Get Rid of Love Handles with these Proven Ways

Looking for the best and proven ways to get rid of love handles?

Trust me, you are not alone. One of the fallouts of being overweight is love handles and they can be really stubborn but you can definitely lose them.

So, without much ado, here are some of the proven ways to help you get rid of stubborn love handles:

Proven Ways to Get Rid of Love Handles

1. Limit You Sugar Intake

Let’s stick to the basics here – If you want a lean and clean body with no excess fat sticking to your sides, it’s time to clean up your diet and there’s no better way to do that than by cutting down on added sugar!

Most people do not even think twice before having stuff that contains a lot of added sugar to it. All that matters is taste and trust me, anything with sugar can make it hard for you to achieve your weight loss goals.

So, lets begin with cleaning up your diet.

Now, by added sugar, I do not mean fruits that have natural sugar in them. Added sugar refers to foods such as soft drinks, candies, sports drinks, cookies, and of course, anything like doughnuts etc.

Refined sugar that is normally added to these foods is one of the underlying causes of many health problems include type II Diabetes, cardiac issues, heart disease, metabolic syndrome and many more. More importantly, it tends to increase fat storage in your body and most of this fat is concentrated in your belly area.

Another problem with sugary foods is that they are very low in terms of their nutritive value. They do not contain enough nutrients that your body needs to stay and function healthily. In such a case. It’s best to cut down on such foods and opt for those that are high in nutritive value.

2. Healthy Fats are Important

By now, so much information is available on the net that almost everybody knows there are two kinds of fats – healthy and unhealthy ones and it is important to include healthy fats such as Omega 3 fatty acids in your diet even when you are trying to lose weight.

Now, including such fats in your diet is important for two main reasons:

• First of all, they are required by your body to produce fat-burning hormones.
• Secondly, they make you feel full when you are actually not and thus, you end up consuming fewer calories than you normally would.

Thus you must have foods rich in healthy fats such as:

• avocados
• nuts and beans
• seeds
• oily fish like salmon, sardines and mackerel
• olives and olive oil etc.

You would be surprised to know that a study conducted on more than 70000 people conclude that when subjects ate a Mediterranean diet rich in fats, supplemented with olive oil, they lose more weight and also experienced less accumulation of belly fat as compared to those that consumed a low-fat diet.

However, the key is to consume such fats in moderation. Do not overindulge but have a moderate serving of such fats.

3. Fiber is the Magic Word!

If you want to lose love handles quick and fast, then it’s time to load up on foods that are rich in dietary fiber.

Nuts, beans, green veggies, fruits, oats are all splendid sources of fiber that you must include in your diet and they can help inch closer to your fat loss goals. The main reason behind this is that such fiber keeps you feeling fuller for longer.

Basically, it expands in your stomach when mixed with water. Thus, it is important to drink plenty of water when having fibrous foods.

By making you feel fuller, such foods tend to curb your appetite so that you do not feel as hungry. Not just this, they also help you avoid snacking in between meals. This is a major step towards reducing body fat since snacking tends to make your system overloaded with excess calories.

4. Keep On Moving

One of the main reasons behind weight and fat gain in men and women these days is lack of physical activity. Most people follow a sedentary lifestyle and keep sitting behind their desks throughout the day.

It’s important to keep in mind that you need to keep moving in order to make your body burn calories.

You should find out ways to burn more and more calories throughout the day by doing daily activities.

For instance, you can park your car further away from your destination and make it a point to walk the rest of the distance. Taking stairs instead of the elevator, where feasible, is also a great idea.

There are certain apps that you can download on your phone to count the number of steps that you take throughout the day, set a daily target and try to make it.

Those that have kids at home, can try to play with them for some time. Kids are a powerhouse of energy and keeping up with them can make your body burn a whole lot of calories.

5. Stress Less

Stress can affect your body in many ways, some of which are just unimaginable. Its hardly surprising that certain studies point out the role of stress in enhancing belly fat in both men and women.

Chronic stress is related to a spike in the production of Cortisol in your body which tends to lower the production of fat-burning hormones including testosterone and HGH.

Its highly unfortunate that modern lifestyle comes with a whole lot of stressful conditions that we cannot avoid. Thus, it gets all the more important to learn how to cope up with stress.

