WHAT ARE LOVE HANDLES IF NOT TARGETS FOR TOTAL ANNIHILATION? READ THIS POST TO FIND OUT HOW TO REDUCE THEM BOTH PERMANENTLY AND TEMPORARILY...
Love handles is a colloquial term for the fat stored around your waistline. The origin of the word is yet unknown and quite perplexing considering how most people do not LOVE their love handles. I personally think that more appropriate descriptions would be "groan handles" or "loathe handles." Whatever expression emphasizes how you truly feel when your jeans don't quite pull up high enough, and your shirt doesn't quite hang low enough to cover the area.
However, you're not here for a whine party; you want the facts. You want to throw up the peace sign to your love handles for good. First, let's get out of the way the stuff that does NOT help you get rid of your love handles. If you're here, that might mean you've tried everything you've read to do and has worked. Stop banging your head against the wall. You're not crazy. Most of the information you'll find on the internet about eradicating love handles is pure junk. So, without further ado, here's a list of the crap that does NOT work.
Tips That Won't Help You Lose Your Love Handles:
1. Do various ab workouts to get rid of your love handles. There seems to be an endless supply of ab advice to target belly fat. The problem is that no exercise targets belly fat, or any fat on your body.
2. Eat the latest "super" food to burn belly fat. Advice columns almost get it right with this advice, and I stress the almost. It is a combination of a goal driven diet and exercise are what helps you permanently burn fat from all over your body, including your belly fat eventually. By goal driven diet I mean one that takes eating healthy a step further by also lowering your caloric intake and which also includes more of the macronutrients that help your body prioritize fat loss. We've unceremoniously covered the faux advice that doesn't help you. Now let's dig into some tips that will help you.
How to Reduce Love Handles Permanently:
1. Adjust your diet by reducing your daily calories and eating more protein. Plug your stats into this macronutrient calculator to get your goal calories as well as your protein, carbs, and fat goals.
2. Strength train ALL of your body areas including your abs. Strength training signals to your body that your muscles are important and should be preserved thereby encouraging it to burn your body fat.
3. Understand that spot reducing body fat is not possible. The order in which you lose body fat is determined by your genetics. If you tend to carry less fat in your belly than other areas, you can expect to see abs a bit quicker. However, if you tend to carry your fat over your abs that means you'll likely lean out there last.
How to Reduce Love Handles Temporarily:
1. Manipulate your water weight. You manage your water weight all the time; you just don't realize you're doing it. Think about the times when you wake up, and you're feeling trimmer than usual. You're typically leaner in the morning because your body perspires throughout the night causing water weight loss. Therefore, my tip here is to start doing it on purpose.
The safest way to purposefully manipulate your water weight to reduce love handles is by drinking water and sweating. It's pretty easy. Drink a gallon of water every day and exercise to sweat off the excess water weight. Products like sweet sweat encourage excess water shedding as well as waist trimmers which increase your body's temperature during workouts.
