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The question ‘What is the cause of love handles’ is quite familiar to many men and women. This stubborn fat on the abdomen’s side can be quite frustrating to get rid of even to people who work out regularly. However, despite how frustrating love handles are to get rid of, you can still do away with them. It just requires some dedication and lifestyle changes on your part. A healthy diet that creates an adequate caloric deficit and regular workouts are the two most effective methods of banishing excess fat from all over your body, and love handles are not an exception. There are a whole lot of exercises that target the back, abs, and hips, tone your obliques and stomach, increase your energy expenditure and boost your metabolism. So, if you are wondering what is the cause of love handles and how to get rid of love handles, then this article is exactly what you need!
First things first, what are love handles? Love handles are excess fat depositions near your hips and belly. This is the pinchable fat on both sides of your stomach that leads to a “muffin top” when you wear tight underclothes, jeans or shorts. Although those pieces of clothing are often blamed for the creation of love handles, in reality, they only make them more prominent.
If you are wondering, ‘What is the main cause of love handles?,’ fat retention is the main culprit of love handles. However, love handles, like other belly fat, in general, is caused by other factors. They are:
This metabolic hormone is the body’s primary stress hormone. When you are stressed out, levels of cortisol increase, and this can lead to overeating and weight gain (10). If you live a pretty stressful life, you will have a high production of cortisol, which leads to Cushing syndrome (4). This syndrome leads to unhealthy abdominal fat which causes love handles.
As we get older, fat distribution tends to shift and we can accumulate more fat in the belly and around the love handles. Lower levels of estrogen in women and testosterone in men also contributes to this (6).
Sugary drinks and foods that are high in fats and calories will eventually make you gain weight, belly fat and love handles. You see, weight management is all about counting calories. If you consume more calories than your body manages to burn, it stores the excess energy in a form of fat depositions. So, following a diet that daily provides you with a caloric surplus will inevitably make you gain weight. Although certain diets deliberately create an energy surplus, they are designed to help a person grow muscle mass and require regular exercise. These nutritional plans usually require an increased consumption of proteins, since they are building blocks of your body and promote muscle growth.
So, a diet rich in unhealthy fats and sugary foods, which provides you with more calories than you burn in a day is one of the main contributors to excess fat including that in a form of love handles.
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As was mentioned in the paragraph above, if you consume more calories than you burn, then you are most likely to gain weight, and some of this extra fat will settle in your belly, and love handles.
Yes, your favourite wine or beer could be the cause of your ever-expanding waistline and muffin top. Like fat, alcohol is processed by the liver (3). For heavy drinkers, your liver spends more time processing alcohol than fat, which causes it to accumulate in your body. Also, alcoholic drinks have more calories than people know which leads to overdoing how much calories you consume a day (11).
A lot of people underestimate the importance of sleep. Lack of a proper shuteye can cause various health problems, including weight gain. It is recommended that an average adult should sleep around 7-9 hours per night. Getting less that five hours of sleep each night can increase belly fat in people under the age of 40 (8).
Sometimes not everything depends on your lifestyle. You can follow a balanced diet, sleep 8 hours per night, avoid alcohol and stress, and still have love handles. If you are doing everything right, genetics may be the cause of your love handles (16).
As stated above, there are multiple causes of love handles and lower back fat. How old are you? Are you exercising enough? How is your diet, and are you always stressed? All these factors cause weight gain and fat deposits in the love handles. Try keeping an eye on all these points, and you may be able to find out why you are gaining fat in these areas.
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Most love handle workouts are tailored to exercise your core. If your usual belly/core workouts are not getting rid of this stubborn fat, here are some other workouts that your can incorporate in your routine (9):
Once you start doing bicycle crunches, you will notice how well it works your core. Although originally you don’t require any equipment to perform this exercise, you can use ankle weights to increase the level of difficulty. Here is how to do bicycle crunches:
One of the most popular core exercises, plank, is a must-do if you want to get rid of love handles. It is an isometric exercise that doesn’t require any additional equipment. There also is a great number of variations of this exercise, so you are sure to find the one that would work the best for you. To properly perform a basic plank, do the following:
Be sure not to sag your hips, arch your back or tilt your head up. If you cannot hold the position on your elbows, balance on your hands instead.
