Stopping for a few drinks with colleagues after work may seem harmless, but alcohol can cause your weight loss program to fail. If you have a drink to let off steam, you’d be better off doing a few HIIT circuits at Iron Fit. Even if you’re just having a couple of beers or a few glasses of wine, it can be disastrous to your weight loss program. While a glass of wine may be heart-healthy, it still has calories and alcohol, both of which have consequences for weight loss.
A calorie is a calorie.
Whether you eat it or drink it, it doesn’t matter and any drink with alcohol adds calories with few or any redeeming qualities. The excess calories can increase your risk of diabetes and obesity. While a calorie is a calorie, alcohol slows the fat-burning process, making their calories even more detrimental to weight loss. If the body doesn’t get enough calories, it burns fat. When you drink alcohol, the body burns the alcohol first since it’s a toxin. That causes your metabolism to switch from burning fat and impairs glucagon use. Glucagon increases blood glucose levels as it breaks down fat. The lower blood sugar levels make you hungry, even though you’ve just consumed a few hundred calories in your drinks.
Even though that wine has some benefits, you won’t develop belly fat eating the grape.
You can eat almost three cups of grapes and get the same calories as a glass of wine. You’ll also feel fuller from the grapes for several reasons. The calories from umbrella drinks are even higher since they’re often packed with sugar. Those calories are stored as fat, while the liver’s primary task is eliminating the alcohol from the body. For females with low estrogen levels, such as those who are menopausal, the enzyme Aldh lal causes the calories to turn to pounds on the belly.
There are a few benefits, but moderation is the key.
Drinking alcohol may have some benefits. When used in moderation, which is one daily serving, like a glass of wine, for women or two daily servings for men, there are a few benefits. It may help lower the risk of Alzheimer’s or dementia. One research study found people who drank in moderation were less prone to Alzheimer’s than those who didn’t drink at all. It also may help improve healthy HDL and could boost the immune system. The resveratrol in red wine can even be heart healthy.
- Be careful about drinking before a meal. Studies show that people who drank alcohol before a meal ate more than those who drank water. It stimulates your appetite.
- If you have a problem with insulin resistance or diabetes, alcohol can make your insulin levels spike and cause hypoglycemia. However, drinking in moderation may improve insulin sensitivity. More than three daily drinks cause higher A1C and blood sugar.
- Alcohol can lower testosterone levels. That slows the process of building muscles. It also affects your metabolism since the more muscles you have, the more calories you burn 24/7.
- Per gram, alcohol has almost as many calories. It has 7 calories per gram, while fat has nine. Fat fills you up and makes you feel full longer. Alcohol makes you hungry.
For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit San Antonio