How To Get Rid Of Love Handles: Nothing To Love About Love Handles

We have got absolutely nothing to love about love handles. Love handles are just another cute made-up name for excess fat around our waist.

These love handles are in fact the most difficult part of our body to get a handle on. Bulgy areas on our sides that hang around our waists are something that we all despise. Even if you go to the gym regularly and eat a healthy diet, you can still find yourself with little pockets of side fats. While it’s completely common to have love handles and nothing to be ashamed and guilty of we all want to get rid of them with little effort.

Persistent fat on the abdominal side can be difficult in getting rid of, even for those who are constantly exercising. Despite this, you can still get rid of them. It takes a bit of time and effort on your side, a few major lifestyle changes, and changes in your diet.

It’s time for you to say goodbye to your love handles and excess fat because we are here to inform you everything about love handles and how to get rid of them.

What are love handles?

Love handles are the name we give to our Excess weight that develops over time around the waist of our body, Love handles are also known as Visceral fat. You can see them hanging over your waist and areas that extend outward from the hips. Love handles are a part of abdominal fat and are also called Muffin tops. These are also a result of poor diet.

It is a slow and time taking process to lose your muffin top and you may need to sacrifice your eating habits. Love handles are the stubborn excess of fat that develops with time and is the first area of fat that occurs in your body.

How to get rid of love handles: Nothing to love about love handles

Belly fat is a part of the body that will make your body look out of shape. Body-fitted clothes make our belly fat more visible. Keep on reading to know how and what to do to get rid of your love handles.

Reasons behind Love handles

The main reason behind love handles is the storage of excessive fat in the body. What causes this fat is the fat cells that accumulate in the areas of our body like the hips and waist because of overconsumption of calories. Fat cells are likely to accumulate if you are not burning your calories.

There can be a variety of reasons behind Visceral fat in your body. We have mentioned some of them in the following points.

Genetics

Sometimes reasons for your gaining weight and accumulative fat can be because of your parents. Tendency to gain weight and fat could be hereditary. You might work out regularly and eat a well-balanced diet, but still, you could find yourself with pockets of fat after some time no weight loss.

Sometimes not everything depends on your lifestyle. You can pour a balanced diet, get eight hours of sleep at night, avoid alcohol and stress, and still have a handle of love. Genetics can cause your love handle if you do all the work properly

Lack of exercise and workout

Another reason behind fat on your sides of the waist can be lack of exercise and workout. You are going to gain fat if you are not burning your calories and have no routine of physical activity. The more you exercise, the more no. calories are burned. The more you exercise the more you burn fat.

People who have desk jobs or spend most of the day sitting or laying down will gain belly fat easily, taking a break from your sitting routine every half hour and moving your body will help this problem.

If you consume more calories than you burn, you are more likely to gain weight, and some of this extra fat will leave the handle settling in your stomach. Make sure you exercise all your body, legs, hips, knee in a proper manner.

Bad eating habits

Junk food and meals full of sugar and calories are the enemies of a fit body. Foods rich in sugar content will make you gain weight at a faster rate, instead, try consuming healthy fats such as olive oil and nuts which will help you lose fat.

Like fat, alcohol is processed by the liver. People who drink a lot of alcohol spend more time processing alcohol than simple fat, so alcohol accumulates in the body. Alcoholic beverages also have more calories than people know, which causes more calories to be consumed in a day.

High carb foods such as sugary beverages and artificially sweetened things are always bad for our health and a huge contributor to love handles. Now, weight management is all about counting calories. So, depending on a diet that provides a surplus of calories each day, you inevitably gain weight.

Hormonal imbalance

Hormonal Imbalance is very common in today’s generation. The main reason for this can be sleep deprivation, a sedentary lifestyle, and bad eating habits.

Cortisol, the metabolic hormone is the body’s major stress hormone. Stress can increase cortisol levels, leading to binge eating and weight gain.

Age

Age is another contributing factor in the body’s tendency to gain weight and fat. Regional distribution tends to change with age, allowing more fat to accumulate around the ship and love handles. Women have low estrogen levels and men have low testosterone levels.

Sleep

Most of the time we forget the importance of sleep. Lack of sleep in children can cause a variety of health problems, including weight gain, hormonal imbalance, and obesity. It is recommended by doctors and physicians that the average adult must sleep 8 hours per night.

According to some studies, abdominal fat in people under the age of 40 may increase if you have less than 5 hours of sleep for continuous nights.

Risks with Love Handles

Love handles might seem natural and most of the time are, and nothing to be cautious about. but sometimes these cute fat pockets can also pose a risk for our health. Following are some of the risks related to love handles.

