Does alcohol make menopause belly fat worse?

On The WarriorBabe Show, Nikkiey describes alcohol as a cascade, not just the calories in the glass. When you drink, your liver deals with the alcohol before anything else, so fat burning stops for hours. She says the calories from whatever you eat alongside it tend to get stored, often as visceral fat around your middle. She also cites a study in the journal Obesity that she says found even a few drinks a week linked to more visceral fat in post-menopausal women than in non-drinkers, even when total calories were the same.

Then there's cortisol. Nikkiey points out that alcohol disrupts your sleep even when you feel like you slept fine, and poor sleep pushes cortisol up. In another episode she adds that alcohol itself adds stress to your body and can raise cortisol. She calls cortisol the fat-storing hormone and says high levels can also break down muscle. If you're already stressed and drinking on top of it, that could be why your results have stalled.

Nikkiey isn't telling you to quit forever. Her practical suggestion is to try pulling alcohol for 30 days and watch what happens; she says most WarriorBabes who do are surprised how quickly their midsection responds. Pair that with eating enough protein and not under-eating, which she says also drives cortisol up. If your belly hasn't budged, it may not be you. It may be what's in the glass.