Alcohol’s Effect on Fat Burning and Appetite
weight loss and alcohol
Weight loss and alcohol do not go together. Anyone serious about weight loss should be aware of the sabotaging effects of alcoholic beverages.
A research paper in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition can shed some light on how fat metabolism is affected when a person consumes alcohol. Eight men were given two drinks of vodka and sugar-free lemonade. The drinks were spaced 30 minutes apart. Each drink contained less than 90 calories. Fat burning was measured before and after consumption of the vodka.
Alcohol Affects Fat Metabolism by Halting Fat Burning
Researchers found that for several hours after drinking vodka, fat burning in the body decreased by a massive 73%. The researchers also found that only 5% of the alcohol calories were converted to fat. The rest of the alcohol was converted into a substance called acetate. Acetate was measured at 2.5 times the normal value in the vodka drinking participants. This apparently brought fat burning to an almost grinding halt.
It seems that alcohol acts like jet fuel in the body. It surpasses all other forms of fuel in the body to become the main fuel of choice to meet the body’s energy needs. The body stops burning fat or even carbohydrates. It resorts to burning only alcohol until it is completely removed from the body.
Alcohol Affects Weight Loss by Increasing Appetite
Weight loss efforts are further sabotaged when an alcoholic beverage is consumed with meals. One such study was published in the International Journal of Obesity. The researchers wanted to find out the effect of consuming wine and beer on the amount of food consumed. 22 non-obese men were served a meal with beer, wine or a carbonated soft drink. The calories consumed were measured.
The researchers concluded that alcoholic beverages and wine in particular, increased the total calories consumed at a meal. The study seems to indicate that the consumption of alcoholic beverages generally increased appetite. So if you take wine with a meal, the study suggests that you would eat more than you would if there was no wine.
Looking at the 2 studies together, the following would be happening to anyone consuming alcoholic beverages;
- Someone consume a glass or two of wine with a meal
- He or she would eat more due to the appetite increasing effects of the wine
- The alcohol consumed would become the body’s main fuel of choice
- The body’s fat burning ability is reduced massively
- All the calories consumed at the meal are stored as fat. Mind you that one would have eaten more than than the amount if he or she had not consumed the wine.
Weight Loss While Drinking Alcohol
Some may argue that they don’t eat when they drink. Well these people would obviously drink more. The alcohol would stay in the blood longer. Their body’s fat burning system would be shut down longer and they would not be much better off.
Anyone consuming alcohol cannot achieve effective weight loss. Not when the research shows that it decreases fat burning by a massive 70% for a few hours! You may not have known earlier but at least now you know. Does that mean that you can never drink? Well not really. It just means that you can’t drink and expect to lose weight at the same time.
Why would you spend an hour on the treadmill to burn 200-300 calories and then bring fat burning to a grinding halt by drinking? To me, it’s synonymous to driving a car with one foot on the accelerator and one foot on the brakes. Remember that the participants of the study only consumed 24 grams of alcohol.
Get yourself down to the body shape that you want. Restrain from alcohol until you are satisfied with the body that you have. Once your body gets used to your new weight, you may indulge in some drinks now and then. But don’t expect any fantastic weight loss while continuing to drink.
A lot of people would insist that they can get in shape while drinking alcohol. There may be those out there who can do so. But these people are called “outliers”. They are at the extreme end of the bell-curve. For the average people like you and me, alcohol is going to have a major effect on weight loss efforts. Alcohol is not a part of Correct Weight Loss.
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11/09/2009
If the body prioritizes alcohol metabolism over lipid metabolism, there will be a *temporary* decrease in lipid metabolism. But the alcohol will soon be metabolised.
11/09/2009
Great! Article! I learned a lot!
!!!
11/09/2009
Also, what is a “handbrake” in a car? Do you drive upside down?
12/09/2009
Thank you for the nice words. Glad that you found it useful.
12/09/2009
A handbrake or a parking brake in a car.
12/09/2009
Sure the alcohol will be metabolized but all the food that was consumed while there was alcohol in the body, will be stored as fat.
14/09/2009
thanks for the good massages,healthy diet healthy life
04/10/2009
hi Paramjit,
You are amazing as this is another great article. As an exercise physiologist I already know most of what you post but I love to read it when you post. Keep it coming,,,
debra
05/10/2009
very importance massage thanks
05/10/2009
Nicely dispels the the notion that to drink and not eat or minimal eat… loses weight too. Good stuff Paramjit.
05/10/2009
Alcohol is like any other carbohydrate, and because it has a high GI and is liquid, it’s logical to ascertain that it would be metabolised very quickly. I don’t think its the glass of wine with dinner that is the problem, but the imbalance in people’s hormones resulting from their activities during the day.
