat above your knee with proper nutrition

It shouldn’t come as a shock to you, that we can’t eat whatever we want and expect to have slim and tone legs. If you can do this, you’re a walking miracle and you should thank your parents for their genes. The rest of us mortals have to watch what we put into our bodies.
There’s no way to spot reduce the fat above our knees. The only way to get rid of it is to reduce your overall body fat percentage.

While HIIT and bodyweight exercises play their part, the biggest and most impactful thing you can do to reduce your body fat is to eat a little healthier. You don’t need to go on a cabbage soup diet or skip meals or any of that short-lived nonsense.

But you do need to ensure your meals contain lots of vegetables, lean protein, and a few healthy fats. A good rule of thumb is to eat whole foods or foods that don’t contain a bunch of ingredients.

For example, chicken breast (only one ingredient) broccoli (only one ingredient), and brown rice make for a perfect meal. I realize some of these foods might have a few other things added to preserve them, but the point is, it’s not a boxed meal. If you look at the ingredients and see more than a handful of ingredients, it might not be the healthiest choice.

Snacks/Smoothies

The other thing I want to share with you when it comes to proper nutrition is, to be careful of what you snack on. Smoothies are a very popular and effective snack that is easy to make, provides lean protein, taste great, and can be made quickly.

I like to use both protein shakes as well as homemade shakes.

A healthy snack will prevent you from feeling bloated, groggy, or stuffed. Keep them light, and don’t overindulge. It’s easy to mindlessly consume a lot of snack food, particularly if you’re working.

Think about it, once you combine HIIT, resistance training, and a healthy sustainable diet, you’ll get if of the fat above the knee quicker.

Weight Loss Supplements

I’m pretty cautious of weight loss supplements, just because there are so many fake or supplements on the market that have junk or even dangerous ingredients. However, not all supplements are a waste of money or dangerous. There are some reputable companies that are trying to do right, but putting out an effective supplement to aid in weight loss.

Both PhenQ and Phen24 are supplements that have worked for people. They aren’t to be used as a stand-alone fix, but to be used in conjunction with a solid exercise plan.

I did a deep dive into these supplements, which you can check out here.

Conclusion of getting rid of knee fat

If you’ve read any of my other posts, you’ll know that I don’t sugar-coat anything. Getting rid of knee fat is a daunting task, but it can be done with proper nutrition, maintaining an exercise routine, and staying motivated. Focus on doing these things in the short-term and the long-term effects will start to reveal themselves. I think most people know how to eat correctly, it’s just more of a discipline thing than anything else.

If you’re unsure of what kinds of exercises you want to do, or what kinds of exercises to do, the product reviews I mentioned above are a great cheat to get started. They both walk you through exercises that will reduce your body fat percentage quickly.

Let me know what you do to get rid of knee fat!

Another post you might be interested in reading: Treadmills for achy joints