Take a note of this post. Clearly you do need to do something different to what you are doing now.
I have been in a similar boat where I’m thinking it’s my body but in reality it’s everything to do with exercise and diet. Unfortunately some peoples bodies react differently to alcohol or sugar, and of course exercise, so different bodies need to do different things. I have friends that are still in their 40s have remained eating takeaways and drinking 5 to 6 days a week and they are still slim. I stopped those kind of activities 10 years ago and got much heavier than they are. Unfortunately, we are not created equally.
Do you need to ask yourself what would you look like 5000 years ago? In reality, you would probably be really slim and muscular, as you would have to hunt for food, sometimes going days without and you would have to build shelter remain agile, etc… your typical day, would revolve around a constant level of exertion whilst hunting for natural Whole Foods grown in the Sun.
You definitely need to incorporate resistance training with weights (body weight good too) and I would recommend cutting out sugar almost completely for your first month in order to negate your brain craving it and telling you you are hungry. Getting most of your carbohydrate intake from vegetables and your sugar intake from fruit would also be very beneficial, ensuring you avoid anything that has to be processed to supply you sugar or carbs.
The body seems to lose weight in the reverse order it gained. So to lose belly fat you have to lose overall weight. Once you start using resistance training and building up muscle your body will learn to use the fuel you put in it to build muscle as opposed to adding to fat stores. Try to eat daily 1.4 g of protein per kilogram of body weight. Chicken is best assuming you are not vegetarian, as it gives you the best ratio of protein versus lowest calories.
Once you change these habits and incorporate them daily, things will change in a the way you never imagined. It will feel like an impossible task, so break goals down weekly and initially focus on breaking the sugar and carbs cycles.
You need to turn your body into a fat burner, instead of a sugar burner. 90% of the population relies on sugar for an instant source of energy, when, in fact, our bodies do not need any sugar or any carbohydrates at all.
There are essential fats and there are essential proteins, but there is no such thing as an essential carb. Once your brain no longer craves sugar, which takes around about 5 to 7 days of cutting sugar out completely, it learns that it has to turn to its fat stores to convert for your energy source. Once you achieve this, your hunger, diminishes, and your overall energy levels increase and remain steady, as there is always a source of energy on hand without the need of putting anything in your body.
As you progress, intermittent fasting is also an excellent tool. Once you are not reliant on the sugar you no longer need to eat breakfast (which is definitely NOT ‘The most important meal of the day’) as your brain isn’t screaming at you to eat some food. Once I finish my evening meal I do not eat again for sixteen to eighteen+ hours and I keep my feeding window within 4 to 6 hours. When your body is spending less time, breaking down and digesting food, it is spending these important hours with other important metabolic processes, such as fat reduction and muscle building. If we eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with snacks in between plus supper, our bodies can be spending 70% of our 24 hours digesting food. I discovered this by accident, but it makes sense. You need to switch your body into sourcing its fuel from your own body.
important note: when you start to break the sugar cycle, after a few days, you will get headaches and a drop in energy and it is your brains way of trying to force you to eat sugar (it is called keto flu). Sugar is the most addictive substance on the entire planet and this is classic withdrawal symptoms like a heroin addict would have. Usually lasts from day three today five and then one day you wake up with a level of mental clarity and energy you never felt before as your body will have no drugs in it, and it will be drawing energy from its fat stores through its own natural metabolic process.
Good luck OP, it is very possible that you can achieve this and acquire the body you would like. You just have to do things completely differently as you have done so far in life. It will appear difficult when thinking about it now, but success snowballs week after week once you practice it and then your habits will change and to the point where it would feel alien to you to live life as you have been doing for so long.
summary: cut out sugar for several weeks, including fruit. Reduce carb intake such as rice, pasta and potato during this period. When you start introducing sugar, try to stick to fruits and small portions of rice and potato. Aim for your main carbohydrate sauce to be vegetables, start resistance training immediately and do cardio on your rest days. Protein daily 1.4g per kg of body weight and practice intermittent fasting, starting with 16 hours of fasting and eight hours for an eating window. Fluctuate by increasing the fast and reducing the eating window. This can change daily to enable you to keep up with social functions, et cetera oh, and eight glasses of water per day!