this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2025
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Edit: I don't drink alcohol, it's just the best way to describe it. From comments I'll be going on a low carb diet, thank you all.

Explanation: male, 38, 130 pounds. Skinny, low muscle mass but have a beer keg belly.

My day is 7am wake up. Get kids to school. Work until 5. Get kids from school. Cook, shower and then I'm exhausted AF.

I'm semi fit? I'm a mechanic professionally and spring til summer I mountain bike regularly. So my calves are monsters.

But would like.. basic at home sit ups. Push ups etc like on a Saturday, would that help at all?

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[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

A beer belly, despite the name, is not exactly from beer. A beer belly isn't specifically from the caloric spikes associated with heavy beer drinking (where a certain amount of alcohol for a certain inebriation is accompanied by a massive intake of simple carbs compared to liquor). It's due in part by genetics. It's called visceral fat, meaning it's intertwined with your torso's organs and muscles. The concern here, particularly when beer-bellied people are heavy enough to show notable fat between their knees, elbows, and faces, is there's likely fat/cholestoral buildup in the circulatory system. The beer belly is a heart attack predictor (but please understand overall weight is part of that indicator, not just location of fat). Some people are prone to adding fat relatively evenly across their body while some are prone to a beer belly. This variance in fat distribution is why skin-pinch based BMI tests are not accurate for health (testing arm skin misses beer bellies) and why weight/height BMI charts aren't either (can categorize distributed-fat risks a little too closely to beer bellied fat).

As for a solution, I support low-carb diets as you've indicated you'll try. They come with risks and peculiarities. As someone with sizable forearms and calves but about 40lbs of beer belly, keto has worked great for weight loss. The consequence of not being careful with eating (counting carbs but not calories to types of fat) is my cholestoral is still high when I do keto stints.

As you consider a low carb diet, I want to point out some misconceptions for keto, since that's mostly what you'll find. Atkins and Weight Watchers are close to keto. Paleo has a similar major component by prohibiting simple processed grain (white flour) but isn't the same otherwise. It's not a high protein diet - eat a normal amount. It's not a high fat diet - higher than the sugar industry-funded diet studies blaming fats will recommend, but still a normal amount. It does push you to choose better fats (nuts, avocado) rather than bad fats (bacon, butter) but fats fare a little better as a snack than proteins.

A major misconception is that fats make you fat and dietary cholestoral gives you coronary cholestoral. Both are indirectly related by directly false. Your belly is not stuffed with butter and cashew oil. It's stuffed with human fat. Fat is a category, not a particular substance. Your body has to convert food into body fat. When you eat lots of sugars or simple carbs (which quickly turn into sugar in your stomach), your body is happy to waste energy converting the other food into body fat because you're rapidly adding energy (sugar) to your blood. While sugar highs aren't exactly real, sugar crashes absolutely are. It's why a big pasta meal can leave you hungry in an hour. So what if you stop eating sugar and simple carbs? You can't put walnuts in your bloodstream. Your body has to take that fat and convert it into body fat, and then that body fat gets converted into blood sugar. It's a lengthy process that costs a lot of energy. It takes a week of dedication to make it work. When you get ketosis in full swing, your body will fuel itself with body fat as it takes time to convert dietary fat into body fat for later. Similarly for dietary cholestoral, you can't take egg yolks and coat your arteries. Your personal cholestoral is produced by your body and is related more to total dietary calorie intake, dietary proportion of saturated fats, and genetic disposition for fat distribution.

Personally, a major benefit from keto is simply being able to confidently turn down all sugar and simple carbs. Beer, cake, cookies, sugary drinks, chips, bread, ice cream, and candy. I can easily convince myself that a little treat won't hurt in a non-keto month but I have poor self control. A little becomes a lot. Part of that is because I'm "cleaning up" carby foods I abstained form during a keto month. But on keto? It's an easy rule to follow since I'm as happy with cheddar as I am with ice cream. While I'll come off for a few months to a year, the monthly keto cycles make my weight chart look like a slinky going down stairs.

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Great writeup!

my cholestoral is still high when I do keto stints.

bad fats (bacon, butter)

If you don't mind me asking, how long are your keto sessions, and which part of your cholesterol is high? Just LDL?

[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

For my most successful keto run, it was 6 months of picking one weekend per month to party on beer and simple carbs (supposed to focus on whole grains monthly). I had places to go, foods to experience. But I went from 235 to 195. Using a whole weekend to carb up all the wrong ways ties into me using this diet somewhat carelessly but still effectively. Carbing smartly would smooth out the weight loss but, instead, my chart looks like a slinky falling down stairs. After I hit the bottom for my big day, I gained about half back in the following year. I'd like to get a 3+ month run started in a few weeks. I started Jan 1 but work trips tripped me up, sending me to places where it was impossible to go carb free.

