All About Alcohol
You've got fitness and nutrition goals, but maybe you also want to enjoy a few drinks with friends this weekend. Will having those drinks ruin your progress? Not necessarily! Let's talk about it.
I should preface this by sharing that I don't drink alcohol. I don't have some ethical stance against it -- I drank pretty liberally in my 20s. In my 30s, I started to hate the way that it made me feel and it became less appealing. I also spent a pretty tough year in my mid-30s watching a loved one battle addiction with alcohol and ultimately a liver transplant. Witnessing that up close and personal was truly a buzzkill (dark humor is a coping mechanism -- it's OK to laugh with me here). I fully recognize this experience is rare, and many/most of my clients want to enjoy alcohol in their lives while also crushing it in the gym and with their nutrition, and I'm here to tell ya it's possible!
The good news:
You can still make progress toward your goals while enjoying alcohol in moderation.
There are a lot of lower-calorie alcohol options on the market to enjoy.
The bad news:
Alcohol offers "empty" calories, meaning you're taking in calories and not getting helpful nutrients in return.
A night out drinking can result in the next day being more sedentary, which could contribute to a reduction in movement and exercise.
Alcohol consumption can increase hunger and decrease inhibitions, which could lead to additional consumption of calories.
If you want to have alcohol, and you're also striving to lose body fat, you can make the drinks fit in your macros for the day, but you may need to cut back on other calories. If you're tracking your macros, alcohol equates to 7 calories per gram and gets logged as either carbs or fat. Here are some examples:
Regular beer (1 can/12 fl oz) = 154 calories, log as 39g carbs or 17g fat
Light beer (1 can/12 fl oz) = 95 calories, log as 24g carbs or 11g fat
White wine (5 fl oz) = 120 calories, log as 30g carbs or 13g fat
Red wine (5 fl oz) = 125 calories, log as 31g carbs or 14g fat
Shot (1.5 fl oz) = 96 calories, log as 24g carbs or 11g fat
The lowest calorie drink options typically include clear liquors (vodka, gin, tequila), light beers, and seltzers. If you want to achieve a calorie deficit and you're cool with not having alcohol, then eliminating alcohol from your diet, even just temporarily, is a quick way to slash calories in your week. Think of it this way: two glasses of white wine is approximately 240 calories. Do you want to "spend" your calories on the wine, or would you prefer a hearty snack? You get to choose FOR YOU, always!
Here are some additional resources on this topic:
Podcast: Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews, episode dated 6-27-22 titled “Q&A: Heart Rate Variability Scores, Alcohol During a Diet, Ab Training, and More”
Podcast: The Jordan Syatt Mini-Podcast episode dated December 15, 2021 titled “Drinking Alcohol While Losing Fat…” (start at minute 44:19)
Cheers!
