Love handles in men: more testosterone against obesity!

Love handles are often associated with women, but it also occurs in men. Love handles are the edge of too much fat above the hips. You often see this fat edge come out extra well above the edge of a pair of trousers.

Men can also be ashamed of these love handles. Especially when they are accompanied by belly fat and breast formation in men (man boobs), this can lead to insecurity about the body.

Excess weight on and around the abdomen is usually caused by hormonal problems, stress, eating processed foods and insufficient exercise. The advantage is that with the right nutrition and training you can also get rid of your love handles.

Below I give you 7 good tips that help men get rid of that fat edge and I explain why increasing testosterone levels is so important.

Testosterone in men

Women often cite hormones as the cause of overweight, but in men there is also often a disturbed hormone balance. I’m mainly talking about the testosterone level.

What Does Testosterone Do in Men?

Testosterone plays a key role in men’s health and development. It is the primary sex hormone in men and helps regulate many important bodily functions, such as muscle mass, bone density, body fat content, fertility, hair growth, red blood cell production, moods and sexual performance. Testosterone also provides a sense of well-being and boosts energy levels.

In men, testosterone is mainly produced in the testes. Production begins to increase during puberty and peaks around age 30. After that, testosterone gradually decreases with age.

A low testosterone level is associated with decreased muscle mass and strength, increased body fat, decreased libido, erectile dysfunction, fatigue, depression, tension, irritability, decreased motivation, impaired cognitive functioning, worse memory, and decreased bone density.

Testosterone plays an important role in male body composition by regulating the distribution of fat in the body, particularly around the abdomen and chest.

Men with higher testosterone levels tend to be slimmer and also generally have better muscle strength and size than men with low testosterone levels. Testosterone helps build new muscle fibers, strengthens existing muscles and increases their size.

Testosterone also boosts metabolism, promoting better weight loss results when combined with exercise and a healthy diet.

The 7 tips against love handles are therefore mainly aimed at increasing testosterone levels in men. That can be done in different ways.

7 tips against love handles in men

1 Movement and strength training

Strength training is one of the most powerful methods to get rid of these extra fat edges. It lowers stress hormones, makes you more sensitive to insulin and increases testosterone levels.

It also builds muscles. These muscles burn more calories at rest, so you burn more calories in a day and lose fat faster.

2 Unprocessed fats in your diet

It sounds contradictory, but eating the right fats can reduce love handles. You need monounsaturated fats and saturated fats to produce more testosterone.

Think of extra virgin olive oil, avocado, unprocessed coconut oil, dark chocolate, grass-fed butter, grass-fed organic beef and organic eggs. Of course, make sure you eat it in moderation.

Fats that you should absolutely avoid are the processed polyunsaturated fats, such as sunflower, canola, peanut, soybean, rice and corn oil. The only exception is omega-3 from oily fish.

3 Avoid stressful situations

Stress causes the production of the stress hormone cortisol. Long-term exposure can have a negative effect on your metabolism, making it difficult to lose weight.

Stress also causes an increased insulin level, which can cause an increase in fat on the hips and around the abdomen.

In addition, stress can contribute to binge eating and poor sleep, which in turn leads to more fat storage. Wondering how you can reduce stress?

• Take a 30-60 minute walk
• 2 – 3 per week intensive strength training
• Dare to say “no” more often
• Read a good book daily
• 4 – 7 – 8 breathing technique

4 Limit the use of refined sugars

Refined sugars are sugars that are made in a factory and then added to processed foods. They are added to sweets, sauces, bread, soft drinks, candy and all kinds of ready-to-eat meals.

Added sugars from processed food are absorbed very quickly by your body and cause an increase in insulin levels. This is a risk factor for developing love handles.

Do you often crave sweets? Then choose a nice piece of fruit. Research shows that sugars from a whole piece of fruit (so no juice) hardly affect blood sugar levels, because the sugars are built into fiber.

5 Get a good night’s sleep

Good sleep is one of the most important factors for a healthy hormone balance. After one night of poor sleep, the balance between leptin and ghrelin becomes unbalanced. These two hormones regulate your hunger and satiety.

An imbalance in these hormones causes appetite and that you eat too much faster. Eating more increases the risk of love handles and makes it more difficult to lose them.

With the 3-2-1 method you are guaranteed to sleep a lot better tonight. This means this method:

• Don’t eat anything 3 hours before bedtime
• Stop drinking 2 hours before going to bed
• No bright lamps / screens 1 hour before bedtime

A natural sleeping aid can also help you fall asleep and stay asleep, without becoming addicted to it.

A good night’s sleep is not only good for your energy level, but also significantly increases testosterone levels. Testosterone is very important for reducing love handles.

6 Intermittent fasting to avoid love handles

With intermittent fasting you limit the hours in a day that you can eat. For example, you only eat within a period of six to eight hours in a day. This ensures that your body will only burn fat instead of carbohydrates.

Moreover, you will unconsciously eat less. With intermittent fasting it is important that you:

• Get enough calories
• Keep eating healthy and watch your food intake
• Do not make the periods of eating too small or too large

Intermittent fasting can therefore help you to consume fewer calories, because you can eat at fewer times during the day. Especially if you have trouble stopping eating, this is definitely worth a try!

7 Increase your testosterone level with a natural booster

As you have read, testosterone is very important for reducing love handles. Strength training, good sleep, unprocessed fats and reducing stress are very important.

In addition, you can also use a natural testosterone booster. After long research, we came across a natural testosterone booster that improves sleep, reduces stress and also supplements deficiencies in the most important nutrients. This testosterone booster is also chosen by leading websites as the best testosterone booster in the Netherlands.

More tips to increase testosterone

Do you find it interesting to read more about this? Highly recommended is this extensive e-book: An 11-step plan to naturally increase testosterone levels in men with diet, lifestyle and supplements. Click here for the eBook.