Merriam-Webster defines love handles to be fatty bulges along the sides of the body at the waist.
In a literal sense, the pinchable fat on both sides of your waist leads to a “muffin top” when you wear tight underclothes, jeans, or shorts. People usually blame those pieces of clothing for the creation of love handles, but in reality, Love handles are already there, they only make them more prominent.
Truthfully speaking, it’s not just you, in fact, even those who are completely devoted to their exercise regime often struggle to shed these seemingly omnipresent pockets of fat, no matter how many workouts they do.
Love handles affect men and women alike. But fear not: Though love handles may be stubborn, they aren’t invincible. Love handles are not dangerous in themselves, or anything to be ashamed of. That said, they can signal obesity in some cases, which may lead to a higher risk of certain conditions. Reducing overall body fat and love handles can rule out the possibility of several lifestyle diseases in the long run.
Love handles develop over time not overnight. Fat retention is the main culprit of love handles. It can either be due to higher intake and/or inadequate burning of calories through physical activities. In fact the body stores energy that it is unable to burn in the form of fat.
• Genetics
Genes play a very important role in determining the body type. It not just decides your height, colour, physique, intelligence etc., but also your bodies ability to store fat. But can you blame it all on genes, with right diet, adequate exercise one can definitely get rid of the love handle fat.
• Hormones
You may be surprised to learn that your hormone levels have a great deal to do with where you store your fat – this goes for both men and women. There are two hormones involved when love handles are around: insulin and cortisol.
• Stress levels
Biggest question how can stress cause love handles? And the answer is because when you are stressed out, a stress hormone called cortisol is released. Increased level of Cortisol increases the breakdown of your muscle mass, especially when it is present over a long period of time. What's more, it also helps the placement of fat around your mid section, and therefore helps to create those love handles that you want to avoid. The more you stress, more cortisol you produce, and the greater your chances of developing love handles and other fat around the midsection.
When one suffers from sleep deprivation, one’s metabolism gets sluggish and one run the risk of gaining or unable to lose those love handles. This is mainly because sleep restores leptin levels – the hormone in your body that controls how hungry you feel. Leptin is often referred to as the “satiety hormone” or the “starvation hormone.” To further simplify, Staying up late reduces energy levels, which in turn increases food cravings, which leads to weight gain. Sleep deprivation also causes physical inactivity and reduced energy for movements throughout the day.
• Poor nutrition
Making poor diet choices regularly will lead to excess fat throughout the body, including love handles. Do not stuff your body with more calories than it needs. Poor nutrition coupled with irregular eating patterns, late-night get together, parties, and sedentary lifestyles add to this problem.
• Age
As one grow older, the body fat compositions change drastically. For most people fat gets stored in the belly and hip area. The main reason behind this is the major hormonal shift and loss of muscle. In women, the reduction of estrogen levels after menopause can lead to love handles. Men also face changes in the levels of testosterones. With age, loss of muscle in the body further accelerates weight gain.
• Lack of exercise
Universal fact, physical activities and exercises help to burn extra calories. Lack of this is one of the major reason for fat to deposit. People who follow a sedentary lifestyle tend to consume more calories and have low level of energy and stamina. Especially after COVID, the work from home culture has increased the sedentary lifestyles for everyone around the globe. One needs ample Physical activities and Exercise to reduce love handles.
Only question running through your mind would be how to get rid of love handles?
Love handles may seem insurmountable, but with a few changes and modifications, you can address this issue effectively. To start with, you needs to exercise every day! This is non-negotiable point, and you can start by getting off your very comfortable couch and get moving.
These simple Yoga exercises for love handles will ensure that you keep the love handle fat away.
1. Stand erect with hands on the sides. Keep the feet parallel to each other and maintain a distance of 2 feet between them.
2. Now, raise the left arm above your head keeping it straight and close to the ear.
3. Inhaling, bend only the upper part of the body, above the waist, to the right.
4. Keep the left hand close to the head, hips and legs should not be pushed out, only curve the spine.
5. Simultaneously, slide the right hand down towards the knee. Bring the thorax, the neck and the head to a right angle with the base. The oblique upper part of the body should be held precisely in a vertical plane, i.e. carefully avoid any tendency to incline either forward or backward.
