For 8 out of 10 Australians, the weekend is the time for too much alcohol consumption.
And seeing as Summer is just around the corner, there will be moments of overindulging and getting carried away.
But can alcohol REALLY make you fat?
Let me quickly break it down and give you 5 quick tips to help prevent fat storage when you go overboard.
First of all, alcohol is a carbohydrate or simple sugar that doesn’t contain vitamins and minerals.
One gram of alcohol yields around 7 calories – almost twice as much as protein and carbs. And one ounce of alcohol provides about 70 calories.
But unfortunately from a health standpoint, these calories are useless as there’s no nutritional value.
Here’s what happens inside your body:
Alcohol is such a fast acting sugar that it enters the bloodstream through the walls of the stomach – instead of the small intestine where most nutrients are absorbed.
This quick absorption explains why you’ll feel the effects of a shot or two when you start drinking… and why your mother told you to “eat something” while drinking, so you don’t get drunk. 😉
It also goes directly to work on the central nervous system and starts to damage valuable brain cells.
So far drinking alcohol sounds like a bloody stupid idea, right? 😉
But wait, it gets better… lol
Alcohol damages your brain cells by removing the water that’s essential for cellular health.
Then it goes to work on the other cells in your body – and boom – you’re dehydrated.
That’s one of the reasons you get that ridiculous “hangover headache” the next day and feel brain dead.
While alcohol is a simple sugar, it doesn’t require digestion. Which means it’s the #1 fuel source before carbs and ingested fats.
When calories are prevented from being used as fuel, you know what happens next?
It’s likely to be stored as body fat.
So if you chow down after getting trashed or drinking a few cocktails, those calories are most likely going to be stored for later (in the form of stubborn belly fat) because your liver is too busy processing the acetate from the alcohol.
Damn it.
Ok, you get it. But the real question still becomes:
“Can you drink alcohol and still stay lean and sexy?”
This seems to be a topic a lot of people struggle with.
They want to get lean and stay lean, but they don’t want to give up drinking their favorite alcoholic beverages.
Will a few glasses of wine destroy your fitness program?
Probably not.
But it comes down to a matter of commitment and dedication.
If you are totally committed to the fastest results possible, you will probably need to minimize your alcohol intake or quit altogether until you hit your target goal.
If you enjoy a glass or two of red wine a few days of the week like I do, that’s cool… But never on a “school night” might I add 😉
Just be aware of the whole picture when alcohol enters your body.
I believe most of us can drink in moderation, and still stay perfectly healthy and lean, after some initial sacrifice is made to get to our goals.
But here are a few sneaky tricks that can help you to NOT pack on the pounds from drinking alcohol:
1. Drink tons of water to prevent dehydration.
Gee, thanks Captain Obvious. But if you plan to down a few beers after breaking a sweat, try polishing off a few glasses of water first.
Then for every drink you order, get a glass of water too. If you alternate between the two, it should keep you out of trouble.
And when you get home, drink a liter of water to rehydrate your body. This is one thing I always do when I get home from a late night of drinking.
2. Stay away from syrupy, fruity drinks that are loaded with sugars…
This is double trouble for your belly and butt fat. You’re not only getting empty calories from the alcohol… but loads of empty calories from sugar.
These beverages (like margaritas and daiquiris) have 500-600 calories per serving!
YIKES!
Stick with clear alcohol mixed with water or club soda/seltzer/soda water.
Clear liquors like vodka or tequila with seltzer and fresh squeezed lime juice are my favorite. This is awesome if you’re at a restaurant, bar, or club.
Also, most people don’t realize this, but tonic water is loaded with almost as much sugar as regular soda – while club soda has ZERO calories.
If you’re a beer drinker, you’re better off choosing just 1 or 2 dark beers rather than 5 or 6 light beers.
Although dark beers have more calories than light beers, they also have more B vitamins and antioxidants than light beers, so you actually get more nutrition from the dark beer.
As long as you keep it to just 1 or 2 dark beers you’ll be fine, but if you go beyond that you should start counting calories and go with a low-calorie light beer option instead.
3. Make sure that dinner is based only around protein and vegetables… If you know you’re going to consume more booze than you’re supposed to!
Eating a good portion of satisfying protein along with nutrient-dense vegetables can help to control your appetite and give your body the nutreints it needs.
As I just explained above, too many carbs + alcohol intake = bad news.
4. Avoid late night junk food after drinking.
This will screw up your fat loss efforts BIG time. The worst thing for your body is loading up on fries, pizza, ice cream, or other junk foods after consuming alcohol.
The best method is to plan ahead. Make sure you have an alternative healthy option planned ahead of time so when you get home you can heat it up and satisfy your late-night cravings. Sure, it’s not the ideal situation. But it’s better than eating fast food.
By the way, I’m not perfect. I’ve screwed up in this department many a time. You need to remove temptations, and keep yourself in control!
5. Get a high intensity total body workout before your night out of drinking.
This is the best way get your metabolic rate revved for some extra damage control.
Also make sure to get in some exercise the morning after your night out along with extra water intake.
If your energy sucks, just stick with lower intensity and focus on doing what you can, sweating it out and rehydrating.
I ALWAYS hit the gym afterwards to “sweat it out.”
Alcohol rocks at depleting your body of vitamins and minerals it needs to feel healthy and normal, so you need to replenish these key compounds to recover quickly.
Sure, eliminating alcohol from our lives is definitely the best option… But we also have to be realistic.
8 out of 10 people are going to consume some type of alcohol at least socially.
So if you’re one of them, why not do it in the healthiest way possible and stay on tracks by using the steps above?
And hey – who knows – you might possibly prevent a nasty hangover! 😉
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