Category: Exercise & Fitness

How to Get Rid of Love Handles

“Love handles” is a cute name for a serious problem: fatty deposits on the back and sides of the waist. They’re not just unsightly, they’re unhealthy, too. Fortunately, you can get rid of love handles once and for all by making some small changes to your lifestyle.

Lose Fat All Over
Love handles are a sign of excess abdominal fat. This is a stubborn and dangerous type of fat that can lead to metabolic disorders and even serious heart disease. Reducing the fat around your waistline can decrease your chance of becoming diabetic or suffering a heart attack.

If you’ve considered targeting your abdominal fat and nothing else, don’t bother; there’s no such thing as spot reduction. If there were, none of us would have problem areas and we would all be perfectly proportioned! But in reality, if you want to get rid of love handles, you have to get rid of fat everywhere else, too.
Cardio exercise will help you burn fat faster. Strength training will increase your lean muscle mass, which in turn will make you burn calories faster. Eating at a slight calorie deficit will keep you from storing extra calories as fat. The best way to get rid of love handles is to do all three.
Build Stronger Obliques

The obliques are the muscles that run down both sides of your abdomen. They frame the group of muscles commonly called the 6-pack. Obliques give us the strength to twist and turn when we need to. Unfortunately, they are sometimes hidden by love handles.
Building stronger obliques will help you burn more calories, and will give you tight abdominal muscles to show off after the love handles are gone.

You can get rid of love handles faster by doing exercises that were found by the American Council on Exercise to be the very best ones for working your obliques: Bicycle crunches, captain’s chair leg raises, and vertical leg crunches.

Bicycle crunches involve lying down on your back and doing crunch-twists while pedaling your legs as if you were riding a bicycle. Captain’s chair leg raises require the use of a captain’s chair, which is a common fixture in most gyms. Vertical leg crunches are performed like regular crunches, but with your legs raised perpendicular to the ground.
Do a search for these exercises to find helpful step-by-step guides with photos.
Eat Fat-Burning Foods
Some foods, especially those high in sugar and sodium, add inches to the waistline. To get rid of love handles, you’ll need to eat more foods that fight belly fat. Doctors recommend heart-healthy fats, like those found in olive oil, nuts, and salmon; 3 servings of calcium from green, leafy vegetables or dairy products; and plenty of fiber from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
These foods are digested slowly, so they leave you feeling satisfied longer. Add some green tea to your diet for an extra fat-burning boost. Three cups a day will speed up your metabolism and ward off diseases.
Check Your Clothes
One last quick and dirty trick to get rid of love handles: Make sure your clothes fit properly. Tight clothing can create the illusion of love handles, even on thin folks. If you’ve worked hard to lose your love handles, don’t ruin the effect by squeezing into jeans that leave you overflowing!

When paired with a healthy diet, exercise is a crucial part of a successful weight loss regimen.

In fact, though diet is important, some experts believe that exercise is even more important when it comes to losing weight and warding off disease.

So how much should a person exercise each day? Health benefits can be achieved with 20 to 30 minutes of low-impact cardio exercise, five times a week.

But while some people exercise to lose weight, others simply want to improve their health and keep their joints flexible. Others want to get in peak condition for sports.

In short, the amount of daily exercise you need depends on what your goals are.

 

Exercising for health.

Experts agree that just thirty minutes of low or medium impact aerobics five times a week is all that’s needed to reduce the risk of certain diseases and promote longevity.

This can easily be obtained by going for walks after dinner, working in your garden several times a week, or riding a bicycle instead of driving your car for some of your daily errands.

If you’re new to exercise, it’s okay to start slow. Studies have shown that your body will benefit even if you have to break up the thirty minutes into smaller chunks throughout the day.

The key is to get your heart rate up to a level that will strengthen your cardiovascular system.

A good rate is 50 – 70% of your maximum heart rate. As a general rule, you can determine your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220.

For example, a 40 year old would have a maximum heart rate of 180. They would get the most benefit from maintaining a heart rate of 90 – 126 while exercising.

Exercising for weight loss.

If you’re exercising to lose weight, you might have to step up your daily activity to 45 minutes or even an hour.

