How to get rid of love handles  

Love handles create too many problems adding to embarrassment when in a group. They also cause a lot of health problems. 

High blood pressure and diabetes are some common problems. There are also psychological problems, hormonal problems and behavioral problems. 

However, all of these seem secondary when considered how adversely they affect your looks. Hence, getting rid of these love handles is very important. 

How to get rid of love handles? 

Although the question is simple, the answer is not. You have to include a comprehensive approach including diet, exercise and a number of lifestyle changes, to get rid of the love handles. 

Dieting to reduce love handles 

You might find diet charts on the internet or in diet books. However, the practicality of these is limited to people who might have written them. 

Every person has different calorie requirement. Even for people with the same height and weight; diet differs according to lifestyle, physical activities and a host of other things. 

There are a few points that you can take care of while preparing your diet. 

• An average adult requires 2000 calorie per day. You need to cut calories to lose weight. Choose foods in such a way that you achieve 1400 to 1800 calories per day. 
• However reducing calorie intake to less than 1400, may lead to problems in cognitive functions and hormonal imbalance. You might begin to feel weak and depressed. 
• Take frequent meals so that you do not starve while you are dieting. Choose foods rich in vitamins and minerals, which help you to sustain your body. Keep in mind that your diet has to be balanced. 
• Too much sugar, salt, saturated fats and carbohydrates must be avoided. These foods do not help in any way towards your goal of getting rid of love handles. 
• Carbonated drinks and alcohol contain too many calories. Even a single drink can add up a lot of calories. Hence, avoiding these drinks is a must. 
• Drink lots of water. Water has more than one advantage. It benefits bowel movement, digestion, removal of toxins from the body and also reduces hunger. Water also reduces the amount of sodium present in the body, and helps in fighting water retention in the muscles. 
• Ensure that your diet chart consists of more fresh fruits and vegetables which can be metabolized quickly. Add whole grains, since they are higher in fiber when compared to their polished counterpart. 

Exercises to reduce love handles 

Dieting alone would not be enough for best results in reducing love handles. Exercise is also very important. Love handles mostly comprise of the extra fat present in the oblique and the abdominal region. 

There are a number of exercises that are specific to this muscle group and work wonders to get rid of the love handle quickly. 

Some of them are modified forms of traditional exercises giving better workout to your love handles. 

1. Twist crunch – This is very similar to normal crunches, and varies only when you twist your body while doing the crunches. For this, you twist the upper half of your body when you rise up. So, that you touch your right leg with your left elbow and vice versa.

This exercise helps you to tone your abs while stretching it, resulting in faster fat burn. You can do this exercise continuously for 5 to 7 minutes. 

2. Alternate Leg Raise – Lie facing the floor. Now raise your left leg and right arm, 45⁰ from the ground. Stay in the same position for few seconds and return to the original position. Now repeat with the other leg and arm.

This exercise gives best result in terms of toning the oblique. You have to experience a pull on the oblique when doing these exercises for good toning. 

3. Trunk twist –This is the simplest exercise but gives excellent results, especially to work out the trunk region. Stand straight with legs apart and hands stretched out. Now twist from side to side with moderate speed. You can do a set of 15 with 3 reps. 

4. Cardiovascular exercise – Including cardio exercise is a must for any weight reduction regime, more so for love handles. Include cardio exercises like walking, running, hiking, cycling and others. 

5. Ab Circle Pro – This equipment is recommended for target muscle workout, namely the love handles. Ab Circle Pro is designed exclusively for love handles and belly fat. It is constructed such, that it provides very good support to your back bone and neck while doing crunches. Thus, you do not have to worry about any damage to the spine while working out. 

The above mentioned are just examples of exercise that would help you in reducing love handles. However, you can come up with more variations of these exercise, to make your workout more fruitful. 

There are also certain other traditional exercise such as Yoga, Tai Chi and Pilates that have a great effect in keeping your body fit with firm muscles. However, these traditional forms of exercise have to be performed only under proper guidance of a teacher. 

The words love handles may sound lovely; but they are not so in reality. Getting rid of them is very important both from visual as well as health point of view.