Type 2 diabetes
An increase in cholesterol levels may lead to high blood pressure
Problems related to hypertension
obesity
Cardio related issues
Liver diseases

Exercises to get rid of love handles

Exercise also plays a bigger role in preventing love handles. The best exercise to get rid of the love handle, in addition to aerobic exercise, also includes a combination of abdominal and strength training. The key to getting the most out of exercise is to treat each exercise as a full-body exercise. Many people target specific exercises like side crunches and other variants of crunches. can practice a variety of basic exercises, some of the main exercises are:

Plank

Plank is one of the best calorie-burning and beneficial exercises. Plank Hold uses multiple muscles at the same time to help build vital strength in the body. Its role is not only to burn fat around the abdomen but also to provide posture and flexibility.

Side plank

If the standard side plank is too much for you, you can try a simple variant where you can balance your forearms and knees and increase your strength towards the normal side plank. You can use your left elbow and right elbow turn by turn for side planks.

Bicycle crunches

The bicycle crunch is a surprisingly effective workout to remove the side fat. The main targets for this exercise include Sagun, hips, abs, and other abs. You need to lie down on the floor to do this exercise.

Now bend your knees and place your hands behind your head. Then pull your right knee over your chest, bend your torso, and touch your left elbow. Return to the initial position and follow the same steps as for the other legs and elbows. Repeat this training 20-30 times for each side of each set. It will result in fat loss.

Bridge

The Glute Bridge is known as one of the best gluteus maximus exercises, but it is also very effective for the workout of the core and legs. You do not need any training equipment for this exercise.

Russian Twists

This is another exercise that is done while seating and can be simply modified by increasing the weights. If you are not familiar with this exercise, practice without any weights as it will strengthen the muscles. When you feel comfortable, you might try practicing it with weights.

Box Jumps

For box jumps you have to start in an exercise position, with both feet shoulder-only, at a comfortable distance from the box. When you’re ready to jump, quickly squat down in quarters, straighten your back, swing your arms and press your legs to the floor to move towards the box.

Mountain climber

Climbers are one of the best whole-body exercises to strengthen and help to strengthen your whole body. The main target areas of exercise include Sagun, abs, quadriceps, chest, arms, shoulders, hamstring muscles, and hips.

To do this exercise, lower your body to the starting push-up position. Then you need to load your right knee over your chest. Immediately return to the initial position and do the same for your left knee. In the meantime, try to keep your back and arms completely straight. Repeat these steps 15-30 times on each leg per set.

Jumping Burpee

Jumping burpee is an exercise where you have to start by standing on the bridge. Bend your knees and lower back and place your palms on the floor. Kick your legs back to the plate position. Kick your leg, get up, return and soon jump into the air and land your feet.

Hanging Leg Raises

For this workout, you have to Grab a bar and adjust it according to your shoulder width, and then just hang on the bar, make sure your legs are straight, and slowly start raising your feet to your hands and then back down. Do the repetition around 10 times.

Wood Chopper

Wood Chopper is the best exercise to get rid of love handles while strengthening your upper body and toning the muscles. The main target areas for this exercise include the back diagonal muscle core, shoulders, and legs.

You will need large tires and a hammer to do this exercise. Further, you need to grab the sledgehammer with both hands and place one end near the hammer and the other end at the end of the handle. Lift the hammer from the right side of your head and press the center of the tire as if you were chopping wood.

Repeat this procedure 15-20 times for each side of each set.

Kettlebell Swings

Stand straight with legs slightly wider than the waist. Grasp the handle with both hands with the palms facing down and arms in front of your body. Lower your body by bending your knees slightly and moving your back, but that’s too low, this isn’t a squat. Then, in a gentle motion, rock the kettlebell while explosively forwarding your lower back, engaging your anal muscles and core.

Heavy Farmer’s walk

This is a simple exercise as one just needs to stand straight with hands on the sides with weights and then just take small steps.

Single-Arm Dumbbell Rows

Lift the dumbbell to your right hand and place your left knee and left hand on the bench. Exhale Slowly and pull on the dumbbells and bend your elbows to keep your arms close to your side. Suck the dumbbells and smoothly lower them to the starting position to complete one repetition.

Heavy Sled Sprint and Backward Drag

For this, you will have to use Shelf weights on a sled with sturdy straps to attach around the torso. Push the sled forward as fast as possible, then reverse direction and drag the sled to its original position at the same distance to complete 1 repetition.

Barbell Front Squat

Hold the barbell across the collarbone and stand with your hips spread out. Place your fingertips under the barbell just outside your shoulders with your elbows facing up. Sit down until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Slide up and Return to the standing position.

