Love handles are areas of fat that hang down on the sides of the stomach. This fat covers up the muscles known as the obliques. Any time you have excess fat in your waist area, you are at an increased risk for stroke, heart disease and elevated triglyceride levels according to the American Heart Association. Exercise is an integral part of melting this fat down.
Full Body Weight Loss
Spot reduction is a common misconception that you can lose weight in one area of your body by doing a particular exercise over and over again. According to the American Council on Exercise, spot reduction is a myth. Since this is the case, you need to lose weight throughout your entire body to get rid of your love handles.
Cardiovascular Training
Cardiovascular exercise is performed in a repetitive motion and it engages a large amount of the body. When doing cardio, your heart rate becomes elevated, you break a sweat and you burn calories. This in turn promotes weight loss which can reduce the size of your love handles. Choose any type of cardio as long as you enjoy it and will do it on a regular basis. Running, elliptical training, kickboxing, jumping rope and dance aerobics are effective forms. Aim for at least 60 minutes of cardio in your sessions and work out four or five days a week.
Weight Lifting
Weight training helps get rid of your love handles when you are not exercising. This is because it increases your muscle mass. Whenever you build muscle, your resting metabolic rate increases and you burn more calories while sitting still. One lb. of added muscle burns an extra 30 to 50 calories a day according to the University of Michigan Health System. Perform exercises that target as much of your body as possible, such as bench presses, shoulder presses, back rows, triceps dips, biceps curls and squats. Work out two or three times a week.
Oblique Exercises
Oblique exercises will not get rid of love-handle fat on their own, but they will help tone your sides as you lose weight. Perform exercises like side crunches, hanging angled knee raises and air bikes. To do an air bike, lie on your back with your legs lifted, knees bent 90 degrees and shins parallel to the floor. Place your hands on the sides of your head, lift your shoulders forward and move your right elbow and left knee toward each other while extended your right leg out straight. Quickly reverse the motion and continue to alternate back and forth. Aim for 15 to 20 reps with your ab exercises, perform three or four sets and do them three days a week on alternating days.
Diet and Weight Loss
Although exercise is effective at losing love handles, you also need to be strict with your diet. If you were to eat bacon cheeseburgers and cream-filled doughnuts every day, you will not make much progress. Instead, cut your calories and eat nutrient dense foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meats. A 500-to-1,000 calorie daily reduction can lead to about 1 to 2 lbs. of weight loss a week according to the Centers for Disease Control.
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