05/10/2009
Amazing information! I am sharing this article with others, then printing it out and keeping it posted to my refrigerator!
14/10/2009
I quit drinking alchohol few years ago inspite of it’s health benefits since I really want to succed in my fatloss program.However,even though the article made a true statement according to human physiology,achohol still has health benefits.Red wine for example partcularly Pinot noir which has a very high levels of resveratrol that could benefit health through lowering cvd risk if consumed in moderation.There’s no bad food at all,the ultimate judge will be the degree of refinement/processing of foods or alterations & removal of micronutrients.There’s always room for everything as long as what makes up your overall diet is whole nutritious foods.More is better when it comes to wider variety of whole foods eaten.
15/10/2009
I have never even had any alcohol in my life, and I never will. It seems there are far more problems with it, or associated with it than not.
07/11/2009
I certainly will curtail the serving of wine I have a few times weekly! Thanks for the info.
08/11/2009
Yes that will definitely help. Moderation is the key. Thanks for your feedback.
21/01/2010
Great article. Guess we can’t have our cake and eat it too, ha! I signed-up for your feed by the way. Keep up the great content.
07/02/2010
Hey Paramjit,
A really nice article.Love to follow your blog and hear more from your site
29/04/2010
Good information, thanks for posting that. I have bookmarked your site and will come back to see what else you have to say. Losing weight is so challenging for me that the more information I have the better: there are so many ideas and people to learn from. Looking forward to coming back and learning some more to help make a difference to my body weight. David
03/10/2010
This is something that I can talk on a personal level. Years ago when I drank a lot, I was always overweight by about 15 pounds. I think everyone is a little different but the way alcohol affected my body was when I was drinking I didn’t want any food. Most people who drink a lot don’t want to eat while they are drinking because food slows the effect of the alcohol and you can lose your high. We drink to get that high feeling and the alcohol messes that up. Once I got that high feeling, I could drink for hours and not eat anything. The next day however was a different story. I would eat constantly all day. My body would crave food and I was very hungry. I did this for years and it had an adverse affect on my weight and blood pressure. Later I realized I was borderline diabetic and developed heart problems.
Aaron Mcintosh´s last [type] ..Why Some People Can Drink Alcohol Without Getting Fat
07/11/2010
In the end it all boils down to how much fat-equivalent, aka calories, one consumes. Alcohol has the effect of boosting your appetite. But as long as the calories contained in your alcoholic beverages + food don’t surpass whatever daily limit you’ve set out for yourself, it doesn’t really matter where they come from.
If you expend 2000kcal/day during your daily routine, and consume only 1500kcal/day between food, regular drinks and alcoholic beverages, you’ll still be 500kcal below your daily expense. Even with the alcohol and your fat breakdown being paused for several hours every day, you still need those 2000 kcal. So, once the alcohol is all used up it’s back to burning fat and you’ll still be plundering your fat-bank by 500kcal/day. Of course, you need the discipline to not run out for a kebab after 2 beers.
There’s not a lot of magic behind weight loss. What goes in must come out, lest it be stored as fat. Given this, weight loss can be attacked from various angles, not all equally healthy, but eventually it’s up to you: find whatever works for you and stick with it.
15/11/2010
Thank you for your comment Juan. You provided a very interesting perspective on alcohol and caloric balance. It it comes down to just balancing of calories, I would probably agree with you. But do also bear in mind that alcohol would disrupt your hormonal balance. At the moment, research shows that it disrupts alcohol production and boosts cortisol. So even though you may be able to balance your calories, you may still have problems as your hormones could be working against you. I also believe that alcohol would have an effect on other fat burning hormones such as HGH. Anyway, it is an interesting point of view and I will have to look into this further.
15/11/2010
Thank you for sharing that Aaron. Yes alcohol definitely messes up the body. Anyone wanting to seriously lose weight should look at the effect of alcohol in their lives. They should understand what it does and then determine if they can go on losing weight while drinking alcohol. the best thing to do is to abstain until the target weight is reached. The alternative is a fixed quota of drinks in a single session.
13/12/2010
Hi guys
Alcohol is also a cause of fat burning. So avoid alcohol and get fit.
14/05/2011
Thanks for this information, I’ve been trying to find out more about the effects of alcohol and fat burning but most of the stuff iv’e read hasn’t really had any scientific merit to it. But this has really cleared it up for me.
Suzy´s last [type] ..The Truth About Crash Dieting
23/05/2011
I am glad that you have found this to be useful.
17/11/2011
Excellent! I like that you have studies backing up what you say. Most articles on weight loss is just assumptions (not always correct). Thanks!