How To Get Rid of Love Handles Fast and Naturally

Are you tired of those nasty love handles that seem to take over your entire body?

Do you feel like no matter what you do they remain or even get worse?

If you’re like so many of us, then you have probably suffered with love handles and felt helpless.

You may feel as if this unsightly fat will be a problem that plagues you the rest of your life.

The good news, however, is that if you know how to truly target and get rid of love handles, then they no longer have to be a part of your body or your life!

The first thing to understand is that love handles are a very common problem area.

If you gain weight at any point in time, this is often the first place it will accumulate.

The fat usually starts to accumulate in the belly area on both men and women.

It then begins to wrap around the entire midsection, thus spilling over when you try to zip your jeans.

You know they are there, but it’s a constant reminder every time you look in the mirror.

Accept the Problem and Make a Plan

You do need to think back as to how you gained the weight, as that’s certainly a factor in this as well.

If you gained a significant amount of weight through something like pregnancy, then love handles can be a less than savory reminder.

Typically this type of fat accumulates over time and is the product of too much belly fat which spreads wide across the area.

Having a thorough understanding will help you to set goals which will help you to be effective in shedding those love handles for good.

Rather than get frustrated, recognize that it took time to gain the weight—and it will take some time and the right focused effort to get rid of them!

Genetics play into the development of love handles, in addition to the way in which you gain the weight.

This doesn’t mean that you are helpless, but it does mean that you have to take a more targeted approach to getting rid of the love handles once they develop (1, 2, 3).

The foods that you eat, and even the way in which you eat them play into this.

Creating and maintaining an effective overall exercise regimen will also help you to get rid of them.

Love handles may be one of the most stubborn types of fat that so many of us gain, but there are effective ways to get rid of them.

Be Ready for Changes

Love handles are formed by the type of fat that you can see with the naked eye.

This is also the type of fat that you CAN get rid of.

This is fat that just lies directly beneath the surface of the skin.

It’s unsightly and it’s frustrating, and it may feel as though it will be there forever—but you can get rid of it once and for all with the right measures.

You will have to commit to some long term lifestyle changes in order to get rid of the love handles.

With these changes however comes the realization that changing your ways will help you to get to where you want.

Not only will you get rid of the love handles, but you will also ensure that you create a better picture of fitness and health as well.

You have to work for it, but when you see the fat virtually falling off your body you’ll realize it’s all worth it!

Reasons of this Fat Accumulation

You probably think that you know and understand why fat accumulates in and around the belly.

The reality is though that it’s probably due to factors other than what may seem obvious to you.

Sure it can be a high fat diet or a sedentary lifestyle, but it’s not just those two factors alone that lead to fat accumulation in this common problem area.

There are other contributing factors which lead to belly fat and ultimately love handles.

Stress is one of the number one factors for belly fat, and so this is something you really want to pay close attention to.

When you are under a great deal of stress this throws your body out of balance—and the end result is often the accumulation of fat in this area of the body.

When you feel stressed your body releases a hormone known as cortisol.

The body is ultimately trying to protect you because it senses that something is wrong.

It will compensate for this by helping you to store fat on the body in case you are starving or suffering from some other emergency situation.

What you end up with through the release of this hormone and the body’s response to your stress is belly fat—stress can do horrible things to your health and to your body and love handles are just the start of it (3, 4, 5)!

Sure it’s not stress alone, but this is a major part of understanding fat accumulation and love handles specifically.

You may be more susceptible to them due to gender, age, genetics and family history, other health conditions, and even hormonal imbalance.

As you can also guess, the obvious culprits of poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle are also likely to blame. (6)

You will see that getting rid of love handles is about managing all of these factors and this is precisely why a truly healthy lifestyle is the recommendation.

Do understand that your stress level plays into this just as much as your activity level and your eating.

Also be sure that you get to the heart of what makes up the love handles—and this is where you must understand the two types of fat and why they both matter in this particular problem.

Types of Fat

For some people it may feel as though love handles tend to accumulate overnight.