This can be done with a barbell, kettlebells, dumbbells, water bottles, or soup cans if you do not have any gym equipment at home.
Be sure not to arch your neck or curl your chin into your neck.
This workout requires a lot of upper body strength, so try working on your strength and endurance as you build up towards it.
Please note that you should inhale on the lift and exhale as you lower your legs.
Russian twists or trunk twists are among the top best exercises to get rid of love handles. They target your obliques and the whole core, while also working your legs, shoulders, and hips. To do a Russian twist, follow these steps:
Do not be tempted to do these twists fast. Slow and steady does it as it engages your core, especially the love handles area, quite effectively.
Not only is this a great exercise to get rid of love handles, but it is also a fantastic cardio workout. Mountain climbers are often included in the warm-up routine. To perform mountain climbers, do the following:
These are great compound workouts that target the love handles, glutes, legs, shoulders, and pecs.
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Burpees are a full-body workout in one exercise. They are often used as a part of a warm-up since they are extremely effective at making your blood pump. A couple of properly performed burpees can burn lots of calories and tone all your major muscle groups. Here is how to do a burpee the right way:
Burpees are considered a pretty hard workout even by gym veterans. If you are a beginner, here are some things you can do to make this exercise easier:
This exercise will set your core on fire! It is a real challenge for your obliques and a great way to tone your arms. Here is how to perform side plank dips:
If the side plank with a dip is too much for you, you could try this simple variation instead. Don’t worry, it can also help you reach your goal and can be an effective oblique-strengthening tool! To perform a basic side plank, do the following:
The amount of time spent holding this position depends on your endurance. Do not hold the position for too long as you might injure yourself.
The exercise is a must-do if you want to effectively tone your obliques. It works your core, shoulders, quads, hamstrings, and other muscles. You can perform the woodchoppers using dumbbells or lower the level of difficulty of this exercise and skip on weights. Here is how to properly perform the woodchoppers:
Glute bridge is known as one of the best exercises for glutes, however, it also is super effective at working your core and legs. You don’t need any special equipment to perform a glute bridge. It can also be performed by people of any fitness level. If you want to increase the difficulty of your bridge, then use weights. To perform a bridge, follow these simple steps:
This exercise also works your whole body, burning excess fat, strengthening and toning your body, and helping you get rid of love handles. It also improves your stability and balance. You can increase the difficulty of this exercise by using dumbbells and ankle weights. To perform a bird dog, do the following:
Throughout the exercise make sure to keep your core engaged. Avoid bending or arching your back, keeping your neck, shoulders, back, and hips in a straight line.
Remember that spot exercises or spot reduction workouts do not work (7). You cannot just do the above workouts and expect that your love handles will disappear. These are just exercises that you should add to an already established routine. You must do full-body high-intensity exercises such as squats, jumping high knees, lunges, jumping jacks, chair dips, and more (1) to help you lose weight and burn fat.
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Yes and no. Before you get confused, here is why. Most of us want to get rid of love handles for aesthetic purposes. What most of us tend to overlook is how this fat is quite unhealthy.
Before getting into the risks posed by love handles, you must understand that the body has two types of fat; subcutaneous and visceral fat:
As seen above, love handles can be considered subcutaneous fat, however, an expanding waistline (love handles included) is a sign of visceral fat (12). To know if your love handles are a sign of visceral fat, just measure yourself, 35 inches or more in women and 40 inches or more in men is a clear sign of visceral fat.
Some dangers of visceral fat include:
While love handles are notoriously hard to get rid of, it does not mean that you cannot do it. Here are some things you can do to fast-track this process:
Most people tend to think that carbohydrates are the enemy, but this is not true. Not all carbs are bad for you. Eliminate cakes, cookies, most morning cereals, and sugar from your diet. Instead, replace them with healthy carbohydrates that can be found in oats, brown rice, wholewheat bread, sweet potatoes, squash, and pumpkin.
