Have you ever stopped to consider how drinking alcohol affects weight? If you haven’t, then it’s something worth looking at. Many of us enjoy a cocktail here or there, but alcohol can really work against you. Though the occasional cocktail may not be an issue, you do need to consider everything. If you are working to lose weight and are having a difficult time, then you may need to consider the beverages that you drink. If you have been focusing on eating all the right foods, then the empty calories found within many beverages, especially alcohol, can be your worst enemy. So what is the problem, exactly, and how can you address it?
Drinking alcohol affects weight primarily by filling you up with empty calories. What this means is that you aren’t deriving any health benefits from drinking alcohol. You get no vitamins, minerals, or any other nutrients with alcohol, so you are only ingesting calories with no benefit. The more you drink, the more calories your body has to absorb. If you drink enough, this eventually causes you to gain weight and complicates your efforts to lose weight.
Not Worth the Drink
Another way that drinking alcohol affects weight lies in the fact that few people stop at just one drink. If you enjoy the occasional glass of red wine, that isn’t usually the problem. However, most of us tend to drink more than one cocktail in a sitting, which is bad news for your health. Drinking also inclines you to eat–and overeat–more foods that are bad for you because alcohol diminishes your inhibitions and willpower. Thus, if you are drinking alcohol, you also aren’t likely to work out anytime soon, including the following morning. You may not sleep as well, either. All of these negative health effects are direct results of having too much alcohol, and your waistline ultimately pays the price.
Therefore, drinking alcohol has an overall profound and negative impact on weight. Moreover, if you indulge in too much alcohol too often, you may even find that your metabolism slows. You may not burn calories as effectively and, thus, may build up more fat on the body. If you are trying hard to lose weight, then you want to eliminate or strongly limit your alcohol consumption. Doing so is an excellent way to lose weight in a healthy manner, and the adjustment will pay off and leave you happier in the long run.
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