Diet for Getting Rid of Love Handles

Love handles are located above the hips in people that have a high body fat percentage. They cover the oblique muscles and make the midsection look bigger. A lot of people think that doing crunches, sit ups or twists will help get rid of them but unfortunately these exercises will do little to burn the layer of fat covering the obliques. A calorie restricted diet will force your body to burn fat stores which will also get rid of those pesky love handles.

Your main goal (diet wise) when trying to get rid of fat stores anywhere on the body is to create a calorie deficit. First you need to find out how many calories you are burning each day. If you burn 2,000 calories in a day and only eat 1,500, your body will be forced to use stored energy reserves (for example fat in the love handles) to make up the 500 calorie shortfall. Over a long period of time, this will work to reduce your body fat percentage and you will finally be able to get rid of your love handles.

To figure out how many calories you are burning each day, use the Daily Calorie Needs Calculator. Based on your weight, height and activity level, it will give you an estimate of the amount of calories you burn. Take that estimate and subtract 500 - 1,000 calories. This will be the number of calories you need to limit yourself to per day in order to get rid of your love handles.

With this sort of diet, you'll lose 1 - 2 pounds per week of fat. Unfortunately you won't be able to control where the weight comes off of. If you have love handles in addition to fat accumulation around your thighs, you'll lose fat from both areas. Getting rid of fat from a certain area of your body (known as spot reducing) is impossible unless you get liposuction.

In addition to the number of calories, the types of food you eat can have a huge effect on your body fat percentage and how quickly it can be decreased. Stay away from foods that are high in sugar since they are digested very quickly. Foods that are digested quickly give you a lot of energy in a short period of time and if do not use this energy right away, it will be stored as fat.