How to get rid of those male 'love handles'?

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trickrick1
trickrick1 Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
When I say 'love handles' I mean those annoying bits of excess fat just above each side of the hips. Seems to strike the once skinny male at around 40 years of ages and seems to want to just stay there irrespective of training/eating well.

Anyone got a suggestion on how these pesky things can be tackled and reduced? Specific exercises dont seem to help and although I am losing weight elsewhere - particularly on the belly area, the bits on the side seem to be blatently sticking 2 fingers up at me and my diet !

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  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,412 MFP Moderator
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    Its simple, a small calorie deficit and time. Resistance training will help retain muscle, with adequate protein, and HIIT can help too. But overall, aim to lose 1/2 lb per week or 20% less than tdee and give it time.
  • now_or_never13
    now_or_never13 Posts: 1,575 Member
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    Your best option would be (as weird as it sounds) to increase your calories to a slight surplus and start lifting heavy weights. Heavy enough that it is hard to complete a rep after about 8. Lower the amount of cardio you do as well.

    The key would be to increase muscle mass which in turn will reduce your body fat %.

    I'm not sure how much weight you have left to lose. A lot of people have had great success with bulk/cut cycles. SO, surplus of calories, low/no cardio and lifting HEAVY weights for a few weeks (stay off the scale as you will gain some weight) than lower your calories, increase cardio while still lifting weights for a few weeks to get rid of fat. Do those cycles until you are happy with how you look. Muscle changes your body much much more than losing a bit more weight does. During bulk and cut cycles you should be maxing out your protein (get a lot of it which is needed for muscle repair and growth).

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