Some of the best ways of managing stress include exercise techniques like yoga and tai chi. Yoga is an exercise form that has been practiced in India since ancient times it helps you get better control over your breathing and is excellent for increasing blood circulation in your body.

Yoga exercises are known as asanas and its better that you learn from a proper yoga instructor.

Deep breathing exercises, on the other hand, are extremely simple to do and can be a massive help in reducing stress. Just 5 minutes a day can be a massive step towards effective stress management.

6. Start Weight Training

Strength training or training with weights is one of the best ways to make your body burn more fat than any other exercise form.

I am not saying that aerobic training is not good and the fact is that it can help your body burn a lot of calories but strength training has an edge over it.

Why is strength training better than aerobic exercise?

Well, working out with weights helps your body build muscle and more importantly, it makes your body burn fat even when it is at rest. This, working out with weights can help your body burn fat even when you are not training. Ultimately, you end up burning more fat than you actually thought of. Besides this, training with weights is also going to boost your metabolism.

Thus, it can be a great way to get rid of love handles too.

7. Get Adequate Sleep

M0st people, both men and women, do not even realize how sleep deprivation can result in increased body fat. The reason behind this is actually very simple…

Lack of sleep tends to increase stress which enhances cortisol secretion in your body. I have already explained how stress can make you gain weight.

Thus, by sleeping for a few hours less, you are actually making your body produce less of those hormones that are crucial for burning fat in your body.

Various studies have actually concluded that people who sleep less often weigh more than those that sleep for at least 7-8 hours every night.

Thus, what you should do is that you must try to hit your bed early each night, turn off all the gadgets including your cell phone, turn off the lights, draw the curtains and sleep peacefully.

8. Aim to Train Your Whole Body – No Spot Training

I am someone who has worked out for more than 20 years now and I can say from personal experience that spot training almost never works. You need to train your whole body to lose fat whether it is concentrated in one area such as the love handles.

Various studies have shown that exercises that involve whole body moves such as burpees or using battle ropes are more effective than exercises such as push-ups.

9. Increase Your Protein Intake

Increasing protein in your diet is important for a couple of reasons…

• First of all, dietary protein helps you feel fuller for longer. What it means is that you are able to resist the urge to snack, which helps you consume fewer calories.
• Secondly, various studies have shown that a protein-rich diet is better in reducing belly fat as compared to a diet that is limited in proteins.
• Thirdly, consuming more protein helps a great deal in maintaining your body weight once you have lost excess body fat.
• Finally, more protein combined with a good workout (weight training) helps build more muscle that makes your body burn more fat.

Some of the best sources of proteins that you must try to include in your diet include the following:

• eggs
• nuts
• seeds
• poultry
• beef etc.

10. Increase Cardio

Even though I have stated above that strength training is the best form of exercise when it comes to burning fat, it does not mean that cardio is not good enough.

If you are someone who is not willing to lift up weights, then you should increase your cardio workout or training. This kind of training can help your body burn a whole lot of calories and can certainly help you reduce your love handles.

It is not necessary that a cardio workout can only be performed in a gym. Swimming is an excellent exercise that can help your body burn excess fat even from the most stubborn areas such as the love handles.

Try to work out for at least 20-30 minutes a day.

11. Drink More Water

Water is just great for your body, overall health and for weight loss.

Most people try to load up on soft drinks and sports drinks but they forget to have enough water through the day. Most of such drinks are loaded with sugar that can make you gain fat and much of this fat s concentrated around the waistline or abdomen.

Thus, if you want to get rid of love handles and want a trimmer midsection, then you should start drinking more water. Eight to ten glasses a day is actually quite a good start and if you sweat a lot then you should drink even more.

But that’s not all!

The added benefit is that water helps flush out toxins from your body and by doing that it actually helps boost your metabolism so that your body is in a better state to burn fat.

12. Try HIIT Training

HIIT stands for High-Intensity Interval Training and any gym goes would vouch for its effectiveness when it comes to burning fat.

HIIT workouts are short but they are really effective. Such a workout involves short bursts of an intense exercise followed by an even shorter rest in between sets. Now, this kind of workout can be done without weight as well as with weights.

No prizes for guessing that it turns out to be more effective when it is done with weights.

13. Change Your Diet

One of the most important steps that you need to take is to modify your diet and mindful eating is a concept that seems to be gaining ground these days.

What is Mindful Eating?

