Growing a beer belly?
Blaming it on beer is fine but how long will you sit and do nothing about it.
How do you get a beer belly?
It's just not beer that makes you gain that belly. Any alcoholic drink will make you fat if you eat food while drinking it. Our body tends to metabolise these calories by making the liver burn alcohol causing all the calories, being consumed at that time, to be stored as fat.
Unfortunately this kind of fat only gets settled directly around your mid section. Besides, as you age, the gradual decline in hormones over the years also make you more prone to storing fat around the midriff, making you two times more prone to developing a beer belly, especially in your late 20s and early 30s.
Beer is known to have been associated with high calorific content (compared to other alcoholic drinks) therefore making you consume more calories than most other drinks.
Combine this with poor food habits and lack of exercise and you have a beer belly on its way.
Belly fat is the worst kind of fat
Did you know belly fat is the worst and the most dangerous kind of fat? It is linked to multiple life-threatening diseases like heart conditions, diabetes and much more. As Indians you are anyways more prone to accumulating fat around your belly. If you are Indian with a belly you need to be doubly careful.
How to lose beer belly
There is no magical way to tackle belly fat other than the tried-and-tested method of cutting calories and doing more physical activity. All the beer lovers should switch to light beers that contain 100 calorie or less, and limit the number they drink per day.
Another option is to drink alcohol only on weekends, within limitation.
Don't forget to have a healthy meal before or with your drinks to help you resist the temptation of high-calorie bar food.
Now back to tackling the beer belly now that you have it.
Here are 5 most effective exercises that will help fight the belly fat. Make sure you watch what you eat and limit your beer consumption.
1. Donkey kickbacks
Start on all fours, with your hands directly under your shoulders and your knees directly under your hips. Keep your right knee at 90-degree angle as you slowly raise your leg behind you until your thigh is almost parallel to the floor.
Push your flexed foot toward the ceiling by squeezing your glutes. Your back should remain perfectly still in a neutral spine.
The motion should be small and controlled with the muscle doing the work and not your momentum.
Return to start position to complete one rep. Repeat on the other side. Do 3 sets with 25 repetitions on each side.
2. Mountain climber
Mountain climber exercises are among those few ab workouts which provide a complete abdominal and cardio training. Mountain climbers require you to engage your upper arms muscles, as well as your core and your legs.
You begin with a push up position, then you need to bring your knees toward your chest.
You should keep the straight posture of your lower back during the motion, and bring as forward your knees as possible.
Do sets of 3 with 25 repetitions on each side.
3. Push up
Push ups not only help you get a stronger upper body, but also a stronger midsection. They incorporate the stabilisation muscles of your core, combining an upper-body pushing movement with a plank. It is, in fact, one of the best and most basic exercises for your midsection.
Do sets of 3 with maximum push ups within 1 and 1/2 minutes.
4. Plank
Plank is voted as the most effective core exercise. Strengthening your entire core is not only crucial for burning belly, but these muscles also provide support for the entire body in everyday movements, reduce back pain, and improve posture.
Did you know planks burn more calories than sit-ups or crunches because they engage more muscles in the legs, arms, and rear too than the other exercises.
Do sets of 3. Hold the plank for at least 1 minute.
5. Bicycle crunch
You don't need any equipment to perform the exercise; however, a bench or a weight can be used to increase the difficulty, working your muscles harder. This workout not only worked the lower abs, but also works the upper abs. You can do this work out by lying flat on your back with your hands behind your head. Lift your knees off the floor towards your chest. First rotate to the right and try to meet the left knee with the right elbow while you extend the right leg straight out and then do the opposite side by trying to meet the right knee with the left elbow. Do set of 3 with 20 repetitions on each side.
Lead photograph: Michaela Rehle/Reuters
