Why Alcohol Can Prevent You From Losing Weight

Enjoying a few alcoholic drinks each week is a common practice for many people, and experts agree that moderate alcohol consumption is safe for healthy people. However, if you are trying to lose weight you may want to know a few things about how alcohol affects your metabolism.

First, did you know that in the moment you start ingesting alcohol your body goes to work metabolizing it? That’s a good thing, right? Well, yes, except that for the duration that your body is busy metabolizing the alcohol you just ingested, it stops metabolizing fat. That may not be such a big deal if you rarely drink, but if you enjoy a few cocktails every day or even several times a week, it could dramatically slow down your weight loss.

See: How to Repair a Damaged Metabolism

Another important consideration is that all alcoholic drinks and liquors contain calories, and some of them contain a LOT of calories! If you aren’t paying attention, it’s easy to ingest far more calories than you intend to, especially if you are having mixed drinks that contain sugary mixes or cream.

See: Calorie Count for Alcoholic Beverage: Budweiser Beer

See: Calorie Count for Alcoholic Beverage: Coffee with Cream, Liqueur

As if that weren’t enough, alcohol can also stimulate your appetite so you feel hungrier during and after drinking. To add insult to injury, being slightly intoxicated can also lower your inhibitions so that you see no harm in enjoying some delicious, fattening food. Fried chicken wings? Cheese fries? A large pizza with everything? Sounds good to you . . . until the next morning when you remember casually eating an entire day’s calories in one sitting.

See: Junk Food & Overeating: Here’s Why You Do It

When you put all of these concerns together, you can clearly see that alcohol consumption maybe isn’t a great idea when you are trying to lose weight.

If you absolutely MUST have some alcohol, try to stick to just one low-calorie drink and then follow it with a large glass of water. Munch on a handful of nuts or popcorn to quiet cravings for more fattening foods, or eat a healthy meal right after you have a drink. Your metabolism will still be impacted, but not nearly as much as it would be by overindulging on high calorie drinks and foods.

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