Love Handles

I’ve down 86 lbs, 15% fat from 42% now, 51 YO male. I look OK, maybe even a little skinny, but I cannot get rid of these damn love handles. Goes well around the back too. What supplements, cardio, etc would you recommend? If nothing works, maybe liposuction will. Any comments so much appreciated. Thanks.

It’s highly probable that you lost a substantial amount of muscle mass in the process of losing so much bodyfat; thus, your basal metabolic rate is no longer high enough to allow you to lose the remaining fat (this is a common probem with the formerly obese). I recommend that you now concentrate on gaining some muscle for a while (even if you have to gain a little fat in the process) and then try losing some more fat. Assuming you’re gaining 2-3 lbs. of muscle for each lb. of fat, you can cycle your body fat up and down in set increments – say, 15% to 17% (initial gain) to 12% to 16% to 11% to 15% to 10% – until you get where you want to be. This might take a couple of years depending on the quality of your dieting, but it will be well worth the wait.

I can tell you that for a man that is usually the LAST place to lose fat. I’ve had the top 4 abs visible and still had some fat around the “love handle” area. I also agree with Bob K. to increase your muscle mass, but in the end I think it will all come to diet to strip off that last little bit of fat.

I have read that Yohimbe (yohimbine) works for that area in men and butt + thighs for women…

There is something I read yesterday in one of the very old T-mags…probably one of the early 1998 issues and probably a Question of Strength column which mentioned some exercises for the lower abs which sounded like they might be helpful for you.

My love handles are very stuborn. For me it gets better at about 8% and till I’m about 6.5% does mine go away. I do have some mucsle that sticks out past my hip bones on the side under the love handles.

Congratulations on the progress so far! After losing so much at once, if you continue to restrict your caloric intake, your body becomes very resistant to further fat loss. It goes into starvation mode and your metabolism slows down. Do you feel cold a lot, or weak? Are you strength training now? If you restrict carbs and essnetial fats too long, you also begin to depress your natural testosterone. I went through this in the past year. Give yourself a few more calories (I like fruits and veggies over the starches and grains), and pay particular attention to your protein, EFA intake, and post-workout nutrition. Concentrate on your strength training, and let your metabolism stabilize at your new bodyweight for awhile and ‘reset’ before trying to trim further. You’re making great progress! It does take time, though, especially for such large losses of fat. Hope this helps and Good luck - Nylo

Jayalan: I’m simply saying that in order to add some muscle mass, you’re going have to add some quality calories to your diet, and, in the process, you’ll also add some bodyfat. I know this doesn’t sound too good after all you’ve done to lose that fat – congratulations, by the way – but you really will benefit in the long run. The numbers I gave were just an example, and the minor increase from 15% to 17% BF was my assumption that you would be adverse to adding too much fat in your first mass cycle (I myself cycle between 8% and 11%). Note that by the time you hit your third iteration, you’ll have added a significant amount of muscle to your body, which in turn will help your fat reduction efforts that much more. As with all things related to weight loss and maintenance, it’s important to remember that you need to take the long view or you will have a difficult time retaining the progess you’ve made so far.

Newby: Jayalan's problem is entirely a bodyfat issue and cannot be reduced by exercise. That is merely a myth -- a.k.a. "spot reduction" -- fostered by annoying exercise equipment infomercials. Don't believe it.