Devlin Brown at the watercooler | Cutting alcohol could trim waistline and boost health

I am what they’d describe as a middle-aged man. I don’t feel it. I run many kilometres a week and do strength training at least four times a week. I eat well most of the time. I train hard and I feel fit and strong. However, I cannot lose my stomach and love handles. I am partial to a few whiskeys in the evenings to wind down but I drink them neat to watch my weight. Should I just accept that this is normal for my age?

Dear reader, if “they” describe you as middle-aged, then you are middle-aged. I did a quick search on that. Younger cohorts “start” middle age at 40, while most tend to set the middle-aged alarm clock to start at 45. I sense from your question that you belong to the school of thought that says you are only as old as you feel. And good for you.

The bad news, of course, is that as humans we are our own worst enemies. How many times has our government or our country more broadly shot itself in the foot? We are no doubt the world champions at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, an ironic tragedy considering our history of snatching victory at the last minute from the near-certain jaws of civil war and collapse.

Terribly cynical, don’t you think? Perhaps, but The Water Cooler is a realist. Whether it is Buddhism’s dukkha, Arthur Schopenhauer’s pessimism or even Freud’s Thanatos, or death drive, all flashing red signs point to something so inexplicably obvious yet seemingly near-impossible to change.

Even when we know the truth, even when we know what’s right, our impulses and drives convince our rational minds to navigate discomfort through delusions that we are, in fact, doing the right thing. Deep down, we know we are not doing what’s in our best interest. Politicians, captains of industry, you and I.

Where’s your delusion? Cut your booze and lose your belly. Look, it is more complicated. Your age, hormonal environment and compensatory behaviours when going cold turkey all add texture and context, but at its core you know the truth or you would not have brought it up.

There’s no standard for being “partial to a few whiskeys to wind down”. Let’s assume it’s two double Scotch whiskeys on the rocks. Or even neat. Any more than two to three standard drinks a day has been shown to affect liver function, inflammation, metabolism and hormonal pathways. Heavy drinking — remember we don’t know how partial you really are — is linked to sustained low testosterone levels.

We don’t know your testosterone levels but it matters because low testosterone will make weight loss more challenging. Your saving grace in middle age is your strength training, which is preserving (or building) muscle mass, because sustained low testosterone leads to reduced muscle (without training), slower metabolism and increased fat accumulation. This becomes like a snowball: lower energy, less motivation, more whiskey.

This doesn’t even take the calories into account. We know that hormones are like superheroes or villains — they can, and do, change the reality inside your body. However, a double shot of whiskey will likely be about 110 calories neat. Two of those a day and in a week you will have consumed 1,540 empty calories from your “harmless” whiskey. Let’s assume you are seeing no change in your weight. That means you are consuming (with the whiskey) a maintenance level of calories, taking into account your weight, age and activity level.

Guess what happens when you stop the whiskey? You go into an overnight calorie deficit without changing how you eat. In a week that deficit is 1,540 calories. Estimates vary, but based on the law of averages, that’s about 0.2kg weight loss for an active 90kg man every week. In the first month you will have lost 0.8kg of mostly fat because you are doing strength training to hold onto your muscle.

If you were drinking three doubles and quit, that would be about 2,310 calories “saved” in a week. With your activity level, that could be about 300g of fat loss a week. This is sustainable and not a crash diet and the calorie deficit will likely be boosted by increased testosterone levels, better sleep and recovery, and enhanced metabolic efficiency from quitting alcohol.

Stop sabotaging your goals. You know how to lose the belly. On the other hand, if you are fit and strong and healthy — as determined by a doctor — you may decide that your lifestyle is more important than size 32 trousers. Only you can decide