6 Habits To Lose Love Handles and Embrace a Healthier You

Last Updated on July 24, 2024 by Paola Castillo

Summer season is usually the best time to rock your swimsuits, and the last thing you need is for your love handles to steal the scene, so that’s why we will tell you how to lose love handles. If you are not familiar with love handles, you may assume that it’s something related to love. But as cute as their name is, there’s nothing much to like or love about love handles.

For starters, the term ‘love handles’ refers to the excess fat located around your waist that hangs over your pants. And as much as you want them off of your body, they’re often one of the most stubborn fats, and they can be a challenge to get rid of.

To get started, here are some tips to help you lose your love handles in time for the summer and have your beach body ready.

Limit Your Sugar Intake

The key to losing fat and you lose love handles, especially around your waist, is a healthy and clean diet. One way to eat healthily is to cut off your added sugar intake. Added sugar is different from natural sugar, which you can find in healthy foods like fruits. The former is often found in sodas, candies, and cookies.

When you consume too much sugar daily, you’re simply adding another amount of fat to your body, particularly in your waist, which results in love handles. Furthermore, this artificial sugar can also lead to health issues like diabetes and heart diseases.

So, to make it easier for yourself to reduce or lose love handles, be mindful of what you eat and ditch those sugary foods and beverages.

Be Proactive

You probably already know that committing to a regular exercise routine is essential when you are trying to shed some weight or lose love handles. But aside from regular exercise, you also need to ensure that you lead a proactive lifestyle.

Nowadays, many people live sedentary lifestyles due to their office jobs wherein people sit for hours the entire day. Sitting for long periods is one of the leading causes of the formation of love handles.

Thus, even if you’re working a desk job, you need to find ways to keep moving throughout the day. For example, if you’re always seated in the office, set the alarm every 30 minutes to remind yourself to get up, do some stretches, walk around the office or go up and down the stairs. When you get home, opt to use the stairs than the elevator for some extra exercise. Being proactive can cause a significant difference to lose love handles.

Manage Your Stress Levels

Besides affecting your mental and emotional health, being stressed out all the time can also cause you to gain extra weight. That’s because every time you’re stressed, your body produces more cortisol hormones which bring unwanted side effects like headaches, digestive issues, anxiety, and of course, weight gain. Additionally, being stressed most of the time can give us the urge to unwind and de-stress thru eating.

So, if you’re trying to lose love handles, consider learning how to manage your stress levels. You can do this by incorporating relaxation methods into your routines, such as yoga and meditation.

Increase Your Cardio Exercises

As mentioned, getting rid of your love handles needs a healthy diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes. To ensure your body’s free from any love handles before the summer, set aside at least 20-30 minutes every day to perform aerobic or cardio exercises.

Aerobic workouts like jogging, running, or biking can help burn calories and slim down your midsection and lose love handles.

Add Weights

Doing any kind of exercise can help get rid of your love handles, but adding weightlifting into your physical routine has some added benefits. Weightlifting helps your body burn your calories while at the same time, building toner and leaner muscles, including the waist area. Furthermore, resistance training like weightlifting can also help boost your metabolism, which is vital in burning more calories every day, and vital to losing love handles.

So, when creating your fitness routine, it may be best to combine weightlifting with your other aerobic exercises for better results.

Improve Your Sleep

Like stress, poor sleep can also increase your body’s cortisol levels, which eventually leads to weight gain. Furthermore, being frequently sleep-deprived has also been linked to health problems like heart diseases, diabetes, and obesity.

So, along with eating healthily, staying proactive, lifting weights, and doing cardio workouts, make sure to get enough hours of sleep at night to prevent weight gain.

Wrapping Up

As you can see, getting rid of your love handles isn’t always about how many painful abdominal exercises you do. This list shows that there are simpler and more natural ways to lose your love handles in time for the summer season.

So, before shopping for your swimsuits, check out these tips and start losing your love handles for the better.