Love handles

rossmack07

Hi all
How do I lose love handles when I am a healthy weight of 86kg? I do go to the gym, run three times a week, and have the strength and body weight I eat healthy like more protein, fruit and vegetables. I also walked a lot between 9000 to 17000 steps a day.

AnnPT77

You lose a little more weight very slowly, and/or add some more muscle even more slowly.

Sorry. Healthy weight is not necessarily exactly identical to our personal aesthetically preferred weight or body composition, regrettably.

tomcustombuilder

Ha, the love handle dilemma. All you can do is work on Fatloss. Your genetics lean towards holding fat in that area. Losing more fat is the only way to deal with it. So many times though people that complain about it really don’t have much fat there, they’re just overly critical of themselves.

cmriverside

...or...if you have lost a lot of weight it could be excess skin. If that's the case then keep working out and wait a couple years and the skin will shrink back as much as it is going to shrink back. At that point, then it's a surgical fix.

BeanieBean93

Some bodies just hold fat in certain areas. You can be a healthy weight while still not being lean enough to get rid of them. It's like some people will never see a 6 pack unless they become extremely lean. Or some people won't ever get rid of cellulite, just because that's where their body holds the fat. If you're at a good weight and you feel good, then either just accept your body as it is or go back into fat loss mode and try to drop a few more pounds.

springlering62

You didn’t indicate how much you lost. As @cmriverside says, could be excess skin.

I lost a substantial amount, and have built a lot of muscle. My excess skin is like a water balloon full of Floam. I can pinch it, pull it, mold it into fun shapes.

Yet, you’d look at me in a pair of compression leggings and tell me there’s not a spare ounce.

It’s my little secret badge of honor, my permanent medal from the Fat War I fought.

Not worth the pain, time laid up to recover from, or expense of having surgery for.

I’ve gotten over the embarrassment of the dressing room. I used to worry about heads spinning as I stripped and it spilled out after swimming, but then I realized, everyone else is so busy masking their own personal shame, they don’t have time for mine.

No one really knows except the spousal unit and the cat who occasionally kneads it. 😂

It’s all in your head. Unless you’re planning to compete, BFD, right?

If it’s any comfort, I’m almost four years into maintenance and it is slowly shrinking, even at 61.

neanderthin

Age mucks mostly with our NEAT which if the diet is sub optimal, leads to muscle loss and keeping muscle mass intact is paramount for good health and is linked to longevity. To do that, weight resistant training trumps all other exercise, but that doesn't mean we don't do other exercise, just in case you were thinking that, lol. Anyway with this in mind working out and working each muscle at least twice a week and with more sets the better or at least 10 sets a week per muscle with progressive overload in mind. This ensures your either not shedding muscle and quite possibly building some.

Genetics play a big part in where your body decides where that subcutaneous fat goes and it's also protective and is there for quite a few reasons, and why it's very very difficult going to single digit body fat, and if your skinny, well good luck getting rid of love handles, it isn't going to happen. Otherwise I suggest that your diet be higher in quality protein and yes those are critters and not plants and if you are a plant based eater, then up your protein by 30-50%
for optimal results. Bottom line weight train hard, eat enough protein and if possible keep within a 2-300 calorie deficit, or increase movement and then hope you bodies metabolically preferred set point doesn't reach out and bite you. Cheers