No Stupid Questions

A beer belly, despite the name, is not exactly from beer. A beer belly isn't specifically from the caloric spikes associated with heavy beer drinking (where a certain amount of alcohol for a certain inebriation is accompanied by a massive intake of simple carbs compared to liquor). It's due in part by genetics. It's called visceral fat, meaning it's intertwined with your torso's organs and muscles. The concern here, particularly when beer-bellied people are heavy enough to show notable fat between their knees, elbows, and faces, is there's likely fat/cholestoral buildup in the circulatory system. The beer belly is a heart attack predictor (but please understand overall weight is part of that indicator, not just location of fat). Some people are prone to adding fat relatively evenly across their body while some are prone to a beer belly. This variance in fat distribution is why skin-pinch based BMI tests are not accurate for health (testing arm skin misses beer bellies) and why weight/height BMI charts aren't either (can categorize distributed-fat risks a little too closely to beer bellied fat).

As for a solution, I support low-carb diets as you've indicated you'll try. They come with risks and peculiarities. As someone with sizable forearms and calves but about 40lbs of beer belly, keto has worked great for weight loss. The consequence of not being careful with eating (counting carbs but not calories to types of fat) is my cholestoral is still high when I do keto stints.

As you consider a low carb diet, I want to point out some misconceptions for keto, since that's mostly what you'll find. Atkins and Weight Watchers are close to keto. Paleo has a similar major component by prohibiting simple processed grain (white flour) but isn't the same otherwise. It's not a high protein diet - eat a normal amount. It's not a high fat diet - higher than the sugar industry-funded diet studies blaming fats will recommend, but still a normal amount. It does push you to choose better fats (nuts, avocado) rather than bad fats (bacon, butter) but fats fare a little better as a snack than proteins.

A major misconception is that fats make you fat and dietary cholestoral gives you coronary cholestoral. Both are indirectly related by directly false. Your belly is not stuffed with butter and cashew oil. It's stuffed with human fat. Fat is a category, not a particular substance. Your body has to convert food into body fat. When you eat lots of sugars or simple carbs (which quickly turn into sugar in your stomach), your body is happy to waste energy converting the other food into body fat because you're rapidly adding energy (sugar) to your blood. While sugar highs aren't exactly real, sugar crashes absolutely are. It's why a big pasta meal can leave you hungry in an hour. So what if you stop eating sugar and simple carbs? You can't put walnuts in your bloodstream. Your body has to take that fat and convert it into body fat, and then that body fat gets converted into blood sugar. It's a lengthy process that costs a lot of energy. It takes a week of dedication to make it work. When you get ketosis in full swing, your body will fuel itself with body fat as it takes time to convert dietary fat into body fat for later. Similarly for dietary cholestoral, you can't take egg yolks and coat your arteries. Your personal cholestoral is produced by your body and is related more to total dietary calorie intake, dietary proportion of saturated fats, and genetic disposition for fat distribution.

Personally, a major benefit from keto is simply being able to confidently turn down all sugar and simple carbs. Beer, cake, cookies, sugary drinks, chips, bread, ice cream, and candy. I can easily convince myself that a little treat won't hurt in a non-keto month but I have poor self control. A little becomes a lot. Part of that is because I'm "cleaning up" carby foods I abstained form during a keto month. But on keto? It's an easy rule to follow since I'm as happy with cheddar as I am with ice cream. While I'll come off for a few months to a year, the monthly keto cycles make my weight chart look like a slinky going down stairs.

if you stick to your workouts and train to failure, your muscles will grow.

however to eliminate fat, you don't exercise. you eat less. when you are eating below caloric maintenance, your body makes up the difference in fat. you can't control where the fat comes from. you just have to maintain that for a long time and it'll go away. everyone stores fat differently. some in legs, some in stomach, etc.

but you cannot exercise away body fat. it's like 80/20 diet exercise

Working out isn’t the primary path to losing weight, though it is of course a big part of staying healthy.

You burn quite a lot of calories in a day just from being alive. The additional calories you’d burn from a brisk 20 minute walk might about to one cookie. It’s far easier to just not eat the cookie.

No. I'm currently in the process of losing my beer belly.
It's going really well, here's what I do:

• only drink water, nothing with alcohol, calories or sweeteners
• no snacks or sweets
• whey shake for breakfast, small lunch (sandwich) and a normal-sized supper.
• walk 30 miles per week, generally stay physically active, commute by bicycle.

The good thing is that it works without counting calories or weighing myself.
The bad thing is that I'm hungry half the day, but I figure that's my body burning fat, so I even kinda enjoy it.
I expect my belly to be gone by midsummer. A few situps won't change much, there's a FUCKTON of calories stored in a beer belly.
It's a big ole barrel full of fuel and you need to burn it all, even though your body doesn't want to.

No. You need to adjust your diet and cut you caloric intake. Burning calories with exercise can give you some wiggle room but won't do anything by itself. You could skip exercise entirely and still make progress with a good diet. I would suggest intermittent fasting. Everyone I know who's had success dieting has done so with that method.

Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym. Gym is for strength.

Source: I'm related to a competitive body builder.

Nope.

Diet. Not exercise.