Deadlift

For deadlift, Your stance should be slightly narrower than your shoulders to give your arms some room. You should be able to Grasp the bar overhand and bend your knees until your shins touch the bar. The bar should be above the middle of the leg. Place your shoulder blades directly above the bar. Pull the bar close to your body and roll it over your knees and thighs until your waist and knees lock.

Note- The number of repetitions or times can be varied depending on individual strength. These exercises, along with a nutritious and healthy diet, can easily get rid of love handles within a month or two. Also, make sure you do these exercises regularly for the best results.

How to reduce Love handles?

Exercise is one of the main ways of reducing fat and weight but there are other things too that you need to take care of while training regularly.

Lifestyle changes

Adopting better habits can help a lot in getting rid of Love handles and prevent them from coming back. If someone is hoping for fat loss then he or she should be consistent with it and keep weekly goals.

Making and sticking to a well-balanced routine, taking care of yourself, and leaving your stresses behind. Sleeping right is an important part of a well-balanced lifestyle. Sleep deprivation leads to illness.

Lessen your sugar content

You will have to take strict actions for your eating habits and ban any intake of artificial sweeteners and added sugar. Foods such as soda, energy drinks, alcoholic drinks, candies are a hard no.

These all food items include Fructose which increases belly fat.

Intake of healthy fats

Foods such as fish, avocados, nuts, dark chocolate, etc are loaded with healthy fats. These are tasty and good for your body. These fats might be full of calories but can help you in fat loss.

You can try switching some of your junk snacks with these healthy fat snacks and see the difference in your body. Beans and legumes can make you feel full and can help in decreasing calories.

Increase your protein and nutrient intake

Having meals rich in proteins and nutrients will make you less hungry and keep your tummy full. Proteins and nutrients help in reducing fat and will keep your body fit.

Plant foods, such as berries, dark green leafy vegetables, and whole grains, provide important nutrients but do not contain additional calories or fat. Start using lean protein sources such as eggs, fish, white meat, and poultry, rather than red meat.

Better eating habits

start eating small portions of foods at regular and smaller intervals, it will keep you full and keep your hunger away. Start eating freshly prepared meals full of green vegetables and fruits. Load up on seasonal vegetables and fruits.

Keep your sodium intake low. This not only reduces the risk of hypertension but also helps prevent fluid retention. Add pulses to your diet.

Make water your new friend

Staying hydrated the whole day will automatically reduce half of your health problems. Water is the only thing that will quench your thirst.

Give up on beverages and exchange them with water and water-induced with fresh vegetables and fruits such as cucumber water, lemon water, etc.

Burst your stress bubbles

Stress and diseases go hand in hand. Stress will mess up your body both physically and mentally. One of the main reasons for gaining fat and not being able to shed is stress.

Our body has stress hormones that cause many side effects in our body such as indigestion, depression, weight gain. Try indulging yourself in stress-free activities and practice Yoga and meditation or some creative activities.

Foods that will help you in reducing fat

chicken
eggs
whole-grain pasta
brown rice
quinoa
green leafy veggies such as kale, spinach
Hummus
All kinds of berries
Watermelon
sweet potatoes

Best kinds of workouts you need

Metabolism training
Cardio exercises
Muscle building training
HIIT cardio workout

What is a HIIT workout?

A HIIT workout or High-intensity interval training is a kind of training including intervals, exercises that focus on cardio training. The strategy with HIIT is intense aerobic exercises with less intense recovery periods until you are too exhausted to continue. The HIIT workout not only includes cardio but also weight lifting and muscle-building exercises.

HIIT workout sessions usually last for about half an hour. It also provides you with better stamina and drives up your heart rate and metabolism.

Takeaways

The conclusion is to have a healthy lifestyle with a healthy diet, a well-balanced routine, enough sleep at an appropriate time, and perform exercises every day. You’ll have to be smart about what you eat how much you eat and when you eat. Similarly, keep your workouts in check and try including full-body training including exercising your torso, arm, abs, leg muscle, core workouts.

We all have welcomed the stay of love handles in our life at some point and it is very normal to have belly fat so don’t round yourself up about it, just work out, eat healthily, and have a good lifestyle.

References

You could always rely on self-help books, training youtube channels, or join some fitness courses like a gyming, yoga studio, etc.

Following is a list of some books that might help you getting on track to lose calories and extra fat. we have provided Amazon links for them as well.

Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight by Rujuta Diwekar

Weight Loss: Tathastu by Bhushan goankar

How to Get Rid of Your Love Handles by Betty ann Hightower