What Is A Love Handle
Despite love in their name, we all know there isnt much to love for handles! Some of you may be wondering what is a love handle and why do they get a bad press? Love handles are the excess fat that sits at the sides of our waist and over hangs pants – you know, a bit like a muffin top ! However, just because you have this fat it does not mean that you are fat! A lot of people wonder why they get love handles, with common questions being why do I have love handles if I am skinny? and do guys get love handles well the truth is there are reasons into why this side fat exists!
How To Get Rid Of Side Fat:
Reduce stress Hip and belly fat can be a result of high levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. When the body is in a constant stressful state, cortisol raises blood sugar levels and can cause insulin resistance. This leads us craving sugary and fatty foods . To keep waist-widening stress at bay, engage in stress relieving activities such as yoga, socialising with friends, going for a stroll or taking a nice hot bath. Perhaps drink a cup of tea and unwind with our Slender Night Tea at the end of a stressful day. The Night Tea contains natural plant extracts including Valerian root, Chamomile and Lemon Balm which have been found to reduce anxiety, stress and leave you feeling calm. Its a perfect drink to have before bed, to help you sleep easy at night!Dont obsess over your core Youre not going to see your abs if theres body fat in the way, so doing a 100 sits up a day is not going to be effective. You dont necessarily lose fat in the area you train, in-fact the majority of research suggests that spot reduction doesnt work. However, that’s not to say your efforts aren’t a complete ‘waist’ of time! It is worth noting that specific targeted exercises – when combined with cardio, strength training and a healthy diet – can indeed lead to fat loss and hence the fat hanging around on your sides.
Monday & Thursday: Upper
- 45-60 minutes of walking, running or combination of the two
- Or biking, swimming, elliptical gliding machines
The workout above is just a basic guide to getting started with a calisthenics or resistance training plan or adding cardio to your workout. For a free starter’s guide to fitness, check out the “45-Day Beginner Program,” which also will help you with motivation, basic nutrition and pictures of the exercises listed above.
Below are some abdominal exercises taken from every eBook sold on the Military.com Fitness eBook Store. Sample exercises to help build muscles of the core are the following:
Hanging knee-ups
Bring your knees as high as you can as shown.
Advanced crunch
Lie on your back with your feet straight in the air. Keep your legs straight up in the air for the advanced crunches. Cross your hands over your chest and bring your elbows to your knees by flexing your stomach. Check out “Achieve Washboard Abs” for more information.
Reverse crunch
In the same position as the regular crunch, lift your knees and butt toward your elbows. Leave your head and upper body flat on the ground. Only move your legs and butt.
Right elbow to left knee
Cross your left leg over your right leg. Flex your stomach and twist to bring your right elbow to your left knee.
Left elbow to right knee
Same as above, just switch sides. Cross your right leg over your leg. Flex your stomach and twist to bring your left elbow to your right knee.
Hip rollers
Lower-back exercise: Swimmers
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Dont Disregard The Diet Says Ross Edgley
This article does a great job of detailing eating for fat loss, but essentially, understand that certain dietary evils could be causing you to store fat in all the wrong places.
One of the worst culprits being high-fructose corn syrup which accounts for as much as 40 per cent of caloric sweeteners used in the United States and has since expanded over the pond to plague us too.
According to research from the Journal of Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behaviour high-fructose corn syrup is, Accompanied by an increase in adipose fat, notably in the abdominal region. For this reason alone, avoid those highly processed sugary treats and instead opt for healthier snack options. The below program will work so much more efficiently when you do.
Step Two: Increase The Width Of Your Lats
Start working right now on increasing the size and width of your lats.
Why the lats if youre looking to lose love handles?
Because visually, as your lats get wider your waist is going to look narrower.
To develop that visual difference between lats and waist, you need to modify your lat exercise form a bit. Im going to use the one armed row as an example of the form modification were talking about.
If you watch as I do this, when I take the dumbbell just up to the level of my waist, but not beyond, Im never fully contracting the lat.
Instead, to train the lowest point in the lats closest to the love handles, we need to pull the elbow back behind the body.
Youre going to have to decrease the weight a little bit here, so that you can get that elbow behind your body without over-rotating, almost wrapping around your back. Lifters with an ego are going to have a hard time with this, because we all love to swing those big dumbbells. But unfortunately, that does nothing for the lats.
When you incorporate this exercise form in all of your lat training, youre going to feel the difference, and youll start to see a widening of the lats and the comparative visual narrowing of the waist.
