Is alcohol holding you back… 🍺

Ok I know this is probably not going to go down well but let’s talk about alcohol, weight loss and fitness.

I never tell clients to cut food groups from their diet but alcohol is one thing I often recommend people consider reducing. It’s the ONLY actual toxin we regularly consume and it’s classed as a ‘class A’ carconigen (together with asbestos, radiation and tobacco) meaning there is no ‘recommended’ safe amount that can be consumed without increasing your risk of cancer (and other diseases). ‘It doesn’t matter how much you drink – the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage’

Alcohol calories are also processed differently. The cals are used immediately to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to detoxify it. This detoxification is a labour intensive process so the liver ‘shuts down’ and stops processing fat, carbohydrates and protein because it needs to deal with alcohol. Hence why you get the munchies, because the detoxification of alcohol inhibits gluconeogensis (breaking down of our internal food stores). So not only does alcohol inhibit fat burning it also encourages over eating.

So if you’re training hard and wanting results, is alcohol one aspect that’s holding back your progress?

Aside from the impacts on fat loss studies have shown that consumption of any amount of alcohol decreases athletic performance – it’s associated with decreases in strength, power, speed and endurance. It also decreases the ability to regulate body temperature, reaction time, coordination, balance and judgement. It increases risk of dehydration, water excretion and risk of injury.

A reason people often give me to drink is that they genuinely like the taste. So if you really do enjoy the taste of beer etc but don’t want the negative effects on your performance and weight loss then it’s a no brainer really. Go for a non-alcoholic option – there are so many excellent ones on the market now!

🤗