I think the conventional wisom is diet is more important than exercise in losing weight, although I think most people would recommend working out once a week regardless if you would lose weight or not, basically any working out would be positive if you aren't at all, it couldn't hurt to do sit ups and push ups and see where that takes you.

You don't have to work out at all. Just eat clean and don't drink. It helps if you use a calorie tracker, so you know what you're taking in numerically.

Exercise won’t change much.

What you need to do is eat less calories than you burn — so eat a little less, and you will lose weight.

you don't even have to work out.

you can get there simply with diet.

that said, dieting doesn't target where the fat comes from.

Core strength training (like sit ups, push ups, etc,) will help with muscle definition, and that can improve the appearance, but if you break down how much say, a pound of body fat is in excercise vs how much that pound is in hambergers... well. restricting calories will always be more effective for weight loss.

has your doctor said you need to lose weight? 130 pounds sounds not-overweight.

by experience, no. You need to stop drinking beer so often, and you need to eat less. Exercise is still a plus, but you need to sync your activity with your meals. I still eat whatever I want but in less quantities in general.

CICO

Calories in <<< calories out

You can lose your beer belly sitting on a sofa all day doing nothing, just as long as you're intaking less calories than you burn.

Not unless you stop drinking beer, no.

Are you 5'3"? I don't mean that to be offensive I am genuinely asking. I haven't weighed anywhere near 130 since I was maybe 12?

Do you want a six pack or do you just want the belly bulge to go away?

Every little bit helps. Generally speaking if you can work a few push ups and sit ups into your daily routine it will likely have more effect than doing an hour long dedicated work out once a week.

Start out with 10 sit ups every morning right when you wake up and do 10 every night before you hop in bed. Add more as you get comfortable or do them periodically throughout the day.

It really depends on your metabolism. There is no right answer here. Some people can get rid of a beer belly with minimal effort and others will have to really work at it. Your best bet is changing diet, not drinking, and more regular focussed exercise.

Anything helps, of course. Anything is so much better than nothing.

You are skinnyfat, yes? You don't want to lose weight, you want to add lean mass. Weights are what do that best. Ideally you would want to lift heavy at least thrice a week if you are trying to shape up.

I can only lift once a week lately (lady, mid 50s) but do yoga 4x/week too. It's maintaining me reasonably lean.

I have been where you are (single working parent) and what I did back then was wake up at 5am and run, because that was the only time of day nobody needed anything from me, and running is nearly free, just shoes. It sucked, but the days I ran I did feel better later on, it was worth it overall I think. If there is any way you can wake up a half hour earlier and do something vigorous, and then add weight training once a week I think you will get good improvement. Just maybe not as much mass as you ideally want.

130 lbs???

Beer belly?

Are you like 5'3"? Otherwise... What???

Going from doing nothing to something one day a week will have dramatic effects. But didn't expect it to happen overnight or to have the same effect as going 3 or 4 times a week. Even just doing however many pushups you can once per day is a very good way to start condition yourself so you can handle and enjoy getting into a gym eventually. Sit ups are pretty trash. Six packs are made in the kitchen is a common adage for a reason. If you can't work your core any other way I'd suggest planks over sit ups though. If you can, get a pull-up bar and power blocks. I would strongly recommend intending to get to a gym eventually though. From personal experience having a home gym was a bit of self sabotage

Cook, shower and then I’m exhausted AF.

This probably because you don't exercise. Exercise gives you energy and is an excellent anti depressant. Starting is always the hardest part but you'll have more energy the rest of the day.

And more than anything, even what you're doing, stick with it. Results take time. You'll have days you think it's doing nothing, you'll miss days and think what's the point of starting again, you'll be disappointed with rate of progression and that's always the biggest test.

The fact that you describe yourself as skinny and low weight suggests that this is not about calories. Do you have a high carb diet? That tends to cause fat to collect in the midsection. If you've ever seen starving children in Africa, you may have noticed that a lot of them have a similar stomach bulge, despite being clearly malnourished. It's from their diet that's high in grains.

The human body is absurdly efficient. Fat weight is tackled by reducing calorie intake (using whatever tactic works for you). Exercise only makes a small difference by comparison.

Edit: for example, you could jog for almost an hour to burn approx 460 calories. Or you could just not eat 1 cinnamon swirl krispy kreme. Ate two at the family BBQ? You just gave your body enough fuel to light jog for 2 hours. A large vanilla milkshake has enough fuel to keep you jogging for an hour and a half. Stop overeating first or gym weightloss is useless.

You've gotten a lot of advice on here, but I don't think I've seen this...are you able to "suck in your gut" if you try hard and it improves how it looks? If so, it might not even be visceral fat, but just poor muscle tone in your abdominal area. If this is it, then core strength exercises are the way to go. Practice sucking in that gut more and more until it becomes the default, and strengthen your abs and obliques.

When I say exhausted I mean I've been active from 7am until around 8pm non stop. I just don't have energy to go to a gym or something and I'd rather just wind down.

And I do a lot of cycling. I know it's not "ultra mega workout" but I am active and when I mountain bike I can maintain my heart rate pretty well. I noticed my calves getting meatier and my stamina was pretty good at the end of the season.

So id like to think I'm fairly active.. but a lot less when I was younger (drumming, skating, snowboarding, biking. Every day. 365)