What Is the Best Exercise to Get Rid of Love Handles?

Eat a healthy diet and lose excess weight to get rid of love handles.

Love handles refer to the layers of fat present around the middle (waist) of a person’s body. They appear as folds or flab on the back and sides above the hips. They are also called muffin tops and are often stubborn despite exercise. They are present over a group of muscles called obliques. As they change the overall appearance of a person, people often struggle to get rid of them. Love handles, like fat accumulation anywhere else in the body, appear when you consume more calories than you burn in a day. The excess calories get stored in the body as fat. This fat accumulates in various parts of the body. Love handles are just one manifestation of these sites. Thus, to get rid of this stubborn fat, you need to burn calories. Love handles may appear in people who have hormonal issues such as an excess or deficiency of the hormone cortisol in their body.

Targeted weight loss, where a particular area of the body is focused upon, may not be practically achievable. To get rid of love handles, you need to achieve overall fat loss from the body. There are several ways to achieve that in a healthy way. You must consult your doctor to know what will work best for you. There is no single best exercise for tackling the problem of love handles. A combination of a healthy diet and physical activity is important. Some of the ways you can achieve a healthy weight and get rid of love handles include

• Drink plenty of water and non-sugary fluids.
• Do regular weight-bearing exercises under expert guidance.
• Practice mindful eating so that you burn more calories than you eat to achieve a healthy weight loss.
• Perform regular cardio workouts such as walking, jogging, running or dancing.
• Try to keep stress away by practicing regular yoga or meditation, listening to music or pursuing hobbies.
• Cut down on your sugar intake. Also, beware of hidden sugars in junk food and soft drinks.
• Increase your fiber intake by regularly eating at least two to three servings of vegetables, salads, fruit and psyllium husk.
• Keep moving throughout your day, not just for an hour or two while exercising.
• Limit your intake of fats and fatty foods.
• Consume healthy fats such as olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds.
• Get adequate sleep every day to keep stress hormones in check.
• Perform floor exercises and functional workouts such as burpees, mountain climbing and jumping jacks.
• Increase your protein intake, as protein helps you stay full for a long duration and provides raw material for healthy muscles to enable you to keep moving. You can consult with a dietician so you know how much protein you need to have in a day.
• Replace processed carbohydrates such as biscuits and pastries with complex carbohydrates such as oats, brown rice, whole-grain breads and sweet potatoes.
• Avoid alcohol consumption.
• Snack on low-calorie foods such as cucumbers and apples instead of chips and cookies.
• Do weight training three times a week under proper supervision to  strengthen core muscles and reduce the appearance of love handles.