Alcohol and Weight Gain: 7 Ways Drinking Can Stall Fat Loss
Photo by Kobby Mendez on Unsplash
Alcohol and Weight Gain
Strange how drinking eight glasses of water seems so hard…but eight beers? No problem. Am I right?!?
Except that it is a problem if your health goals include losing weight. Ugh. Bummer. Don’t kill the messenger.
Full disclosure: I’m a fan of the drink. I like wine, beer, and mixed drinks. I like alcoholic drinks for the taste and for the effects. How unbecoming of a personal trainer. (Insert large amounts of sarcasm here.) The unfortunate truth, however, is that alcohol — over-consumed or timed improperly — can directly impact your health and cause weight gain.
Read on to learn about 7 ways drinking alcohol causes weight gain. And before you panic and attempt to swear off alcohol forever (I don’t recommend it), I give you 6 ways to manage the damage so you can still #liveyourbestlife.
Alcohol affects your body differently than any other type of calorie.
Alcohol and Weight Gain: What makes alcohol different than other calories?
1. Alcohol is “empty calories”. This means alcohol provides calories, but little in the way of other nutrients that your body needs for health. Yes, wine and beer may have a few redeeming qualities like antioxidants. But the antioxidant properties are typically not enough to offset the damage done by the metabolic effects of drinking.
2. Alcohol contains more calories per gram. Alcohol is most closely related to carbs. Non-alcohol carbs (found in things like bread, pasta, fruit, beans, etc.) only contain four calories per gram. Alcohol contains seven calories per gram.
3. Alcohol lowers inhibitions. There’s a reason there are memes about waking up next to someone you don’t know after a night of heavy drinking. Alcohol lowers your inhibitions for sex, drugs, drunk-texting your ex…and food.
4. When consumed, alcohol must be used as a primary source of fuel. Before your body burns any other calories that you consume, it must burn the alcohol first. And because alcohol calories seem to be burned rather inefficiently by the body, this can lead to any other calories consumed to be stored as body fat.
5. Alcohol slows digestion and inhibits the organs that assist with fat loss. Alcohol is essentially a poison. The liver is charged with filtering out toxins, including alcohol. The liver is also closely associated with fat metabolism, meaning you will burn body fat much less efficiently.
6. Alcohol causes blood sugar spikes, leading to deposition of belly fat. The so-called “beer gut” is a real thing. Alcohol spikes insulin, which is the hormone that tells the body to store fat, especially around the midsection.
7. Alcohol negatively affects sleep. That nightcap might be making you fat. Yes, alcohol can make you sleepy, but the sad truth is that alcohol appears to disrupt sleep. You will be more apt to wake up and spend less time in deep sleep. Sleep has a direct impact on weight via hunger hormones. Mess up your sleep, and your weight will soon be on the rise.
Actual footage of me 20 years from now. Yep. I still plan to be drinking wine.
Alcohol and Weight Gain: yes, you can have your alcohol and drink it too
I have tried but never been successful at completely eliminating alcohol. I like it. It’s an enjoyable part of my life. So I don’t try to pretend that that I’m ever giving it up. Instead, this is what I do:
1. Stay aware. Alcohol tends to creep in on me and my consumption increases over time. So, about every three months or so, I evaluate how much and how often I’m drinking, and I am often surprised to find that my “one” glass of wine is actually about three.
2. Reduce overall consumption. Once I am aware — either through tracking or feeling like total ass — that I’m probably drinking too much, I recommit to reduce how much or how often I drink. For me to maintain my current healthy weight, I need to be alcohol-free five out of seven days per week.
3. Time alcohol properly. This is the part where I tell you it’s 100% kosher to drink at 2 PM — Woosa!!! #winewithDewine! But — sorry night-cappers — cut it off at least 3 hours before bed.
4. Take a walk. A 10 to 15 minute walk after having a drink can lower blood glucose by 40%. That will lower the insulin impact of anything you drink or eat, which means those calories are less likely to end up in stored body fat. Plus walking is just plain good for you!
5. Avoid higher-sugar forms of alcohol most of the time. Mixed drinks, sweet wines, and craft beers are much higher in sugar and calories. Believe me: I’m not saying you can never have a margarita. But be aware that a margarita is far worse than a shot of tequila, a vodka cranberry, or a glass of dry red wine.
6. Practice intermittent fasting. Shameless plug and full disclosure: I offer intermittent fasting coaching courses. The beauty of intermittent fasting is that no food or beverage is off limits…it just has to be consumed within your feeding window. There is something about giving your body a daily break from digesting any type of calorie — whether from food or alcohol — that boosts health, increases metabolism, and causes weight loss. Want to know more about the benefits of intermittent fasting? Check out this post.
I joke a lot about alcohol. But as a very health-conscious woman, I definitely drink in moderation!
Blog Author: Kelly Bailey, IIN certified holistic nutrition coach, and NPTI certified personal trainer
Learn more about the author here.