Prevent Beer Belly Fat – Watch Sports this Way!

My husband Danny had been on the edge of his seat for hours. “Get him! Get him! Ohhh…” First he watched the CU Football team go down in flames against Stanford 7-48. Later he watched the Avalanche season opener. Surely our Colorado hockey team could pull off a win, but they were skunked by the Detroit Redwings 0-3.

The next day I could hear him cheering from the other room when the Broncos put in Tim Tebow and they began catching up to the San Diego Chargers. “Woohoo!”

I sat down with him for a few minutes while he writhed on the couch in agony as we watched the nail-biter together. My own heart quickened and my gut clenched thinking we could win this one.

But a Bronco personal foul, a San Diego field goal, and an incomplete pass to the end zone squelched our victory. Afterward, I looked at him as he caught his breath, with his shoulders sagging in response to yet another loss.

“I hate this feeling. This can’t be good for you,” I said, “You are so stressed out after watching 3 losses this weekend. ‘Stress kills’ you know.”

“Oh, I’m okay,” Danny replied, “I just can’t believe they blew it like that!”

“I’ve heard that adrenaline races your heart just like you’ve been running; only you’ve been sitting so your body doesn’t know what to do with all the extra hormones. It builds up cortisol which is supposed to cause belly fat. I’ve heard that coffee does the same thing.”

“I went running this morning,” he said.

“I’m talking about now when all that crap is coursing through your veins,” I said, “Hey! I wonder if that’s why guys get beer bellies. They sit around freaking out about some stupid sporting event while their body explodes with cortisol. By the end of the season their waistlines have grown inches.”

“So we can drink all the beer we want and if we just try to stay relaxed, we won’t get fat?”

“Well I am not saying that.”

“No, I like it!”

“I think the way to prevent cortisol from producing belly fat is to exercise right after stressing out,” I replied.

“Whoa! That’s the way everyone should watch sports. Then we could drink beer, get totally stressed out, and still stay thin!” Danny said as he stood up to get another beer.

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Do you like the feeling of excitement while watching a sporting event, even if your team loses?

If your team is losing, do you continue watching or is it too painful?