What is the connection with alcohol and weight loss? For many, weight loss can be a difficult journey. It is hard to break old habits and start living a healthy lifestyle. While alcohol in moderation is fine, this could also be preventing you from shedding those last 10 pounds. Let’s discuss why alcohol could be what is keeping you from reaching your goal weight.
Hidden Calories in Alcohol
When we drink socially, we often forget that we are consuming beneficial calories. There are about 145 calories in a 6 oz glass of red wine. By consuming several glasses in one night, we are adding calories that have no nutritional value. While having a glass of red wine on occasion touts lowering your risk of heart disease, it may also be standing in the way of your weight loss journey. (You’d have to drink lots of wine for it to benefit your heart; then your liver would be unhappy).
Alcohol Becomes Your Body’s Main Source of Fuel
When we consume alcohol, our body burns it as fuel before anything else that we consumed. This means our bodies are not burning the lipids in fats we consume or the glucose from carbs we consume. The result? We end up storing unwanted fat and burning off the alcohol instead.
Alcohol Consumption May Lead to Poor Food Choices
While we shouldn’t be labeling food as “good” or “bad,” we should pay close attention to what we are fueling our bodies with. When we consume alcohol, our judgment becomes impaired and can lead to overindulging in foods that we want to limit. Mix these poor choices with late nights of drinking and this is the perfect storm to prevent your desired weight loss.
Alcohol Affects Your Sleep, and Not in a Good Way
Over-consumption of alcohol can keep us from getting a restful night of sleep. This will eventually catch up with us and cause an imbalance in our hormones; especially the ones that make us crave food and sweets. These things combined will make it harder to shed weight.
The Takeaway with Alcohol and Weight Loss
Like anything else we consume, we must be mindful when drinking alcoholic beverages. While socializing is important for our mental health, over alcohol consumption can stand in the way of our weight loss goals. Think about what is important to you, and maybe skip that glass of wine every night.
Support is Key to Success
Making lifestyle changes all at once can feel overwhelming especially with all the conflicting noise on the internet. Humans are hardwired to need support; seek it both personally and professionally. Get a free 30-minute phone consultation. See if this is the right match for you by addressing natural weight loss, cravings, emotional eating, balanced diet, disease prevention, nutrition, and getting to the root cause of what’s keeping you stuck. See what others are saying on Google and Yelp.
For more articles, read https://happyfoodhealth.com/blog
~ Samantha Hua, Nutrition Coach, Holistic Health Coach & Weight Loss Coach
