How to Get Rid of Your Love Handles & Get a Smaller Waist

Lose your love handles with exerices and diet.

Love handles are the term given to excess weight on the sides of the stomach. Like other belly fat, love handles are the result of either hormones, genetics, poor diet or insufficient exercise. Getting a slim, trim waist requires exercise and a proper diet. You need to lose the weight covering your waist and tone the muscles beneath the fat. Fortunately, this can be done through basic diet modifications and exercises that can be performed at home, outside or the gym.

Instructions

1. Address your diet to determine areas for improvement. Limit sugar, carbohydrates and saturated fat. Instead, load your meals with lean protein such as chicken, fish, beans, vegetables, fruits and whole grains. These foods will keep you feeling satisfied while promoting healthy weight loss.

2. Start moving. Whittling your waist requires cardiovascular activity. Head to a gym for at least 30 minutes of moderate level aerobics, spinning, jogging on the treadmill or climbing on a step machine. If you don't have a gym membership, play your favorite sport, go for a walk, ride your bicycle or head out for a night of dancing. Aim to get at least 30 minutes of cardio at least three times a week.

3. Tighten your waist by targeting the oblique muscles. Obliques run along your sides and can be strengthened using side raises. Lay on your right side and support your body by extending your right arm out on the floor in front of you. Put your left hand behind your head, exhale and lift your torso toward your hip. Try to close the gap between your ribs and your hip by contracting your obliques. Inhale and lower to the ground. Complete 10 raises on both sides.

4. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your fingers folded behind your head. Exhale and bend to your right side, keeping your back straight and your stomach pulled in. Inhale and return to center, then repeat on the other side. Alternate left to right until you've performed up to 30 bends.

References

• Mayo Clinic: Belly fat in women: How to keep it off
• Women's Health: The 5 Rules of Flat Abs