From what I remember, the bad cholesterol was high and good was average. My blood pressure reduced somewhat over that 6 months, although the dramatic weight loss also promoted more physical activity. I didn't really add exercise, but I was able to do all the random daily stuff for longer before overheating.

[–] foggy@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

130 lbs???

Beer belly?

Are you like 5'3"? Otherwise... What???

[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm 5'7". Very high metabolism

[–] Frozengyro@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Just commenting here so you see it,

130 pounds is pretty low for a man your height. Considering you've never really worked out, do some body weight workouts on YouTube, or but some dumbbells and do the same. Start with 20 pounds and but heavier as you need.

You lose weight with diet, not exercise, but that's not what you need.

[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

yeah i want to gain weight.

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I was chronically skinny until I started smoking weed.

[–] onlyoneIbought@r.nf -1 points 1 month ago

Is that why you're such a dumb motherfucker? You should try another strain bro

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You don't have to work out at all. Just eat clean and don't drink. It helps if you use a calorie tracker, so you know what you're taking in numerically.

[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah, I'm going tks tart tracking calories and carbs. I shouldn't have to adjust my diet too much. Probably cut down on breads the most. I love bread. And I love cheese

[–] Jarix@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

In did keto for a while and also started strength training.

I did really well and went from about 270 to 184. I've since gone back up because i stopped everything sure to reasons.

I'm not here to recommend keto though. (Not against it but damn is it expensive!)

Why i bring it up is that i had to look at the nutrition label on everything

Doing that for more than a year really helped me notice how many calories are in things, and that theres can be surprising differences between different brands of the same thing.

Some beef jerky could be 2 or 3 times the calorie counts of others just because of extra ingredients(it's almost always extra sugar) even when its the same serving size/package

Just start looking at the options you are considering purchasing and you can make better choices without even using a calculator, you learn then which brands of which things are better for you and that will help without even changing what you are eating.

Kind of a nice nice way to ease into changing your diet if you don't actually start with changing the things you eat, just the versions of them

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

damn is it expensive

What part was expensive? We're you getting organic veggies?

[–] Jarix@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Meat and fats are expensive. Not having enough variety of foods that excite you will make it incredibly hard for people to stay on it, or so i was led to believe

In order to succeed you need enough variance to stay with it, from what i remember reading before doing it the single most common reason anyone fails a diet is because most diets that have restrictions fail to provide enough variety to keep people satisfied. Something about diminishing returns and how we are built to crave a variety of foods so that our ancient ancient ancestors didnt die from losing a single source of nutrients

I will admit, there are a lot more options of keto specific foods than when i was on it.

The bread products ive seen for keto are amazing compared to the dense heavy eggy elastic loafs i was able to find

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 1 points 1 week ago

That makes sense. Thank you for explaining

I've been doing a subset of keto for a few months, carnivore. I've been living off mostly inexpensive ground beef, eggs, and liver. I found it was less expensive then my preketo food budget.

will admit, there are a lot more options of keto specific foods than when i was on it.

Yeah, some of the new keto breads are so tempting! the chuffles that seem popular look really good

[–] Majorllama@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Are you 5'3"? I don't mean that to be offensive I am genuinely asking. I haven't weighed anywhere near 130 since I was maybe 12?

Do you want a six pack or do you just want the belly bulge to go away?

Every little bit helps. Generally speaking if you can work a few push ups and sit ups into your daily routine it will likely have more effect than doing an hour long dedicated work out once a week.

Start out with 10 sit ups every morning right when you wake up and do 10 every night before you hop in bed. Add more as you get comfortable or do them periodically throughout the day.

[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I am 5'7"

I have always been really skinny and have had a really high metabolism

[–] Majorllama@lemmy.world -1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I cannot fathom being 130 pounds again. I've been over 200 for so long I can't even imagine how much more nimble you must be lol.

Well hey congrats on the metabolism. I know it can be inconvenient how much you gotta eat n all that, but trust me it beats the alternative. My brother is a massive stoner and he eats like an elephant, but he's always skinny as twig. I eat like half of what he eats and I'm a hefty slab of meat.

[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

idk, ive gotten made fun of my whole life for being skinny. this also prevents me from gaining muscle mass you know. like...if want to buy a watch, i have to get the smallest watch possible for my wrists. and im not too nimble anymore. almost 40 so my joints are all breaking haha.

[–] Majorllama@lemmy.world -1 points 1 month ago

Maybe it's time to start smoking some pot. Jk jk.

Don't tell me 40 is when the joints start breaking. That's right around the corner for me.

[–] metaStatic@kbin.earth -1 points 1 month ago

Do strict keto, the majority of a beer belly is water which bonds with fat at a 3:1 ratio so when you're burning fat as your primary fuel you'll piss half of it out in the first month without any change in physical activity.