Someone recently asked me a pretty common question during a personal training session last week.  “Hey Alec, how do I ditch the beer gut?”

It’s a really common question.  There are some things that are unique to the beer gut beyond normal fat loss principles that are worth covering.  You can’t spot train fat to come off one body part.  The only way to improve that body part is to improve the overall body fat picture.  

That said, your beer gut isn’t just fat.  It is also a lot of inflammation.  According to the NIH study Alcohol and Gut-Derived Inflammation “alcohol can induce intestinal inflammation through a cascade of mechanisms”.  Because of this if we want to address the beer gut, we need to address inflammation along with fat loss.

Here are 3 steps you can take to ditch that beer gut:

1. Reduce inflammation with dietary changes and supplementation.  The most inflammatory foods according to Foods that Fight Inflammation by Harvard Medical School are refined carbs, fried foods, soda, and margarine.  The least inflammatory foods are tomatoes, leafy greens, olive oil, nuts, fatty fish, berries, and oranges.  You can also supplement a probiotic and a fish oil pill to improve gut health and reduce inflammation.
2. Practice the fundamentals of fat loss.  You can’t get around the fact that reducing your overall body fat percentage will obviously have a positive effect on that beer gut.  Part I of the Fundamentals of Fat Loss is right HERE. 
3. Reduce inflammation by cutting the booze (temporarily). Cut out the booze completely for a short period of time and then you can reintroduce it.  Usually after taking a break from it for a couple weeks, you don’t bring back the same level of consumption as before.  

Bonus: Stop doing what caused you to get the beer gut in the first place.  I know that sounds a little obvious but I say that for a reason.  As your personal trainer, I can’t help you get rid of your beer gut while you continue to drink large quantities of beer.  It just doesn’t work.  You don’t need to be super human pure with your nutrition, or never drink again, but you need to be willing to reign things in enough to make a difference.  You can still have a beer sometimes and it’s actually a lot more enjoyable when you don’t have a beer gut to feel guilty about.

If you are interested in finding out more about personal training, fill out the form at the top and bottom of this page and I will be in touch.

Our first location serves Portsmouth, Kittery, and the broader Seacoast community.  Our new location serves Kingston and the broader southern New Hampshire community.   We help people strength train, walk daily, and eat real food.