6. Complete all the above steps in 3 seconds, while inhaling.
7. Maintain this position, for 6 seconds, retaining the breath (final position).
8. Return to starting position: Exhaling, in 3 seconds, smoothly bring the trunk back to starting position.
9. Bring the left arm down to the side and raise the right arm in 2 seconds, with the breath suspended.
10. Repeating the above sequence, now bend to the left to complete 1 round.
Benefits:
• Stretches help to develop and tone the muscles of the sides.
• Helps reduce the waistline.
• Improves digestion.
• Aids good blood circulation.
• Favourable effect on the abdominal and pelvic organs.
Trikonasana
1. Stand erect looking ahead, with your feet two and a half feet to three feet apart, parallel to each other.
2. Raise both your arms up from the respective sides, palms facing up.
3. Turn your right foot outwards.
4. Turn your head to look at the right palm and turn your right palm to face down. Begin to bend towards your right laterally and allow your right hand to go as far down along the right leg as you can without tilting backwards or forwards. Your gaze follows the right hand.
5. In this position, twist your head to look up at the left hand, which is straight up towards the ceiling. Maintain the final position for 6 seconds for suspending the breath.
6. Keeping the gaze fixed on the left hand bring up your body to Point 2.
7. Turn your left palm to face downwards and the right palm facing upwards repeat the process of bending on the left side.
8. Once the bending on both sides is complete, bring your hands to the sides and relax your legs.
Benefits:
• Helps in toning the abdominal wall and waist muscle
• Aids to reduces side belly fat.
• The posture activates the core of the body which boosts the digestive organs and improves metabolism
• Remove muscle stiffness and back pain.
• Helps in releasing more happy hormones
• Aid in promoting a peaceful and balanced mind
Parighasana
1. Kneel down on your yoga mat, bring your knees and ankles together with the toes against the mat behind you.
2. Straighten your right leg out to the right side with the heal of your right foot pressing into the floor and toes pointed towards the ceiling.
3. Adjust your right ankle to make it in line with your left knee.
4. Do not bend the right knee. Now try to rotate the right leg out from the hip so that your right kneecap faces the ceiling. Check your left knee to make sure that it remains directly underneath your left hip. Tuck your tailbone in underneath your pelvis.
5. Inhale as you raise your arms up and out to the sides. Your palms face down while your hands and arms remain at shoulder level. Keep your arms straight. Take a few breaths.
6. Then exhale as you bend down toward the right side in 3 seconds. Maintaining straight arms, let the back of your right palm rest on the middle of your right shin. Your head will naturally come down so that the right ear begins to touch the right shoulder. Raise the left arm up straight over the head, making a 45-degree angle between your left arm and the ground. Elongate the entire left side of your torso.
7. Turn your head to look straight up at the ceiling. Rotate your torso from the waist slightly upward and away from the floor. Push down through the left thigh to prevent the left hip from sticking out forward or leaning back. Your hips should stay in line with each other.
8. You can stay in this position and hold it for 6 seconds. If your body allows, you can continue to go deeper into the pose by sliding the back of your right hand all the way down to the top of your right foot. All the while, you do not disturb the positioning of your legs and do not collapse your torso down toward the floor. Continue looking slightly upward.
9. Hold the final posture for at least 6 seconds. Inhale in 3 seconds you lift your arms back up and come out of the pose.
10. Repeat the same steps on the other side, holding the posture for the same amount of time on both sides.
Benefits:
• Strengthens your side body, including the oblique as well as the intercostal muscles.
• It also stretches large back muscles, including the latissimus dorsi.
• Parighasana gives your whole body a good stretch, it helps you lose weight. This prevents the risk of obesity-related disorders.
• Aids in stretching and toning the waist side muscles
• Burns side fat.
Aside from camouflaging the appearance of love handles from the outside, start changing your body from the inside.