Love-handles or the fat that hangs from the side of the waist and gives that muffin top when you are wearing jeans is annoying. Despite the name, there is really nothing to love about them. A lot of people target the sides while working out and do exercises for oblique till their sides hurt. There is a reason it’s not working like it should. To lose love handles, you must make lifestyle changes.
Lowering Your Sugar Intake
Eating the right things is essential when it comes to targeting fat. If you want to clean up your diet just stop having sugar. You will find this in sports drinks, sodas, cookies, and candies. The sugar found in fruit is not the same, natural sugar is healthy for you. Simple sugar called fructose is present in corn syrup, honey and even agave nectar which a lot of people assume is a great substitute for table sugar.
Other than being linked to health diseases, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome, when you have too much added sugar in the food you consume it results in the body converting it into fat. The first area it targets to store this fat is the belly area.
It is not just sugar that we should be wary of. If a food item has too much sugar content it means that it is devoid of many other nutrients which could help reduce body fat, including the one that is your love handles.
Don’t Stress Out
Of course, it is easier said than done. Stress comes with a negative impact on your mental and physical health. When you start stressing out, the body triggers the production of the hormone cortisol. The other term for cortisol is the stress hormone. This is a normal and necessary function, but when you stress too much and too often overexposure to it can cause unwanted side effects like weight gain, digestive issues, headaches, and anxiety.
Countless studies link the body’s cortisol levels with weight gain, especially around the midsection. To prevent fat from accumulating around your love handles practice meditation and yoga which help in lowering stress and ultimately your cortisol levels.
Some people opt for non-invasive fat reduction techniques such as CoolSculpting Indianapolis, and other popular cities in the US have medical centers that specialize in this innovative fat reduction procedure that targets love handles, flabby arms, and a double chin.
Move as Much as You Can
If you are going to work out for one hour and not move at all throughout the day, you aren’t doing your body any good. Find ways to move during the day as much as you can. A lot of people have desk jobs and remain seated for hours. Sitting for long periods of time without any break is not good for your waistline or for your health. And this is where love handles start growing. Setting simple habits like taking a break every half an hour to just walk around can make a huge difference. You can even track your steps by purchasing a pedometer which will show you exactly how much you move throughout the day.
Weight Lifting
A lot of people assume weightlifting makes you bulky. While you are indulging in physical activity remember that weight training added to your daily exercise can be extremely beneficial. Resistance training allows your body to contract muscles so that the body can build strength. By doing cardio you are burning calories while you workout, weight training helps you burn calories throughout the day when your muscles are resting from lifting weights.
A study that involved 97 overweight participants found that the amalgamation of weight and cardio is what allows us to burn fat more and faster than doing either exercise or resistance training in isolation. On top of this resistance training helps you burn more calories throughout the day.
Getting Enough Hours of Sleep
Just like higher stress levels when you don’t get enough shut-eye your cortisol levels start rising which leads to weight gain. Research indicates that sleep-deprived people gain more weight than those who get enough sleep. Another study showed that the people who slept less than five hours every night gained particularly belly fat than those who indulged in eight hours of sleep every night.
There you have it, the natural and simple ways you can reduce love handles. It is not enough that you eat lesser processed foods, you need to get enough fiber in your body during each meal so that your body works towards acquiring a slimmer waistline. Also, you may accomplish losing fat by following some of these steps, but you must make sure that this change lasts. For that to happen, you must make permanent lifestyle changes for the better.