Wave Goodbye to Love Handles: A Complete Exploration for Trimming Down Your Sides
Love handles are the annoying fat deposits stockpiling around the hips & abdominal area. Many people discover this specific area challenging to target, but with the right strategies & persistence, shedding the love handles is achievable. Let’s kick off our deep dive into the effective ways to curtail love handles. From dieting changes to exercising routines & non-invasive treatments, let’s start this journey for a slimmer, healthier you by exploring how to get rid of love handles (aka the spare tyre or muffin top).
Table of Contents:
- Getting a Grip on Love Handles
- Diet
- Personal Exercise Schedules
- Tweaking your Lifestyle for Long-term Benefits
- Effective Non-Invasive Love Handle Treatments
Getting a Grip on Love Handles
Before we jump into how to eliminate love handles, it’s critical to understand what exactly they are. Love handles are areas where excess fat congregates on each side of the waist, right above the hips.
Genetics & Lifestyle Elements
- Genetics: The shape of your body & where your fat is stored is significantly influenced by your genetics. Some may find that their bodies store more fats around their midsections.
- Hormones: Male hormones lead to fat storage around the waist/belly as opposed to the hips & thighs.
- Age: 40 years of age and older is when belly fat is more likely to increase in volume.
- Lifestyle: A sedentary/inactive life & not-so-great dietary habits significantly contribute to maintaining love handles
Diets Impact on Love Handles
What you consume plays a critical role in the accumulation or reduction of fat in your body. There are a couple of things you could do diet-wise to target those handles:
Removing sugars & Processed foods from your diet
- Reducing sugar takes: Higher sugar consumption can lead to an increase in body fat. Keep away from sugary drinks, snack foods, & desserts.
- Opting for whole food: Cut back on processed food – which holds the added sugars and less good fats.
Consuming more Protein & Fiber
- Protein-rich food: Incorporate meats that are lean, beans & legumes. These foods also support muscle development whilst burning fat.
- Foods high in Fiber: Vegetables, fruits and whole grains are a few options to keep you fuller for longer.
Love Handle Exercises
Exercising is an essential part in targeting how to get rid of love handles, not only for your overall health. Here are some workout routines to get you started:
Core Strength Enhancement
Core exercises tighten & tone abdominal muscles around the waist and belly.
- Bicycle Crunches,
- Side Planks,
- Mountain climbers &
- Russian Twists
Cardio Training
Cardiovascular exercises include any activities which increase your breathing & heart rate.
- High-intensity interval training (HIIT): This type of cardio effectively burns high amounts of calories in very short periods and can efficiently target abdominal fat.
- Steady aerobic exercises: This includes running, power walking, swimming, or cycling, to help shed those love handles.
Tweaking your Lifestyle for Long-term Benefits
Besides diet & exercise, other lifestyle choices influence the existence of dreaded love handles around the waist.
Better your sleep quality
Getting enough rest is key for managing your weight. Lack of sleep can interfere with our hormones, which work to regulate appetite & fat storage in the body.
Efficiently managing stress
High stress can result in fats accumulating, especially around the midsection. Practices like Yoga, meditation and mindful breathing could help manage stress helping you feel calm and reduce fat.
Effective Non-Invasive Love Handle Treatments
Going under the knife was formerly the only way to permanently remove fat cells, tighten skin and contour the body. With the development of technology which has advanced leaps and bounds over the years, we now have affordable non-surgical options available which are both more effective and safer than ever before.
At Body Catalyst, our body-shaping experts combine an experienced holistic approach to how to get rid of love handles with the best medical-grade technology to review the body and personalise recommendations that address clients’ concerns and goals.
Body Contouring
HIFU body contouring could be right for you if you are looking for just a few centimetres of reduction of those love handles.
Non-invasive Ulfit HIFU utilises the latest in body shaping and body contouring technology for fast and pain-free treatments with no downtime to recover, which is a great alternative to eliminate stubborn fat, whilst also tightening the skin around the waist without the need for needles or surgery.
Fat Freezing Cryolipolysis
Cryolipolyiss fat freezing is a non-invasive way to reduce/remove fat cells from key areas of the body such as the waist, where those love handles form. Fat Freezing with cryolipolysis freezes and kills fat cells which are then naturally removed by the body. So stop sweating & freeze it off for good by permanently eliminating up to 30% of stubborn fat cells each session.
Due to technological advancement, the treatment to freeze fat is now more affordable and has become a viable option for many. Body Catalyst’s women’s fat freezing or fat freezing for men treatments are focused on removing fat from the abdomen and love handles.
“Cryolipolysis (CoolSculpting) for fat reduction of the flanks and/or abdomen was well-tolerated and associated with high levels of satisfaction across multidimensional PROs.” 1
Conclusion
If you are looking to supplement your lifestyle changes or speed up results, a non-invasive body contour or fat-freezing treatment might be what you are looking for in how to get rid of love handles and to get your life on the right track.
If you’re interested in ditching those stubborn love handles and bettering your health, explore some of Body Catalyst’s non-invasive treatments that could benefit you. Contact our body-shaping experts today to learn more.
References:
https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/best-exercises-love-handles
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/get-rid-of-love-handles#TOC_TITLE_HDR_5
https://academic.oup.com/asj/article/42/7/760/6469025 1 Terence Tan, Broughton Snell, Martin Braun, Sach Mohan, Esther Jo, Vaishali Patel, Suzanne Zheng, Stephanie Manson Brown, Matthew Hickling, High Participant Satisfaction Achieved Using Cryolipolysis for Fat Reduction of the Abdomen and Flanks, Aesthetic Surgery Journal, Volume 42, Issue 7, July 2022, Pages 760–770
