How to lose love handles?
They have a cute name, "love handles", but the bulges that lodge above your hips can ruin your life. Even if your weight is normal, they weigh down your waistline. If these fatty masses resist physical exercise, there are aesthetic solutions for losing your love handles, such as liposuction of the stomach and hips.
What are love handles and why do they appear?
Love handles are small rolls of fat located above the hips, on the outer sides of the abdomen and which may extend into the back. This excess fat thickens the waistline. Love handles affect both men and women, even those who don't need to lose weight.
These fatty deposits are caused by a sedentary lifestyle, an unbalanced diet rich in fats and carbohydrates, or hormonal imbalance.
Love handles often resist slimming diets and sport.
While they're not harmful to your health, they do distort your silhouette and can be a nuisance when you're getting dressed, as they're the ones that go over the waistband of your jeans.
How to lose your love handles?
Watch your diet
A healthy diet can help you control your weight and lose those love handles. It's not about counting calories, it's about choosing the right foods. To avoid fat storage, reduce fat-rich foods, especially cooking fats, and limit carbohydrates.
Give priority to vegetables and fruit, rich in vitamins and fiber. Choose fish and lean meats for their protein content.
Practise a regular sporting activity
Exercise burns calories and helps you regain a more toned body. Every week, combine a cardio workout with targeted muscle-building exercises. Swimming is ideal for losing your love handles, as it helps to burn fat and strengthen the abdominal muscles.
As a complement to these exercises, you can also do body-supporting exercises such as the plank. Do this exercise on the floor, legs straight, on your forearms to strengthen your abdominal muscles, and on your side to strengthen your obliques.
What are the methods for permanently eliminating love handles?
When a balanced diet and exercise fail to reduce your love handles, medicine and cosmetic surgery offer highly effective solutions. The doctors at Clinique du Lac will be happy to provide you with a consultation to determine which method is right for you.
Cryolipolysis
A non-invasive technique, cryolipolysis involves destroying fat cells by means of cold: the love handles area is exposed to extreme cold, which causes the fat cells to die. The body eliminates them in the weeks that follow. A cryolipolysis session lasts about an hour, and requires no anesthesia. You can relax, read, listen to music or watch a video during your session.
The results can be appreciated over a period of weeks, as the body naturally eliminates damaged cells, the skin gradually retracts and contours are reshaped. Results are considered definitive after 3 months. Depending on the size of your love handles, several sessions may be necessary.
Liposuction
Liposuction or liposuction gives very good results on love handles. It is not a method for losing weight, but only for removing localized fat deposits. For men, liposuction can be used to correct the hips as well as the abdomen, and sometimes fatty breasts. It is also indicated for women who wish to regain a harmonious figure, as it can be performed on the entire hip, buttock and thigh area.
The procedure is performed under general or local anaesthetic on an outpatient basis. Fine cannulas are inserted under the skin and the fat lodged in the love handles is suctioned out. A girdle is worn for a few weeks, and post-operative swelling and bruising gradually subside. The result is definitive: your love handles will never return.
To find out more, book an appointment online with one of Clinique du Lac's practitioners.