How Alcohol Is Hindering Your Weight Loss
If you're trying to lose weight and still drinking alcohol, it may be holding you back more than you realize.
How is this possible?
Alcohol is a poison to our bodies. When passing through our blood, all other metabolic processes are halted to metabolize it.
Although a limited amount of alcohol can have a place in an overall balanced diet, alcohol has zero nutritional value, impairing your overall health when regularly consumed. Below are just a few ways in which alcohol is keeping you from your fitness goals.
Impairs Judgement Calls
It probably didn’t take you long to realize that when consuming alcohol, you speak or act in ways that don’t reflect your best character. Just after one or two drinks, there’s a suppression in the neuron activity in your brain, causing your inhibitions to go down.
Among other negative impacts, this can play a huge role in your willpower with food. You may notice that after a few drinks, you are more likely to enjoy a second slice of bread or have difficulty avoiding the chips and dip.
We tend to feel hungrier when drinking alcohol, especially when we’re already eating, making it much easier to overconsume.
During your next dinner out, enjoy it sober and notice what difference it makes to your mindless munching and appetite. Not only will you save on the calories from alcohol, but you'll significantly reduce your overall consumption.
Slows Down Metabolism
Imagine alcohol as an ambulance speeding through your bloodstream. All other metabolic processes halt so your body can put all energy and resources towards metabolizing the alcohol.
This is because alcohol is inherently toxic to the body, contributing to a variety of poor health outcomes such as compromised digestive function, impaired nutrient absorption, and decreased metabolic efficiency.
It’s been shown that alcohol consumption can slow down your metabolism by up to 50%
Additionally, alcohol can be high in simple sugars and excess calories, leading to not only a slower metabolism but more calories consumed than you think. This combination can easily lead to excess fat gain and storage and be a significant roadblock in your weight loss journey.
Worsens Sleep Quality
Although you’ll fall asleep more quickly when under the influence, the sleep quality will be far worse.
As your liver enzymes metabolize the alcohol, you’ll likely experience numerous sleep disturbances, leading to daytime sleepiness and low motivation. A lack of good quality sleep can place unnecessary stress on the body, making it difficult to realize your full-fat loss potential.
Lack of sleep also severely lowers mood, motivation, and energy levels and creates hormone imbalances which can increase cravings and shut down your ability to gauge when you’re full - this is a pretty terrible combination for reaching fat loss goals.
A good quality eight hours of sleep is highly underrated and can be a big player when working towards weight loss and overall better health.
Negatively Impacts Hormone Production
Testosterone is one of our major sex hormones and plays a crucial role in reproduction for both men and women.
Low Testosterone levels can look like a decrease in sex drive, low mood, muscle loss, weakening bones, increase in body fat, difficulty concentrating, and more.
Regular alcohol consumption can decrease your testosterone levels, making it difficult to lose unnecessary body fat and maintain or increase muscle mass.
Another hormone worth mentioning that alcohol hurts is our stress hormone, Cortisol.
Although Cortisol is a necessary hormone for overall health, too much can lead to mood swings, muscle weakness, high blood pressure, and rapid weight gain - especially around the midsection.
Drinking alcohol can elevate baseline levels of Cortisol levels, affecting the body’s ability to respond to stress. The body in a stressed state hangs onto fat and slows the metabolism as this is the safest response and is considered the most efficient for survival. In reality, it's your body working against you and your aesthetic goals.
Try a few weeks without alcohol and see how you feel. You’ll likely experience better sleep, increased motivation, better workouts, and a more efficient path to reaching your goals.
