Alcohol & Weight Loss

I've gotten a lot of questions regarding alcohol and weight gain or loss lately. Alcohol is hugely caloric, no matter the drink, it's 7.5 calories per gram. Our bodies can't store alcohol, so it its quickly identified and metabolized. Alcohol is prioritized, so all other fats and sugars aren't broken down as quickly as they should, storing as fat, and slowing metabolism.

Inthe first in a series of guest contributors, I present to you a real life case of how cutting back alcohol helped one of my clients. Thanks Jessi Green for contributing & sharing your story.

ALCOHOL AND METABOLISM

I was struggling with my weight and couldn’t figure out why the scale wasn’t coming down. At that time, I was eating clean and working out regularly (around 5 times a week, sometimes more since I was training for a half marathon). I was so frustrated that I couldn’t lose weight. I finally broke down and told my trainer, Kevin Manning, how discouraged I was. I was ready to throw in the towel. I was doing everything in my power to lose weight and wasn’t getting anywhere. Kevin mentioned seeing wine and beer in my food journal. He told me to cut out alcohol for one month. I looked at him like he was crazy! Are you kidding me? I couldn’t give up alcohol. That was my “treat”. But with much encouragement, I finally (with hesitation) gave it up for 30 days. Where I had stayed at the same weight for months and months with no change in sight, I had finally lost 6 pounds by the end of the 30 days. I know 6 pounds doesn’t seem like much but it was just enough to get the ball rolling again on my weight loss journey. I ended up changing my alcohol habits to only drinking on special occasions, which was about once every 4-6 weeks. After sticking to this, I was able to drop 40 pounds just from letting that one vice go. Obviously, I continued to eat clean (by following Kevin’s suggestions and meal plans) and I continued to work out. Thanks to Kevin and to being strong enough to let alcohol go I was able to lose the weight I had needed to lose and I felt so much better in the process without alcohol slowing me down.