Help! I Need to Lose Love Handles and Trim My Waistline!

"I need to lose love handles!"
"I want to trim my waistline!"
"What are the best stomach exercises?"

These are some of the most common questions of men and women all over the world looking to shed a little weight around their midsection - and most of us are in the same boat. Almost every one of us is looking to lose love handles and have been searching for the best stomach exercises to trim our waistlines. I'm here to tell you a secret. There is a fundamental problem in our outlook on this dilemma and the answer - although easier said than done - may be too obvious for many of us to realize.

Instead of looking for the best stomach exercises to lose love handles and trim our waistlines, we need to focus on the best total body exercises. Stomach exercises (such as crunches, sit ups, etc.) actually burn very little fat, but rather build muscle. This muscle is all well and good but it does not make much difference if nobody can see them because fat covers them up. When you think of the mental picture in your head of a man or woman with six pack abs and a trim waistline you just think of the muscle protruding out. What you do not think about is what you do not see - the lack of fat! We ALL have stomach muscles and we all have a layer of fat covering them it is just that some have more fat than others. The real way to lose love handles is not by building up these stomach muscles, but by losing the fat.

The above information may not be new to everyone so you are probably wondering, "So HOW do I trim my waistline?" Because even the best stomach exercises often do very little to burn fat, the focus needs to be placed on total body fitness and nutrition to lose love handles. Instead of thinking you have to lose fat in your stomach to show off your body, you need to think of losing fat in your entire body to show off your stomach! Though there are hundreds of exercises and fitness programs to choose from, there are three common traits of any effective fat-burning program: A healthy diet, regular cardio workouts, and a weight lifting program.

A healthy diet does not need much explaining as we all - even if we do not follow it - at least know most of the key components. A diet plentiful in nutrients, fiber, and vitamins is best for burning fat. There are many theories behind cardio workouts but the most widely accepted strategy in recent years for burning fat to lose love handles is interval training. Whether on the exercise bike, elliptical machine, or running, using interval training techniques is the most highly efficient use of time for burning your stomach (and total body) fat. For example a 30-minute bike session may include 5 minutes of warm-ups followed by two minutes of intermittent sprinting and two minutes of riding comfortably and ending with a cool down. The most forgotten aspect of weight loss is weight training and weight lifting. Simply put the more muscle you build, the more calories you burn, and the more fat you lose (and you wondered why the Biggest Loser contestants are always lifting weights). For every pound of muscle in your body, an extra 50 calories are burned per day!

The journey to lose love handles and trim waistlines is one we are all on. Just remember, do not think of the best stomach exercises, think of the best total body exercises. The number of crunches you do will not matter if your whole body is not working as well. Now get started on your quest to lose love handles already!

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