Every year, millions of people strive to lose weight and get a “beach body” just in time for summer. Well, summer is finally here and I imagine that a lot of those people have obtained their goals.
However, I am even more willing to bet that those people only focused on things such as slimming their waist line and getting rid of their bulging beer belly. I am sure that most of them did not pay much attention to their obliques and the stubborn fat (commonly known as “love handles”) that built up there.
Never fear, there is still time to get rid of that stubborn fat and still be able to hit the beach before autumn and winter come. You just have to make some changes to your daily routine and add new foods to your diet and new exercises to your work out regimen.
Diet Changes To Lose Your Love Handles
The reason that you have this stubborn fat buildup in your obliques is because of the food you have eaten. Perhaps this was because of your unhealthy diet that you had before you started losing weight. Perhaps it is because your current diet still is not healthy enough. Regardless, the following tips should be able to help you.
- First off, I feel that it is appropriate to point out that exercising more to compensate for an unhealthy diet is not a good idea. There is plenty of evidence showing that it is an ineffective way to lose weight. If you are eating the wrong foods, it will be hard to reap the benefits of the exercise such as building muscle and burning fat.
- Stay away from processed food. You probably should have already done this, but if you have not, it is time to start. These foods have no nutritional value and end up screwing with your metabolism.
- Make sure to count your calories. That fat buildup that causes love handles can be a result of consuming more calories than you are burning off.
- Eat more foods rich with healthy proteins, carbs, and fats. These foods include chicken, beef, eggs, cheese, nuts, rice, oats, and fruits such as bananas and blueberries.
Despite what it may seem, foods rich in fats will not end up making you fat. Although, that is not to say that all fats are good for you. You should try to stay away from trans fats and saturated fats. You can still treat yourself with the occasional pizza or ice cream, but try to stick to healthy foods.
Workout Changes To Lose Your Love Handles
These are the best work outs you can do to help erase those love handles:
Knee Drops –
This exercise consists of you laying down flat on your floor. Put your arms at your sides and stretch them to their furthest extent. Once you are in place, all you have to do is lift your knees up and rotate between dropping them at your right and left sides of your body. Do this exercise thirty times.
Enhanced Push Ups –
This exercise consists of going down for a regular push up. Once you have finished the push up and are down on the ground, you use your arms and legs to propel yourself up into a standing position. When you actually try this, you will find that when you get up you will basically be in a squatting position. Do not worry, this is how it is supposed to be. After that, rinse and repeat sixty times.
Plank Up And Down –
Just like the previous exercise, get down and get into a push up stance. After that, slowly put your arms down onto their forearms so that you are now in a planking stance. From here, use one of your arms to push yourself back up into the original push up stance. Rinse and repeat forty times.
Spike A Medicine Ball –
This is a great exercise for those who need to blow off some steam. The premise is simple: hoist a medicine ball (the weight amount is your choice) high above your head and spike it into the ground with full force. Do this at most forty times.
Sit Up twists –
This is a simple exercise. All you have to do is get into a sit up stance and instead of going up and down, you just twist your body to the left and right. This is a fantastic exercise to strengthen your obliques and shred that fat buildup that creates love handles. Do as many of these as you can in a minute.
Back To Back Medicine Ball Passes –
Get an exercise buddy and try out this exercise. You and your exercise buddy should stand back to back. Once you are in that position, just keep giving each other the ball, twisting your body to the left and right to achieve that in the process. Do this as many times as you can in two minutes.
Mountain Climbers –
This is probably my most favorite work out – as it is very exhausting (in a good way) and fun. To do a mountain climber, all of you have to do is get into a push up stance. Once you are in that stance, move your legs as if you are jogging in place. Do it at your own pace without screwing up your stance. Do as many as you can in a minute.
Swing A Kettlebell –
It is time to stop ignoring the kettlebells when you are working out at the gym. They are not just there for decoration. How do you use them properly? Stand up and get into a stance where your feet are shoulder-width apart. Make sure your toes are pointing outward and your knees are bent a little bit. Then, grab the kettlebell and make sure to grip it tightly and hold it between your legs. Make sure to keep your back bent as you shift your hips back to swing the kettlebell back and forth between your legs. Do fifty of these.
Enhanced Crunches –
This exercise is great because there are a bunch of different ways you can do this to strengthen your obliques and erase those blubbery love handles. Get into a crunch position. This is not as a typical crunch though, as you will be contorting your body to crunch into your left and right knees separately, instead of both at the same time. Do forty of these.
Side Plank Crunches –
Another kind of crunch. This one consists of you getting into a side plank stance and then doing the enhanced crunches mentioned above. Do thirty of these.
Lose Your Love Handles Review Summary
It is high time to stop neglecting your love handles in your pursuit to lose weight. They are a very important part of achieving an attractive looking body and it does not take much to erase those ugly mounds of fat. You just need to be motivated and know what to do and how to do it. I hope this article was able to help. Good luck!