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How To Get Rid Of Love Handles: Oblique And Core Workouts
While core workouts can strengthen the muscles in your belly, you cant lose body fat and love handles with oblique exercises alone.
Unfortunately, spot reduction isnt really a thing.
Youll have to reduce your total body fat in order to get rid of those stubborn love handles.
However, while they may not be a miracle solution, you should still include workouts that activate your abdominal muscles.
To tone up your torso and obliques, give these love handle exercises a try.
Your Diet And Exercise Plan Isn’t Sustainable
When it comes to weight loss, slow and steady wins the race. That means it’s super important to find a diet and fitness routine that’s sustainable, says Fried. “If you really want to burn fat from those stubborn, tricky areas it takes time and patience. If you can’t adhere to your fitness routine long term, chances are you’ll lose patience quickly and are more likely to give up before reaching your goals. So eat healthily, but allow yourself a cookie or burger every now and again. Work out hard, but give your body appropriate rest when needed. Find workouts and food choices that suit your goals and your life.” Better yet, find ways to make healthy living fun with the help of these fun ways to lose weight.
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Exercise Smarter Not Harder
How many times have you vowed to start going to the gym, looked up an intense weightlifting workout online, and gone all-in only to give up a week later? I have, thats for sure.
Its an all too common problem for men, and its often caused by a lack of understanding. People overestimate how much exercise they need to do in order to lose their spare tire, and underestimate how little their daily habits need to shift in order to make real change and shift their excess body fat.
Thats why, in every Fitter Healthier Dad program and guide we start with the basics bodyweight workouts and high-intensity training done a few times a week in 15-20 minute bursts.
After coaching hundreds of dads, I realized this combination of activities resulted in the best results for busy dads compared to any other competitor. Remember, the goal isnt to get jacked and look like The Rock, its to get a bit more streamlined, so we can be happy when we look in the mirror and spend more time with our family.
There are the only 2 things you need to do to lose belly fat for good as far as exercising goes:
Walk more every day If more people got in 5-10k steps every day, the rates of obesity and heart disease would fall dramatically. Humans are designed to walk long distances, and getting in a few extra steps will make a huge difference.
Its also one of the best ways, along with intermittent fasting and HIIT, to boost your metabolism and turn your body into a non-stop fat-burning machine.
Fat Loss Strategy #: Muscle Burnscalories
The importance of strength training cannot be stressed enough when it comes to fat loss. Resting metabolic rate increases dramatically with increased skeletal muscle mass as skeletal muscle is metabolically active tissue.
Likewise, muscle hypertrophy has been linked to increases in insulin sensitivity and glucose control helping to prevent diabetes and other metabolic disease processes . Strength training will help to increase the number of calories burned per day as well as prevent muscle loss when attempting a fat loss diet. This is a key point as oftentimes fat loss diets plateau because of concurrent muscle loss and therefore a decrease in RMR . Keep lifting my friends!
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You Stick To Cardio Exercise Exclusively
Dont get us wrong, cardio can help you burn calories and lose weight, but if you want to slim your hips, youll have to lift some iron, too. Cardio activity may work to burn calories, however, it wont necessarily target the specific area youd like to lose from. Although you can not spot reduce, targeting certain areas with weight training may help to build lean muscle mass, decreasing overall fat, explains Kaufman.
Tips On How To Get Rid Of Love Handles
Getting rid of love handles and stubborn fat is not as straightforward as the weight loss industry would have us believe. Bodies are incredibly complex and vary in big ways. In addition, there are many factors outside of our control that affect how we store and carry fat. Some of these factors include gender, genetics, hormones, and more. Read on to learn more about stubborn fat and what works and what doesnt when it comes to getting rid of love handles.
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How To Lose Mens Love Handles
Russian twists with dumbbell climbers. Climbers are not only one of the most effective workouts for getting rid of loving arms, but also a full-body exercise. Hanging knee pads. Hanging knee pads is an exercise recommended by experts for getting rid of love handles. Fight the waves of the rope. Balancing kettlebell. side table. Traction. Side plank hip lift. On your knees.
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But Remember: Consistency Is Key
Exercises to get rid of love handles are only as good as the regularity with which you do them. Stick to a consistent exercise program, and youll see results.
So how much exercise do you really need? The answer is: as much as you can fit into your lifestyle. Some people are able to make time for daily two-hour gym sessions, while other people can only sneak in 45 minutes on their lunch break. Its important to make exercise work for you rather than the other way around .
