Will I Lose Weight If I Cut Out Alcohol?

You don’t have to live in Calgary, Canada, to benefit from some simple advice for weight loss. If you want to lose weight, you can eat healthier, get adequate exercise, cut out alcohol and drink more water. Drinking and dieting don’t go together. Cutting it out will help you lose weight. Alcohol can slow your progress toward weight loss. Drinking can have other affects in your life, like decreasing your mental capabilities and physical performance and increase the risk of type2 diabetes. Like any food, it contains calories that add to your daily calorie consumption.

There are some upsides of drinking alcohol.

Even though alcohol adds extra calories, it does offer some health benefits in moderation. If you have insulin resistance, the precursor to type2 diabetes, moderate consumption can reduce insulin resistance. Some studies show it might actually help improve your immune system and may even lower the risk for dementia. Moderate amounts of alcohol can increase your good cholesterol levels. Red wine has been touted as providing heart health benefits. A few studies have shown it can boost your immune system. With that said, no studies show it can help with weight loss, quite the contrary.

Learn serving size.

Just like anything else you consume, serving size is important. I’ve seen glasses that can hold a whole bottle of wine. That’s not what most people consider one glass of wine, which is 5 fluid ounces. One serving of beer is 12 fluid ounces and a serving of hard liquor is 1.5 fluid ounces. Taking one to two drinks a day should be your limit. While fancy drinks may taste yummy, they’re also super high in calories and slow your weight loss progress.

Don’t drink before dinner or substitute alcohol for a meal.

Insulin spikes can cause weight gain and insulin resistance, which impedes weight loss. When there’s no food in your stomach to slow the absorption of alcohol, it causes your insulin to spike. Drinking your supper can make you feel hungry, too. That sugar spike from alcohol that isn’t slowed by food consumption can block the release of stored glucose, making you feel hungrier. Before you drink, eat a small meal that is high in fiber and protein to avoid the blood sugar spike.

• One study compared two groups, one that drank alcohol with a meal and one that had a soft drink. Those who had alcohol before a meal, instead of a soft drink, ate more. Another study showed alcohol before a meal made people feel hungrier.
• If you’re trying to build muscle tissue, which increases your metabolism, don’t drink alcohol. It lowers testosterone levels. Lower testosterone levels interferes with your ability to build muscle.
• While alcohol contains a high amount of calories, it has no bulk to make you feel fuller. The insulin released because of those calories increases the body’s fat storage.
• Not only does alcohol increase calories and make weight loss harder, it affects where the fat accumulates. Pounds packed on from excess alcohol intake tend to accumulate around your mid-section. It causes belly fat.

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