My beer gut is strong as hell.

[11201ny]

After deciding in December that i was going to loose the mountain of beer gut i added to myself in 2016 - 2017, I've come to a conclusion... i need to let go of thata thing i love so much.

I've been working out like a lunatic since 12/17, and i've lost maybe 15lbs at best. Burning 1000 - 1400 kcal a workout. Sure i'm gaining muscle mass - i look much better, but i'm telling you - beer is giving me the middle finger. It's thriving... strong as hell. At this rate it will easily be another year before I can prance around like a dude in love with his svelte abs. Yeah I'm 45, and i still love beer. Beeeeeeer. But I thought if i worked out like a crossfit dip**** (kidding guys), i would be able to drink and win. Not so much.

[d2mini]

After deciding in December that i was going to loose the mountain of beer gut i added to myself in 2016 - 2017, I've come to a conclusion... i need to let go of thata thing i love so much.

I've been working out like a lunatic since 12/17, and i've lost maybe 15lbs at best. Burning 1000 - 1400 kcal a workout. Sure i'm gaining muscle mass - i look much better, but i'm telling you - beer is giving me the middle finger. It's thriving... strong as hell. At this rate it will easily be another year before I can prance around like a dude in love with his svelte abs. Yeah I'm 45, and i still love beer. Beeeeeeer. But I thought if i worked out like a crossfit dip**** (kidding guys), i would be able to drink and win. Not so much.

Calories in, calories out, brother. Doesn't matter whether those calories are coming from beer or bananas. Gotta track every single one and make sure you're consuming less than you're burning.

[JediRN]

pictures of gut

[Vandeman17]

After deciding in December that i was going to loose the mountain of beer gut i added to myself in 2016 - 2017, I've come to a conclusion... i need to let go of thata thing i love so much.

I've been working out like a lunatic since 12/17, and i've lost maybe 15lbs at best. Burning 1000 - 1400 kcal a workout. Sure i'm gaining muscle mass - i look much better, but i'm telling you - beer is giving me the middle finger. It's thriving... strong as hell. At this rate it will easily be another year before I can prance around like a dude in love with his svelte abs. Yeah I'm 45, and i still love beer. Beeeeeeer. But I thought if i worked out like a crossfit dip**** (kidding guys), i would be able to drink and win. Not so much.

You lost me at crossfit dip... 😉 Seriously though, like stated, download an app like my fitness pal and track your food for a few weeks and relate that to how your weight gained or lost goes. This will help establish your maintenance level so then you can eat at slight defecit while still continuing to enjoy some cold brews, in moderation of course.

[bodyhard]

Whats up with fake AV???

[pondman]

I love beer. But you've got to do something about calories. Drink something with less calories or just drink less. That's just the rule of the body. And then eat food that will give the nutrition you need.

[sunsean]

I also love beer - my drink of choice! As others said, it comes down to calories. If you adjust your diet so that drinking the beer won't put you over your limit, then you're good to go. For example, you could get all your protein and fat requirements from a mixture of whole eggs and whites, which would be pretty low calorie, and then use the rest of the day's limit for beer. Not much fun though.

The only way to balance the two is moderation - just like any other indulgence, like donuts. Don't have to give it up forever, but have to moderate consumption.

[bigtallox]

I also love beer - my drink of choice! As others said, it comes down to calories. If you adjust your diet so that drinking the beer won't put you over your limit, then you're good to go. For example, you could get all your protein and fat requirements from a mixture of whole eggs and whites, which would be pretty low calorie, and then use the rest of the day's limit for beer.

The only way to balance the two is moderation - just like any other indulgence, like donuts. Don't have to give it up forever, but have to moderate consumption.

As somebody who has given up alcohol due to health issues ( ie I had no choice, if I didn't I could likely be dead now ), it's just plain easier to not drink at all, ie "give it up forever". Honestly I can't imagine the stress caused by constantly struggling with being addicted to alcohol, ie doing the "balance thing". It would be like going through the pain of quitting for a week but then drinking again that weekend ( ie going through thoughts of failure, etc ), to only have to go through "quitting" again next week, and repeating that for eternity. If that "works" for you, great, but there is an alternative, that may seem harder at first, but trust me long term it becomes easier. Just saying. I didn't quit by choice, I quit because the doctor told me my heart wouldn't take it anymore, but I'm SOOOOOOOO much better off now, thank God I quit. My beer gut is gone now, and I didn't even try to loose it ( I just don't drink alcohol, and never again will ). Good luck.

