Does alcohol make you fat?

Ok, so we have discussed training to burn calories in Part 1, eating for good health and less calories in Part 2, now it is time to talk about the pure fuel source called alcohol.

I call it fuel, because that is what it is. Calories are a fuel source for our bodies. When you consume more calories (fuel) than what is needed by your body on a daily basis, you will gain weight.

Alcohol is just empty calories.

There is no enzyme in the human body that will convert alcohol to fat. So what happens is, you drink alcohol and it sits as your fuel source to be used next. Next being before the food you are eating. So what happens to that food? It gets stored as fat. The more alcohol you drink, the more empty calories are sitting waiting to be burnt and the longer it will take to burn it off, so the more food will be stored as fat.

You can’t counteract this by not eating on a day when you drink because we all know that starving our bodies results in even more negative changes to the body eventually resulting in more weight gain.

What you can do if you know you are going to have a big night on the drink is eat very healthily on the days leading up to and after the drinking session and also increase you exercise on the days either side to compensate for the extra calories that are hanging around in your body.

Another thing to take note of is the junk food that you usually eat when you are drunk or hing over. Generally, any healthy diet goes out the window when you have a few drinks in the system!

A general rule of thumb that I use is 1/2 a calorie in each ml of alcohol. This is not exact, but it is a good rule of thumb to give you a general idea of the sabotage you are doing to your weight loss goals when you head out on the drink.

I haven’t touched on the negative affects that alcohol has on the human body, but believe me, there are plenty. For now, I am just talking alcohol and weight loss.

Does alcohol make you fat? Absolutely!

Next time you get stuck into the drink, remember the negatives;

* 1/2 calorie per ml

* You will eat more junk food when you are drunk

* You will eat more junk food when you are hung over

* You won’t want to train if you are hung over

* You won’t train in the morning if you went out drinking the night before and you wouldn’t have trained at night because you were already out drinking

* Weight loss aside, alcohol is a depressant and a diuretic

Not really anything good about alcohol is there, so drink it in moderation!

Drinking beer is so rare for me, I had to have a photo! Who wouldn't drink a beer that is named after them?

Let’s talk walking in next week’s tip let’s get fit for Summer Part 4.

Yours in fitness

Troy Shipsey