Fatty deposits on the sides of your waist and back can be a serious problem, but you would not know it for the cute “love handles” name it is known by. While you may simply be concerned with how they look you should know they are potentially unhealthy as well. The good news is you can learn how to get rid of love handles with a few small lifestyle changes.
Trim the Fat
Love handles are a sign of excess abdominal fat. This is a stubborn and dangerous type of fat that can lead to metabolic disorders and even serious heart disease. Reducing the fat around your waistline can decrease your chance of becoming diabetic or suffering a heart attack.
If you’ve considered targeting your abdominal fat and nothing else, don’t bother; there’s no such thing as spot reduction. If there were, none of us would have problem areas and we would all be perfectly proportioned! But in reality, if you want to get rid of love handles, you have to get rid of fat everywhere else, too.
Cardio exercise will help you burn fat faster. Strength training will increase your lean muscle mass, which in turn will make you burn calories faster. Eating at a slight calorie deficit will keep you from storing extra calories as fat. The best way to get rid of love handles is to do all three.
Build Stronger Obliques
On either side of your abdomen are muscles known as the oblique’s. The muscles commonly known as a six-pack are framed by this group of muscles. These are the muscles that give you the strength to turn or twist when necessary. They are also the ones buried from sight by love handles.
Working the obliques improves your physique by giving tight abdominal muscles not to mention burning more calories. When the love handles are gone, you can show it all off!
Do you want to get rid of love handles? Check out the exercises recommended by the American Council on Exercise. The best exercises for working these muscles are the captain’s chair leg raises, vertical leg crunches and bicycle crunches.
Bicycle crunches involve lying down on your back and doing crunch-twists while pedaling your legs as if you were riding a bicycle. Captain’s chair leg raises require the use of a captain’s chair, which is a common fixture in most gyms. Vertical leg crunches are performed like regular crunches, but with your legs raised perpendicular to the ground.
Photos of these exercises are helpful and a simple search should give you plenty of results.
Fat Burning Foods to Eat
Losing weight means changing dietary habits, you will want to avoid foods high in sodium and sugar particularly. To fight belly fat and get rid of love handles doctors advise heart healthy fats such as those contained in nuts, salmon and olive oil. Calcium is also important and experts recommend around three servings from dairy and green leafy vegetables. Do not forget the fiber for proper digestion and weight loss, whole grains, vegetables and fruit are best.
These foods are digested slowly, so they leave you feeling satisfied longer. Add some green tea to your diet for an extra fat-burning boost. Three cups a day will speed up your metabolism and ward off diseases.
Check Your Clothes
Do you want one last trick for losing the love handles? Check your clothing, how do they fit? Clothing that fits tightly can distort your image, giving love handles to even thin people. When you have spent all this time working on losing weight and figuring out how to get rid of love handles why waste the effort on poor fitting clothes.
For more advice and guidance on how to get rid of love handles and healthy alternatives to diets for quick weight loss please visit www.slimming.net