Other forms: paunches
A paunch is a fat stomach. You might suck in your stomach and tighten your belt to hide your paunch.
You might worry that if you accept your dream job as a cupcake taster, you might develop a paunch — or maybe you don't care too much about that, figuring you'll just buy new pants if you need to. While today a paunch is specifically a chubby or protruding belly, it once meant simply "stomach," from the Latin panticem, "belly," and it may be related to panus, or "swelling."