Love handles though they may be lovingly called, hardy are they the objects of love. Technically there’s another not-so-popular name for them – Obliques .These love handles are usually the results of excess fat accumulation in the body. A normal exercise regime is not enough to lose your love handles because these are the areas that mostly been neglected. Hence losing body fat is the best and possibly the only way to get rid of them.

To attain a firmer mid-section three areas need to be concentrated upon. First and foremost a healthy diet is essential that includes at least three litres of water (about 100 oz) a day. Along with that about four to five servings of fruits and vegetables a day with as limited a quantity of fried food and processed sugar as possible. It is also a good idea to avoid red meat owing to its high content of saturated fat.

Secondly cardiovascular exercise goes a long way in helping to lose the unnecessary fat. It is important to keep in mind that the exercises should be low-intensity but long-duration. Five minutes on the treadmill followed by forty-five second to a one minute long run, and a walk or a jog for about ninety seconds forms an ideal exercise format (the two activities jointly called an interval). About five to six of these intervals facilitate a proper cardiovascular session.

Following that targeted abdominal exercises like push-ups, regular and reverse crunches, trunk and lying twists, lying leg raise and oblique crunches help to firm the muscles under the fatty areas. Each of these exercises should be done in three sets of about ten repetitions per side. A combination of these exercises followed for a week should suffice to get rid of the love handles and tone the abdominal muscles.