I think a couple other factors related to beer help cause the beer belly as well: the way people drink beer versus other drinks and how getting drunk can lead to eating a lot of food you don't need. To me, it seems like beer consumption is often different than a lot of other forms of alcohol in that people often sit around and drink multiple beers at a time, even if they aren't planning on getting drunk. I think most of the time I drink beer is hanging out with friends or watching some sporting event. If you're sitting around, the law of inertia kicks in and having an extra beer or two becomes pretty easy. All that means more calories you're taking in and not necessarily working off. The second factor is pretty self explanatory. Every time I get drunk, I want junk food. I mean, for awhile, Taco Bell's whole marketing scheme was based around 4th Meal ie: drunk people wanting food late at night. If you couple those things together, it's no wonder people gain weight.
I used to have a friend that drank a lot of beer and didn't have a pot belly by the simple fact that he worked out precisely with that in mind, keeping fit. Sitting in the couch doesn't help!
This potbelly or 'beer belly' is something I have seen first hand. I live with it to tell the truth and it's not my own. I wonder what you call mine. The beer belly is clearly an international thing. Calories seem to be the contributing factor from everything I have read and not surprisingly heavy alcohol drinkers sometimes develop these bumps.
I don't think we need to live with a deformed body, there is not need for it and it's really unhealthy, not to mention ugly. It's within our reach to change that if we really want to.
I like the taste of beer and do not care for hard liquors. However, drinking beer always makes me feel bloated the next day. And yes, I have noticed the times I have given up beer, I have lost some weight. I think it must be the amount of calories in it.
To be honest I think it's the fermentation process that continues in our stomach after we drink it, I am not sure if it's about the calories.
Can you please elaborate on this? I could see, maybe, this being the case in unfiltered brews. But most drinkers I remember spending time with drank bud/coors/corona/milwaukee ect type beers that have the yeast filtered out.
lol, I wish I could. All I could remember when I was a teenager was that I drank a lot of beer and woke up lunch time with my mom saying it smelled like fermented beer, eventually that was just her idea?
This problem, mainly caused in men's bodies, happens, it isn't a lie. But to be honest, I've never seen anyone actually care about it, since beer tastes way better than anything there is, alcohol wise. Of course I'm not condoning it, I'm talking from an average drinker's experience.
That's an interesting question you raise, do you really think it only happens in men? I've seen my fair share of fat women, but with huge bellies not really that is a fact.
Yes, otherwise it wouldn't be called pot or beer belly for nothing, right? As xTinx pointed out, it's called "abdominal obesity". So that's just one of the reasons why you should avoid beer.
Most people I know that have a pot belly are daily drinkers. I do know very skinny drunks as well. I suppose it's just gene's that play a role in who will develop a pot belly, and who won't.
That is also true, some people might be heavy drinkers and don't have a belly. I think that to have a potbelly with the drinking there has to be some eating involved too.
If you see the dudes who just drink copious amounts of beer every single day, they have a big beer gut. It happens. It's all those empty calories.
Just about every beer drinker I know has a pot belly. Even guys that are particularly active in sports seem to develop a pot belly, usually the onset just takes a bit longer. I've noticed is starts developing in men around their late 20's and is very noticeable in their mid-30's. For the more active guys they start sporting a pot belly in their 40's but it's also a little less discernible.
That is another thing that sports have, if you do love sports and you take them seriously you cannot drink that much or else you can't perform properly.
It is always the macho type of man that you see with a pot belly. They like to sit in front of the tv with a beer. It is very seldom you see a timid man with a beer gut. Am I wrong?
Most beers have wheat in them. Gluten from wheat gets stuck in the small intestine and prevents nutrient absorption so in turn causes the pot belly. Drinking a lot of it over time will tend to cause this.
You have a point. That is a pretty common stereotype. I am pretty sure I could find a quiet dude with a beer gut, though.