Alcohol vs Weight-loss

Why Alcohol may be preventing you from reaching your goals.

Let us say we are having a good run of focusing on healthy eating and regular exercise and really enjoying it.

But then we get on the scale.... and we STILL have not lost any weight!

We are doing “all the healthy things” but our weight will not budge.

So, we think...what am I doing wrong.... Maybe I should eat less and workout more? But how?!?

Before we get frustrated and give up, or start down the spiral of under-eating and over-training, it may be helpful to look at a few other elements that might be contributing to keeping our weight stable.

While for the most part it simplifies things to think of all calories as equal, sometimes this is not the case across time.

Take alcohol for example.

If our calorie load is falling where it needs to for weight loss consistently, and on occasion some of those calories are coming from alcohol, then we often still lose weight.

Moderate alcohol intake can be part of a healthy diet, but when it comes to losing that 1lb a week, over time it may be one of the sneaky things sabotaging our efforts.

There are several metabolic reasons for this...

As athletes we want our glucose calories being stored in our muscle and liver for energy to draw from for exercise, and our protein being utilized to repair lean muscle.

Alcohol not only interferes with this process, but also interferes with us utilizing fat stores for energy.

The net effect of all this is that when we Consume alcohol, our bodies burn those alcohol calories first (7 calories per gram!) and we are more likely to store the other calories we consume with alcohol “most efficiently” … as fat.

For many of us, it is preferable to sacrifice food calories and work out like a beast rather than focusing on altering our routines related to alcohol. This might even lead to drops on the scale in the short term, especially if we are young, healthy, and active.

But that only works for so long. If you find yourself in the position where you cannot seem to lose weight and you are also drinking alcohol regularly...try committing to moderating alcohol intake and see what happens. 

You can try several strategies.

       ⁃     Have an accurate estimate of the calories in our drinks and mixers to ensure we have room in our calorie budget.

       ⁃     Eat moderately when consuming alcohol.

       ⁃     Quit drinking alcohol entirely

       ⁃     Drink less frequently

       ⁃     Drink fewer drinks when we do

In addition to the weight-loss, endurance, health, mood, and energy benefits of cutting back on alcohol, these are much more effective and sustainable strategies for weight loss than overdoing it in other areas to compensate.

Challenges often come up when we are trying to cut back on alcohol calories. It can be complicated and difficult to overcome.

How do we to manage stress/decompress alternatively, socialize differently, change behaviors that are entrenched and reinforced?

This is a good example of where a health coaching call could help you to education, resources, insight, strategies, and support towards finding a sustainable balance that works for you.