Love handle is the swelling that shows up on both sides of the stomach when you wear jeans or a shirt. Maybe you’re going to the gym, eating right, but still not losing the grip on your weight? One thing you need to know about how to get rid of love handles is that you may be focusing in the wrong place.
It’s not just a lack of extra calories or a little movement. Most of the time, the fat that stores up in the love handles is not fat under the skin. Instead, it can be abdominal fat, which forms around the body’s organs. And here lies the danger.
This fat increases the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even hormonal imbalances.
One study found that people who sit for more than four hours a day are 1.7 times more likely to gain fat accumulation around the abdomen. And if you sit for 6-8 hours, the overall body fat also goes up.
The buildup of fat is caused by the body’s cortisol (a stress hormone) and insulin (a hormone that controls blood sugar) being out of balance. It’s not just diet, but also lifestyle and stress.
There’s no need to worry, but there’s no time to worry.
In this article, you will get the solution – tips on diet, workout, and hormone balance – all together.
What is Love Handle?
What does “love handle” really mean? Let’s make it simple. The fat that accumulates on both sides of your stomach. When you wear any attire, it comes up silently – that’s what Love Handle is.
It may seem small, but sometimes it’s really complicated. Over time, fat builds up in the body for many reasons. And you can’t lose weight just by doing abdominal workouts if you don’t know these reasons. So let’s look at why this fat builds up and how the way you lifestyle can make it worse.
Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why:
1. Types of Fat – Subcutaneous vs. Visceral Fat
The fat that wraps around your stomach is called subcutaneous fat. It’s what’s under the skin. But there is another, which can not be seen from the outside – visceral fat. It wraps around the body’s organs. This visceral fat is the most dangerous because it can increase type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and even inflammation.
2. The role of hormones such as insulin and cortisol
When you’re under a lot of stress, your body produces more cortisol. This hormone helps in the accumulation of fat around the abdomen.
Another thing is sweet. And insulin sensitivity goes down when you eat more sweets. This means that your body does not burn calories easily, but stores them. These calories are saved by love.
3. Genetics is a major factor
Yes, some people are born in such a way that their body like to accumulate fat around the waist and stomach. You may have seen someone in your family who doesn’t eat much, but that place is high in fat. And this is what genetics does.
4. Risk increases with age
Our metabolism slows down as we get older. What you used to eat to maintain weight, now the body accumulates it by eating. Fat starts to build up around the middle as we get older because our metabolism slows down.
5. Types of fat deposits by gender
Because men have more testosterone, most of their fat builds up around their abdomen and waistline. When it comes to women, the hips are closer to the thighs. This means that guys are more likely to have love problems.
6. Sitting still – The Silent Killer
Don’t take this lightly. People who sit in a chair for six to eight hours a day don’t burn many calories. Because when you sit for a long time, it slows down the metabolism. One study found that sitting for more than four hours a day is more likely to lead to weight gain.
7. Unhealthy eating habits and unhealthy lifestyle
All of these things, like eating chips at night, drinking Coke, and being bored, make you a “fat-storing machine.”
High-insulin foods and drinks, like processed foods, refined carbs, and sugary drinks, all make fat build up.
How to Get Rid of Love Handles
Removing the love handle is not magic. It’s a process. The process is divided into four stages. If you follow these four steps consistently, then the handle will not only go away, but it will never come back.
Let’s take a look at these four steps:
- Reduce your overall body fat percentage.
- Adopt smart dietary changes.
- A Proper Workout Strategy
- Lifestyle Adjustments to Keep Fat Away
All four of these steps are interrelated. If you skip one, the whole process will be ruined. So if you really want to get rid of love handles forever, following these four steps is the only way.
Let’s take a step-by-step look at how exactly these four steps work.
Reduce Your Overall Body Fat Percentage
The first thing you should do is try to lower your body fat ratio. That’s because this love handle fat won’t go away until your body starts making fat loss happen.
Fat is the last thing your body wants to burn for energy. No matter how hard you rub your stomach, it won’t help unless your body is already trying to lose fat.
The abdominal fat around the organ is the first thing he burns. Then it slowly goes toward the fat under the skin. But these fat cells are a little harder to burn because there is less blood flow there, and our abdominal fat cells have more α-receptors than β-receptors. This means that the body doesn’t want to burn the fat quickly.
