It’s Friday. You just had one of your best training sessions…hit a PR, grinded through all of your accessory work, and didn’t miss a beat the entire time. From the gym to the kitchen—whipped up a nice post-workout meal and you’re feeling great with the perfect amount of macros left for a final meal. It’s a relaxing night where the plan is to just lay down, watch some TV and get yourself ready for tomorrow’s workout. Then your phone vibrates…”Yo, party tonight. Let’s drink!”
We’ve all been there. In regards to fitness, this is one of the most difficult decisions to make. You want, as a fitness enthusiast, to hit your macros with nutritious foods, obtain adequate sleep and wake up at an early hour ready for the next day. However, there is still that little inside voice saying that the party would be such a great time and that your friends will think you are lame or “obsessed” if you do not attend.
What are your reasons for not wanting to go have a blast with your friends? I bet I could name number one. Almost the entire fitness world is aware of the fact that alcohol is very hard to fit into the picture. It is completely empty in terms of micronutrients; it is not a viable source of energy and it is very good at making the next day a living hell.
With that said, daily gym goers like to have their nights out—a drink here and there. Further, lifters in college (myself included) want to get the most out of their time in school and don’t want to miss out on the nightlife that comes with being away. There seems to be large amounts of confusion when alcohol and either lifting, weight loss or overall health collide.
Today, the plan is to completely expose every single piece of science-backed research that discusses alcohol and its effects on fat-loss, muscle mass and the body as a machine. People need to understand that although being an alcoholic and consuming vast amounts of alcohol more often than not should be avoided at all costs, going out for a night of drinks occasionally is not going to have enough of a large effect on fitness goals.
Alcohol’s Caloric Content
The first thing is first; alcohol has calories. If you ask people that are fitness advocates what their favorite drink is, a lot will respond with, “Whatever, I just drink everything straight.” Let’s be real here; we all know that nobody enjoys straight liquor, so why do people claim it to be their favorite drink? Because they believe that it does not contain any calories!
I used to believe this, too. Thankfully, I discovered that alcohol is actually the second most energy dense substance that us humans will consume, coming in at 7.1 calories per gram. A shot of average vodka will come in at roughly 70-80 calories, thus there are 10-12 grams of alcohol in a shot. Other liquors could contain anywhere between 90-110 calories due to an increased sugar content, giving them different flavors.
Hard liquor aside, let’s take a look at beer. Beer is tricky because there are many different types of beer, but alcohol content and sugar content differ greatly from can, to bottle, to the tap. Light beer is the most heavily favored by those involved with fitness because the word “light” is descriptive of its taste and heaviness, meaning that it is low in sugar (and therefore overall carbohydrate) and does not pack a heavy amount of alcohol. Light beers are the lowest in calories of all with some being as low as a shade over 50 calories. It is good to remember that although these beers might be lower in calories, their lower alcohol content will require more consumption to get a buzz. Fifty calories might sound great, but when 11 of them need to be put down to get on a level, those calories will add up.
Non-light beer is relatively dense in calories. Alcohol content is certainly higher than that of light beer and the sugar content is certainly elevated. The taste is better, but beers like these that are higher in alcohol give people that full feeling associated with over drinking. It is not comfortable and usually ends a night of drinking altogether unless the consumer is used to it. Caloric content of these beers range from around 140 all the way up to 300! For more information on calories in beer check this out Beer 100.
Alcohol Metabolism
Many people believe that the digestion and metabolism of calories from alcohol differ from that of let’s say, a potato. Fact of the matter is, a calorie is a calorie and the body will burn it off the same way no matter its source. The thing with alcohol, though, is that it provides absolutely no feeling of satiety. Hungry? Well drinking will do absolutely nothing to blunt that feeling.
In fact, a study conducted by the Department of Psychology at the University of Sussex in the UK found that subjects were more likely to over-consume food 1 hour after ingesting alcohol. That same study found that alcohol intake correlates with BMI, meaning that people who consume large amounts of alcohol tend to weigh more (but it is not conclusive.)
This is because after consuming alcohol (especially in relatively large quantities) people lose the ability to say no to many things and forget about their goals completely. I know that if I were even the slightest bit hungry and had a few drinks in me, I would have a hard time turning away a big bowl of nachos or a cheeseburger. Add that to the 500+ calories consumed from alcohol and one will surely find that a huge caloric surplus is in the works!
Fitting Alcohol into Macros
Now that we know that alcohol calories are, well, calories…we can look at how a night of drinks can be included in a weekly diet plan. I mean, after all, we train hard and eat right to look good. What good is sitting inside every night and not going out with friends?
Knowing that one shot contains roughly 70-80 calories, fitting them into a day of eating is not anywhere near as difficult as most people think. Let’s say you went to a party and took five shots. Assuming there were 80 calories per shot, 400 calories from alcohol were consumed. In able to input this into a daily macronutrient intake, split those 400 calories up into fat and carbohydrate or count them all as carbohydrate or all as fat. So, 400 calories/4 calories per gram of carbohydrate comes out to 100g of carbohydrate. If you wanted to use fat, do 400/9 and log 45g of fat (round up!) Like I said, this could also be split into two, so you could log 50g of carbohydrate and 22g of fat, or any combination that totals 400 calories. It is highly recommended that protein numbers still be met throughout the day.
Alcohol and Catabolism
A lot of people like to joke around when a friend begins to drink by saying that alcohol is catabolic, meaning that it breaks down muscle tissue. As a matter of fact, when looking at research-backed studies and other scientific literature, the results are present. Alcohol is shown to decrease levels of anabolic hormones such as growth hormone, IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor-1) and testosterone. These hormones are key when it comes to building muscle.
On top of that, a study conducted by Patricia E. Molina, MD, PhD of Louisiana State University, found that alcohol consumed in moderate to high amounts increases the expression of a protein responsible for catabolizing muscle mass. This same study found that it also decreases the expression of another protein responsible for developing new muscle. In short, the consumption of alcohol in amounts greater than 2-3 drinks will have catabolic effects on the body.
Another thing that alcohol is responsible for is the rise of estrogen. Alcohol inhibits the liver’s ability to break estrogen down, so the free-floating estrogen count throughout the body elevates. For those unaware, estrogen is the main female sex hormone and, when produced excessively, can have multiple negative effects on a man’s body. The most notable effect is the correlation between high estrogen levels and Gynecomastia, aka Gyno. Now, the chances of Gyno (development of female breast tissue) taking place in a man simply because of alcohol consumption are highly unlikely, but regardless, males do not want to cause their estrogen levels to rise.
As I said above, the research behind alcohol and catabolism is there, but take it with a grain of salt. I know plenty of people on the bigger side in terms of muscle still have their fun drinking. Will these things take place? Yes. Are they going to have drastic effects on your gains and/or current muscle mass? Highly unlikely.
Wrapping Up
So, what’s the verdict? Well, as I wrote this entire article I had one thing in mind (and this is for day-to-day gym goers.) That is if you enjoy your nights out drinking with your friends, then do not allow your fitness goals to get in the way. Am I saying that if you want to lose weight, you should throw your caloric intake and ability to maximize anabolic hormones out the window and binge drink? Absolutely not. Still seek your goals; have your fun in moderation.
The only thing that I want you, the reader, to take from this article is that a lot of the things surrounding alcohol consumption are true, but the effects that they’ll have on your fitness goals will be minimal if the drinking is done timely. The fitness lifestyle should be enjoyable, and nights out with friends should not be avoided because of fear of alcohol. Just be smart when you drink!
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