8 Simple Ways To Get Rid Of Your Muffin Tops

Getting rid of your muffin tops can be a challenge, especially if you’ve been struggling with your weight for several years. Instead of focusing on what we can’t change (ie the past), let’s dive straight into the 8 tips that can help you torch those love handles.

Tip 1: Do Cardio That Demolishes Calories

If you’re going to drop your muffin tops quickly, you need to introduce super efficient cardio vascular exercise into your training schedule. The good news is that you actually have quite a few good options to choose from. Here are some of the best forms of cardio for burning calories, losing weight and eliminating muffin tops.

Running (820+ Calories Per Hour) – You just can’t argue with how effective running is at burning calories. This ability is pre-built into the human body, and you all you need is a pair of running shoes to get started. If you aren’t sure where to begin, checkout the ultimate couch to 5k training plan.

Rowing (697+ Calories Per Hour) – Rowing is one of the best forms of cardio that you can do… period. It gives you a challenging full body workout, and it obliterates calories in the process.

Cycling (656 Calories Per Hour) – Cycling might just be the most fun form of cardio that has ever been created. You can explore just about any terrain, cover massive distances and do it all with a smile on your face.

Swimming (820+ Calories Per Hour) – Naming the benefits of swimming would require an article on its own. Long story short, swimming improves circulation, strengthens your body, increases your lung capacity and it can help you lose weight by burning a ton of calories.

Jump Rope (820+ Calories Per Hour) – There’s a jump rope revolution happening, and you could be a part of it. Jump rope is increasing in popularity because it is amazingly good for burning calories. All you need is a pair of trainers, a decent Jump Rope and you’re all set.

Here’s a quick recap of how many calories each different type of cardio burns.

Running (6mp/h or faster) - 820+ Calories Per Hour
Jump Rope (Moderate) - 820+ Calories Per Hour
Rowing (High Intensity) - 697+ Calories Per Hour
Cycling (Moderate) - 656+ Calories Per Hour
Swimming (Fast Freestyle/Crawl) - 820+ Calories Per Hour

Tip 2: Keep A Food Journal

Keeping a food journal might not be the most obvious way to eliminate your muffin tops, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t highly effective. In a study put together by the Kiaser Permanente’s Center for Health Research, they looked at which subjects were most likely to lose weight in a given time period. The one group used food journals, the other group didn’t. The results of this study were mind blowing.

Key Result of the food journal study: “The more food records people kept, the more weight they lost” says Jack Hollis Ph.D.

“Those who kept daily food records lost twice as much weight as those who kept no records. It seems that the simple act of writing down what you eat encourages people to consume fewer calories.“

So if getting rid of your muffin tops is a top priority for you this year, it’s time download a food journal app like myfitnesspal, and start using it religiously. By doing so, you can potentially double the amount of weight you can expect to lose. Those sound like pretty good odds to me.

PS – You might be tempted to ignore this advice. Failing to use a food journal is a bit like signing up for a 24 month muffin top contract. The decision is yours to make

Tip 3 - Create a calorific deficit

There are plenty of theories on the best way to lose weight. There’s Paleo, Atkins, Intermittant fasting, Banting, Smoothie Diets and a whole bunch of other weight-loss solutions that all seem to have a different take on the best way to drop pounds.

However, there is one underlying link that is common to every single weight-loss program that has ever been created. In order for any of these weight-loss programs to actually work, you need to create a calorific deficit. In simple terms, this means burning more calories than you consume.

Now you might be a bit skeptical about this claim. To demonstrate the true power of creating a calorific deficit, take a look at the photos below:

Both of these amazing transformations were achieved by following a McDiet. A McDiet is where you only eat MacDonald’s for a set period of time. It’s the ultimate proof that controlling your calories is the most important variable when following a weight loss program.

Please note – I’m not suggesting that you can lose your muffin tops by chowing McMuffins on the side. My point is that you need to control your portion sizes and reduce your total calorie intake if you are serious about melting your muffin tops.

If you reduce your calorie intake, exercise frequently and choose healthier foods, you can basically kiss your muffin tops goodbye!

Tip 4 - Take Progress Pictures

Let’s take a look at a few more photos.

If you’re human you probably just received a massive jolt of motivation.

You have just been exposed to concrete confirmation that it is possible to get rid of your muffin tops, once and for good.

But here’s the thing. When you start a weight loss journey, it’s easy to lose motivation when you can’t see any tangible evidence of how far you’ve come. Progress photos are the solution to this very problem.

And hey, maybe we will be able to tell your success story on 5KRUNNING.COM one day.

