Written by Kirsten Yovino | CPT Brookbush Institute
Fact checked by Sam Coleman, Co-founder
FACT CHECKED
The term love handles sounds like something good but in reality, it’s not. It’s just another spot where body fat accumulates. Instead of marketers making you feel bad for having fat in this area of your body, they call it the love handles to soften the blow. After all, nobody likes to hear they are overweight.
Nevertheless, why are love handles so easy to get and how to get rid of them?
Well, this article is going to be explained to you what causes love handles, what type of fat it is, how to lose them, and exercises and workouts to say goodbye to your love handles for good. Because you’ll be plenty lovable without them.
WHAT ARE LOVE HANDLES?
The term "love handles" is a colloquialism for the excess fat that sits on the sides of your midsection just above your hips, and sadly, it often hangs over the sides of your pants. This overhanging of abdominal fat is common in older adults, particularly men, as men are more likely to store fat around their midsection, while women around their butt and thighs. That said, plenty of women, young adults, and even kids have love handles.
As for why this specific excess body fat accumulation is called love handles, it's simply because most people embrace their loved ones around the hips and abdominal area. But we are sure you already knew this.
WHAT CAUSES LOVE HANDLES?
The short answer is fat retention underneath the skin.
This is a calories in and calories out thing. When you take in more than you need or don’t burn as many calories as you’re eating or drinking, these excess calories are turned into fat. This accumulates in the body, one place being your love handles.
Fat is deposited anywhere on your body but factors like sex, hormones, and body type increase the chances of retaining fat on your hips, lower back, and abdominal areas, like the love handles. Besides calories in and calories out, other factors make it more likely to develop love handles. And they are:
- Too much cortisol (stress hormone)
- Your age
- Lack of movement
- Bad diet
- Lack of sleep
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ABDOMINAL FAT
The type of fat that surrounds your belly and causes love handles is what is called subcutaneous fat, which is fat that sits underneath your skin. However, what's really concerning is that love handles are a good indicator that you also have visceral fat.
Visceral fat is the type of fat that’s around your organs and is one of the causes of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Excess calories, genetics, menopause, smoking and lack of healthy gut bacteria make it more likely you’ll gain abdominal fat, both subcutaneous and visceral.
There’s a school of thought that suggests if you do crunches and side bends, the love handles will go away. This is called spot reduction and it’s a nice thought and good in theory but doesn’t work for most of us. And here’s why...
Your body doesn’t only draw energy (fat cells) from the area you’re training but from your body as a whole. You cannot control where you burn fat from no matter how many oblique twists you do. Targeting certain areas works great to build muscle but the same cannot be said for fat.
Related: 7 Coach's Tips To Reduce Visceral Fat
Can you spot reduce fat?
Now the fat cells that surround the abdominal area and your love handles have a higher number of alpha receptors. Alpha receptors tell your cells to store fat for later use which makes them harder to get rid of. That’s why you’ll see fat loss in other areas before you start losing fat from your love handles.
In essence, you can't pinpoint body fat reduction, but fat cells accumulate unevenly...No one said life was all rainbows and sunshine, right?
Typically speaking, when cutting weight, you'll lose fat all over your body, but abdominal fat is one of the more stubborn areas and will often be the last to go.
HOW TO GET RID OF LOVE HANDLES FAST
It’s a nice thought to lose the fat from your love handles fast but unfortunately, it will take some time. It's a lot easy to get love handles than to get rid of them. But there are a few factors to speed this process along:
- Caloric Deficit (Diet)
- Exercise & Resistance Training
- Building & Maintaining Muscle Mass
On the diet side, a pound of fat is approximately 3500 calories. So, cutting 500 calories from your daily diet is a great start because, at least in theory, this will lead to a pound of fat loss per week.
Cutting calories without being overly hungry is achieved by eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains that give you vital nutrients without extra calories or fat. Nutrient-dense foods are your friend. Plus, stick with lean protein sources, such as eggs, fish, and white meat chicken, and reduce your consumption of fatty red meat.
Reducing your salt intake will assist because excess salt increases fluid retention which can make your love handles appear worse.
Another great dieting method for reducing your calories without feeling deprived is following metabolic confusion, which reduces your weekly calorie goal through high and low calorie days. This provides you with more flexibility each week but ultimately helps you hit your fat loss goals.
On the exercise side, a good starting point when it comes to burning fat from your abdominal area is what the CDC's guidelines suggest. The CDC recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise...
But to lose weight, it’s best to probably exceed these guidelines if you can.
Because losing fat from your love handles cannot be achieved with spot reducing exercises alone, combining cardiovascular exercises, core training, and total body resistance training with targeted movements for the love handles works best. More on this later.
