Love handles: Potential causes and how to get rid of them

Love handles may sound delightful in theory, but truth is, they can be a source of frustration for many.

The term refers to the stubborn fat that can cling to the sides of your waist. While they may seem like a purely cosmetic concern, love handles can also point to underlying health issues commonly associated with excess body fat.

In this article, we'll explore ways to target and reduce body fat (particularly those pesky love handles) in healthy ways.

What are love handles?

The term 'love handles' describes the excess fat that gathers around the hips and middle of the torso.

Also affectionately known as the 'spare tyre' or 'muffin top', love handles are known to be stubborn (which makes the pet names even more surprising) [1].

If we're getting technical though, love handles are actually made up of subcutaneous and visceral fat in the abdomen [2]. Subcutaneous fat is just underneath the skin, you can poke/pinch it, and it feels soft.

Visceral fat, though, is hidden — it's typically stored around your internal organs and behind the abdominal wall [3].

Though some level of visceral fat is needed to protect your organs, too much of it can cause several health complications [3]. So, what causes love handles? And what can we do about them?

What causes excess body fat and love handles?

There are a number of different factors that can influence whether or not you develop excess fat around the belly. These include:

• Genetics
• Age
• Birth weight (babies born smaller or prematurely tend to gain more belly fat in later life) [3]
• Hormones, particularly high cortisol levels
• Diet
• Alcohol consumption
• Smoking
• Lack of exercise
• Lack of sleep
• Some medications, like antidepressants and steroids
• Certain health conditions

A healthy diet is crucial for preventing and reducing love handles.

One of the biggest causes of excess body fat levels is eating more food than needed for the amount of physical activity we’re doing. The body holds on to the excess energy and converts it into body fat [4].

Until pretty recently, it was thought that having extra body fat only really affected cholesterol levels and fatty acids getting into your bloodstream.

Researchers now know, however, that visceral fat can lead to a pretty concerning list of diseases and health conditions [4].

What are the health risks associated with love handles?

If your body is storing excess visceral fat, you might be more at risk of developing health conditions like [3]:

• Diabetes
• Heart disease
• Stroke
• High cholesterol
• Sleep apnoea
• High blood pressure
• Asthma

How can a few love handles cause all this? Turns out that fat cells release chemicals and hormones that can run amok all throughout your body.

It's not just a matter of whether your jeans are a bit tight or not, maintaining a healthy weight is a form of disease prevention [5].

Can you target love handles with exercise?

You can definitely target love handles with exercise. Staying active isn’t just important for losing weight, but also for looking after your overall physical and mental health.

However, it’s important to know that your exercise routine alone may not lose your love handles for you [6].

Even if you’ve upped your fitness routine but haven’t noticed yourself losing body fat yet, you can still be losing visceral fat and gaining muscle mass [3]. These are important parts of staying healthy, even if they don’t show up in the mirror as easily.

Proper body forms are crucial for maintaining alignment during exercises to effectively target love handles and prevent injury.

Some of the ab exercises recommended by health professionals to target love handles include:

Interval training

Exercising at a moderate intensity with intermittent rest periods can help burn calories and target visceral fat [3]. This can be jumping rope, running, stair running, and other cardio exercises.

Doctors recommend about 30 minutes of exercise per day on most days, but make sure to chat to your GP or physio before going all out — if you're planning to try high-intensity interval training, it's best to be guided by a professional [4].

Studies have shown that when you combine this kind of workout with weight lifting, it has the best chance of keeping visceral fat at bay [3].

Planks, lifts, and crunches

If you want to get rid of love handles for good, we do know one thing: sit-ups, push-ups and other spot exercises won’t cut it. Plain old abdominal exercises might tighten things up, but they won’t help with the underlying fat loss [5].

Experts suggest looking at things like resistance training, weight training, and focusing on your core muscles can all help with reducing body fat.

If you build muscle mass you might gain weight (as muscles weigh more than fat), but your body will be learning how to burn the visceral fat underneath.

Gaining and toning muscle elsewhere can reduce the appearance of your love handles [4].

Side plank

Try adding a side plank position to your next workout if you’re up to it — this is one that most researchers recommend to burn fat [7].

Make sure to maintain a straight line from head to feet to ensure proper form.

Oblique crunches

The oblique crunch also seems to be a winner. As the name suggests, this exercise strengthens your oblique muscles and, in the process, engages your core as well.

To perform them, lie on your right side with your knees bent and off the floor. Place your left hand behind your head. Bend both your knees, raise your upper body and try to touch your left knee with your left elbow.

There are even variations you can do with a medicine ball or dumbbell, for a bit more resistance [7].

Mountain climbers

Mountain climbers incorporate stability and rotation to target your entire abdominal area, making them a great choice for reducing love handles.

Start in a high plank position and make sure to engage your core. Drive your left leg forward by bringing the knee to your chest, then quickly return it to the starting position, while driving your right knee forward.

Keep alternating legs in a running motion, making sure your core stays engaged throughout.

Russian twists

When performing Russian twists, you twist your torso from side to side, which engages the muscles on the sides of your abdomen and helps tone the area.

Sit on the floor, bend your knees, and keep your feet flat on the floor. Lean back slightly, tightening your core, and twist from left to right, keeping the movement controlled.

Whatever you do, don’t go 0-100 on your first day. As with all new exercise regimes, ease into it and get some advice if you need to.

Other ways to achieve fat loss and get rid of love handles

As we mentioned earlier, exercise alone probably won’t give you the results you’re looking for. There are other things to look out for if you want to lose weight and say bye to the spare tyre for good.

Combining exercise with dietary changes is essential to lose fat effectively.

Healthy diet

It’s probably a little obvious, but maintaining a healthy diet is crucial for weight loss and reducing love handles.

This doesn’t mean being punitive or extreme — in fact, our body still needs healthy fats to function.

Avoiding processed foods, sweetened beverages, foods with added sugar, alcohol, fried foods, and refined grains will all help maintain a healthy body weight.

Small changes to start off with — like switching to olive oil or whole grains, or watching portion sizes — can make a big difference [4].

Sleep

Not too little, not too much. Sleep can have a massive impact on your overall health, including your weight.

Not sleeping enough can make you feel more hungry, and ramp up your stress hormones — both of which can increase weight gain.

Doctors usually recommend between 7-9 hours of sleep a night, so if you're having trouble sleeping make sure you get it seen to [4].

Stress

Stress hormones directly increase visceral fat, but can also lead to emotional eating.

It sounds simple enough to say 'stress less' — but we know it isn't that easy.

If you find yourself with racing thoughts a lot of the time, unable to wind down, or that stress is impacting your daily life, it might be time to chat to someone about it [4].

Exploring distraction techniques and making time in your day for things you enjoy/want to do (not things you should or have to), can really help reduce stress levels too.

How long does it take to get rid of love handles?

Everyone's body is different, so there's no one-size-fits-all answer for how long it will take to get rid of love handles. It might happen really quickly for some, for others it'll take a bit more time.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, or have no idea where to begin, we can help.

Juniper's Weight Reset Programme combines weight loss medications with ongoing support from health professionals, giving you the tools to help you lose body fat, make lasting changes and establish a sustainable, healthy routine.

You can kickstart your weight loss journey with Wegovy or Mounjaro, two groundbreaking weight loss injections that mimic the GLP-1 and GIP hormone respectively to help control cravings, delay stomach emptying, and keep you feeling fuller for longer.

You'll also have access to health tracking, lifestyle coaching, and a private online community for support and motivation.

Image credit: Polina Tankilevitch via Pexels