Restricting calories but making those you do eat come from refined carbs, sugars and saturated fats can cause your body to not get all the nutrients it needs, especially protein, to support lean tissue. As a result, you may be losing weight in the form of lean muscle, not fat, so your love handles stick around.
The underlying cause of love handles is fat retention. Generally speaking, fat cells accumulate when your body takes in too many calories or you don't burn as many calories as you're consuming. Over time, these fat cells can become noticeable as they accumulate in certain areas, such as around your waist and hips.
The Oval body:
An undefined waist line, large and low tummy, love handles, wider hips, fuller thighs and a flat fuller bottom.
If you eat a healthy, low-fat diet, burn more calories than you take in, and enjoy a good mix of cardio and ab workout time, you'll watch your love handles start to melt away within a few weeks.
Avoid alcohol and sugary foods: Consuming sugary food and alcohol may lead to weight gain and love handles. Individuals should instead try to eat a moderate and balanced diet. This may involve consuming lean proteins, beans, and leafy vegetables to increase protein and fiber intake.
Mostly, losing weight is an internal process. You will first lose hard fat that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and then you will start to lose soft fat like waistline and thigh fat. The fat loss from around the organs makes you leaner and stronger.
"For men, love handles are hard to lose because most of their fat cells are located in this area," explains personal trainer and nutritionist, Jim White, RD. Women's bodies like to deposit fat into the hip and thigh area, too, which creates the illusion of love handles, says Leah Kaufman, MS, RD, CDN.
“Love handles” are areas of excess skin and fat that extend outward from the abdomen, at the hips. Love handles can be more visible when wearing tight clothing, when they may spill out over the top of a waistband. This excess fat can be stubborn and difficult to eliminate with diet and regular exercise.
Inverted Triangle
This is the second best female shape.
Ward explains that a healthy fat loss is around 0.5 - 1% body fat per week, which means, 'You should see a noticeable difference to body fat levels within 8-12 weeks if following a structured exercise and nutrition plan.
Build Yourself Up While Slimming Down
Build up your pecs, lats, deltoids, and traps to create the illusion of smaller love handles. "Most guys don't have enough muscle to focus on just losing weight," Ballantyne said, "so every guy must build some muscle in these areas."
A nutritious diet that is lower in calories will help you look and feel better, and can improve your health, too. Choosing the right foods -- think fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, lean protein, and low-fat dairy products -- will give you energy all day long and help satisfy your hunger so you eat less.
"Hip dips are entirely caused by genetics and the shape of your pelvis. When someone has hip dips, this means that their hip bone is located higher than their femur, which causes their muscles and fat to curve inwards." Our bodies are what they are.
Probably the most effective exercise to lose love handles is Russian twists. Just sit with your legs stretched in front of your and arms joined ahead of you. Now lift up your legs so that they are not touching the ground.
Coming to the point, you will first lose “hard fat” (visceral fat) that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and later, you will burn soft fat (belly fat, thigh fat, back fat, etc.). Women accumulate fat cells around their belly area, hips, thighs and these areas are usually the last from.
"Women and men of average height need to gain or lose about three and a half and four kilograms, or about eight and nine pounds, respectively, for anyone to see it in their face.
Might sound strange but water actually, helps in reducing the stubborn belly fats. You should drink 3 to 4 litres of water daily to flush out toxins from your body. You can also make lemonade (without sugar) or detox drinks using various fruits. This will help you to get rid of your love handle fats at a faster pace.
"For love handles, you have to work your legs. They're the biggest muscle group in your body and they use the most amount of energy. They're going to strip fat quicker than any plank. You need to do five sets of squats a day, increasing your weights daily.
Keep in mind that in men especially, waistline and lower belly fat is the last to go. This pertains to the low back as well. You will first start to see fat loss in the face and neck but only when you've been consistent for a long period of time will you see the love handles start to disappear.”
Genetics play a part too and consequently, fat gets stored as love handles. Love handles can also be a result of aging, menopause, hormonal imbalance in women, and andropause (male menopause) in men. Women can develop love handles after childbirth with weight gain. Sometimes body types also determine the fat deposits.