[Mark1T]

Calories in, calories out, brother. Doesn't matter whether those calories are coming from beer or bananas. Gotta track every single one and make sure you're consuming less than you're burning.

I agree calories in, calories out. But, beer is different because it affects hormones. Beer increases estrogen and lowers testosterone in the body. The increase in estrogen in addition to the calories contributes to building that beer gut. Not just calories.

Beer and bananas are very different calories. So, it does matter a lot where those calories are coming from.

[adamgentile]

As somebody who has given up alcohol due to health issues ( ie I had no choice, if I didn't I could likely be dead now ), it's just plain easier to not drink at all, ie "give it up forever". Honestly I can't imagine the stress caused by constantly struggling with being addicted to alcohol, ie doing the "balance thing". It would be like going through the pain of quitting for a week but then drinking again that weekend ( ie going through thoughts of failure, etc ), to only have to go through "quitting" again next week, and repeating that for eternity. If that "works" for you, great, but there is an alternative, that may seem harder at first, but trust me long term it becomes easier. Just saying. I didn't quit by choice, I quit because the doctor told me my heart wouldn't take it anymore, but I'm SOOOOOOOO much better off now, thank God I quit. My beer gut is gone now, and I didn't even try to loose it ( I just don't drink alcohol, and never again will ). Good luck.

How much were you drinking for it to cause heart damage? I drink about 3 or 4 beers a day.

[Luclin999]

OP If you are "gaining muscle mass" then you probably aren't in much of a deficit. That's why your gut won't go.

"Beeeeer!" is basically 150+ calories per bottle so a couple of those can easily erase a days deficit.

And I wouldn't count on that you are actually "Burning 1000 - 1400 kcal a workout" as most people (and machines) tend to significantly overestimate the calories burned from exercise.

[d2mini]

And I wouldn't count on that you are actually "Burning 1000 - 1400 kcal a workout" as most people (and machines) tend to significantly overestimate the calories burned from exercise.

Maybe OP works out for 4 hours.

[OldFartTom]

Yeah, the only time I go over 1000 cals in a workout is a half marathon (I haven't done for a quite a while, my feet are itching for another).

Not sure what OP's calorie estimates are based on. If it's those e.g. running machine (etc) readings they ridiculously over estimate.

If people try to incorporate those numbers into their calorie calculations they'll get the numbers really wrong. Beware!

[shmobin]

I thought if i worked out like a crossfit dip**** (kidding guys), i would be able to drink and win. Not so much.

I spent 6 years trying to win that battle. ROFL

[Plagen]

Yeah, the only time I go over 1000 cals in a workout is a half marathon (I haven't done for a quite a while, my feet are itching for another).

Not sure what OP's calorie estimates are based on. If it's those e.g. running machine (etc) readings they ridiculously over estimate.

If people try to incorporate those numbers into their calorie calculations they'll get the numbers really wrong. Beware!

And lifting is very inefficient in terms of calories burning.

A quick example.

Say a guy is a 200 lbs and does multiple rep squats with a 300 lb bar.

To lift the total of 500 lb over 1m requires just 0.5 Cal of mechanical work. Say, a human body is 20% efficient, that makes it 2.5 Cal in terms of burned energy. Well, let’s double it because one actually has to burn energy to descent with the bar as well, so it’s only 5 Cal per squat.

That’s it. I guess one can do an equivalent of 200 squats like this per workout to burn 1000 cal but it’s a heck of a workout!

[YoelDovid]

In clinical settings we actually haven't been able to demonstrate a clear link between alcohol and adiposity. However, more and more beers here are using glucose syrup in their recipes, which changes things. Nor have we actually been able to confirm that a "beer belly" is a real phenomenon- it appears to be related to dietary choices, rather than beer or other alcoholic beverages.

Generally, we notice that alcohol has an effect on hunger and food intake, especially carbohydrate intake.