An example of a good weight loss routine would be 30 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio, like speed-walking or using a cross-trainer at the gym.

That would be followed by 15 – 30 minutes of strength-training. When you do strength-training, be sure to work different muscle groups each day so that each muscle group has time to recover before you push it again.

Use lower weights and more reps to develop lean, toned muscles. Use higher weights and fewer reps to build bulkier muscles.

Exercising for extreme fitness.

Some people train for two or more hours each day. These are typically experienced athletes who are already in good condition, but who want to shape their bodies into peak performance machines.

This level of training is usually done for a few months leading up to an athletic event. After the event, the athlete returns to a more normal workout routine.

Before you start an extreme fitness regimen, speak with your doctor to make sure there are no underlying health concerns that could be made worse by such a routine.

Also, extreme fitness regimens are typically a combination of cardio and strength-building exercises.

When you’re starting out, get guidance from a trainer or someone else who has experience with the program to make sure you maintain proper form and minimize the risk of injury.

Exercising for older adults.

It’s important to stay active at any age. Older adults (65+) can benefit greatly from regular exercise.

The US Department of Health & Human Services advises older adults to get 2.5 to 5 hours of moderate to vigorous exercise each week.

If health conditions make this difficult, the person should get as much exercise as possible.

Muscle-building exercises are helpful for older adults, as are exercises which improve flexibility and balance, such as yoga.

Do you ever look at your thighs and despair? Do they jiggle when you walk? Do you have saddle-bags or wobbly inner thighs that rub together?

Upper leg fat is a problem for many men and women. It can contribute to obesity, make our jeans fit funny, and keep us from ever pulling on a pair of shorts. It’s also a stubborn form of fat, and losing it can be a long and discouraging process.

But it doesn’t have to be. To get rid of upper leg fat one and for all, take this advice to heart.

Decrease Your Body Fat Percentage

Sadly, spot reduction is a fitness myth. Short of liposuction, which is an invasive an often temporary solution, there is no way to remove fat from one area of your body without removing it from the rest of your body.

To reduce the amount of fat in your upper thighs, you’ll need to reduce your overall body fat percentage. The old-fashioned way is still the best: Eat less, move more. Cardio and strength training will help you get thinner, firmer thighs (and everything else).

Do you know how much of your weight comes from fat, and how much comes from lean muscle? If not, you can use calipers or an electronic body fat calculator to find out. If you need assistance, talk to a nutritionist, personal trainer, or your health care provider.

Get at least an hour of aerobic exercise 3 – 5 times a week. Do 15 – 30 minutes of strength training every other day. You will start to see results fast, and the longer you stick with it, the slimmer your thighs will be.

Exercises that Target the Thighs

Our thighs are a large muscle group. Once you lose the extra padding around the upper thighs, you’ll want to have shapely muscles to show off. You can get those sculpted thighs by doing specific exercises that target the area.

Thigh exercises that don’t require extra equipment include squats, wall sits, and lunges. You can do these every other day until you reach muscle exhaustion (shaky legs). Walking or running up and down the stairs is another good way to tone your thighs.

Losing Leg Fat at the Gym

Most fitness centers have a variety of machines that are designed to tone the thighs. Leg presses and leg curls are good choices, as is any machine that requires you to climb steps or pedal.

For extra toning, look for machines that work the abductor muscles (outer thighs) as well as the adductor muscles (inner thighs). These machines look similar to the ThighMaster device, and they work beautifully.

Toning Your Thighs All Day Long

Of course, you don’t need a gym – or even a break from your normal routine – to get shapely thighs. You can actually tone your upper legs while you run errands, drive around, and even while you work at your desk.

While standing or sitting, clench your thighs and glutes as hard as you can. This is a popular way to tone and strengthen the backside, but it will also give your thighs a nice workout.

Walk longer distances than necessary by parking your car farther away from your destination. Or run errands on foot when you can. Take the stairs rather than the elevator or escalator. Every little bit helps.

There are even specific thigh-toning exercises you can do while you work. The ThighMaster and similar devices fit between your knees while you sit, so they are convenient to use anywhere.

You can also shop online for small exercise bikes that fit under your desk. Pedal while you work to lose upper leg fat fast!