Tip 5 - Turn Your Body Into A Calorie Burning Machine with Weight Training

A lot of people don’t realize just how helpful resistance training can be when you set yourself the goal of losing weight. There are essentially two major benefits that you can enjoy when you add regular resistance training to your schedule.

Primary Benefit 1: Enhanced Calorie Burning for 38 Hours After A Workout

After an intense weight training session, the average number of calories that your body burns per hour will increase, for up to 38 hours! This benefit alone is reason enough to make weight training a key component of your muffin top melting weight loss plan.

Primary Benefit 2: The More Muscle You Have, The More Calories Your Burn… 24/7

This is actually the main reason it can be easier for men to lose weight than women. Simply put, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, at all times during the day. So even if you are sitting on the couch, or even sleeping, your basal metabolic rate will get faster if you increase your muscle density (how much muscle you have).

Side note – A lot of women have hangups about resistance training, because they think it will make them bigger. This is extremely unlikely if you are doing cardio regularly and you improve your eating habits. In fact, it only really happens when people start drinking tons of protein shakes, adding heavy calories to a diet that is already overloaded.

Whatever you do, don’t listen to the recommendations of those fucking protein shake companies. The only thing they care about is selling you more protein. They have zero interest in your long term health.

Remember, the goal here is to lose your muffin tops. No one is asking you to start competing at Mr Olympia, and you really don’t have to worry about getting bigger if you start doing weight training. You might look like more of an athlete. That’s a risk that most people should be willing to take.

Tip 6 - Push Through The Dip

One of the saddest things in life is that a lot of people have a tendency to give up before they truly get started. Seth Godin calls this ‘The Dip‘.

Basically, the dip is when you’re doing everything right and following all the guidelines, but you can’t see any tangible gains, and it feels like you aren’t making any progress. In fact, sometimes it feels like you are getting worse and going backwards.

This is when the feint of heart give up. Your job is to find the grit, guts and determination to stick it out. You won’t feel like it, but it has to be done.

It’s a bit like passing through the eye of the storm… the world will open up as soon as you make it through that seemingly impenetrable wall of clouds.

In other words, you will start ascending toward success, but you need to push through that initial dip, when your motivation drops, and everything feels confusing, before you get there.

Just knowing that ‘the dip’ is a thing can be the difference between success and failure. Now buckle up and get started as soon as you can!

Tip 7 - Use Weekly Weigh-Ins To Keep You Accountable

The reality is that you will have to drop some weight if you want to achieve this goal, and the scale is an accurate judge of whether or not you are moving in the right direction.

If the pounds aren’t dropping off, you need to assess where you are going wrong. Are your cardio sessions long enough? Have you been avoiding the weight training? Have you been having too many cheat meals? Like the progress pictures, a weekly weigh-in will keep you extremely accountable.

Side note – There are some people who are relatively skinny, but still have large muffin tops. If you fall into this boat, the real problem isn’t your weight, but your body fat percentage.

The good news is that if you have an issue with your body fat percentage (rather than body weight) all the methods in this article can still be used to eliminate your muffin tops. You will just need to focus more on intense cardio, resistance training, and eating clean (rather than calorie restriction).

If you aren’t sure how to measure your body fat percentage, the Fitbit Aria Smart Scale can help you do so without body fat calipers.

Tip 8 - Use this simple Muffin Top Melting Weight Loss Plan

We’ve reached the last muffin top melting tip. The simple training plan below is a very good guideline if you are truly serious about getting rid of your love handles as soon as humanly possible.

Admittedly it’s a bit intense, but we aren’t hear to play games. Getting rid of love handles is serious business

Monday - Intense Cardio
Tuesday - Resistance Training
Wednesday - Intense Cardio
Thursday - Resistance Training
Friday - Intense Cardio
Weekends - Whatever you damn well please

How long does it take to get rid of muffin tops?

This depends on your starting point. If you are more than 50 pounds overweight, this will need to be a long term strategy. If you are only 10-20 pounds overweight, you can achieve this goal in significantly less time. The bullet points below give a pretty good guideline, but obviously your exercise routine and eating plan will play a major role in how fast you can get rid of your muffin tops.

10 Pounds Overweight: 2-3 Months
20 Pounds Overweight: 3-6 Months
30 Pounds Overweight: 6-9 Months
40+ Pounds Overweight: 9-12 Months (or more)

Final Thoughts

I think the main thing at this point is to just get started on at least one of the 8 tips mentioned above. You don’t necessarily need to do everything all at ounce. If your feeling motivated about exercise, check out the ultimate couch to 5k training plan.

Or if you’re ready, to start improving your eating habits, head on over to myfitnesspal.

Whatever tip you choose to implement, just make sure you do it today. In 3 months time, you will feel so much better about yourself, and life in general 😊