New here.. Question.. 4 weeks ago I purchased a Bowflex and like it very much. I mostly work abs arms and chest. My ultimate goal is to get bigger and stronger but also to rid myself of my slight beer belly that I've acquired over a few years (I'm 46). Here's the thing - I come home from work and I drink 5-6 beers everynight, then I eat, and shortly after that I go to bed. I know this isn't very healthy but can I continue doing this and still tone my belly? I have taken up one belt hole shorter since the Bowflex. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Here's the thing - I come home from work and I drink 5-6 beers everynight, then I eat, and shortly after that I go to bed. I know this isn't very healthy but can I continue doing this and still tone my belly?

Uh, no.

Uh, no.

Hell no.

Five beers every nights is about 750 calories every day, 5250 calories per week, just from beer. That's not even remotely healthy. It's a ton of calories, and it's a ton of alcohol. You're going to end up with liver failure.

Drinking that much is going to stop you from getting truly fit. You might lose some weight, but you're unlikely to lose it all (or anything close to all of it). If you want to drink, you should be drinking much more moderately.

Also, you really need to start doing leg work if you want to lose fat.

LDC%*) here.. More info (if it matters) .. Currently I'm 157 pounds / 5'8''. The beer I always drink is 110 calories each, 550 calories per day. I eat fiber cereal every morning and mostly salad for lunch. I never eat fast food, and I never eat junk food. My evening meal is usually chicken (I cook) and vegetables.

You're getting far too many of your calories from beer. Getting 550 calories per day from beer is unhealthy. You should be eating food, not beer.

Also, ignoring fat burning, getting fit, etc., you are binge drinking every night. Seriously, this is extremely unhealthy. You need to stop drinking so much. If you find that you can't stop drinking so much then you need to get medical help.

The rest of your diet could be totally healthy, but this amount of beer is going to offset anything else you do. And again, this amount of alcohol is going to do horrible things to your body.

Alcohol also kills protein synthesis, so you're really shooting yourself in the foot. I had a hard time avoiding the booze myself until I found out that lil tidbit.

Now it's "booze or muscle"? Fortunately, that's always an easy choice.

LDC580:

I was in your shoes about 2 months ago. It was nice to come home and down a few beers after work. Once I found Johns site I realized that drinking beer would have to stop. I changed my eating habits, gave up the beer and liquor and I must say I am VERY proud of my 8 week progress. I have lost 17 pounds and about 4 inches of beer belly. I feel better, have a LOT more energy and I am hittin' the gym 6 days a week.
My body is thanking me for it, literally!

Put that new Bowflex to some good use! Substitute the beer for water or better yet a Nitrean shake! :tu: Good luck!

I'm not nearly as anti-alcohol as a lot of guys here. I drink moderately, occasionally. I don't think there's anything wrong with that (though it's still a tradeoff). But you definitely have to cut back a lot. If you cut back to say 4 drinks per week, total, it would help you a lot.

Sometimes I drink a beer almost every night for a couple weeks, I like the strong beer, about 8% alcohol. Once in awhile I might have two, but then I usually don't feel that great the next morning. Sometimes I go for a week or more without having any, usually because when I run out it takes me awhile to buy some more. I have a selection of harder stuff which I might have a small swallow of it whenever. I read or heard that having a beer a day is fine and won't hurt your health.

I, too, am not as anti-beer as everyone else. However, you need to ask yourself why you drink 5 or 6 beers a night. Me? I enjoy beer, a lot. I like ambers and darks, and I like the taste. I like getting a buzz and I like getting drunk every now and then (like once every couple of months). However, I don't even drink to the buzz levels more than once or twice a week. Drinking 5-6 beers a night, you're pretty much either catching a buzz or ever slipping into the "drunk" level every night, huh? Is that why you drink when you get home? If so, then that's something you need to explore and/or seriously think about stopping. Like quitting anything or changing anything, an abrupt alteration in your habits is a shock to the system. I think if you tried to cut down to 4 beers a week (like someone suggested), you'd hate it and fall off the wagon so fast, perhaps even up the intake over the long term. I'd suggest taking it slow. Try cutting to four beers a night and try to subtract an entire night. If you were drinking seven days a week (which I think you were, and not just after work), that's upwards of 18 beers (6 beers one night and 2 each night times the 6 other nights) you've cut out in your first week without really "giving up" too much. On that one night a week you cut drinking completely, try doing some kind of activity which would make it impossible (or at least hard or unacceptable) to drink. One example would be to go to a movie and have a diet soda (or water) instead. That is, if you live in a state (like i do) where they don't sell beer in theaters. I mean, whatever you can think of. After a while, chip away another night of drinking and another beer a night. Keep going, and before you know it, you're drinking a couple of beers two or three nights a week. Which is relatively moderate. I had to use pretty much the same tactic after college, and when I retired the nickname 'beerbuzz.' Now, I drink at my favorite pub on Tuesdays (import bottles on special) and maybe one other night a week. Eh, try it out. It might work for you, too.:tu: