Don’t love your love handles? We don’t blame you. They can be really hard to lose! You’ll need a combination of diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes to make them disappear. These nine tips will teach you how to get rid of love handles for women and men.
How To Get Rid Of Love Handles With Diet And Exercise
1. Avoid Convenience Foods
Convenience foods have extra sugar, fat, and salt. All of these will lead to weight gain and make your love handles worse! So it’s a good idea to avoid packaged, boxed, and microwavable foods.1 Sugary drinks and foods are especially bad for your waist.2 Remember, extra sugar is stored as extra body fat.
Make your own food whenever possible. If you’re not sure where to start, search for easy recipes online. Don’t be afraid to experiment with new ingredients and techniques. By ditching convenience foods, you’ll instantly have the best diet to lose love handles.
2. Eat Fruits And Veggies
Are you prone to overeating unhealthy foods out of starvation? Eat more fruits and veggies. The fiber in them is digested very slowly by the body. You’ll feel full for a long time, reducing the temptation to binge eat.3 This will help manage your weight and therefore, your love handles.
Fruits and vegetables can also bulk up your meals without adding extra calories. You’ll get a generous helping of vitamins and minerals. It’s exactly what your body needs to keep your weight in check.
3. Choose Lean Meats
Another way to manage body fat is to eat lean meats like skinless chicken and turkey. These have less total and saturated fat compared to other meats like pork and beef. They’ll also give you healthy protein, another nutrient that promotes fullness. Fish is another tasty option that’s full of nutritious fats.
For a diet that fights love handles, combine lean meats with vegetables and whole grains. Between the fiber and protein, you’ll be satisfied for a while. If you’re craving more flavor, use fresh spices and herbs instead of salt and fat.
4. Eat Regular Meals
Routine eating habits can manage body fat and love handles. And yes, it’s true – breakfast is the most important! Skipping it will make you feel so hungry that you’ll overeat later on.4 So, your best bet is to focus on fiber and protein in the morning. Easy ideas include fresh fruits, smoothies, and peanut butter toast.
Healthy snacking is a great idea. Think of it as an opportunity to add even more nutrients to your diet. It’ll also control your hunger in between meals, helping you make smarter choices later.
5. Drink Alcohol In Moderation
If you drink alcohol, don’t have too much. The high carbohydrate content is stored as fat, leading to weight gain.5 Heavy drinking can also encourage poor food choices. There’s a reason why you crave greasy pizza at 2 AM.
Limit yourself to one drink a day if you’re a woman and two drinks a day if you’re a man.6 Opt for drinks with healthy mixers like fruit juice or club soda. You can also prevent late night snacking by eating a filling meal before going out.
6. Build More Muscle
Most people think that weight loss is all about cardio, but building muscle is really important. In fact, muscle burns more calories than fat, even when you’re at rest. This is because muscle is more metabolically active.7 So the more muscle you have, the more calories you’ll burn. It will control your weight while slimming your waist.
Any type of muscle-building workout is the best exercise to get rid of love handles. Experiment with different types of resistance training to see what you like. Lifting weights, doing push-ups, and swimming are all great options.
7. Work Out Your Abs
Don’t stop at banishing extra fat. You need to tone your waist, too. It’s the best way to give your stomach a defined shape, even after you lose the belly. The love handles will have a hard time coming back.
Focus on working out those abs. Do flat stomach exercises to get rid of love handles. Examples include crunches, leg lifts, and planks. Challenge yourself by adding resistance bands and dumbbells to the mix. To make your core even stronger, adopt a regular yoga or Pilates practice.
8. Do Cardio
Wondering how to get rid of love handles? For both men and women, cardio is the answer. For both genders, stomach fat is the first to disappear with cardio.8 Without the extra belly fat, you won’t have love handles.
Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio five days a week.9 Find an activity that you love, like dancing or tennis. Even light walking or jogging will do. To sneak in more cardio, choose the stairs instead of the elevator. Park on the other side of the parking lot or run errands on foot. It all adds up.
9. Get Enough Sleep
Did you know that sleep deprivation is linked to weight gain? It messes with hormones that control appetite, leading to more frequent hunger. So if you want to fight your love handles, get enough rest. You’ll feel more in tune with your appetite and food choices.10
Adequate sleep also gives you enough energy to workout. You won’t feel too tired, lazy, or groggy. It’s a cycle: Exercising helps regular sleeping habits and sleeping helps exercise. Together, these healthy habits can combat love handles.
Your love handles won’t disappear overnight. It takes a while to get rid of them! With hard work and determination, you’ll never see them again.
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