Reduce your intake of sodas, sports and energy drinks, fruit-flavored or powdered drinks, and sweetened coffee and tea. If you would like some sweetener in your tea or coffee, switch to stevia.
As stated above, alcohol has a lot of hidden calories and prevents your liver from breaking down fats.
You can consume naturally occurring sugars, like for example, in fruits, but keep away from added sugar. This is usually found in sodas, pastries, and sweeteners such as sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.
Like carbs, fats are often mistakenly considered an enemy of a healthy diet. It is true that there are certain fats that only harm your health, however, healthy fats are essential for your body, and are an inseparable part of any balanced diet. These can be found in avocados, nuts, and seeds. You can also consume healthy fats from fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel, and trout.
Foods that are high in fiber keep you fuller longer, thus helping you not go over your calorie budget. Examples of such foods include (5)
Try yoga and meditation, avoid alcohol as it makes things worse, carve out some time for your hobbies, take a vacation, speak to understanding friends and family members. Seek therapy for matters that cannot be fixed by any of these other methods.
Lack of enough sleep boosts cortisol production, which makes your body hold on to fat, which settles mostly in your belly and extends to the love handles. Getting enough shuteye will not only help you lower cortisol levels and fight stress, but also will leave you less time for eating and consuming calories, in such a way promoting weight loss.
If you are wondering what is the cause of love handles, take a look at how much you eat every day. Consuming more calories than you need over a long period of time means gaining weight and fat. To lose body fat and love handles, cut your daily caloric intake by at least 500 calories. This amounts to a 3500 calorie reduction per week and will help you lose 1 to 2 pounds a week.
And not just the above-listed workouts. Remember that spot reduction is a myth. Add a number of these workouts to your routine, which should include cardio and weight lifting.
They can be. Some people are genetically disposed to getting love handles. However, a healthy diet, a proper workout routine, and decreased stress levels can help you get rid of them.
There is nothing to love about love handles. The faster they are gone, the better. So how long will it take you to lose love handles? Unfortunately, there is no standard answer to this question for several reasons, such as:
Despite thousands of exercises on how to get rid of love handles, the truth is that you cannot spot reduce fat. When you diet and exercise for fat loss, you shed fat evenly and throughout your body. It may take you a while to lose these muffin tops depending on how fast you reduce your overall body fat.
We all have different body types. Some are slim, masculine, or curvy. Depending on your physique, you may be identified under the mesomorph, ectomorph, or endomorph body type. There are unique characteristics of these body types that affect weight gain and weight loss.
For example, ectomorphs have little body fat and muscle, yet struggle to gain weight. Endomorphs, on the other hand, have a shorter stature, and they easily put on muscle mass. But unfortunately, they encounter more weight loss challenges due to a slower metabolism. The differences in these body types also affects how fast you get rid of your love handles.
How fast you lose your love handles is also affected by the amount of fat you have to lose. Of course, you take longer if you have more fat storage.
Consistency is the secret to any successful body transformation. Because you cannot lose fat overnight, you must stay consistent with healthy lifestyle practices that help you lose fat long-term. Eventually, these practices become habits, and you might not even realize when you reduce or get rid of your love handles.
But despite these factors, following a healthy lifestyle, exercising, and eating right can make you start seeing a difference in no time. Keep putting in the work; over time, you will bear the fruits of your hard work.
The answer to ‘what is the cause of love handles’ is quite varied. Although genetics, age, alcohol intake, and lack of sleep can possibly cause the problem of excess fat near your hips and waistline, however, weight gain and extra fat are at the top among the causes of love handles. There is no secret to losing love handles. You will need to put in work at the gym (or at home for home workouts), make healthier food choices, watch your calorie intake, and sleep more.
That being said, make sure to speak to your doctor before attempting any new diets or workouts.
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on to make decisions of any kind. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any medical conditions. Any action you take upon the information presented in this article is strictly at your own risk and responsibility!