You wake up, head pounding, mouth dry, stomach grumbling , you've forgotten about what actually happened the night before and you wonder why you have a dirty half eaten kebab sitting on your floor.. Sound familiar?
Well I'm here to tell you the bad news and explain to you what actually happens, in terms of weight loss and weight gain, when you drink your body weight in booze!
Here is some good news about alcohol and fat calories: A very small percentage of the alcohol calories you drink are turned into fat. It's in the single digits. But the bad news is with alcohol and it's calories, reduces the amount of fat that your body can burn off for energy. Anddddd the problem lies in that fact that if you drink and eat over your calories allowance for that day (which usually is the case) the excess calories get stored straight into your fat cells.
Here is a super quick lesson about the body and burning body fat. Your body wants to burn body fat for energy. Especially when at rest. When you train it wants to use carbohydrates and glycogen (stored carbohydrates) for energy to fuel it through those workouts. But when your just chilling on the lounge your body wants to burn fat. Though, the amount of fat being burned at rest changes from person to person but that is how the body works.
Things that can detour the body from burning fat as energy are skipping breakfast, low-calorie diets, not enough sleep or rest, skipping meals, and drinking too much alcohol.
Back to alcohol. Alcohol stops this fat burning process from happening. Why?
Well it comes down to a substance called acetate. Acetate levels rise sharply after alcohol is consumed. This substance pretty much tells the body to STOP burning body fat ASAP. Thinks of it as drinking methylated spirits. Your liver and organs yell “OMG WHAT IS THIS STUFF! GET IT OUT, GET IT OUT! So your body stops burning fat and the food you have consumed and starts using the alcohol as energy instead. So your food you have consumed actually gets stored in your fat cells while your body uses up all the energy in the alcohol! Then the body starts making another substance called acetyl CoA. This causes the body to actually start making more body fat.
For example, if you drank 5 beers your body would not be able to burn fat for up to 6 hours. The more you drink the longer you delay the body's regular fat burning mechanism. So if you drinks loads of calories ridden drinks PLUS loads of greasy foods and dirty maccas all of the food and calories in the drinks your consuming is getting stored as your body cant handle doing both, burning food and getting rid of the toxic alcohol.
So the idea that alcohol just automatically turns into fat or gives you a beer belly is mistaken. It’s true that alcohol suppresses fat oxidation, but mainly, alcohol adds calories into your diet, messes with your hormones and can stimulate appetite, leading to even more calories consumed via dirty, greasy, after-a-big-night-out food, also the fact that food gets stored in your fat cells as you drink alcohol. That’s where the fat gain comes from.
Also remember when you drink alcohol that it is empty calories. You get no nutritional benefit from it. No vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, omega-3's, nothing! It also effects our judgment, after a few drinks, that healthy diet you've been following so diligently suddenly doesn't seem all that important anymore. It also doesn't help that alcohol stimulate the appetite so turning down that kebab becomes much harder.
If you drink in moderation, if you’re aware of the calories in the alcohol, if you're aware of the calories from additional food intake consumed during or after drinking, you won’t get fat.
Everyone has a “calorie budget”, or an amount of calories their body burns each day, so you need to give some careful thought to how those calories should be “spent.” For example, if a female is on a 1500 calorie per day diet, does she really want to "spend" 500 of those calories – one third of her intake - for a few alcoholic drinks, and leave only 1000 for health-promoting food, fiber and lean muscle building protein? Hmmm something to think about!
Watch this Video to see just how many calories are in YOU favourite alcohol drinks!
TIPS TO HELP YOU DEAL WITH ALCOHOL AND AVOID GAINING WEIGHT!
· Be aware of what and how much you're drinking and avoid high calorie drinks: Find the calorie content of your favorite drinks. Keep in your healthy eating while drinking, e.g. eat a meals with high protein, good complex carbs (brown rice, pumpkin, oats), loads of veges and fruit and low fat yoghurt!
· Drink water between drinks: Having a full glass of water between alcoholic drinks can both help you avoid drinking too much and keep you hydrated. That may help avoid a hangover the next day.
· Know your weak spots: If you’ve come to the conclusion that you drink too much and overeat at parties, be prepared! Eat a healthy meal or snack before you go to ensure you're not drinking on an empty stomach and might help you from snacking on those chips and m&ms… oh and by the way m&ms have 10 calories EACH… just quietly…
· Don't drink daily.
· Watch the fatty foods post night out and next day
· Watch your appetite. Before you lose all judgment have a nice, healthy meal
· Think about your goals: Turning down that refill may be hard in the moment, but you'll be glad you did when you wake up the next day refreshed and not hungover!
· Have diet jelly ready in the fridge for when you walk through the door, drunk and ready to attack the fridge and pantry! Trust me you will wake up a lot less guilty then if you eat a toasted cheese sandwich and chocolate bar.
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