So has your six pack morphed into a one pack? Is the beer drinking to blame for this transformation? Yes and no.

If you’re a male sporting a beer belly, it wasn’t necessarily the beer that caused this, although it probably contributed.

A beer belly is the result of too many calories taken in.

When you take in more calories than you burn, the excess calories are stored as fat. Generally for men, this storage area is in the gut.

The truth about beer is that it is fat free, cholesterol-free and low in carbohydrates. The problem with beer is that it has no nutritional value leading to empty calories.

So knowing this, putting a sound diet strategy to fit in your beer drinking is all that is needed to lose the beer belly but not the beer.

Watch those Calories

Beer on average carries about 150 – 180 calories per bottle, and about 100 – 125 calories for a light beer. If you drink 2-3 bottles a day, you are already in 300 – 550 calories for the day.

Find out what your calorie goal is and factor in your beer intake. Popsugar gives a good breakdown of calories per serving on popular beers. Use a calorie calculator like this one to find out what your calorie goals should look like.

Now that you know what your calorie goal is after your beer consumption, you can create a diet plan to stay within your goal and still enjoy that cold beer.

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Hit the gym and stay active

Burning calories is essential if you are planning to take in some empty calories.

We don’t need an intense workout regime, but we do need to engage in daily activities that will burn calories. Just implementing a low calorie diet and sitting on the couch won’t do anything to lose that beer belly.

If a gym membership isn’t in your budget or plan, build a low cost home gym like this one.

The key here is you need to stay very consistent with the exercise. Burning calories is one thing, but burning fat is another. Your body goes through several stages before it reaches the point where you are burning fat. Staying active once a week won’t get you there, so find the time to stay active.

Drink a lot of water

When you are not drinking beer, your only other beverage should be water. Coffee is ok too, but switch to black coffee.

The benefits of proper hydration are tremendous. There are a lot of debates on what the actual amount of water needed daily is, but the point we want to get to is to cut out the other beverages. Cut out juice and carbonated soda. These beverages are full of sugar and will only slow down your goal.

My typical day looks like this: I have a black coffee in the morning, drink a lot of water throughout the day, then have a couple of nice cold beers at night. I usually end the night with one more glass of water before I go to sleep.

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