So, this love handle won’t go away until you lower the total body fat percentage. And, when the fat is reduced, the body will start to burn its own love handles.
Dietary Changes
The Calorie Deficit
Do you want to hear the truth? Doesn’t matter how healthy you’re eating or how many crunches you’re doing; if your body takes in more calories than it burns, you will never lose fat, even an inch. And that’s the major reason in most cases, that people don’t see any result.
A calorie deficit is when you eat fewer calories than your body consumes. If your body needs 2200 calories a day, and you eat 1800 to 2000 calories, it will start breaking down the fat cells it has saved over time.
This is the real rule of fat loss. And since the love handle falls into a very stubborn category, in order to melt it, you must first reduce the entire body fat. Because the body never reduces fat from a particular area, it has its own order, from which place it will reduce first, and which one later.
Another interesting fact is that 7700 calories mean about 1 kg of fat. That means, if you consume 500 calories less every day, then you’ll be able to lose about half a kilogram of fat a week.
That’s why a calorie deficit should be the first and most important thing you need to do to lose fat. Without this thing, no diet, exercise, or supplement will work.
Increase Fiber Intake
Fiber-rich foods make you feel full for a long time without adding calories. This will make you less hungry, so you won’t eat when you don’t need to, and it will also help you lose fat.
Especially soluble fiber, which is found in foods like wheat, apples, oranges, chia seeds, and mung beans, turns into a jelly-like substance inside the stomach. This jelly slows down the speed of digestion. As a result, the sugars in food enter the blood more slowly. It keeps insulin levels steady and cuts cholesterol.
And the body has to spend a little more to digest the fiber, which increases the thermic effect of food, meaning you burn a few more calories than you want.
For a natural fiber supply, focus on vegetables, nuts, fruits, pulses, and whole grains. These foods are high in fiber but low in calories. Fiber also helps in the digestion process.
Add Healthy Fats to Your Diet
Eating fats will speed up your metabolism, keep your hormones in check, and make you feel less hungry. Foods like avocado, olive oil, nuts, chia seeds, and fatty fish have omega-3 and monounsaturated fatty acids that help the body burn fat and lower inflammation.
Consuming healthy fats takes a little longer, so you feel full for a long time after you eat. This reduces the chances of overeating.
And the most exciting part of all is, healthy fat helps to release a hormone leptin, which tells our brain, “Brother, I am flower, not hungry.” This hormone regulates appetite. This hormone controls your hunger. You’ll want to eat it if it doesn’t work properly.
Train Your Abs, Especially Obliques.
Along with lowering your body fat ratio, the only way to get results faster is to do the right training. Because muscle definition or muscle structure also plays a huge role in this. When we train our core, especially the obliques, the muscle size and volume increase. It not only makes your posture better, but it also makes that area look firm and tight. And muscles mean there will be more blood flow, and higher blood flow tends to accumulate less fat.
The obliques are the muscles on both sides of your waist that work best when you move your body. The waist looks much more slim and fit if these obliques are tight, even if there is some light fat there.
Study after study has shown that working out the stomach muscles makes those muscles thicker and changes the way the body looks. Simply put, it looks great.
If the core is strong, the body is straight, the waist and belly should not fold as much, and the love handle should be “covered” more. That’s the visual illusion.
Therefore, oblique-focused exercises such as side plank, Russian twist, bicycle crunch, heel touch, or hanging leg raise should be included in your training program.
Moderate Aerobic Exercise
If you think, “Brother, even if I exercise, why is love not able to handle? “What do you think about it now?
Moderate aerobic exercise, light to moderate cardio – such as brisk walking, cycling, jogging, or even dancing for long periods of time – leaves the body in a sweet spot. I’m talking about Zone 2 Cardio.
It’s a cardio level where you can talk while you’re gasping – not too hard, and not at all relaxed. Heart rate is between 60-70%.
At this point, the body begins to use fat as its main fuel.
• Less stress than high-intensity workouts, but fat burning lasts longer.
• The body gradually takes energy from the stored fat, and the love handle begins to decrease from there.
This is a slow-burning strategy. But there is no such thing as consistency. If you do 30-40 minutes of brisk walking or cycling a day, you are slowly but surely getting into the fat-burning zone. And the good thing is that the body does not get tired too much. Rather, the mood remains fresh, and mood-boosting hormone, such as endorphin, also increases.