The reality is that with this type of fat, it really takes some time to develop.

It begins with belly fat for most people, particularly men.

This is the most common area for fat to develop and gather, and then you will often find that love handles are the end result of that over time.

Let’s start by understanding that there are actually two different types of fat.

Though you are ultimately trying to get rid of the visible fat which is actually tangible and unsightly, there is also something else happening beneath the surface as well.

This may be a result of a health condition or may lead to one later on, and so a thorough understanding of the two types of fat will help you in getting rid of those love handles and getting your body into better shape in the long run.

Subcutaneous fat is the type of fat that you can actually see.

It lies just beneath the surface of the skin and it is visible.

This is where many of us tend to concentrate all of our attention simply because it’s the basis of the unsightly problem areas that we want to get rid of quickly and efficiently.

This is the type of fat that can be removed by liposuction, and for which a change in lifestyle can work very effectively towards. (7, 8)

Then there’s another type of fat that you probably never thought about, but which may be a contributing factor to your fat accumulation as well.

Visceral fat is considered to be active fat.

This is not just that layer of fat that you see and which is doing nothing but accumulating on the body.

Visceral fat can be the type that accumulates due to much bigger issues, and therefore you must understand it to help your short and long term problems. (9)

Visceral fat is often the type of fat that accumulates due to hormonal imbalance.

It may be a result of inflammation in the body, and therefore the sign of a bigger problem that is present.

There are certain health problems that are associated with this type of fat which include breast cancer, Type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and even heart disease. (10)

Just because it’s not visible to the naked eye doesn’t mean that it’s not important—this may be a sign that your body is trying to cope with a health problem that you’re not even aware of.

Why does it matter?

When it comes to getting rid of love handles isn’t it all about the subcutaneous type of fat anyhow?

Though you might think that the visible type of fat is the only thing that matters, the two go hand in hand.

This is why we take a big picture view of fat because if you want to get rid of love handles AND keep them off, then you have to be aware of both types of fat and work to combat them simultaneously.

This is why you will see it’s not just about losing weight by performing countless reps of sit ups or crunches.

It’s ultimately about blasting away fat, replacing it with lean muscle tissue, and getting healthier along the way.

There is no “quick fix” and when you understand the two types of fat and how they go together hand in hand, then it can give you an appreciation for the long term lifestyle changes that are essential.

How Do I Get Rid of Love Handles?

By better understanding how love handles develop, it gives you a good vision of how this happened.

You can see that this is not something that happened overnight.

You can also understand that love handles can be associated with or even lead to health problems for you.

So that means now it’s time to learn how to get rid of them once and for all.

Though you hear that a healthy lifestyle is ultimately the way to go, there is no better motivation to adapt to this than your journey towards getting rid of love handles.

It’s not going to be easy at first and it will take time for you to transition, but the changes will be worth it.

There is no quick fix or “magic pill” to help you to get rid of the love handles, and it’s important to recognize that up front.

You must also recognize that you are not going to blast away love handles simply by doing a bunch of ab exercises.

Though this is the area of the body affected, you need more comprehensive and long term methods.

That means that it’s about exercising, but in a more long term way.

It also means that you are eating right and truly creating the foundation that will keep the love handles away for good.

This is about healthy changes, so forget the hype about crazy workouts or fad diets—if you want to change your body in this way then you have to learn to make changes that will support you in the long term.

Create an Effective Exercise Regimen

You want to be sure that you incorporate both cardio and strength training for this will help you in the long run.

You want to burn away the fat that has settled and turned into love handles.

You also in turn want to replace this fat with lean muscle. (11, 12, 13)

This will not only help to change the appearance of your body, but it will actually make you more efficient at burning calories moving forward. It’s crucial not to spot train and to get the whole body in on the act.

As you work through cardio and strength training, there are some great exercises to mix in which can help to cinch the waist and help you to feel the burn.

If you’re unsure of which ones to target, then here are some great ideas to help you in blasting away this fat for good.

