How Can Alcohol Sabotage your Weight Loss Efforts?

The holidays and alcohol are one of the sure fire ways to derail even the most serious weight loss program. Most of us are unaware about the dangers posed by alcohol to our weight loss efforts simply because there are too many conflicting information with regards to alcohol usage.

People have found many reasons to drink alcohol or at least justify it as some sort of miracle drink that could melt your fat problems away. Alcohol if taken in moderation or just one mere serving a day could lower levels of bad cholesterol. But there are far healthier ways to do this aside from drinking alcohol.

Some people even say that alcohol has a nutritional value of its own but this is entirely untrue. Alcohol contains empty calories and can actually prevent nutrients from being taken by the body. In extreme cases this could lead to malnutrition.

• Blood Sugar – Alcohol can affect the connection between metabolism and blood sugar levels. Alcohol stays in our system and could not be entirely metabolized by the body. It also negatively affects your body’s ability to produce glucose which is dangerous for diabetics.
• Alcohol slows metabolism – drinking too much alcohol can make you feel the world is slowing down. This does not only affect our mental state. It can also lower our metabolism making it difficult for our bodies to process carbohydrates, proteins and fats. As a result, fats are stored and useless calories from alcohol all add up to weight gain.
• Messes up your diet – alcohol can have a significant effect on our mental processes and judgment. If you were able to stave off your food cravings, a few sips of alcohol can lower your guard down. Bar snacks and foods usually served with alcohol is a dieter’s nightmare. These usually contain high levels of fat and could be very tasty when taken with alcohol. Drinking alcohol could make refusing such foods very difficult.
• Binge drinking – the fastest way to lose control of your diet is when you make excuses such as binge drinking. If you’re really serious about losing weight then you should consider every extra calorie you take. Our body has to break down alcohol immediately. Alcohol drinks may contain the same amounts of calories as a regular meal but it doesn’t contain any nutritional value.
• Dehydrates and malnutrition – drinking the right amounts of water is vital for weight loss. If you start replacing water with alcohol, you lose its many benefits. Water helps detoxify your body and is essential for many body processes including metabolism.
• Reduces testosterone levels – this hormone is essential for muscle building and fat burning. Both of which are essential for reducing weight. Whenever you reduce testosterone in the body, you make it harder for yourself to replace fats with muscles and burn it out of your system.

Striking a balance:

The goal of any healthy weight loss program is to establish a lasting health regimen. A healthy diet tries to incorporate both your lifestyle and eating habits which includes an occasional social drink. Be sure to plan for holidays. Not only do you have to consider the extra fats and calories but also a drink or too. Alcohol contains calories and should also be factored in your weight loss program.

Be constantly aware of your calorie intake by practicing control not only with your food intake but also with your drinks. If you can’t avoid beer, try switching to light versions. There will never be a shortage of celebrations where drinking alcohol is unavoidable. Just be sure that you are always in control of the amount of alcohol taken.

Image credits: Group Of Cocktails Drink Isolated On White Stock Photo 

By KEKO64, via freedigitalphotos.com

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