Should You Avoid Alcohol if You’re Trying to Lose Weight?

Are you trying to lose weight but fear the restrictions to your lifestyle – no chocolate, fried foods… or worst of all, no beer?  In college, the ‘freshman 15’ is the term used for the new student who gains 15 pounds in his first year.  Why?  Alcohol!

It’s not a myth – alcohol is your enemy if you want to lose weight.  But, besides calories, most of us don’t understand why alcohol packs on the pounds.  Here’s a few pointers.

Alcohol and Calories

In previous articles, I’ve been talking about three nutrients your body uses: proteins, carbs and fats.  All of these translate into a certain number of calories, and if your body burns more than you consume, you will lose weight.  However, there is another source of energy your body can use: Alcohol!  This unfortunately delicious and often fun source packs a whopping 7 calories per gram – about two times more than carbs and proteins.

You are probably now thinking about those six tequila shots you had at the bar last week (at least I am).  Trying to lose weight when drinking your body weight in alcohol is nearly impossible… food for thought if you’re a student or a dedicated beer or wine drinker.

The Beer Belly

Yes, the Beer Belly is rightfully named.  Alcohol directly increases your waist to hip ratio, meaning more fat is stored in your midsection.  Unlike proteins, carbs, and fat, alcohol is turned into something called ‘Acetate’ which your body uses for energy (much like how carbs are turned into sugar).  The acetate is broken down into CO2 and Water, then your hangover starts!

How Alcohol Makes you fat

The cool thing about alcohol is that it doesn’t turn into fat.  So why is it so hard to lose weight when drinking?  Well, the other important thing to note about alcohol is that your body uses alcohol as energy before even touching carbs, proteins, or fats.  This allows your body to save the other nutrients for later use…. so delaying fat loss, even when exercising daily.

The bad thing is that in order to save the other nutrients, it needs to convert them to fat!  And that is why drinking makes it harder to lose weight.

Alcohol and Fat Simplified

Basically, when you drink, your body uses alcohol for energy instead of your food. Your food is then turned into fat that you have to burn off later.  To sum up, the more you drink, the more fat gets stored.  Plus, it is so easy to consume large amounts of calories through alcoholic beverages because they contain seven calories per gram.  Imagine how many calories a sweetened or cream mixed drink contains!

How to Lose Weight and Drink

Some might give up trying to lose weight when faced with the decision to quick drinking, but all hope is not lost.  Here are a couple tips to lose weight and still enjoy life.

Weight Loss Tip 1

First, reduce the amount of alcohol you drink. This is the best way to lose weight, but if you’re like me, you’re still going to want to splurge a bit.

Weight Loss Tip 2

Understand your alcohol.  Distilled alcohols have no sugar, which means less calories.  Stick to light beers and dry wines.  Also, avoid mixed drinks at all costs! Added sugars will just turn into fat when mixed with alcohol.

Weight Loss Tip 3

Drink moderately on an empty stomach if you want to lose weight.  If your goal is to get sloshed, this tip has dual benefits.  When drinking on an empty stomach, you don’t need to drink as much to lower your inhibitions.  Less alcohol for the same kick also means less cash wasted at the bar.  Beyond that, you’re body won’t store any extra calories as fat because there won’t be any available for it to process.

Don’t try this tip with strong alcohol like tequila, however, or your stomach may well be empty once again two minutes later.  Those who have been the victim of the old “Tequila Turnaround” will know exactly what I mean!

Weight Loss Tip 4

Don’t work out before drinking.  This may seem contradictory, but here’s the reason.  Alcohol increases your cortisol levels and lowers your testosterone for up to 24 hours depending on how much you drink.  If you understand fitness, you’ll know that testosterone means more muscles, which means more fat loss.

Working out at the gym before drinking breaks down your muscles, but if you have no testosterone they won’t be built back up which means additional muscle loss.  Not many people know this, but I’d encourage you to spread the word.  Although working out before drinking may help you lose weight in lean muscle mass, it won’t help you lose fat.

Weight Loss Tip 5

Alcohol is a touchy subject, especially in the current day and age.  In my opinion, as long as you are responsible with your drinking and happy with your weight, don’t worry too much about changing your drinking habits.  However, if your goal is to lose weight, you can implement some of these tips without sacrificing too much.

The best bet when trying to lose weight is to eliminate alcohol altogether, but even the strongest willed have a hard time doing that.  Good luck!

-KW