Fuel Yourself Properly

It’s not just about what you eat, but also how you eat it.

If you want to get rid of love handles and really shape your body then you have to be sure to properly fuel your body.

That means that you eat breakfast, but also that you eat smaller meals throughout the day more frequently. (14, 15, 16)

This ensures that you never eat too much in one sitting, and it also gives you energy as well.

You’re going to be working out harder too if you’re invested in the journey to lose love handles, and that means that you have to incorporate proper nutrition.

As you can imagine you never want to eat too much, but you also want to be sure that you eat enough to get to where you want to be.

It really does matter that you eat enough, so never go to one extreme or the other.

Stop Stressing

We’ve touched on how much stress impacts you developing love handles, but you might not realize just how far this reaches.

When you feel stress and it takes over, then you are causing hormonal imbalance and even insulin resistance. (17, 18, 19)

Your body doesn’t know what to do with this stress and it goes into survival mode, thus saving everything you eat and storing it as fat.

If you want to get rid of love handles for good then learn to avoid stress or manage it more effectively in your life.

Meditation, visualization, or just deep breaths when you feel stress can help.

In the end learning to manage your stress can impact your health greatly, but it can specifically help you to get rid of those love handles for good!

Focus on Balanced Nutrition

Forget about the gimmicks because that’s not what will help you to get rid of a specific problem area like love handles.

This is about getting back to basics and eating a balanced diet that is free of excess sugar, simple carbohydrates, alcohol, and processed or fatty foods. (20, 21, 22)

You want to eat foods which will help to burn fat, but also speed up your metabolism for the long term as well.

That means that you eat whole foods such as lean proteins, loads of fruits and vegetables, beans and legumes, whole grains, and good fats.

Again this is about lifestyle change, but once you adapt to eating in this way you will find that there is no going back—especially when you see the love handles vanish!

Take Better Care of Yourself

As you are creating a healthy lifestyle, you have to be sure that you are thinking of every aspect of that.

This means that you are getting more sleep at night, for this too matters greatly.

If you’re exhausted then you have no will power, and you are also putting unnecessary stress on the body.

You need to be sure that you hydrate properly each day, for that will help to flush away the fat and toxins.

You also need to be sure that you are managing any existing health conditions.

Going to the doctor, listening to your body, and putting your health as a top priority all matters.

Truly taking care of yourself helps you to create a healthy foundation—and all of this benefits you in reshaping your body and getting rid of those stubborn love handles for good.

Conclusion

To truly change something in your life, you need to begin by understanding it.

When you think about the task of getting rid of love handles, you will hopefully now understand how this came to be in the first place.

This is a very common problem area, but it doesn’t develop overnight—so you shouldn’t expect to get rid of it overnight with some fad diet or quick workout.

You might not have realized before just how much stress factors into your weight gain, specifically around the belly.

Learning to manage your stress is not only a viable way for getting rid of love handles, but it’s also an instrumental component of living healthier.

You improve your health when you learn to take control of your stress, and you also help to change your body and get it to look the way you want it to.

Love handles will be a thing of the past if you stay ahead of your stress and ensure that it never takes over your body or your life again.

You also have to understand that the two types of fat can work together to create this unsightly problem in the first place.

If you do have a health problem, it’s crucial to learn to manage it and treat it.

If you have fat accumulation throughout the body or a family history of health problems such as diabetes, then you want to be proactive in approaching this.

It may be much more than love handles at play, and the sooner that you get in tune with this and understand how these two types of fat work together, the better off you will be.

You also have a keen understanding of how fat accumulates on the body, and more importantly why long term lifestyle changes are key to your success.

There is no point in being upset about what happened in the past, for it’s done and over with.

All you can do now is focus on the future and ensure that you aim for long term changes that will benefit you.

If you want to get rid of love handles then you have to learn to take better care of yourself and create the right foundation.

Now you know what lead to or causes the problem, and it’s time to take charge of your body and your health—blast away those love handles for good and know that you are doing something good for yourself in the process!