How to Get Rid of Love Handles Once and for All
“How to get rid of love handles” is one of the most popular Google searches in fitness, especially for women. When people refer to “love handles” they are talking about part of the body on either side of the waist, above the hips, that can hold excess fat for some individuals. While excess fat accumulation around the hips and abdominal area might be undesirable to some, it does not inherently mean you are unhealthy.
Before continuing, you should know that having a bit of excess fat in certain areas is completely normal. While you may want to work out and eat in a way to reduce this excess fat, you can still get strong, be healthy, and feel confident in your body without like it should be your primary goal in life.
At Ladies who Lift, we believe all your goals are important: aesthetic and non-aesthetic alike! But we hope when you go into accomplishing a goal, you go in with the right information. It’s important to know what is total BS so that you can go after your goals for the right reasons. Not because you feel you have to live up to the beauty standards of the latest IG influencers.
Speaking of BS.. most articles you’ll find showcase specific exercises to get rid of love handles. Unfortunately, you can’t spot reduce with side bends. Following that advice is wasted time and effort that could be used towards real work with lasting results.
In this article you will learn:
What Causes Love Handles?
One will accumulate excess fat cells when in a caloric surplus. This is when your body is taking in more calories than it is burning. Fat accumulation happens over time, not overnight; and is usually due to a mixture of diet, lifestyle, and a poor training routine.
Unfortunately for us all, we don't get to pick and choose where we store our body fat.
We all have our individual areas we consider to be our “trouble spots”. They tend to be more stubborn and hold onto fat easier than others.
Fat distribution will vary between people, sexes, as well as genetics. For instance, women tend to store fat in their buttocks, hips, lower abdomen, and thighs.
While a caloric surplus is the culprit for gaining body fat, there are plenty of factors that contribute to the overall energy balance equation:
Overconsuming calories
Lack of muscle tissue
Stress management
Sedentary lifestyle (lack of movement)
There might be even further reasons such as hormonal issues, age, poor sleep, genetics, or underlying conditions.
There Are No Love Handle Exercises: The Myth of Spot reduction
Just like there are no special foods that burn more fat than others, there are no special exercises that can offer the same. “Spot reduction” is a myth that exists around the ability to lose fat from a particular area by training it with more concentration. Think of Russian Twists for losing belly fat, or doing Leg Lifts for inner thigh fat.
These “spot reduction” based exercises usually target small muscles and use small movement patterns. Such small movements don't substantially increase one's overall fitness level, strength, lean body mass, or produce much energy expenditure. Ultimately, those things determine your body's ability to effectively burn, reduce, and keep fat off. Overall fat loss will eventually lead to reducing your “love handles”.
There is a time and place to work small muscles and smaller movement patterns, but when the goal is overall fat loss, it is a waste of time and effort!
how to lose love handles forever
The best way to reduce the size of “love handles” and keep them off forever is to establish best practices that contribute to reducing overall body fat. This means adopting a healthier daily routine and overall lifestyle so the results are sustainable. Down below are key tips to keep in mind.
build muscle mass
You can’t spot reduce, but you can spot GROW! It’s not possible to force fat loss from a particular area, but you can absolutely increase mass to target muscles.
By training a muscle to grow, especially larger ones, you improve your body composition in a way that lowers body fat percentage. For example, growing your back, shoulders, and glutes will build the appearance of a more narrow waist so you look slimmer.
According to the National Library of Medicine, muscle mass is your body's best fat burner due to the fact that muscle tissue burns 7- 10 calories daily per pound, while fat only burns 2-3 calories daily per pound. The more muscle mass you have, the faster your metabolism is, and the more calories you are burning at rest to help reduce body fat or maintain a lower body fat percentage.
The best way to build more muscle mass is by following a strength training program 2-5 days a week that puts an emphasis on progressive overload and proper technique. While cardio, hiit, and circuit training may provide you a greater caloric burn short term, muscle mass will work for you far beyond the workout itself, helping increase your overall resting metabolic rate and allowing you to burn more calories even while at rest.
Take a Look at Your Diet
When it comes to your diet, both food quality and quantity matter. You don't need to eat “clean” 100% of the time, however, a majority of your diet should come from whole, nutrient-rich, minimally processed foods. Lean protein, grains, fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds are examples. When it comes to the quantity of your food, your ability to lose fat will depend on you eating in a caloric deficit, which is the opposite of the caloric surplus we mentioned.
A deficit means that you are consuming fewer calories than you burn per day. How many calories you burn per day will depend on many more factors than just what your apple watch is telling you so be mindful!
There are no magic fat-burning foods, and one’s diet should never be taken to extremes. The best approach is to eat in a small caloric deficit over time while working towards building more muscle mass. This is the best recipe for sustained success. If you are not sure where to start, work with one of our Ladies who Lift coaches in our Ambassador program.
Ditch a Sedentary Lifestyle
Get moving! One of the largest contributors to your daily calorie burn is called non-exercise thermogenesis or “NEAT”. This is a fancy term for the movement you do outside of workouts. You can take purposeful walks, but also cleaning your apartment, taking the trash out, dancing, and grocery shopping, all contribute towards NEAT! All movement counts, so don't forget to stand up, shake it out, and find more ways to move throughout your day.
Build Better Daily Habits
Lastly, it’s imperative to come up with strategies that allow you to manage your stress, sleep, and hydration. These are the often-neglected habits that can make a massive difference in your ability to lose the love handles.
Stress: We all know too well that stress can lead to poor eating habits and missed workouts, but high levels of stress and the associated hormone cortisol have been linked to fat retention.
Sleep: A lack of sleep has been linked to poor food choices, increased hunger and calorie intake, decreased physical activity, and ultimately, weight gain.
Hydration: Drinking enough water throughout the day aids in digestion and the removal of toxins and waste in your body.
let ladies who lift help!
Remember that change takes time, effort, proper planning, and execution. Not sure where to start or feeling lost trying to get to your end goal? Work with one of our Ladies who Lift coaches in our custom or non-custom online training programs and get on the right track today!
about the author
Rae Reichlin created Ladies who Lift after watching many of her female clients have the physical and mental breakthroughs they never thought possible through learning to lift properly and with confidence.
Having experienced it herself, Rae understands the fear, apprehension, and misinformation, that can sometimes come along with lifting and getting stronger, and wanted to create a space and environment where women felt comfortable to come together to learn and perfect this method of training.
Ladies who Lift promotes empowerment through pushing one's own boundaries, and being there for others who are trying to do the same. By educating women about each of their bodies needs and impressive capabilities Ladies who Lift aims to leave clients ready to lead happy, healthy, connected lives.
Rae’s certifications include NASM, PRECISION NUTRITION, FMS, PRE/POST NATAL, & STICK MOBILITY.
