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.
Spot fat reduction doesn't work, but these exercises can help you tone your sides. Increasing muscle definition in your sides will take more than some side crunches, but it's doable. "Love handles" is a common name that refers to the body fat that lies on top of the hips.
Jordan says planks are one of the best exercises for getting rid of love handles because they engage the whole body and take major effort to hold with perfect form. "Planks create long lines that look great and are good for proper functionality, while crunches shorten the front line of the body," Jordan says.
Increased activity and healthier eating can contribute to shrinking love handles as part of overall fat loss, but it's important to remember that this can also take some time. Stick with your plan for a healthier lifestyle, and you'll eventually reap both the aesthetic and underlying health benefits.
“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.
Love handle definition
It refers to any weight that may have accumulated around the sides of an individual's waist. This weight may also be visible extending over the edge of their pants or skirt. “Muffin top” is another term people may use to describe body fat that extends above the edge of their waistline.
The length of time to get rid of your love handles will depend on how much fat you have to lose, what lifestyle changes you make, and how well you commit to them. It can take about four weeks of consistency to form new, healthy habits, and up to 10 weeks before they become automatic.
“Most people think that doing crunches will get rid of love handles, but they are misinformed,” Keigher says. When done properly, crunches do tone muscles, but the problem is, love handles don't contain an ounce of muscle.
Reduce Alcohol Intake
Determining how to get rid of love handles is simple when you look at where your calories are coming from. Many studies have shown that excessive alcohol consumption causes feelings of hunger, which results in eating when you wouldn't normally do so.
While you can't spot-reduce, you can reduce your overall percentage of body fat while toning all your major muscle groups including your core, to get a fitter, tighter appearance. Consistency is key to reducing your love handles in as a little as one month. Cut down on your refined carbohydrates to lose more body fat.
As seen above, love handles can be considered subcutaneous fat, however, an expanding waistline (love handles included) is a sign of visceral fat (12). To know if your love handles are a sign of visceral fat, just measure yourself, 35 inches or more in women and 40 inches or more in men is a clear sign of visceral fat.
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.
Another simple way to lose love handles is side squats as it targets your lower body. This workout is unique because it includes lateral movements, which energizes the muscles. These squats diminish fat from your waist as squats give your core abdominal and oblique muscles a workout.
"Love handles," also known as "muffin top," refers to excess fat that accumulates on the sides of one's abdomen. They differ from hip dips in that they are located much higher on the body, settling around a person's waistline.
Both men and women can develop love handles. It refers to the excess fat deposits at the lower midsection of the body. When small pockets of fat deposit above the hip bone and on either side of the waist, they are called love handles. They also go by the name of muffin tops.
A muffin top (also muffin-top) is a slang term typically used to describe a person's body fat that extends horizontally over the edges of the waistline of tightly fitting pants or skirts, visible when there is a gap between the upper and lower garment.
According to the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery (ABCS) blog, a waist trainer will not drastically change your body shape. Even if you have the type of body that lends itself to that shape temporarily, your waist trainer is unlikely to have a lasting effect.
“Muffin top” is a slang term used to describe an accumulation of fat around the midsection, just above the hips.
It's impossible to spot-treat fat and lose it from just one area of your body. Losing weight overall is the only way to lose belly fat in a healthy way. Toning and tightening your ab muscles with floor exercises, changing your diet, and pursuing healthy habits will all contribute to trimming your waistline.
No Love for Those Love Handles: Dispelling Myths About Body Fat Reduction. Spare tire, breadbasket, muffin top, Jello pudding pack, and love handles are all terms synonymous with abdominal (belly) fat.
There are a few reasons that you may experience this condition: You're committed to cardio workouts, but don't do resistance training. You have a poor diet, despite your amazing metabolism that keeps you skinny. Everyone's favorite reason – genetics.
If you go to the gym and lost 20lbs of fat,that fat doesn't move somewhere else. Rather, it metabolises into carbon dioxide and leaves your body through breathing. And also through your sweat glads and urine. The fact that you are waist training does NOT automatically mean the you will shed weight!
The medical community, such as the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery, doesn't generally support the use of waist trainers for any amount of time, much less at night. Reasons not to wear one while sleeping include: potential impact on acid reflux, hindering proper digestion.
Waist training simply doesn't work
Contrary to what celebrities say, waist training will not reduce belly fat, make you lose weight, or give you similar results to liposuction. All a waist trainer can do is squeeze your torso for a temporary change in appearance.