Beer belly is commonly found in both women and men. It is usually seen at an age where metabolic rate slows down which causes fat deposition from calorie intake at the midsection level. This fat is known as visceral fat which has many risk factors associated with heart patients, people with diabetes, patients with Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. Beer causes an increase in fat deposition and prevents of fat burning process with increased content of phytoestrogen in the diet. It can also lead to hormonal changes in your body and increased fat deposition around the belly area. Beer results in increased appetite which leads to intake of caloric foods.
What Causes a Beer Belly
Do you think beer belly must be the result of drinking beer? Not necessarily.
1. What You Eat Does Affect
Calorie intake from sugary beverages, alcohol or oversized food portions may transform your waistline into a protruding belly off the pants.
Alcohol has a unique association with fat deposition in mid-section area. Alcohol is linked to large sizes because in alcohol drinkers liver burns the alcohol and do not attack the fat. You can easily overdo calories with liquor because each pack consists of 150-160 calories and if you drink few in one sitting, you may end up in a massive overload of calories intake. Alcohol increases the appetite by washing down calorie intake through foods.
But sugar could be the most significant reason because the calories stored are not from alcohol, but sugar and refined carbohydrates, etc. So, if you just drink instead of other foods, the beer belly may not be developed. But when drinking leads to a strong appetite, excessive intake of calories will give you a huge belly.
2. Genetic Factors Play an Important Role
From the moment you are born, your genes determine which parts of your body like to deposit fat. If there is the abdomen, then beer belly may come to you. In this case, you may see that some people eat junk food all day without adding a little fat, while some people eat a doughnut and get a pound.
3. Gender Is Also a Problem
The classic beer belly is more likely to appear on men than on women. Studies have shown that for men, excess fat is more likely to accumulate in the abdomen area, while women’s ass and thighs prefer to collect extra fat.
4. Age Makes the Problem Worse
The aging process tends to gain weight because your metabolism is gradually slowing down. At this point, the fat in your buttocks and thighs will slowly transfer to the central region. So, sometimes it’s just not coming.
Why Does Fat Accumulate in Belly
When calorie intake is more as compared to burning calories, you end up storing excess calories as fats. Body stores that fat according to sex, age, and hormones. Both genders have same patterns for fat storage until they cross puberty. Women have increased amount of subcutaneous fat (under their skin) when compared to men which lead to the deposition of these extra fats in thighs, buttocks, arms, and bellies. Men have decreased the amount of subcutaneous fat due to which they store fat in guts.
People with older age have more protruding bellies because once you start aging your calorie requirement reduce and you become less energetic and active which results in increased weight gain. Hormone levels decrease in women and men as soon as you age and they start storing fat at the midsection level. Menopausal women undergoing hormone replacement treatment less likely result in belly fat when compared to the ones who do not take this therapy.
What’s Wrong with a Beer Belly
Belly fat at the midsection area leads to multiple health issues such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Subcutaneous fat around your hips, thighs, waist, and buttocks is not that dangerous when compared to the visceral fat which gets deposited in the abdominal cavity and encloses the organs.
Waist circumference is used to measure the visceral fat which is stored in the abdominal region. Increased risk for heart problems, overall mortality rate, and metabolic syndrome is associated with individuals whose waist expands from 35 -36 inches for women and 40-42 inches for men. You should try to keep your waist sizes beneath these levels.
How to Lose Your Beer Belly?
You cannot apply shortcuts and reduce your belly fat. You need to incorporate healthy eating and drinking habits along with exercise and waist training in your daily routine to lose your beer belly fat gradually.
[Read more about Waist Training]
1. Changing Your Drinking Patterns
The only way to get rid of belly fat is to start cutting down calories with extra physical activity. The healthy low-caloric diet should be taken to reduce the belly fat because monounsaturated fats along with belly fat diets alone cannot shrink this fat. Alcohol calories have a direct link with belly fat, so first of all, you should stop drinking alcohol. Avoid causing a risk to your liver damage along with other serious health issues and stop drinking binge drinks.
