Alcohol Slows Weight Loss — and Triggers Gain! by Joan Kent, PhD
Okay, we’re heading into holiday season, and that often means parties and drinking. I don’t drink alcohol, but I will say this: Alcohol can block weight loss and cause weight gain, and in several ways.
You work out all week and eat right most days. You should be able to have a drink or two one day a week. Right?
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. Participants in my weight loss program always struggled to lose weight as long as they kept drinking. In fact, one woman couldn’t lose any weight until she went on an 8-day group bike ride and had no alcohol at all. She made fantastic progress in those 8 days.
So why is this? For starters, calories. Alcohol has 7 kcal per gram, while protein and carbs have 4 kcal per gram. So alcohol is almost as calorie-dense as fat (9 kcal per gram).
Then there’s insulin. Alcohol can trigger high insulin, and insulin inhibits fat oxidation. Really. That reduces the 24-hr fat oxidation rate and promotes storage of more dietary fat.
As if those weren’t bad enough, alcohol increases appetite. It promotes release of beta-endorphin, which inhibits satiety. (Satiety makes us feel we’ve had enough food and don’t need more.) So you may desire food more frequently and even eat more at a given meal.
What about the foods you want to eat? Alcohol’s beta-endorphin thing may shift your preferences or cravings so you want more sugars and fats. Eating more of those foods can mean more calories in, weight gain, and even insulin resistance – and that means more weight gain over time.
Alcohol also affects mood, but let’s keep this short. Alcohol can alter brain chemistry in a way that results in depression, anxiety or other negative moods. Bad moods usually lead to food cravings, especially for sugars and other junky carbs.
Finally (you mean there’s more??), alcohol disturbs sleep by preventing the deepest, most important stages of sleep. Lack of sleep can increase the monster hormone ghrelin. Ghrelin increases appetite and food consumption and slows metabolism. Yikes.
Sure, it seems unfair. But you deserve the body weight you want, so watch the alcohol.
If you’d like more tips about weight loss or any health issues, I’d love to help. Grab your free Make Me Healthy consult at LastResortNutrition . Discover how easy it can be to get on track with your food and have fun doing it!
Brought to you by Dr. Joan Kent, best-selling author of Stronger Than Sugar.