If you’re a man who’s had a few too many drinks lately, it may be showing up on your abdomen. When you look in the mirror, do you see a big belly staring back at you? If you’re ready to trade in your beer gut for a set of six pack abs, it can be done. Chances are your beer belly didn’t just pop up. You may have noticed a little extra abdominal girth and dismissed it as bad posture, but when it reaches the point you can’t button your pants and people begin to wonder if by some divine intervention you could have a baby on board, it’s time to get to work. So stop slipping wearing those stretch pants and get ready to banish that beer belly.
How to get rid of a beer belly
Unfortunately, alcohol has calories and little other nutritional value other than to insulate your tummy. On the plus side, alcohol does have some positive health benefits including reducing the risk of heart disease as long as it’s not used in excess. The key lies in limiting your usage. It’s okay to have one or two beers a day or two glasses of wine in the evening, but keep it at that. Not only can excessive alcohol use expand your girth even further, it can increase your risk of fatty liver and insulin resistance as well as up your risk of hypertension and heart disease. A little alcohol may reduce the risk of heart disease but too much has the opposite effect.
See your doctor first.
To get rid of a beer belly, it’s a good idea to start with a clean bill of health. Schedule an appointment with your doctor, particularly if you haven’t been seen in the last year or two. If you’ve been consuming alcohol on a regular basis, it’s important to check your liver enzymes to make sure alcohol use hasn’t elevated them and caused early fatty changes to the liver. You also want to verify that your blood pressure and blood sugar are both normal. Once you have a clean bill of health, you can get start taking positive steps to eliminate your beer belly.
Eliminate your beer belly: The first steps
The first step is to limit your alcohol consumption to one to two drinks per day of beer or wine and then re-evaluate your diet in general. Eliminate the simple carbohydrates and processed foods that are lacking in nutrition and substitute them with whole grains. Ditch the packaged, quick fix foods and go for real foods with as few additives and extra sugar as possible. Take a second look at the fruits and vegetables in the produce aisle and select ones you like. To get rid of a beer belly, you not only need to reduce your alcohol consumption but eliminate non-nutritional, high carbohydrate calories. If you need a little more structure to your eating plan, look for the South Beach Diet Book. It has a simple, nutritionally sound plan for eliminating low quality carbs from your diet.
Eliminate your beer belly: Time to get moving!
Now, it’s time to incorporate some movement into the plan. You may be tempted to start doing hundreds of crunches a day in an effort to flatten your abs. Unfortunately this will have little effect as long as you’re carrying around excess abdominal fat. You may develop abdominal musculature but the layer of fat will make them invisible. A good cardiovascular and resistance training program is the best way to boost your metabolism and help you burn excess fat to melt away your abdominal girth.
Make a commitment to exercise five days per week and allow yourself to take the weekends off. Do forty-five minutes of an aerobic exercise on alternate days choosing an activity you enjoy. Running, jumping rope, biking, stair climbing, and fast walking are all good fat burning exercises. Start out slowly, but as it becomes easier, increase the pace and intensity to continuously challenge yourself. Getting rid of a beer belly takes high intensity, fat-burning exercise.
On alternate days, do strength and resistance training using barbells or resistance bands to build muscle tissue. This will help to up your metabolic rate so your burn more fat. Of course, you’ll also want to do abdominal crunches on your resistance training days. Continuously challenge yourself to work harder as your body adapts. Keep a record of your progress by writing in a diet and exercise journal. This will be good feedback and reinforcement for your efforts.
If you follow this routine religiously, you can get rid of a pot belly. You’ll also look and feel better and have a lower risk of a variety of chronic diseases. The sooner you take action, the sooner you can show off those six pack abs on the beach.
