Love handles, what are they?
Love handles are a store of fat located around the hips and on the abdominal area of the body.
These love handles are often pictured as "little rings" or "little rolls". They are a source of self-consciousness for many people, in women as in men.
Why do I have love handles?
Love handles belong to the family of subcutaneous fat. Love handles appear over time, following an unbalanced diet and/or a certain sedentary lifestyle or a poor lifestyle. Love handles affect women as much as men.
The shape of your body can affect the way fat is stored, including love-handle fat. Some people have a genetic tendency to accumulate more fat in this area, while others have fewer problems with love handles.
This fat can be hard to lose but it is possible to get rid of it with time and patience. To say goodbye to love handles, you need to make changes to your diet, your sport exercises and your lifestyle and thereby get back to a healthy weight
Getting rid of love handles will let you feel better in your body and in your mind and will improve your health. Indeed, an excess of fat around the belly can promote the onset of diseases such as diabetes or hypertension.
Here are our tips to say goodbye to love handles!
A suitable diet to lose love handles
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How to lose love handles? Adopt a balanced diet
You should favour a diet that is healthy and made up of foods that are low in calories or have a low glycaemic index, and that have high nutritional values, such as vegetables, rich in minerals and fibre. Fibre is also found in whole grains, pulses and fruit and vegetables. Avoid white flours and fruit that is too sugary.
Your diet must also contain protein to lose love handles. Favour white meats, fish and eggs. If you are vegetarian or vegan, pulses, seitan and tofu are also very good sources of protein.
Avoid fizzy drinks, alcohol, junk food, and processed foods that contain a lot of calories and promote weight gain and the appearance of fat on your hips.
Learn to cook and to make your own recipes. You will take more pleasure in eating what you have prepared yourself.
Ask a health and nutrition professional for advice if you don't know how to improve your diet.
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How to lose love handles? Favour healthy fats
Instead, favour steam cooking, but if you prefer to add some fat, choose the good fats.
Stocking up on healthy fats such as avocados, olive oil, nuts, seeds and oily fish can help with weight loss. They help you feel full, which makes you eat less food throughout the day.
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How to lose love handles? Stay hydrated
You need to drink at least 1 to 2 litres of water a day. You can drink tea, coffee, adding, if you wish, natural sugar or alternatives (honey, stevia, maple syrup, etc.).
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How to lose love handles? Try a weight-loss programme
We have programmes suited to weight loss that will help you lose love handles. 3 programme durations for each goal: 6 days to eliminate excess, 15 days to get your figure back and 30 days to change your size.
Replace two meals of your day with 1 bar from the programme per meal and keep one traditional balanced meal a day. One bar replaces a meal and it is balanced in macro and micro nutrients.
Other tips to find out how to lose love handles
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Get enough sleep
A lack of sleep can lead to a build-up of abdominal fat and weight gain. For an adult, getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night is strongly recommended for good health.
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Manage stress
Stress can increase appetite and food intake, which can lead to fat build-up. Practise stress-management techniques such as meditation or yoga.
How to lose love handles through sport?
Doing sport lets you burn more calories to help you lose weight and thereby get rid of love handles.
No physical activity targets belly and hip fat, but some sports and exercises are still more suitable.
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How to lose love handles? Burn fat to lose weight
To lose weight and therefore lose your love handles, you need to burn fat through cardio exercise: running, cycling, swimming, skipping. This exercise will increase your energy consumption and therefore burn fat mass.
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How to lose love handles? Replace fat with muscle
It is important to combine this with muscle-strengthening exercises to build and tone the abdominal belt, such as the plank exercise for example or any other targeted, compound weight-training exercise.
The aim is to reduce your fat mass and increase your muscle mass. Belly fat can be hard to lose. That is why you need to increase the intensity of your exercise sessions in order to get results.
In summary.
Love handles are subcutaneous fat located on the hips and lower belly. It is possible to lose your love handles quickly. To lose love handles, you need to trigger weight and fat-mass loss through a healthy diet. Doing sport is important for effective fat-mass loss. All types of sport promote weight loss. However, cardio exercise and muscle strengthening are to be favoured to lose your love handles.
If you are self-conscious about your love handles or if you have trouble losing them, it is recommended to ask a doctor or a health professional for advice.
