Drinking & Belly Fat

**gabbyds73** · 01-19-2011 12:37 PM

I am a 37 year old female, I am 5ft 1" tall and weigh 114 pounds. I have been running on my treadmill for about 4-5 years about 3 miles 3-4 days a week. Also, I do crunches, pull-ups, push-ups, planks, lunges and squats, sometimes I lift weights.
About 2 years ago I got married and bought a house, at the time I only drank on weekends. Now it's gotten to be a bad habit and I drink everynight. Either 2-3 glasses of red/white wine or 2-3 vodka with diet tonic. I am pretty lean everywhere but my stomach.
As far as my diet is concerned, I only drink water during the day and I eat very healthy. I am not into sweets and I don't eat junk food. I do have an occasional slice of pizza or two once or twice a month but most of the time I eat salad with oil and vinegar or some type of lean protein. I only eat whole wheat bread and pasta, brown rice and sweet potato, in moderation of course.
I think I know the answer to this question but I want to see what everyone else thinks. Do you think the drinking is causing the excess fat on my stomach??? I could really use some advice ;-) Should I quit drinking altogether or just keep it for weekends? Thanks

**KMonte85** · 01-19-2011 12:48 PM

hi gabby! Wow, other than the alcohol, your diet and exercise regime sound perfect! Good for you for keeping such a healthy lifestyle...

I'm no expert, but I've both read studies and been advised by licensed nutritionists that alcohol and fat cells are strongly connected. Not necessarily that alochol=belly fat (aka the beer belly), but most people are genetically prone to carry their fat in their midsection, so when we drink alcohol and the sugars are converted to fat, guess where they go!!

Given what you've said your diet and exercise is and to answer your question... Yes, if you want to lose the pooch in your stomach you should REALLY consider really cutting back or altogether quit drinking alcohol. I would suggest that the MOST you drink is one glass of wine or vodka tonic a day, and that you have at least two drink-free days a week. But even further, if you TRULY want to banish that belly fat, you should have maybe one drink a week or quit completely. You seem to have a body prone to converting your alcohol into fat that gets stored in the belly region, so, like you said, you already know what you need to do.

**caterpillar79** · 01-19-2011 01:02 PM

I agree with KMonte about alcohol consumption. I think you can still go further with your diet - maybe look at your potions and how balanced each meal really is. Try to eat a smaller portion of rice, you may even want to switch to quinoa (keen-wa), since it's higher in protein than carbs. Also, try to have at least eat 5 times a day with small portions (3 meals and 2 light snacks). Have you tried green smoothies? They are great. Overall, I'd say you are in good shape...just need to trim down on alcohol and carbs. (Some experts even say...."do not eat anything with a face" - especially meat that have hormones)

**WildChild** · 01-19-2011 01:56 PM

You might check out that Flat Belly Diet. Costco was selling the book for $11. It explains how monounsaturated fats can help with this.

**Claret** · 01-19-2011 04:19 PM

There have been many studies linking alcohol with belly fat. Wine in particular seems to be a culprit. I will go out on a limb here though and say that having 2 or 3 drinks each night as a regular routine is not healthy at any rate. Drinking only on weekends also is not healthy. Moderate all your drinking and you may have more success in removing the belly weight.

**Su Lee** · 01-21-2011 12:18 AM

A glass of red wine has 500 calories and 47g of carbohydrate. A glass of vodka has about 64 calories. All these calories do add up in your diet. As they are all made from grains, so, the calories are certainly stored as fat if they are no burnt off. The alcohol will put pressure on your liver to detox it. So, it is better to cut down on the drinking.