MORE MUSCLE = BETTER BODY COMPOSITION AND FASTER METABOLISM
When you are on your fat loss journey, you want to do your best to maintain muscle mass. The more lean muscle mass you have, the more calories you will burn at rest, and thus, the more fat you will keep off.
If you are new to fitness, simply focusing on building muscle can actually be your best bet. Increasing muscle mass will make you a fat-burning machine.
The point is, if you want to lose fat and those love handles, don't just think about losing fat, you need to build lean muscle mass, or at the very least, maintain the muscle you have. You can do this with a simple strength training plan. By that we mean doing weight lifting exercises, such as squats, deadlifts, push-ups, overhead presses, etc. Also, eat high protein diet. Your muscles need the protein to recover, maintain, and hopefully, grow.
The scale isn't the determining factor of your progress. You can gain weight and actually lose your love handles and improve your body composition because you are increasing muscle mass. This is how you truly boost your metabolism.
If you are looking for a good program, check out our Skinny Fat Workout & Diet Plan.
HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO LOSE LOVE HANDLES
This all depends on your consistency, willingness to stick to a plan, and the amount of fat you have to lose. If you have been inactive for a while it’s going to take time to form new healthy habits and for your bad habits to fade into the background. It can take two to four weeks to consistently form better habits and up to 10 weeks for them to stick.
You should allow at least 10-12 weeks of consistent effort on the diet and exercise front before seeing visible results. If you have a solid level of fitness, this may be shorter.
BEST DIET FOR BELLY FAT & LOVE HANDLES
No diet works unless you’re in a caloric deficit so let’s start there. With the multitude of diets out there is difficult to narrow it down to the best one for belly fat and love handles. So here are some healthy diet recommendations to make your workouts and results more effective.
Reduce your consumption of refined carbohydrates like white bread, pasta, rice, potato chips, and the like. Replace refined carbs with complex carbs and other nutrient-dense foods like veggies and fruits.
Increase your protein intake as well, as this will drive muscle growth and repair and will keep you fuller longer unlike refined carbohydrates. Stop drinking your calories and replace this with water.
Now, a little alcohol here and there is okay (we need a little balance of fun in life), but remember alcohol is a poison and your body wants to get rid of it. This means all the fat-burning benefits of your workouts stop the moment you have too much to drink. On top of that, alcohol is just useless calories, which is not conducive to weight loss.
TLDR:
- Complex carbs
- Plenty fruits and veggies
- High protein intake
- Eat at a calorie deficit
It's as simple as that.
WHAT EXERCISES GET RID OF LOVE HANDLES?
The best exercises for losing fat are the ones that work the most muscle and are difficult to do. Exercises like squats, farmer's carries, lunges, push-ups, rows, and deadlift variations are a staple in a lot of fat loss programs.
Strength based exercises are actually the best for fat loss. Even though a lot of people will assume it is high rep exercises with light weights. Doing compound exercises with heavy loads (relative to your strength level) is the best way to keep your muscle and burn fat while you are on a calorie deficit.
We recommend a full body resistance training split (we also have a great routine to follow below), with some targeted exercises for the abdominal region and love handles at the end.
10 Best Love Handle Exercises:
There are lots of exercises that fit this bill so it’s difficult to narrow it down to 10, but we did our best.
Here are 10 fun yet challenging exercises for you to attack your love handles. These exercises train the entire body while focusing on fat loss and your love handles.
1) Chaos Carry:
- Loop a heavy band around the kettlebell horn.
- Holding the band close to the horn is easier and further way more difficult.
- Take a firm grip on the band and keep your shoulders down and chest up
- Walk with good posture for the required distance.
- Switch sides and repeat.
2) Side Plank:
- Lie down on your side, with your left leg and left elbow to the ground. Your elbow should be directly in line with your shoulder. Your right leg will be stacked on top of your left leg.
- Form a straight line from shoulder to foot. Lift your hips off the ground so they are neutral with your spine. Your spine should be straight. This is your side plank position.
- Engage your glutes and core, press your elbow into the ground and hold for time. You will feel your side body working hard to maintain its position.
- Hold for 30-60 seconds
- Switch sides so your right elbow and right leg are to the ground.
To make this exercise easier, bend your knees and place your knee and foot to the ground, so basically it's a side plank from elbow to knee.
3) Offset Squat:
- Hold one dumbbell at shoulder height and get your feet in a squat position.
- With your chest up and shoulders down, squat between your knees until you reach your desired depth.
- Push your feet through the floor and squat up and finish with your glutes.
- Reset and repeat and do the same reps on the other side.
4) Birddog Row:
- Start with 50-60 % of the dumbbell weight you use for single-arm rows.
- Place your left knee and left hand on a weight bench and extend your right leg behind you, feeling a contraction in your right glute.
- Pick up the dumbbell from the floor with your right hand. Reset your position so your back is straight and in line with your right leg.
