I know that hard alcohol and beer attract fat cells to the stomach and give you a "beer belly" look. If you stop drinking, does this go away? If so, how long do you have to stop for? Or, does your stomach just keep getting bigger and bigger? Why does this happen?
I would like to know this too! I REALLY enjoy my 2 lite beers a day. But I do notice the tummy is the place it settles. <IMG SRC="http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/confused.gif">
I'm not sure what the answer is to that, but I do know that alcohol slows down your metabolism. So if you're trying to lose weight, it's a good idea to not drink.
Your beer belly wont just go away if you don't drink. Because there's fat there now you must begin to lose that body fat. Start doing cardio and weight training to aid in it. And quit drinking!!
The reason why this happens is because your body looks at alcohol as a poison and stops EVERYTHING to get rid of it. This is why you have to go to the bathroom alot when you drink (your liver is working extra hard now). This means any food that was left unprocessed by the body is now going to be stored there, as you guessed it, fat. The body will begin to shut down all processes and only work on getting the alcohol out of your system.
Not to mention that on the even the lightest beer has about 100 calories per bottle. These 100 calories offer NO nutritional benefits to your body and therefore is considered to be in the empty category.
Like was said above, drinking some beer occasionally is quite OK, but binge drinking (4-5+ beers in a day) is very bad for your body. Just make sure you are working out as well!!
I don't really think that fat settles in one place of the body, just because it is from beer.
The main reason that people gain weight when they have liquor is because they tend to eat more calories while drinking. Alcohol in and of itsself can't be stored as bodyfat (do some research on the net if you want to do further reading). Beer can because it contains carbs, but if you don't go over your daily maintenance calorie level, you should be fine.
On the weekends I knock back a few beers with friends (6-8........more than I should) but I just try to stick to a protein based eating plan during the day, so that I don't go over. It hasn't hurt my weight loss, or muscle gain...............my liver.....perhaps another story <IMG SRC="http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/wink.gif">
oh yeah, another good drink, if you don't like your liquor straight. Jack Daniels and diet coke. Though jack is better drank straight. Any drink that uses soda, can be replaced with a diet version....and most hard liquors don't contain carbs, or few.
The main reason you gain weight from alcohol is pretty simple-- too many calories. If you have several drinks, you have had several hundred calories-- the same as a whole extra meal and then some. So... it all adds up. It's not gonna hurt you to have a few on a weekend, but if you do it often, then you are often taking in way more calories than you probably thought. Even a JD and diet coke is high in calories--at least 120 calories per drink, and that's conservative. However, it is better than JD and regular coke.
