If you’ve been doing side bends and oblique twists hoping to melt away your love handles, here’s the honest answer: exercise alone can’t target that fat directly. Your body burns fat from all over, not just the muscle you’re working, so there’s no move that removes fat from one specific spot.
Professor Sandip Hindocha, who leads body contouring at Lux Plastic Surgery, sees this misunderstanding often. Love handles, the soft fat that sits along the flanks between the ribs and hips, are one of the most stubborn areas on the body because genetics and hormones largely decide where fat sits and where it leaves first.
In short: a healthy diet and regular exercise will reduce your overall body fat, and your love handles will shrink along with everything else. But if they’re still there once you’re close to your goal weight, that’s usually down to genetics rather than effort, and liposuction or VASER liposuction is the only reliable way to remove that specific fat for good.
Why Love Handles Are So Hard to Shift
Love handles are subcutaneous fat, the layer stored just under the skin along your sides. Where your body stores and releases fat is largely out of your control.
Research shows genetics can account for as much as 60% of where fat is distributed around the body. That’s why some people lose weight from their face and legs first while their flanks barely change, even at a healthy weight.
Hormones play a role too, which is part of why love handles are common in both men going through midlife weight gain and women after menopause, when fat tends to settle around the midsection.
Can You Get Rid of Love Handles With Exercise Alone
Not directly, no. This is one of the most persistent myths in fitness, and it’s worth being straightforward about it.
A University of Sydney review of the evidence found that targeted exercise doesn’t reduce fat in the area being worked. In one 12-week trial, people who added an abdominal resistance programme to a diet lost no more belly fat than those on the diet alone. A separate analysis of 13 studies covering over 1,100 participants found the same pattern held regardless of age, sex, or exercise type.
The reason is physiological. When you exercise, your muscles pull fat for energy from your bloodstream, not directly from the fat cells sitting next to them. That fat comes from stores all over your body, decided by your own biology rather than which muscle you just worked.
What Oblique and Ab Exercises Actually Do
Side bends, Russian twists, and similar oblique exercises still have a place. They build and tone the muscle underneath your love handles, which can make the area look firmer once the fat covering it is reduced.
What they won’t do is burn the fat sitting on top of that muscle any faster than exercise elsewhere in your body would.
What Diet and Exercise Can Realistically Do
Losing fat overall, through a sustained calorie deficit and regular activity, will reduce fat everywhere on your body, including your flanks. This is the only exercise-and-diet route that genuinely works, it’s just not targeted.
How much of a difference it makes to your love handles specifically depends on your own fat distribution pattern. Some people see their flanks slim down in line with the rest of their body. Others find the area barely changes even after significant weight loss, because it’s simply where their body holds onto fat longest.
When to Consider a Surgical Option
If you’re already at or close to a healthy weight, eating well, exercising regularly, and your love handles still haven’t shifted, that’s a sign the fat is being held there by genetics rather than lifestyle. No amount of extra dieting or exercise is likely to change that.
This is the point where most people start looking into fat removal procedures like liposuction. It’s worth being clear that this isn’t a shortcut to avoid diet and exercise. The NHS is explicit that liposuction is not a treatment for obesity and works best in people who are already close to their ideal weight, with reasonably firm, elastic skin.
Liposuction and VASER Liposuction for Love Handles
Both liposuction and VASER liposuction are designed to physically remove fat cells from the flanks. Once those cells are gone, they don’t come back, provided your weight stays roughly stable afterwards.
The two techniques work in a similar way but differ in how the fat is broken down before it’s removed.
| Technique | How it works | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional (tumescent) liposuction | A cannula suctions out fat directly after the area is numbed | Straightforward flank fat removal with a well-established technique |
| VASER liposuction | Ultrasound energy liquefies fat before it’s suctioned out, with less disruption to surrounding tissue | Patients who also want some skin tightening, or who want a more precise, contoured result |
At Lux Plastic Surgery, both are performed under local or general anaesthesia depending on the area treated, and the procedure itself typically takes one to three hours.
What Recovery Looks Like
Most patients wear a compression garment for up to six weeks to support the treated area and reduce swelling. Light activity is usually fine within a few days, but strenuous exercise needs to wait two to four weeks, and full results aren’t visible until swelling has completely settled, which can take three to six months.
If your love handles come with a noticeable amount of loose skin, for example after major weight loss, fat removal alone may not fully address that. In that case, it’s worth discussing post weight loss body contouring at your consultation, since combining skin removal with fat removal usually gives a better result than either alone.
Is Removing Love Handles Right for You
Good candidates are generally in good health, at a stable weight, and have realistic expectations about what the procedure can achieve. It’s not designed for people who are significantly overweight, and it works best when combined with maintaining a healthy lifestyle afterwards.
The only way to know whether liposuction or VASER is the right fit for your body is a consultation, where your surgeon can assess your flanks, your skin quality, and talk through which technique suits your goals.
FAQ
How do you get rid of love handles fast?
There isn’t a genuinely fast fix. Diet and exercise take time to reduce overall body fat, and even then, love handles are one of the areas most resistant to change. Liposuction or VASER liposuction can remove the fat in a single procedure, but recovery and final results still take a few months.
Can crunches or oblique exercises get rid of love handles?
Not on their own. These exercises strengthen the muscles under your love handles but don’t burn fat specifically from that area. Overall fat loss through diet and general exercise is what reduces the fat covering those muscles.
Will losing weight get rid of love handles?
It often helps, since love handles shrink along with the rest of your body fat as you lose weight overall. How much they shrink depends on your individual fat distribution, and some people find the area stays stubborn even close to their goal weight.
Is liposuction or VASER better for love handles?
Both remove fat effectively. VASER uses ultrasound to break down fat before removal and offers some additional skin tightening, which can suit patients who want a more precise result. Your surgeon can advise which technique fits your body and goals at consultation.
Will love handles come back after liposuction?
The fat cells removed during the procedure don’t return. However, remaining fat cells elsewhere in your body can still expand if you gain weight afterwards, which can affect your results. Maintaining a stable weight is the best way to protect the outcome.
Talk to a Specialist About Your Love Handles
If diet and exercise haven’t shifted your love handles and you’re at a healthy, stable weight, a consultation is the best next step. Book a consultation with Lux Plastic Surgery at our Bedford, London, or Manchester clinics to find out whether liposuction or VASER liposuction is right for you.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute medical advice. Individual results vary, and all surgery carries risks that should be discussed fully with your surgeon during a consultation.
