Does Beer Make You Fat?

Does beer make you fat? ‘Beer bellies’ can certainly be traced to time spent drinking in the pub!

Does Beer Make You Fat?

Not every person who drinks (even a lot) gets fat. So that in itself suggests it’s more about calorie intake than beer on its own. However, access alcohol intake is associated with increasing body fat, and the reasons are simple.

When your body is inactive, say like mine is now writing this blog, most of your calorie burning comes from your body fat (unless you’ve eaten recently, in which case it will come from that food).

So when your body is idling, and you haven’t just eaten, the energy your body uses to keep itself ticking over comes mainly from fat.

So let’s say your body is idling at the pub, or at home on the sofa with a glass of wine. If there is alcohol in your system your body will stop burning your body fat.

Alcohol is seen by your liver as a toxin so it needs to deal with it. One way is to burn the energy it contains, so your body stops burning its fat, to burn alcohol instead. Any fat you laid down from the meals you ate that day will stay put, instead of keeping you going.

The other slight problem is that alcohol has a lot of calories. In a pint of 4% beer there are 180 of them. Three pints of this and you’ve had enough calories to account for a meal. You’re not going to burn all of this stood at the bar or laid out on the sofa – this is destined as more body fat.

One more problem is that alcohol can increase your appetite – making you eat much more food than you need.

Does beer make you fat? It’s pretty obvious walking into any average UK pub that it does for a lot of people.

Beer Belly or Bingo Wings?

It’s normally men who get the classic beer belly, and that’s because men and women generally store fat in different ways, although there are some women who can develop a paunch to rival a man’s.

Women more commonly store fat under their skin, as subcutaneous fat. This shows up as bingo wings, fat bums and thighs, as well as belly fat too – but not usually one shaped like a beer barrel.

Most men store their fat around their waist. This is unfortunate for men because this type of fat is particularly dangerous when it comes to your health. It leads to things like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.

Beware of Stopping Beer – You Could Waste Away!

I had a phone call about 15 years ago from my sister. See had gone through a really worrying time, she thought she had some awful wasting disease. Weight was literally falling off her for no apparent reason. She tried eating really fattening foods to prove to herself she wasn’t dying, like pizzas and stuff like that.

This didn’t work – but thankfully for her peace of mind, the penny finally dropped. The onset of her ‘wasting disease’ coincided with her decision to stop drinking beer…

My online weight loss course DOES NOT rule out beer totally, if you’re ready to invest in your health click here.

Uber Health to you

Dr Julie

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