- Perform a row, pulling the dumbbell to the side of your right hip.
- Slowly lower down and repeat.
- Switch sides so your right knee and right hand is on the bench with your left leg straight back.
5) Side to Side Landmine Press:
- Hold the end of the barbell with both hands a few inches from the front of your right shoulder.
- Get into a wide stance.
- Keep your shoulders down and chest up, then press to the center of your body and slowly lower down to the left shoulder.
- Press up to the center and slowly lower down to the right shoulder, then keep alternating to your left side and right side each rep for an even number of reps.
6) Landmine Rotation:
- Hold the end of the barbell with both hands, with feet shoulder-width apart, and arms extended. Keep your knees bent slightly (athletic stance).
- Pivot with your right foot, twist your torso to the left bring the barbell towards the outside of your left hip.
- Then go back quickly to the starting position.
- Repeat, twisting to the other side, and keep alternating sides for even reps.
7) Dumbbell Rotational Punches:
- Stand upright holding a light pair of 5-to-10-pound dumbbells in each hand with wrists in neutral and elbows bent at 90 degrees.
- Pivot right and punch your left hand directly and extend your left arm as far out as it will go across your body.
- Then pivot back to your left, bringing your left hand toward your chest, and repeat with the right hand.
- Keeping alternating sides for time.
8) Single-Leg Hip Thrust:
- Sit on the floor with your back up against a parallel weight bench.
- Then drive your feet back towards the bench and make sure your body is in a straight line and your knees are bent at 90 degrees.
- Take your left foot off the ground and drive this knee towards your chest.
- Make sure your shoulder blades are on the bench.
- With your upper body stable, lower your hip towards the ground.
- Push through your right foot and extend your hip to the starting position.
- Reset and repeat and then do the other side.
9) 3- Point Row:
- With a weight bench in front of you and a dumbbell at your feet, get into a good hinge position and feel the stress in your hamstring.
- Place one hand on the bench and take a firm grip on the dumbbell in the other hand.
- Row the dumbbell towards your hip keeping your shoulders down, chest up, and abdominal muscles engaged.
- Then lower it with control until your arm is straight and repeat for reps.
- Repeat on the other side.
10) Kettlebell Swing:
- Stand with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart, with the kettlebell in front of you.
- Hinge down to grip the kettlebell and squeeze your armpits together and get your chest up.
- Hike the kettlebell between your legs and then thrust your hips forward, using this momentum to swing the kettlebell.
- Finish by squeezing your glutes and quads.
- Keep repeating for desired reps.
THE BEST LOVE HANDLE WORKOUTS
The best workout to get rid of love handles is compound, full-body moves with a few abdominal exercises that train your obliques with and without movement (static holds aka isometrics). This will be set up in a lower and upper body superset for workout efficiency and fat loss.
When you switch between upper and lower body moves this forces the heart to work harder to push blood to the upper and back to the lower body and vice-versa. This improves cardiovascular fitness and helps burns calories.
Instructions:
This is an A + B workout. Alternate between the two for 2-4 training sessions per week with a day off in between for recovery. Rest little between exercises and rest one to two minutes between supersets. Perform two to three rounds of each superset.
Workout A:
1A. Offset Squat 8-12 reps on each side
1B. Side To Side Landmine Press 12-16 reps
2A. Single-leg Hip Thrust 10-15 reps on each side
2B. Chaos Carry 40 yards per side
3A. 3 Point Row 8-15 reps on each side
3B. Side Planks 20-30 seconds on each side
Note: A&B exercises are supersets so do them one after the other (i.e. superset 1A with 1B).
Workout B:
1A. Kettlebell Swing 10-25 reps
1B. Side To Side Landmine Press 12-16 reps
2A. Birddog Row 8-12 reps on each side
2B. Landmine Rotations 6-10 on each side
3A. Dumbbell Rotational Punches 30-60 seconds
3B. Single Leg Hip Thrust 10-15 reps on each side
Note: A&B exercises are supersets so do them one after the other (i.e. superset 1A with 1B).
Cardio:
In addition to the resistance workouts above, do two 30-45 minute cardio sessions per week. We recommend doing one cardio workout with a medium to high intensity (can be shorter like ~30 minutes), like any of these fat-burning HIIT workouts, and one longer lower intensity steady state cardio session (45-60 minutes).
Related: HIIT vs Cardio for Fat Loss
With all of the above, you'll see your fat disappearing before you know it.
We also think it would be helpful to understand your body mass index and body fat percentage, so check this article out to understand the difference and what your ideal BMI and body fat percentage should be.
If you have any questions for us about getting rid of your love handles, leave a comment below. Also, feel free to share your tips and tricks or favorite exercises.
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Kirsten Yovino
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