How To Get Rid Of A Beer Belly

Alcohol

Getting rid of visceral fat and the beer belly that comes with it can be a challenging task. There is no magic bullet for eliminating a beer gut. There are however, some slow and steady steps that can be taken to chip away at visceral fat and slowly eliminate the beer belly it causes.

It’s called a beer belly for a reason, and a good place to start is cutting back on beer and alcohol in general. Beer should be limited to one per day at the most, and heavy beers should be replaced with light versions. There is a strong link between belly fat and calories from alcohol, so cutting back on any alcohol is a strong step in the right direction.

Read More: Why Belly Fat is Unhealthy and Why Soluble Fiber may be Your Lifesaver

Diet

Cleaning up your diet is the next step, and one of the most important ones. While exercise is a healthy habit, it won’t do anything for eliminating a beer belly if you have an unhealthy diet. Exercises such as sit-ups and crunches will strengthen and tone your abdominal muscles and help you to hold your belly fat in, but it does nothing to eliminate that fat.

The only way to lose the beer belly is to lose weight. The best way to lose weight is to eat a nutritious healthy diet. Eliminate junk food and empty calories and opt for healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, beans and legumes,  low-fat dairy, and lean cuts of meat.

Cardio

After you get your diet on track, you can start with a good exercise routine. Though strength building exercises are good for your overall health, it is cardiovascular exercise that will help you lose weight and shed your beer belly. Cardio exercises that focus on aerobic activity are the most effective in burning fat. Though treadmills and similar apparatus are effective, many people find them to be monotonous and boring. You can increase your activity levels and get a good cardio workout with other aerobic activities, such as running, bicycling, playing tennis, swimming or taking a cardio class at your local gym. Any type of cardio exercise will boost the effects of a healthy diet and will speed up your weight loss.

Beer belly fat that accumulates around the midsection is more receptive to weight loss efforts. This is because belly fat is more metabolically active than subcutaneous fat, which means when the metabolism gets going, belly fat is the first to go with it. Belly fat breaks down much quicker than overall body fat. The more belly fat you have to lose, the faster you lose it.

Though there is no one-stop-shop for eliminating a beer belly, by engaging in healthy lifestyle choices like the ones listed above, you can slowly start to lose weight and chip away at your beer belly. It is important to ease into lifestyle changes. Start by making once change at a time, and incorporating additional changes as you adjust. This will help to keep you on track rather than give up when things get tough. Drastic changes are harder to stick to, and have a higher fail rate than slow and steady lifestyle changes.