Build up your pecs, lats, deltoids, and traps to create the illusion of smaller love handles. "Most guys don't have enough muscle to focus on just losing weight," Ballantyne said, "so every guy must build some muscle in these areas."
Love handles lie on top of the obliques, which are a very specific group of abdominal muscles. In order to really work those suckers, you have to target them precisely. That being said, it's a myth that you can spot reduce fat loss.
What you call love handles is the body fat on top of your obliques, the core muscles that run from your ribs to your hips. Many people struggle to lose the body fat that lies atop their obliques and get frustrated when it bulges over their waistband. The easiest solution is to go up a pants size, to be honest.
Getting your nutrition right is the first step to get rid of love handles, because abs exercises don't burn fat and cardio workouts don't burn enough fat to make up for too much unhealthy food. The second step is training the lats to create a visual “drop”, so that the larger the lats get, the smaller the waist looks.
Unfortunately, working the obliques will not help you get rid of your love handles. This thought process plays into a myth known as "spot-reduction" which is centered around the idea that performing exercises for specific muscles will burn body fat in the same area.
Studies have shown that interval-based exercise programs, most specifically high intensity interval training (HIIT), are more effective for burning off your love handles than steady state cardio. Instead of running for miles on end without any clear goal, fine tune your work and rest periods to strip away the fat.
The Oval body:
An undefined waist line, large and low tummy, love handles, wider hips, fuller thighs and a flat fuller bottom.
The underlying cause of love handles is fat retention. Generally speaking, fat cells accumulate when your body takes in too many calories or you don't burn as many calories as you're consuming. Over time, these fat cells can become noticeable as they accumulate in certain areas, such as around your waist and hips.
For men, love handles are more difficult to lose because most of their fat cells are located in this area, meaning when excess energy is circulating the body, its prime storage is going to be around the tum. For women, side fat is mostly due to our hormones.
20-30 minutes of regular exercise targeting your oblique muscles every day can help keep your waist in shape. Oblique crunches, elbow twists, and side planks are a few of the best exercises that can help you reduce side fat effectively.
A healthy, calorie-controlled diet and a regular regimen of cardio and strength-training exercise will whittle away lower back fat and love handles, and in two weeks' time, you may start to see a difference.
Probably the most effective exercise to lose love handles is Russian twists. Just sit with your legs stretched in front of your and arms joined ahead of you. Now lift up your legs so that they are not touching the ground.
“Working the obliques is extremely important when training the core,” says Aaptiv trainer Jaime McFaden. “The external oblique muscles are the biggest of the abdominal muscles. They help our torso bend to the right or left. They also help resist the torso from rotating which protects the spine.”
Mostly, losing weight is an internal process. You will first lose hard fat that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and then you will start to lose soft fat like waistline and thigh fat. The fat loss from around the organs makes you leaner and stronger.
What Causes Love Handles? Love handles are often caused by stress because when you are stressed out, a stress hormone called cortisol is released. The more cortisol you produce, the greater your chances of developing love handles and other fat around the midsection.
Many people opt for sugary drinks and fast foods which have a high calorific value. Though it may not fill you up, it takes away a major portion of your daily calorie limit. Making poor diet choices regularly will lead to excess fat throughout the body, including love handles.
Yes, it is possible.
Pear Shape
People with this shape have extra fat in the hip and thigh area. It's more common among women, and it may be part of the reason they often live longer than men. That could be because belly fat, more common in men, is linked to more health problems than lower-body fat.
Inverted Triangle
This is the second best female shape.
Underneath 20% would be the point you would no longer be able to visually see extra fat around the hip region. To give a exact percentage would be hard as everyone is different and we all store fat differently. Somewhere between 15 and 20 % depending on the person will ensure love handles are not visible in men.
Love handles, on the other hand, are fairly small pockets of fatty tissue, so your body won't necessarily target these areas until later in your weight-loss journey. Sometimes, they're the last area of fat you shed.