Can You Drink Alcohol And Lose Fat?

Drinking is a key component in military culture.

Cheap drinks in the mess, section social events, leaving drinks, dinning in nights, the list goes on.

Many of us have staggered in at 4 am to be up ready to rock and roll on a squad run at 7 am, absolutely hanging out of our backsides.

We can all agree, looking back, this is not the best thing for your body.

But we did it anyway, because it was the done thing and we got away with it, because we was young.

Fast forward to "civi street" and for some we still have that drinking culture.

Many of you reading this may have to host meetings in restaurants or hold events that bring company sections together.

Many of you may have undergone a fat loss mission before and gone cold turkey from the booze. But going cold turkey isn't always the best idea.

It can lead to social exclusion, bouts of binge drinking and for some who like having a small glass of wine or a beer every day to unwind, it can take away pleasure.

The Alcohol Basics

Alcohol is a toxin, it is a form of energy that can't be used by the body that yields 7 kcals per 1g of pure alcohol. When you ingest any from of alcohol, the body starts breaking the energy consumed from it first, before going into your fat stores.

The calorie equation for fat loss still holds true, even when alcohol is involved. Calories in must be less than calories out. So if you need to ingest 1800 calories to be in a deficit, 1000 calories could come from food and the remaining 800 calories could come from alcohol and you would still see results.

The problem is that when you consume alcohol your inhibitions go out the window and it is hard to control.

Here are some examples of common drinks and their associated calories.

Gin (94 proof)= 116 kcal (45ml)

Pina colada = 526 kcal (200 ml)

Pino Grigio = 128 kcal (145ml)

Craft Beer = 170-350 kcal (355ml)

Fitting Alcohol In With Your Fat Loss Strategy

You may be tempted to cut out all alcohol completely and this is certainly one way of doing it.

For those who want to include social activities and still want to push forward with fat loss, these 5 tips will aid you in creating a balanced approach.

1. Think big. Your calorie intake isn't one day. It's about being in a net deficit over a period of time. Let's say you have to be at 2000 calories to be in a deficit every day, that is 14,000 calories over a weekly period. Let's say you want to go and have drinks Saturday night, we can take 500 calories off of Thursday and Friday, giving you 3,000 calories to work with on the Saturday. You are still within the 14,000 calorie bench mark and still going to lose fat.
2. Strategic drinking. Maybe you usually have 4 draft beers at 350 calories. If you swap those 4 beers for a rum and diet coke, that drops it down to 100 calories per drink. Instead of 1400 calories consumed, you have 400 calories.
3. Don't go off track. If you have a blow out and you feel sorry for yourself, don't give up. 1 day or even 2 days out of your grand plan isn't going to hurt you. What will hurt you is completely giving up and saying I will start again next month!
4. Recovery is key. Getting yourself hydrated and re balancing your electrolytes is key. Make sure you take on plenty of water. get up for a walk and drink some Berocca or equivalent
5. Focus on Protein. If you need to binge out on food to recover from the hangover, it is really hard to put on weight by over consuming on protein. In one study, test subjects were overfed by 800 calories, compared to the baseline group and there was no increase in fat or weight.

In summary....

Alcohol is a big part of our culture, but excessive drinking and especially binge drinking will cause long term health issues.

Having the recommended daily allowance and staying within your calorie allowance will keep you on track for achieving your fat loss goals!

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