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Those flabby areas of fat on the sides of the abdomen are often referred to as "love handles." When the fat extends all around the abdomen, it's sometimes called a "spare tire." No matter what you call it, it's fat, and unfortunately, there's no simple method to get rid of it. Discovery Health points out that reducing fat from specific areas of your body isn't possible. You can do exercises that tone the muscles underneath the fat, but that won't remove the fat itself. Love handles aren't muscles -- they're just fat, and to burn fat, you need a healthy diet and cardiovascular exercise. This will help you lose weight all over your body. But, just as you can't choose where the fat accumulates on your body,
you can't choose where or how quickly it will come off. iVillage affirms that exercises don't trim fat from specific areas. But the site does suggest exercises that can tone and strengthen the muscles of your abdomen. This will make your love-handle area look more trim and fit once your overall body fat is reduced. Try some basic crunches, twist crunches, or anchoring exercises. About.com offers more details about working your abdominal muscles. Watch animated videos that illustrate variations on crunches and sit-ups. Ron Brown's Body Fat Guide notes that the best type
of exercise for reducing body fat is low-intensity, long-duration aerobic exercise. Once you start losing body fat, you can firm up your abs and reduce love handles by exercises such as crunches with feet raised, elbow-to-opposite-knee sit-ups, and bent-over twists. Certified personal trainer Leigh Crews also recommends back extensions in order to work the back muscles and enhance a lean look around the middle. According to experts, men tend to accumulate fat in the love-handle area because of heredity. Nutrition services professional Nancy Clark recommends that men look at their male relatives to get an idea of what they can
and can't control about their physique. She says, "If they're exercising regularly and eating well and still have half an inch they want to get rid of, they may be striving for perfection instead of reality." So don't stress about those love handles -- just try to eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly to maintain overall fitness.
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