Understanding the connection between alcohol and weight

Gaining and maintaining control of our weight is difficult enough without the inherent impairments of drinking alcohol. Whether we aim to bulk up our muscles or shed body fat, alcohol frequently stands in the way of personal progress and achieving our goals.

Today’s blog aims to demonstrate how alcohol can trigger weight gain and hinder weight plans. We’ll provide steps to mitigate the impact alcohol has on your weight and establish healthier consumption habits.

Why does alcohol make it harder to stick to any plan?

Before delving into the specifics of how alcohol affects body weight, it might be useful to recognise how drinking often causes roadblocks for any mid- to long-term personal achievements.

Examples could be career advancement, a creative endeavour, or a life-changing relocation abroad. Excessive drinking is generally understood to impair decision-making over time. Overuse of alcohol often derails well-laid strategies despite our best intentions and commitment.

Anyone who has made long-term plans and stuck to them understands the importance of perseverance. Successfully reaching a target weight requires a lot of physical, and mental energy and alcohol’s ability to demotivate over the long term has left countless weight plans in ruin.

How does alcohol connect specifically to weight?

Managing your weight, whether you’re aiming to gain or lose, requires a degree of commitment and a long-term plan. As a general principle, many weight loss experts believe three key areas lead to a healthier lifestyle: diet, exercise, and sleep.

Successfully following a weight plan might require more than these three aspects, yet they are all integral to holistic well-being and the broader practice of healthy living. Alcohol has the dangerous capacity to disrupt all three.

Each one of these three criteria, at least partially, relies on the success of the other two. Eating nutritional food generally gives you sufficient energy to burn in a workout. Exercising to moderate exhaustion usually leads to a better night’s sleep. In turn, you’ll likely wake up hungrier, craving the energy needed for the next bout of exercise. In this way, we can see the three criteria create a positive cycle.

Let’s break down the ways in which excessive drinking can impact one or all of these three key components.

Nutrition: how alcohol affects metabolism and appetite

The component most closely related to weight management is the nutritional value of the food you eat.

As you drink, alcohol may affect how your body produces a “hunger hormone” called ghrelin. During your first few drinks, you may feel a hunger that you wouldn’t have if you weren’t drinking. Alcohol also reduces inhibition, which could effectively decrease your likelihood of sticking to your food plan. You’re more likely to choose foods or portion sizes different then when sober.

Alcohol is high in “empty calories,” offering no nutritional value while still increasing your weight. These empty calories negatively impact the metabolism of fat in your body. Additionally, the hangover effects felt after drinking can make you nauseous and decrease your appetite. All of these effects make sticking to a weight plan that much more difficult.

Exercise: how alcohol hinders physical exertion

Working out under the effects of alcohol is never a good idea. Alcohol greatly increases dehydration in the body, leading to reduced endurance. It increases muscle fatigue and raises the immediate danger of slowed reaction times around heavy equipment.

From a more scientific viewpoint, alcohol also massively interferes with muscle protein synthesis, the process your body uses to repair and rebuild post-workout. A weight control plan that includes regular exercise is then jeopardised by frequent alcohol consumption. It’s much harder to maintain your desired bodily changes if the post-workout repair process is impaired by alcohol.

After an intense workout, alcohol should be reduced or avoided for 24 hours. Workouts can come with a level of manageable discomfort. Long-term progression in a weight plan aims to reduce this discomfort as your muscles learn to endure more. In fact, a natural part of sustained exercise is tiny tears in your muscles as they strengthen. Alcohol entering these tiny tears after a workout can intensify alcohol’s effects, which can be disastrous for your attempts of weight control.

Rest: how alcohol worsens a night’s sleep

Getting a good night’s sleep is crucial for managing your weight effectively. Alcohol directly disturbs a healthy sleep routine, impacting both sleep regularity and quality. Experts see sleep as a key component of weight loss.

Poor sleep is directly related to your appetite, and it is destructive to your weight-management efforts as it alters the appetite-regulating hormones. Getting healthier, more consistent sleep improves your appetite, enhances glucose tolerance and reduces the “stress hormone” cortisol. On top of this, sleeping well can influence hunger levels, energy production and motivation for physical activity.

All of these benefits of healthy sleep patterns are likely to be torn apart by excessive alcohol consumption.

Alcohol has a sedative effect, so a few hours of drinking is usually followed by drowsiness, which speeds up the onset of sleep. However, research shows that the sedative effect only lasts for the first part of a night’s sleep. Consuming alcohol before bed means you’re less likely to wake up during the first stage of sleep, but once that wears off, it has the opposite effect, making your morning much more sluggish.

The resulting hangover means the next day is impaired. This creates many potential stress contributors, increasing your chances of straying from healthier eating. You’ll likely feel more stressed, easily agitated and subjected to your emotions during a hangover. This can cause you to seek comfort foods, high in unhealthy fats, sugars and salt.

How can I mitigate the damage alcohol has on my weight plans?

Hopefully, we have illustrated how alcohol affects key aspects of weight management. Establishing a balance between your diet, exercise, and sleep promotes a holistically healthy lifestyle.

Excessively drinking alcohol lays the groundwork for addiction and binge drinking. This is when you drink an excessive amount of alcohol in a short period of time. The effects of binge drinking massively impair your ability to control weight.

Here are some steps to follow to help reduce the ways alcohol impairs your weight goals.

Mindful consumption

You must consume food to survive, but the same cannot be said for alcohol. Being mindful of the exact things you must consume in life can grant you a more positive outlook. Be mindful about your alcohol intake, with conscious thought placed on what you drink and how much of it. Choose lighter options like spritzers and low-calorie drinks, or balance alcohol with water or light soda beverages. With time and dedication, you can learn to partake without overindulging, which is a principle applicable to what you drink and what you eat.

Stay hydrated

We’ve mentioned the dangers to your weight goals while going through a hangover. Hangover symptoms impair physical and mental performance for the next day or two. Small but consistent efforts to drink more water can alleviate some of the painful symptoms. Additionally, hydrate between drinks while on a night out to keep your metabolism and energy levels in better stead.

Plan meals in advance

Alcohol’s ability to impair decision-making inevitably leads to undesirable food choices. Inhibition lowers, and ordering an unhealthy delivery just feels more appealing. Combat this by planning food out each day, week, or month. Almost every healthy meal can be frozen without losing any nutritional value. If you are about to drink on a night out, then eat well beforehand to stabilise your blood sugar and prevent late-night drunken snacking.

I need support with my eating and drinking habits

The toxic effects of alcohol abuse on your weight are felt by millions of people across the country. A meticulously designed weight plan can crumble after a few nights of excessive drinking, leading to disappointment and further unhealthy eating choices. If you or a loved one are affected by any of the points raised today, we want to reach out to you.

Here at UKAT, we specialise in detox programmes for people with alcohol addiction. Our expert staff are trained to support you with the physical and psychological challenges of addiction. We also provide holistic treatment programmes for eating disorders, helping people establish healthier consumption habits.

We are only one phone call away. Let us be your guide to a healthier life in complete control of what you eat and drink.