I used to be skinny fat and it was awful. I had skinny arms and a pot belly with love handles. I didn’t like how I looked in a shirt and especially not shirtless.

Several years ago I worked in an office and when I went in I’d wear a baggier shirt so it wouldn’t hug my stomach because my love handles would poke through. I was always embarrassed by that.

If that resonates with you and you can relate, then this is the blog post for you. You’ll learn how you got love handles in the first place and then into how to get rid of them.

 

Check out this video I made on Why Love Handles Are So Stubborn To Go Away and How To Get Rid Of Them. You can watch this video, or read this blog or do both.

 

 

How To Get Rid Of Love Handles

1. Genetics

Your genetics will mostly determine where to store body fat. It’s the blueprint of how your ancestors stored body fat and will be the same for you. So if you have a skinny fat look with love handles popping out, unfortunately, that’s where your body likes to store fat.

For some guys, they store fat in their chest and arms. They just end up looking more muscular because fat goes to places to keep their upper body looking strong.

For other guys, they add more fat to their legs and thighs. So they may be leaner up top but have thicker legs.

But for us skinny guys, we have the curse of popping love handles.

There is hope though, and you CAN change that look. Stick around to find out how.

 

2. Long Torso

You may have a longer torso compared to most guys. This may or may not apply to you but for me, I have a longer torso compared to other guys. Because I have a longer torso my love handles will stick out more.

For the skinny fat look, most guys aren’t incredibly overweight but just have a few pounds of fat. And because the body doesn’t store fat over the ribs usually, it picks the storage place around the belly/mid-section.

So if you have a longer torso, the perspective of love handles may be more apparent than in a guy who has a shorter torso.

 

3. Lack of Muscle

This is the biggest reason guys look skinny fat; that can be changed. The first two (genetics and long torso) cannot be changed. But a lack of muscle is under your influence of power.

Skinny fat guys usually have lower muscle mass compared to guys who aren’t skinny fat. They look skinny fat because, as the first word suggests, they are partially SKINNY.

They are skinny in their chest, arms, shoulders, back and legs. So they need to build muscle in those regions so they get out of being SKINNY and into being muscular.

The lack of muscle makes the love handles stand out more. It’s a perspective thing. Imagine this:

There are two guys who have the same waist circumference of 36 inches, for example. One of those guys has 25 pounds more muscle than the other guy who looks skinny fat. Even though these two guys have the SAME waist measurement, who do you think looks better with their shirt off? The 25 pound more muscle guy! NO doubt. It’s obvious.

So when you’re looking at yourself in the mirror and frustrated with your love handles, keep in mind that the biggest way to change that look is going to be through adding muscle.

 

4. Untapped Fat Stores

Your body likes to store fat as a backup source in case you run out of food. That’s why you get hunger signals like ghrelin that strongly nudge you to eat, and sometimes eat more than you should. Because the body, from a genetic point of view, doesn’t know when it’ll get food next so it wants to be sure it has enough stored up for a while in case of starvation.

So you have all these untapped fat stores that may never get used. They’re just sitting there in your love handles and your body hasn’t learned how to use them because it would rather not for the reasons we just discussed.

You have to teach your body to use those love handle fat stores. How you do that is through fasting, carb adjusting, daily movement and other techniques so the love handles disappear.

 

The next steps for you are to start focusing on building muscle and to teach your body to tap into the stored fat.

 

If you’re not sure how to build muscle or tap into those love handle fat stores then you can set up a call with me. Set up a free consultation call with me and I’ll help guide you in the direction that would be best. You can do so by shooting me a note from my contact page here and we’ll get it set up from there.

 

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