Alcohol intake and yet another skinny fat/bulk or cut question...

Apologies for beating a dead horse, but I heard you and Dr. B laugh in a past YouTube video about how “it’s possible” for there to be somebody who’s 5’ 10", 180 pounds with a 40-inch waist (or somewhere around those numbers)…well look no further! I’m 5’ 10"/11"-ish, weigh 180 lbs and while I don’t have a 40-inch waist, it’s 39". I’m relatively defined everywhere else…I can see definition in my shoulders, traps, chest, arms are lean and muscular, legs are a bit skinny despite me focusing on squats/deadlifts (one look at a photo of my grandfather in a swimsuit shows where those genes came from) the past 6-months (doubling the weight on both)….however, I have an unsightly gut and have for years (it’s like all my adipose tissue is having a party around my midsection like with so many other dudes…a true spare tire), which when relaxed and measured in the manner you demonstrated in another video, is 39". I’m 43 years old, train 3-4 days a week and all my lifts are going up at a nice pace. I’m eating 2500 calories a day and at least 180g of that = protein from animal sources (whey, chicken, fish, steak, eggs). Weight has stayed fairly flat (fluctuating between 178-182lbs) in the six months I’ve been training. So…do I keep doing what I’m doing, or drop the calories even more? In 6 months of this training/diet, my waist has not budged despite strength gains and flat bodyweight.

As for alcohol intake…I drink 2-3 glasses of wine a night (1 while I cook, 1 with dinner and usually 1 after…all 5-6oz). While this has not impacted my bodyweight or strength (and I can still manipulate my bodyweight…if not my waist size) even with the vino by cutting calories…how harmful is this habit to 1. my overall health 2. my strength/lean mass gains and 3. to (possibly) my non-changing waistline?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Roman,

Yea it’s definitely possible to have a waist circumference of 40" and weigh 180 and it’s one of those things that needs to be dealt with. I think reducing your waist circumference to <37" would be advisable. It would appear you’re not losing much off your waist via training alone currently, so a small calorie deficit may be useful. I would also advise drinking 2 drinks or less per day from a health standpoint.

-Jordan

I really like alcohol, or rather loved it. I used to weigh 144 kilos and I kind of put up with it. But I had problems with my spine, a lot of weight made itself felt. Well, the problem with my obesity was alcohol, it lowered my endurance and generally forced me to get better. I had to give up alcohol, but I couldn’t do it myself, so I went to rehab Abbeycare Rehab Bristol: Addiction Treatment Options on the recommendation of my old friend. I stayed there for 6 months and from that moment on I don’t want to drink anymore. After I continued my training, having already started to eat completely well, after 2 years I can boast that I weigh 87 kilograms. This is a huge success for me.