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 hard to lose because most of their fat cells are located in this area,” explains personal trainer and nutritionist, Jim White, RD. Women's bodies like to deposit fat into the hip and thigh area, too, which creates the illusion of love handles, says Leah Kaufman, MS, RD, CDN.
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.
BODY FAT PERCENTAGE: 16-19%
At this range, depending on the guy you may start to see some love handles. There is some muscle definition in some areas, but it's far less present than in the lower ranges. No vascularity will be noticeable.
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.
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.
Almonds are among the best dietary sources of vitamin E, packing about 20 milligrams per half cup, and are also high in monounsaturated fats and fiber, which is optimum for eliminating love handles.
Your initial goals will be weight loss and trimming down the fat. Once you've done that — or at least made significant headway — you can start to tone the muscles underneath your love handles. As you burn fat and increase your metabolism through building muscle, that extra padding will eventually go away.
Massages. Massages are very important to stimulate blood circulation and break up fat deposits. This will enable your body to get rid of fat quicker. The most efficient technique to break up fat deposits is the palpate-roll massage.
Running Can Help Get Rid Of Belly Fat, And Love Handles
Running is recognised as one of the best ways to target and reduce belly fat and fat accumulated at the waist (love handles). Most experts recommend working up to running 30 - 60 minutes a day, 4 - 5 days a week for optimal results.
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.
Ward explains that a healthy fat loss is around 0.5 - 1% body fat per week, which means, 'You should see a noticeable difference to body fat levels within 8-12 weeks if following a structured exercise and nutrition plan.
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.
"For men, love handles are hard to lose because most of their fat cells are located in this area," explains personal trainer and nutritionist, Jim White, RD. Women's bodies like to deposit fat into the hip and thigh area, too, which creates the illusion of love handles, says Leah Kaufman, MS, RD, CDN.
“Dynamic exercises, like spiderman push-ups and side planks with a reach through, help with your love handles by building muscle. A lot of times we can be neglectful of our side bodies,” Marizu says. Perform each move for 30 seconds and then take a 30-second break for as many rounds as possible.
Since love handle fat sits on the side of the abdominal area, lots of people think that a typical ab workout will blast it away. This isn't the case. 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.
While you can't spot reduce fat in your love handles, walking can help create a calorie deficit to burn overall body fat.
Some people just naturally store fat here and it becomes very challenging to remove. If your belly is typically the first place you put on fat then it will also likely be the last place you take off fat. In this case, there may be nothing wrong with your body or your approach — you just need to give yourself more time.
If you really want to lose fat around your midsection in two weeks, cut out all sweets. With them, banish refined and processed foods and sugary beverages (including juice). Really, all of them. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean meats and fish, vegetable oils and low-fat dairy.
Cardiovascular exercises
Losing love handles (stored fat) and increasing the metabolism so you can lose weight more effectively are all tied into a consistent cardiovascular/resistance training program.
Eliminate Sugar
Cleaning up your diet is linked to weight loss as well as reduced risks of health issues like heart disease and diabetes. Sugary beverages, cakes, and cookies contain added sugar, and they're loaded with calories that are likely contributing to your love handles.
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.