Loev Handles??

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Lisa1213

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This is my first post! Very excited to be a member, and get/give advice!
So, I have been going to the gym on a regualr basis (about 3 times a week on average) since November. I am 5'5", and currently weight 130lbs- when I started going in November, i was close to 150lbs... so I have lost a significant amount of weight (for me). My only problem is, I STILL have love handles! I do plenty of cardio (1 hour, each visit, average running speed of 6.8, and also walking on a 4.5 at a 15 incline)... I have noticed fat litterally falling off of my body, and tone up everywhere, except my love handles! They certainly arent as big as they once were, but I am trying desperately to loose them, and to have a flat stomach (lower abs are an issue as well) and NO love handles! I also do plenty of ab and oblique excersises to try and help this problem. I dont diet persay, but I did change my eating habits once I started my gym routine- I have basically done a complete turn around as far as my diet and excersise go since November, but my love handles are just stubborn! HELP ME! Any advice?? Any excersises I can do to firm them up/make them dissapear?
 
You cannot spot reduce. It is not physically possible. There is no specific exercise to reduce specific fat from a specific location.
 
Hi and welcome to the site. I have the same problem as you, my mid-section is the hardest place for me to lose weight and tone. Running works my whole body, and while I'm running I conciously pull in my tummy so I get an extra good workout that way. I also know that side crunches are good to target the love handles but those are tough for me because I have some issues with my back.

Good luck to you, and I hope to see you around the boards! :)
 
I also know that side crunches are good to target the love handles
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You can't target your love handles.

Muscle lays under fat. When you are doing side crunches you are contracting your obliques not the fat laying on top.

One can't spot reduce.

You lose fat in a genetically controlled order, with possibly some random nature to it.
 
I guess I will just have to keep trying- Maybe going on a stricter diet will help- everytime i am at the gym, I do my hour (sometimes more) of cardio, and crunches, as well as the help of some machines... Hopefully this will work- thank you for your replies-
 
i have the same problem. i used to do cardio (running, elliptical) and strength training (weights, resistance machines) but lately have been following a series of total-body conditioning workouts that i took out from Women's Health magazine. every month they have a different series and it could be either total body or geared to develop specific muscles. i think you can view these on the magazine's website too. i think they work a lot more effectively than plain cardio...but since I also have that layer of fat, it may be a while before I see real results.
 
To further Trevors point, and to bring this home:

You can decrease your body fat - through dietary manipulation and exercise and you can lose the portion you desire but you dont have the choice where it comes off as you move forward with your goal, but it WILL come off if your faithful with diet and exercise.

I am going to post this article for you to read to give you an idea.

Source:

Why cant we spot reduce?

This is an important question and one I'm frequently asked. You need to know a little bit of biology to understand the answer. Here's what you need to know. Fat is stored in special cells located all over your body called adipocytes. Adipocytes grow and shrink as they store and release fat, much like a balloon grows and shrinks as air is blown in and released. You gain weight when you pump up your adipocytes with fat by consuming more calories than you burn (excess calories can get stored as fat). You lose weight when your adipocytes release fat into the blood stream and shrink, either in response to exercise (exercise sends a signal to adipocytes to release fat) or when you reduce your calorie intake to the point where you are burning more than you consume. Fat released into the blood stream by adipocytes circulates to the muscles where it is burned for energy. (A car burns gasoline for energy; your muscles burn fat and carbohydrate.)

Exercise stimulates adipocytes to release fat by increasing circulation of hormones like norepinephrine (adrenaline). When norepinephrine reaches an adipocyte, no matter where in your body it's located, it signals special chemical messengers inside the adipocytes to stimulate fat release, and just like the balloon that shrinks when you let out the air, adipocytes shrink when they release fat. You will keep the fat off as long as it gets burned by the muscle and does not return to the adipocyte for storage. That's one of the reasons why exercise helps control body weight.

The reason that you can't spot reduce during exercise, which is what you are really asking, is that you don't have any control over which adipocytes release fat. Norepinephrine and the other hormones released during exercise do not discriminate. That is, they stimulate adipocytes to release fat wherever they are located. We all have patterns of weight loss and weight gain that tend to repeat (you typically gain and lose weight in the same pattern over and over), and we don't have any control over this


Best wishes,


Chillen
 
I really wasn't referring to losing pounds in the love handle area (or spot reducing), I meant toning that muscle group.
 
Sorry bro, but your body is consructed in a way to CONVERVE ENERGY and guess what that means? You got it, it loves to store fat (energy). and guess where most fat is stored............ in your abdomen. So, it's very hard to get rid of belly fat, but theres an article about this man, he swam across some great lake and e put on 14 lbs of fat just for the swim so he could have enough energy to make the trip and by the time he was done he lost 12 of those lbs it took him 10-12 hours.

If you are very concerned about this I would cut down on carbs before excercise and load up on protien. protien can be used for energy very effectively. its going to be pretty hard exercising though, but if you can manage to push through the wall you will be burning a greater amount of energy from fat instead of carbs.
 
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carinna said:
I really wasn't referring to losing pounds in the love handle area (or spot reducing), I meant toning that muscle group.
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To see the muscle (once properly built), one's body fat has to be low enough (specific to the person) to see its shape and definition. You build the muscle with weight training, lose body fat (between the skin and the muscle), and this can give one a toned appearance.

This is a very good post by Wrangell, concerning "toning":

Wrangell said:
Just to add to what Steve said about " tone " and my thoughts on it's relevance in weight training within the context of describing the look you want for your muscles.

There is a difference ( or shall I say ' distinction ' ) I think should be made between some of the terminology used to describe " building muscle " mass and " toning " your muscles.The term " tone " is thrown around a lot and seems to mean different things to different people. Exercise with weights can build muscle mass and or " tone " your muscles. What does it mean to " tone " your muscles ? Muscle " tone " has to do with how contracted your muscle stays when you relax. When you're out of shape, you have poor tone and your level of contraction when at rest is low...your abs and arms and legs look "mushy" even if they're thin. When you're in shape, you have good tone and your level of contraction when at rest is high. You can be toned without having to add a lot of muscle mass. And don't confuse looking " toned " with looking " lean " ( i.e lean as in where you muscles are very obvious) which is a matter of losing body fat. For example, having a 6-pack of abs is all about losing fat ( and toning ab muscles ) - not muscle mass.

This is why getting your body fat down is a key part of getting a " toned " muscle. Remember fat is not only just under you're skin but ( if you have a lot it ) it's riddled throughout your muscles like the ' marbling ' or fat you see in a steak. If you want your muscles to to ' taut ' and ' toned ' and you want nothing but muscle,you have to get rid of the ' marbling ' by burning the fat IN YOUR MUSCLES as well as the fat on top of your muscles ...and usually the best way to do this is via weight training , a good diet and some form of cardio.



Muscle loss from dieting usually occurs when the calorie deficit is significant enough such that your body thinks it's approaching some form of starvation period. In response, your body makes it a priority to actually conserve more fat and instead of burning fat for energy as it normally would, it turns to other sources of energy....namely, amino acids ( usually reserved for lean tissue synthesis - i.e building / maintaining muscle ) which are now being converted to energy.

Muscle loss from prolonged cardio over days/weeks can also occur in situations where glycogen stores are not replentished enough over time to meet training demands and - as in the other example - your body turns to cannibalizing muscle protein for use as energy. This is why you see some long distance runners who train with longer cardio sessions over time having very little muscle on their upper bodies, sporting that " emaciated " look.
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