Individuals who love beer should choose light beers which have little calories, i.e., less than 100-150. Another option for such people is to drink alcohol on weekends or alter alcoholic beverages with non-alcoholic low caloric beverages. Before you drink, fill your appetite with a healthy meal so that you can resist any temptation for high caloric food.
2. Changing Your Eating Habits
Start by cleaning up your diet and include healthy fats, plants, complex carbs such as whole grains, nutritious vegetables, and lean meat. Mindful eating which is a type of meditation technique should be adopted by people so that your body weight is maintained. Mindful eating is a permanent solution which leads to weight loss.
It is advised that you should eat small meals regularly to maintain your health. The digestive system continuously works and burns more calories while you eat small portions after few intervals. If you do not eat, frequently your digestive system is idyll and leads to overworking while you eat huge meals at a time. Avoid junk foods which lack nutritious and is overloaded with the massive amount of calories. Avoid eating carbohydrates at night because you are not that energetic at the end of the day. So those carbs will turn into fat and deposited in your body. Focus on a proteinaceous diet at night so that it helps in building and repair the body while you are sleeping.
3. Exercising
Try performing crunches, sit-ups and other abdominal exercises which help you hold your belly fat and provide strength to your core muscles. You should lose weight which is the only way to reduce the belly fat. Aerobic exercises like cycling, running, swimming and tennis are best ways to help you in reducing the belly fat.
Diet alone can not help you reduce the belly fat, so you need to perform exercises along with diet correctly. Once you initiate losing your weight, the first area where you start getting rid of fat in the midsection area. Because when compared to the subcutaneous fat, visceral fat is highly metabolically active which leads to their faster breakdown than the subcutaneous fat. High-intensity interval training exercises are best to reduce the belly fat. Practice regular exercises at least 30 minutes to burn calories. Try to include meditation and yoga in your daily practice to avoid obesity and relieve stress.
4. Waist Training
Waist trainers help in losing the belly fat by cinching a corset around your waist which results in an hourglass figure. The corset restricts the stomach physically and prevents you from overeating. Cinching redistributes the fat around your waistline from the midsection area and results in slimmer look. You need to undergo constant waist training along with diet and exercises to achieve best results otherwise waist training alone will not help you lose belly fat as it will return as soon as you take off your corset.
5. Other Small Tips
- Control of food intake by controlling the pressure due to the rise in cortisol levels will enhance appetite.
- Protein can help you beat excess abdominal fat.
- High quality sleep can control appetite and reduce stress.
- Weightlifting can also melt your belly fat.
- Timed steady-state exercises will give you better results.
How to Enhance Your Results?
You can enhance your results by opting the following two methods:
1. Purchase a High-quality Waist Trainer
Buy a high-quality waist trainer garment which is comfortable and adequately fits you. It should help in weight loss, provide support to your hip and rib cage area. A well-fitting corset is pleasant and results in efficient shaping encouraging you to spend more time while wearing a corset. The girdles should be robust enough to hold your body tension and securely stitched so that it is cost-effective and durable.
2. Make a Waist Training Schedule
Follow a proper waist training plan by either wearing a corset 8 hourly while working or 10 hours while sleeping. Establish a good routine along with daily exercises and diet plans to lose belly fat. Along with activities and healthy meals reduce the intake of alcoholic beverages and start consuming healthy foods. It is hard to get rid of belly fat as it is stubborn so try making a waist training schedule with proper intervals and workouts so that it helps in increase sweating level which results in more significant weight loss. Waist training contributes to control food cravings by cinching the waist at the abdomen level.
Conclusion
Drinking beer can lead to weight gain especially belly fat. Therefore, avoid drinking in high amounts and prevent yourself from weight gain. Moderate drinking is not associated with a beer belly, but if you regularly drink binge drink or beer, you are at an ultimate risk of gaining belly fat. Belly fat results in serious health problems so minimize your risk of weight gain by reducing the amount of alcohol intake along with exercise and diet plans.
