How to Get Rid of Love Handles With These Simple Exercises

So many people today wonder how to get rid of love handles, those pesky deposits of fat on either side of your waist, just above your hips. While some may joke about them and pretend that they're cute and "more to love," in reality those who have these pesky problem areas are typically very self-conscious and would do anything to get rid of love handles, if they only knew how. In truth, there are a few simple exercises you can do to tone even these problem areas.

First of all, remember that it's important to pay attention to your diet and eating habits overall to get rid of love handles. You need to be eating healthy foods and loading up on junk, fast foods, or sugar is only going to make your body stubbornly hold on to that excess fat no matter what else you do. You can only exercise so much, which is why you need a good balance of calories consumes versus your physical activity to cut down on excess body fat, including around your midsection.

When it comes to actual exercises to get rid of love handles, crunches and sit-ups will help to tone the muscles around your stomach and midsection overall. However, you also need to work your obliques, those muscles on the sides of your stomach. You can do this by twisting your middle section to one side as you use a crunch machine; this means that you're adding resistance to your sides rather than your front as you perform the crunch. Some gyms also have oblique machines, which work by twisting you from side to side as your legs stay in one place. This too adds resistance to the oblique muscles, which will help to get rid of love handles on those pesky sides. Reverse sit-ups do the same; this is where you work the back muscles rather than the stomach. Your gym probably has several machines to do this; one works like a chair that you push backward with your back. Or, there may be a reverse crunch machine where you hook your legs between bars while leaning forward, and then pull your back up. These help to get rid of love handles because they strengthen your entire midsection. If you don't have these pieces at your gym or you don't belong to a gym, try a basic Pilates routine. This too helps to strengthen your core, or your midsection, which will firm up everything in this area of your body.

Of course you don't want to ignore your aerobic activity overall. By burning calories with regular exercise, your body is much less likely to hold on to stubborn fat, whether it be around your middle or any other area. You can only do so much when it comes to resistance training to get rid of love handles; if you aren't burning calories efficiently, your body is just going to keep holding onto fat and much of that will be deposited around your stomach, including your sides.

Britney Smith writes her blog daily on slimming tips and weight loss, visit her blog at http://www.slimmingtips101.info/