Can you drink alcohol and lose weight?

28 Jun 2024 · 1 min

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In this video, the speaker explains that when you consume alcohol, your body temporarily stops burning fat for energy because it treats alcohol as a toxin that must be cleared first. However, this metabolic pause does not prevent you from losing stored body fat as long as you maintain an overall calorie deficit. The speaker highlights three major ways alcohol can sabotage fat loss: it severely reduces willpower, adds extra calories and leads to poorer food choices, and disrupts sleep, which in turn lowers daily activity and workout performance. Given that fat loss is already challenging, the recommendation is to cut back or eliminate alcohol while pursuing a fat‑loss goal to avoid these behavioral and metabolic setbacks.

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Is alcohol really that bad for fat loss? When you drink alcohol, your body stops burning fat for energy because technically alcohol is a toxin and your body's job is to get it out as quickly as possible. But remember, there's a difference between burning fat for energy and actually losing stored body fat. And as long as you're eating in a calorie deficit, even if you drink alcohol, you will still lose stored fat. But how does alcohol affect your calorie deficit? Well, number one, your willpower goes to shit. No drunk person ever gave a shit about their diet, and you know it. Second, not only does the alcohol you're drinking have calories, but you're also not snacking on celery and carrots when you drink alcohol. And number 3, you probably sleep like shit, which means you move less, you exercise less, you're skipping workouts. So since losing fat is already hard as fuck as it is, it's probably a good idea to cut back or cut out alcohol when you're trying to lose fat.