I'm a reasonably lean fellow, and I've always been mystified by the fact that I seem to have a small beer gut, despite a healthy excercise routine, and good diet. Also, the gut seems to not be fat (I can flex it so I presume its all muscle).
Is there anything I can get rid of this pesky gut of mine?
Part of this can be genetics. Some men are just slated to have this "basketball"/pooching stomach whether they are fat or not.
My husband has this problem and rarely drinks. His father had one too and was a heavy drinker for several decades. He did stop 15 years before he died of other causes. They were not lean but were muscular from the work they do/did. My husband is a traditional blacksmith/swordsmith and his father was a mechanic/welder both requiring heavy muscle use. I noticed my 21 year old son has one as well and he does not drink at all. But he needs to get more active too.
But another cause could still be some fat stored in that area too. Generally, this is where the body stores fat first. Look to your diet and make any changes. Exercise, like lifting moderately heavy weights, will force your body to work harder to lose fat to burn as energy and keep your metabolism up longer.
Genetics could be a possibility for me. men on both mother's and father's side have beer guts, if small, regardless of activity level. My father was very lean and he had quite the 6 pack though.
I am already tactful with my diet and excercise frequently.
I presume I'll have to push my self a little harder to get a nice 6 pack, and overcome those obnoxious genetics.
You may want to try strengthening (sp?) your abs a little more by holding them tight (not sucking all the way in) 24 hours a day. This will help get rid of the beer gut appearance, which may simply be due to the fact that you keep your abs so relaxed most of the time that your lower back arches inward. To learn to do this just tie a small string around your waist while holding abs about 1/2 way to the sucking in point. The string should get taut when abs are fully relaxed and be a reminder to hold them in. It only takes a week or so to get used to this and after that it will become second nature, improve your posture and the way you view yourself. I can tell you that there is hardly any fat on my abs, but if I fully relax them they will come out a bit curved looking. However, I am so used to holding them tight that to let them loose is actually uncomfortable at this point. You may also want to cut back on your carbs a bit since carbs are mainly stored in the lower half of the body.
