4 Ways Alcohol Ruins Your Weightloss Plan

Alcohol is a normal part of North American culture, and has been for centuries. We all love tossing one back on a hot summer evening, enjoying a glass of wine with dinner, or going out with the girls for martinis. That is definitely not up for debate! However, when it comes to weight loss, alcohol is not your friend. Regardless of the type of alcohol — wine, beer, spirits, and the list goes on — drinking while trying to lose weight is almost guaranteed to slow your efforts. Overdo it, and you might even see the scale move up rather than down.

1. Alcohol Loads You Up with Empty Calories, Devoid of Nutrition

Eating a healthy and balanced diet is the key to sustainable weight loss — but alcohol, which is packed with way more calories that you'd be aware of if you weren't counting, adds to your calorie "budget" without offering the nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. Alcohol is mainly carbs, and to lose weight effectively, you need healthy fats and plenty of protein. 

By missing this step by step process, more calories are made available for energy, and the body is less likely to continue burning fat or calories from the foods you've eaten. This will slow your success — be aware of the calorie count in your favorite drink!

Essentially, the molecular structure of alcohol is just like that of sugar, which brings on even more problems when it comes to weight loss.

2. Alcohol Impairs Your Judgment

So, you really want to lose weight, but you also really love junk food? You may be able to stay strong and disciplined — and refrain from gorging on those donuts you really want — when you're sober. A few drinks on, your judgment may no longer be so sound. Suddenly those chicken nuggets seem like a grand idea, and you're now gaining extra calories from junk foods as well as from alcohol. Stay sober, and temptation won't overtake you. 

3. Your Drinks Are Usually Loaded With Sugar

If you examine the calorie content on the label of your drink of choice, you'll notice there are usually more calories than could come from the alcohol alone. These extra calories are all in the form of sugar. Weight loss becomes very difficult when you are consuming simple sugars such as those found in alcoholic beverages. Forget losing fat when you are giving the system excessive amounts of simple sugars. These will be immediately converted to glucose and used for your every need.

Sugar, not fat, is the worst thing you can eat while trying to lose weight. Here's why: Fat enters the body and gets used up for energy production, vitamin absorption and more. When we consume fats,  digestive enzymes shows up called ketones. To have ketones regularly floating around your system makes it easier for your body to use up stored fats as well. Simple sugars which are consumed become glucose very quickly, and if they are not used for energy in a timely fashion, are then converted to fats and stored for later use.

It is this process which makes sugars so dangerous during a diet. Having the extra calories in wine, beer, coolers and spirits makes the fat loss process far more difficult.

4. Alcohol Leads To Long-term Adaptation

Your body gets used to what its being dished out. If you eat well your whole life, you'll likely have maintained a healthy body weight without much effort. However, regular alcohol teaches the body over time to use the simplest forms of energy production as possible. In a healthy diet without alcohol, you would want to consume the basic amount of carbs to ensure that no extra sugars are required for storage. Making up for the low caloric content of carbs would be an increase in daily proteins. When alcohol is introduced into the diet, everything changes.

The body gets used to using what its fed, and will adapt. Though it may have gone for fat for energy at one time, it will continue to look for simple sources of sugar which can be easily converted as is the case with acetate.