Most of us have experienced that frustration when our beautiful skin-fit shirt suddenly starts looking ugly because of our bulging side fat or our skin-fit jean starts exacerbating the volume around our sides and back. Tyres, more popularly known as love handles or muffin tops not only spoil our look but also our confidence.
How we have wished and prayed for these love handles to disappear from our lives forever! More often than not, shedding the weight on the sides or the belly is the hardest to accomplish. While it is impossible to concentrate and lose weight on focused points on your body and indulge in spot reductions, the thing that can be accomplished by a combination of healthy diet and regular exercise is a beautiful waistline! If you are willing to work for it, you will definitely be rewarded.
Now to get to the basic test to find out how much you need to reduce from your belly to maintain a healthy weight – the simplest way to check for abdominal fat is to measure your waist. Run a tape measure around your waist at about the level of your navel. Breathe minimally and make sure not to pull the tape measure so tight that it depresses the skin. The average BMI (Body Mass Index) of an Indian woman ranges from 18-24.9, a waist circumference greater than 34-35 inches is considered a high risk to lifestyle diseases.
Here are a list of exercises that are very effective to lose abdominal fat or love handles:
1. Running
Love handles are fat accumulated on your sides. So it is more about burning the fat in the body. You can lose maximum fat by running or doing any cardio exercise. Running allows you to burn maximum fat in a workout other than boosting metabolism. So do start running in variations and push yourself more for quicker results. Include sprinting, bounding, German drills, etc. in your plan. Burning maximum calories starts burning fat gradually from your body. Manage your diet and eat adequately according to your daily requirement to allow fat to burn faster.
2. Crunches
Love Handles are part of your core and require core to be worked to exercise the area and build some muscles underneath. Crunches are highly beneficial in strengthening your core and provide strength for intense workouts. Do crunches on medicine ball and see the muscle gain.
3. Burpees
It is an aerobic exercise which is a combination of a few exercises mixed together for greater fitness. To perform this exercise, first stand straight. Then get down to squat position. Third put your hands on the floor and throw both your legs back stretching your back and looking up in the air. In the fourth step bring back your legs to the squat position and lastly jump up to starting position. Repeat. This exercise not only stretches the core and works the entire body but the faster version of it burns many calories too.
4. Side Bends
Stand straight with dumbbells in your hands by your side. Alternatively bend your side and stretch the other side, hold for a few seconds and then do the other side. This exercise stretches the love handles and improves blood flow in the area.
5. In and Out Crunches
You could do in and out crunches while lying down. Lie down on the floor with knees straight and hands behind your head. You have to touch your elbows with the knees, hold for few seconds and then lie down. While doing the exercise, move your torso for the exercise. This works the rectus abdomen is and obliques .
6. Weighted One Side Crunch
Working the obliques help in reducing the love handles and side crunches are very effective for oblique muscles. Lie down on the floor with knees bent and neck slightly up from the floor and hold a dumbbell or a weight in your hands over the chest. Crunch your left elbow towards your right and then your right elbow towards your left. Repeat and do both sides.
7. Russian Twist
Sit on the floor with your knees bent, hold your arms straight in front of you and lean your back a little while your torso is at a 45-degree angle. Brace your core and rotate to the side as far as you want. Repeat for both sides and mind the posture. This exercise also helps build the muscles on the sides and works the core. To make this exercise more intense hold a weight between your hands or lift your feet in the air and perform the exercise.
8. Woodchop
It is again one of the finest twist exercise which can be done with an object, cable, dumbbell, bat, baseball bat etc. As you pull the weight across your body, you rotate your hips and bend forward slightly so the weight ends up slightly below your hip. Keep your torso, chest and head in line with your hips. Do it for both sides.
Eating unhealthy food and not indulging in any form of exercise has been seen to be one of the most common factors leading to the development of love handles. Also, Indians are genetically more inclined to accumulate fat around their waist, so we need to work extra hard to ensure we do not succumb to this as belly fat has also been linked to Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
So, the best way to lose weight is through exercise and watching what you eat. Ensure that your body is getting adequate nutrition to improve the metabolism. Do not resort to any fad diets as they might show weight loss in the short term but in the long term you put the weight back on besides depriving your body of important nutrition resulting in multiple deficiencies in future. For healthy weight loss and to get fit, consult a good professional weight loss expert.
So now that you know what needs to be done to get that fabulous waistline, what are you waiting for?