I know a lot of people will read this post and completely disregard it, because not many people want to give up alcohol. My intention with this post is just to enlighten you to how alcohol could be effecting your fitness goals that you might not be aware of. If you then decide to cut back on your alcohol consumption or cut it out then that’s great!
The Facts.
One of the reasons i do not drink alcohol is that it has empty calories. This means that the consummation of alcohol has no nutritional benefit at all to your body. This is a very big thing for me, with anything i drink or eat i make sure to choose it carefully to fuel and nourish my body in the best way possible.
Alcohol is 7 CALORIES PER GRAM! This combined with the fact that these are empty calories should be enough for anybody who is on any kind of fitness journey to think twice before having a drink. 7 Calories per gram means that Alcohol is almost as high calories as fat.
As well as this, alcohol actually slows down your metabolism. This means that after consuming alcohol your body temporarily burns less fat than usual. Alcohol also inhibits your liver from metabolising fat.
Alcohol & Fitness.
Alcohol as you can see is not exempt from calories. You could be on the strictest diet ever during the week but if you are consuming alcohol on the weekends you need to be aware of how many calories is in the alcohol your drink and add this in to your daily caloric intake in order to keep proper track of your diet. It is no use eating a calorie restricted diet all week to then go and sabotage yourself on the weekend by consuming all of those extra calories on drinking. Also if you are trying to lose weight, slowing down your metabolism is the last thing you want!
Not only in weight loss is alcohol an issue. But say for example you are trying to build and tone your muscles, or even make strength gains. If you are working out lifting weights on a regular basis, but you are not giving your muscles and your body the correct fuel to rebuild stronger and bigger – you are not going to see the improvements you are hoping for. This is why you should think twice before consuming ’empty calories’ such as alcohol. Your calories should be coming from foods that suit your fitness goals and your bodies needs.
The sun has been out in Dublin this week (a rare phenomenon) so i know a lot of people have been in a beer garden the past few days. Which is fine! I’m just saying if you are drinking on a regular basis, this could be holding you back from reaching your fitness goals.
Kirsty Olive 