We commonly call it by the moniker "love handles." But they are less than lovely to look at. In fact, these belly bulges are actually sinister little devils. A Harvard study has shown that midsection weight gain actually starts off a chain of inflammatory processes that lead us closer to high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and even certain types of cancers. These obesity-related health risks are nothing to be laughed about. Many young people have already died prematurely from heart attacks because of unchecked midsection weight gain.

No other motivation to lose that belly flab could be as stronger as that desire to live longer to be able to see your children grow, get married and experience the joy of holding your grandkids. Those who are not yet married and are thinking of enjoying their blessed single status for a longer time would certainly want to enjoy the benefits of a career, friends and the thrill of travel and seeing new places. All these so-called perks of living cannot be enjoyed if one is not healthy. When your cholesterol levels are up, when you have to constantly depend on medications, when you live everyday knowing that you are prone to cardiac arrest anytime makes for a poor quality of life.

The road to better health starts with losing that accumulated midsection weight gain that can be blamed to an unhealthy diet and a largely sedentary lifestyle. If you want to make those "love handles" go away for good, you have to decrease your caloric consumption and perform exercises to hasten your metabolism for a faster fat reduction. To lose a pound of fat in one week, strive to reduce your food intake by about 500 calories a day. You don't have to go any of those foolish crash diets that tell you to replace everything with orange juice or cabbage soup. All you need to do is to avoid highly-processed foods and eat foods that give you good nutrition minus the calories. These include whole grains, fruits, vegetables, fish and lean portions of meat.

Do regular cardiovascular workouts combined with resistance training. Thus, you can jog walk, run, dance or cycle on most days of the week and in two or three days, engage in a weight training or bodyweight training regimen so your body forms more muscles that will further aid in fat burn. To further enhance your sessions, make sure to incorporate core stability training into your regular routine. When you strengthen your core, you are actually developing the muscles of your back, abdomen and pelvis. Since these are large muscle groups, you increase your fat loss gains when you develop them.

If you can't find time to fit this in your hectic workday, you can simply incorporate these-- the cardio part at least-- to your daily routine. You can walk to and from work, particularly if you live near the office, take the steps instead of the elevator and at home, you can climb the stairs, alternating intense sprints up with slower jogs down.

It is possible to win over midsection weight gain. You just have to discipline yourself to eat right and exercise regularly.