Get Rid of Love Handles
Since you need to get rid of total body fat to get rid of love handles and you don’t want those love handles to return, a lifestyle change is in order. Fad diets, pills, and absurd contraptions peddled by celebrities don’t work. Your doctor will tell you this. Changing how you live isn’t easy. Start out by assessing where you are—try journaling about your goals, your weaknesses, and impediments to change in your life, such as finding time to exercise. If you’re going to get rid of love handles and have lovers lustily grabbing at your firm stomach, you’ll need to remove these roadblocks to true change.
If you want to get rid of love handles, you’ll need to consume fewer calories than you expend each day. The average healthy person should be getting 2,000 calories a day, but if you are trying to lose love handles and fat in general, you’ll want to ingest somewhere between 1,400 and 1,800 daily. If you reduce your daily caloric intake much further, you’ll suffer energy loss, reduced cognitive function (extended brain farts), and other health problems related to inadequate nutrition. When adjusting your diet, keep in mind that losing more than 1—2 pounds a week is not recommended.
Diet is the most crucial variable in weight loss. Mad scientist philosophies abound where diet is concerned, and depending on age, gender, and genetics, individuals have differing nutritional needs; however, there are some basic principles to consider. To get rid of love handles, you’ll need to limit the intake of high energy density foods (saturated fat, starchy carbohydrates, red meat) while making low energy density foods (fruits and vegetables) the foundation of your diet. These foods have few calories per gram, so you can eat them almost without limit. Fruits and veggies also contain essential vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals that prevent disease.
Aerobic exercise and weight training will accelerate weight loss. For getting rid of love handles, aerobic exercise (walking, jogging, sustained exertion, etc.) is more important than any abdominal exercise. It is not only essential to get rid of love handles, but will have many benefits beyond your appearance, such as increased energy, improved moods, and greater physical health. My doctor recommended that I increase my heart rate and breathing for at least 40 minutes as many days a week as possible, but anything helps. Weight training, or anaerobic exercise, will increase muscle mass, which leads to increased metabolism. So lifting weights and working those obliques will help you burn fat faster and develop muscle tone.
Yes, there are “love handles exercises” (left), but they don’t work as advertised. Abdominal exercises like side bends do burn calories, but these anaerobic exercises are mostly about building and toning muscle, and you won’t see results if said muscles are hidden under fat folds of shame. Without weight loss through diet, aerobic exercise, and lifestyle changes, the love handles exercises are without merit; however, if you’re dealing with slight love handles or just a little flab, you may see results in a matter of weeks. Rather than looking up exercises on the Internet, go to a local gym and have a personal trainer safely demonstrate how to strengthen your whole core. Specifically targeting certain areas while neglecting others can lead to imbalance and injury.