It actually refers to paying more attention to your food and noticing how it can help you lose excess body fat and weight from your belly.

By this kind of practice you tend to gain better control over your eating habits with the net result that you are able to restrict your calorie intake effectively.

One of the most important aspects of Mindful Eating is to take into account hunger and fullness cues, having food slowly without any distraction as well as understanding how your food can impact your health and mood.

As a matter of fact, this kind of eating is a perfect way to get healthier and can be a major way to lose weight.

14. Say No To Alcohol

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that alcohol is one of the culprits when it comes to factors that increase body fat. By cutting down alcohol or alcoholic drinks from your diet you can actually cut down on a lot of calories.

Studies have shown that alcohol can lead to weight gain and accumulation of fat, especially in the midsection.

Yet another way that alcohol makes you gain weight is that it is supposed to increase hunger by stimulating brain cells that control your appetite. What it means is that you experience hunger and cravings that are hard to resist and you end up consuming more calories.

So, if you want to get a trimmed waistline, you must cut down on alcohol or quit it completely.

15. Go for Whole Foods

Processed foods run low in terms of nutritive content and high as a fat gainer. Such foods that include fried stuff and sweets include ingredients are that are outright bad for your health and can make you pile on kilos swiftly and easily.

Having whole foods, on the other hand, is a better option since they can help reduce belly fat. Some of the best examples of such foods include vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, lean protein etc.

16. Try Weight Loss Pills or Supplements

One of the most effective and popular ways to get rid of love handles is with the help of natural diet pills. These pills are formulated with all-natural ingredients that:

• boost your metabolism
• curb your appetite and
• increase energy

Some of them are also loaded with mood-enhancing ingredients.

A couple of good fat burning pills include PhenGold, Trimtone, Leanbean etc. You can check out the Best Fat Burners of 2021 by clicking here.

Causes of Love Handles

Even though it must be clear by now, what the main causes of love handles are, I am listing them again to make things even more clearer…

Cortisol

Cortisol is the stress hormone that your body produces when you experience stress. It not only slows down the production of fat-burning hormones but also results in Emotional Eating.

Emotional eating is one of the main causes of weight gain in both men and women, though women seem to be more affected by it. High levels of Cortisol in the bloodstream lead to Cushing syndrome, which in turn leads to the accumulation of excess fat in the abdominal area and causes love handles.

Age

Age is a universal phenomenon and it affects every person, whether man or woman. Advancing age not only slows down your metabolism but also tends to shift fat distribution in your body with more fat getting accumulated in the belly and around the love handles.

As testosterone levels drop in men, their waistlines begin growing and a similar thing happens to women with a drop in their estrogen levels.

Diet

You are what you eat!

There’s no denying this.

If you love having sugary or alcoholic drinks and foods that are abundantly rich in fats and carbs, you are likely to be obese and overweight with fat accumulated in your belly and love handles.

Lack of Exercise

One of the main causes of weight gain, fat accumulation in your body and love handles is lack of exercise.

The basic thing is that if you consume more calories than what you burn, then fat is going to get accumulated in your body.

And lack of exercise does exactly that. While you are enjoying your meals and hardly sweating it out, fat is going to get stored in your body and love handles are a perfect result of this lack of physical activity.

Alcohol

You might not like to hear this but the fact of the mattress is that your favorite wine or beer is one of the leading causes of expanding waistline in men and muffin top in women.

But how?

Alcohol is not easy on your liver. When you consume it, your liver gets busy in processing it and tends to get overloaded. In other words, it gets so busy that it does not process fat which gets deposited in your belly and love handles.

Lack of Sleep

Meeting deadlines, taking care of kids, long-hour commutes, etc. are all factors that can make you sleep less than what you should. This builds up stress and makes you gain weight and excess fat resulting in a bulging belly.

Various studies have shown that sleeping less than five hours every night can make people over 40 grow their bellies fast and quick.

Your Genetic Make up

Sadly, there are some people who do a lot of things right and still have love handles just like their parents or grandparents. In such a case, genetics are to be blamed.

Get Rid of Love Handles - Infographic

FAQ’s

Conclusion

Getting rid of love handles is not impossible but yes, it can take time and effort. What you need to keep in mind is that you need to adopt a healthy lifestyle, healthy eating and a regular training routine to lose love handles, get slim and keep the weight off your body.