As a starting point, you can aim for the U.S Department of Health and Human Services recommended daily minimum, which is 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise.
Once youre able to make that a habit, the HHS says you can reap many more benefits by getting 300 minutes of moderate-intensity or 150 minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise weekly. The HHS also recommends doing strength training exercise for all the major muscle groups twice weekly.
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Using Diets To Get Rid Of Love Handles
Diet plus exercise is more effective, as both contribute to tightening core muscles in the abdomen. Unfortunately, fad diets are common and tend to trend often in every corner of the internet. Fad diets may help you lose some weight quickly, but it is more likely that you are losing water weight, which is temporary. Some basic diet tips that may help more than a fad diet are:
- Reducing sugar intake
- Adopting a Plant-based lifestyle
Why Do Some Get Love Handles And Some Do Not
Fat storage patterns are determined by factors such as gender, hormonal status, and genetics. Typically, males have a high ratio of visceral fat, and females have a higher ratio of subcutaneous fats.
Additionally, lower body subcutaneous fat deposits are likely to be composed of a higher number of these adipocytes which will make this type of fat much harder to lose than fat stored in the upper body.
Visceral fat is composed more of larger fat cells but lower in number making this fat easier to remove. Women tend to have high numbers of fat cells than men which makes the fat loss a bit more challenging for women . The bottom line is that fat storage patterns are almost completely controlled by factors outside of diet and exercise.
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How To Get Rid Of Love Handles
This article was co-authored by Steve Bergeron. Steve Bergeron is a Personal Trainer, Strength Coach, and the Co-Owner of AMP Fitness in Boston, Massachusetts. With over a decade of experience, Steve specializes in educating, guiding, and empowering his clients to develop healthy habits and reach their individual fitness goals. He holds a BS in Exercise Physiology and is an NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach , ASCM Health and Fitness Specialist , Strong First Kettlebell Coach , and Certified Functional Movement Screen Specialist . AMP Fitness mission is to create a community that is inclusive and gives people the tools and support they need to succeed.There are 16 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 12 testimonials and 100% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 1,010,907 times.
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Lifestyle Changes That May Also Help
Losing excess weight can help an individual to eliminate their love handles. In addition to regular exercise, the following tips may help:
- Drink enough water: Although seemingly counterintuitive, water helps prevent dehydration and, therefore, fluid retention. Excessive fluid retention can make love handles appear worse.
- Avoid alcohol and sugary foods: Consuming sugary food and alcohol may lead to weight gain and love handles. Individuals should instead try to eat a moderate and balanced diet. This may involve consuming lean proteins, beans, and leafy vegetables to increase protein and fiber intake. This can help a person feel fuller quickly and for longer, thereby avoiding excess calorie consumption.
- Wear flattering clothing: Individuals can also minimize the appearance of love handles with loose-fitting pants and skirts that do not pinch the waist.
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Dont Overload On Cardio
Even though Ballantyne recommended cardio for a cool down, he’s wary of its effectiveness when performed alone. Extended periods of steady state cardio, like jogging, wont do much to cut down your spare tire. “It’s not going to work as well as interval training,” Ballantyne said.
This is related to another issue, according to Ballantyne: Many guys don’t have enough muscle in the first place. Losing love handles, like bodybuilding, is a game of illusion. Muscle on your chest and back can essentially “hide” excess fat in your love handle area.
“So most guys are skinny-fat, and then try to lose love handles with cardio only, and basically become even smaller versions of themselvesbut still skinny-fat,” Ballantyne said. “It’s better to use intervals and weight training to gain muscle and lose fat at the same timewhich IS possibleand change your body’s overall appearance.”
Fat Loss Strategy #: Increase Your Baseline Physical Activity
The most recommended way to reduce body fat is to expend more energy than is being consumed. One of the easiest ways to begin to increase physical activity can simply be to increase the number of steps you take in a day.
Attending a group fitness class, completing additional house chores, walking/biking to work instead of driving are all ways physical activity can be increased. Commercial step trackers can be a great way to estimate current physical activity and to take steps to increase it .
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If You Go To Bed With A Full Stomach Youre More
You need to form a straight line with your abs to do a plank from head to toe.
Start in a high plank position with your palms flat on the floor, shoulder-width apart.
Your body should be in one long line, and you should be looking down at the floor.
Hold this position for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then rest for 30 seconds. Repeat 3 times.