Resistance Training
Walking, running, cycling – it’s all good. But one thing everyone misses is resistance training or lifting weights. Building muscle, getting stronger. You may be thinking what the love handle has to do with lifting weights.
When you build muscle, that muscle does not just sit there to flex. They are working silently. This means that when your body is at rest, it still burns calories. This is called BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate. The more muscles you have, the more calories you’ll burn, even when you sleep.
Another interesting thing is that when the muscle grows, the structure of the body changes. When you tone around the stomach, your posture is good. Even if there is love, it will not be visible. People see something and say, “He is perfect!”
On top of that, resistance training increases the body’s hormones, such as testosterone and growth hormone, which help in fat burning. Also, workouts like squats, deadlifts, and push-ups work your whole body and burn fat at the same time.
Lifestyle Adjustment
You can lose weight, but if you don’t keep it off, you’ll quickly gain back the weight you lost. So, things like stress, sleep, water intake, and daily exercise should all be set up in a way that doesn’t make it easy for fat to build up.
Quality Sleep
A good night’s sleep can make all the difference when it comes to losing belly fat, even though most of us don’t give it much of a thought. Our body starts filling up with cortisol when we don’t get enough sleep. This hormone increases the tendency to accumulate fat around the stomach.
Therefore, it is very important to sleep at least 7-8 hours a day, so that the body can work properly and not accumulate fat. A good night’s sleep isn’t just about resting your body. It’s also about balancing your hormones. That’s why sleep is so important.
Manage Your Stress
A lot of people say, “That’s hard!” But it’s the small things that really reduce stress. An increase in the stress hormone cortisol leads to an increase in abdominal fat. For this reason, the body and mind stay calm when you meditate, do light walks, or do yoga regularly.
Apart from this, it is also possible to reduce stress by talking to friends or doing a hobby of your choice. Reducing stress makes it easier to lose weight. That’s why you need to deal with your stress.
Stay Active on a Regular Basis
When you sit or stand still for a long time, your metabolism slows down. This is a major reason why fat builds up. Not only this, but sitting for a long time also reduces blood circulation, which is not good for the body. That’s why it’s good to have short breaks during work.
Walking is not only good for the body, but also for the muscles. This makes you stronger and helps you lose weight. Studies have shown that people who walk at a moderate pace for at least 30 minutes a day have less body fat and a lower risk of heart disease. That’s why try to walk at least 20 times a day, it’s a good habit for your body.
Stay Hydrated
Drinking enough water and staying hydrated are essential for weight loss. Because water helps to remove toxins from the body. We often think that by cutting back on food or drinking less water will reduce our weight, but the reality is totally different. Our body stores fat to protect itself when it doesn’t have enough water.
Apart from this, water helps the digestive system and makes the body cells work better. Studies have shown that drinking at least 2-3 litres of water a day can increase metabolism by up to 30%. So, drinking water is never a problem. Rather, keeping your body hydrated is a great way to lose weight.
Quit Smoking and Drinking
When you smoke, your body makes free radicals, which hurt cells and speed up the aging process. These free radicals not only cause fat accumulation but also increase the risk of diseases of the heart, lungs, and other organs. And drinking alcohol adds extra calories to the body, which directly helps to accumulate fat.
Moreover, people who drink alcohol often feel hungrier, which makes them sit down to eat more. Avoiding smoking and drinking is not just helpful in the weight loss process but also for overall health. If you want to maintain a healthy body, you should avoid these two practices as much as you can.
A Regular Health Check-up
Often, we can’t figure out why fat builds up because there is a hormonal imbalance or thyroid problem behind it. With these issues, it becomes difficult to reduce fat even with a deficient diet and exercise. Therefore, sometimes it is necessary to consult with a doctor to make sure you don’t have any hormonal issues and the actual root cause that ruins your fat loss journey.
If blood tests show that hormones are the problem, then it becomes much easier to solve, as the problem is determined. But unfortunately, people often neglect to consult a doctor or health checkup. But in reality, a regular health check-up is the key to your long-term health.
The Bottom Line
You see, reducing the love handles is not a matter of one night. But you will see real and faster results if you have patience and follow the proper process. Reducing body fat means making some changes to the overall lifestyle. It is necessary to have such a diet, be a little active, and most importantly, be mentally aware.
If you want to start now, then remember – consistency is the most important thing. What you do today will pay off tomorrow or the day after. And these methods will not only keep your body fit, but you’ll also be healthy.