Examples of 1-standard drink
Image Source: UC Santa Cruz. “Alcohol and Your Body.” Ucsc.edu, 2019.
“Alcohol suppresses lipid oxidation, and non-oxidized fat is preferentially deposited in the abdominal area ”
Each standard alcoholic drink you eliminate above moderation results in approximately 1-ounce (28g) per week of weight loss. The 1oz rule applies only if no additional calories are added.
Alcohol vs Food Metabolism
Fats, proteins, and carbohydrates are macronutrients (macros) as they provide our bodies with energy. Alcohol is also a macronutrient, but it is metabolized significantly differently from fats, carbohydrates, and proteins.
Unlike the other macros, alcohol is not actually digested and your body treats it like a toxin. Once you ingest alcohol, your body has to process it first, since it’s trying to get rid of it as fast as possible. We humans don’t have a way to store alcohol, so our bodies process it in preference to fats, and carbs, with the unused energy from these two macros being stored in our bodies in the form of body fat.
Take-Home Messages
Fat and carbohydrate metabolism is suppressed more heavily while drinking alcohol than proteins. Take-home message……. eat less fatty foods and carbohydrates while drinking alcohol. Instead, eat lean proteins like unbreaded chicken wings vs a hamburger and fries.
Depends on How much you drink: Calories In, Calories Out
Aside from fat, ethanol (alcohol) is the macronutrient with the highest energy density. Meaning, it’s very easy to drink thousands of liquid calories.
However, just because you consume 1,200 calories in only 3 pints of Hazy IPA, plus an additional 1,990 calories devouring loaded nachos with extra cheese and guac - doesn’t mean that you will gain weight. For example, If you cycle or mountain bike to/from the brewery and burn 3,000 calories plus 2,000 more just from your natural basal metabolic rate, you’re still in a caloric deficit of 1,810 calories and will lose weight, even if you have another Hazy IPA with 2 orders of mozzarella sticks.
Calories, Macros & Your Weight
Calorie balance is responsible for about 60% of your body weight
Macronutrients & exercise is responsible for an additional 35%
Most importantly, exercise & macronutrient ratios determine how flabby or muscular you are.
This means that you can drink alcohol and still lose weight, as long as your expending more calories than ingesting. However, if you’re consuming too much alcohol and not enough proteins and essential fatty acids (EFAs) then your health and body composition will suffer.
READ: How many calories does mountain biking burn?
Body Weight & Alcohol
“Among cross-sectional studies, a common trend appears to be that alcohol intake is not associated with body mass index (BMI) in men, while either negatively or not associated with BMI in women”
Your weight is determined by how your body regulates energy intake, energy expenditure, and energy storage. The equilibrium of these three components is known as energy balance. To lose weight, you need to modify your energy balance, which is most easily done by eating and drinking less.
A 12oz can of regular beer, a standard 1.5oz shot of liquor, and a 5oz glass of wine all contain about 130 to 150 calories. Simply cutting out a couple alcoholic beverages doesn’t drastically reduce your energy balance.
A 2010 study published in Health Economics, examined data from over 30,000 Americans to investigate the role of alcohol consumption in weight gain. The researchers’ conclusion:
In conclusion, current scientific and policy debates over the alarming rise in average body weight among Americans generally focus on diet and exercise. Yet given the popularity and relatively high caloric content of most alcoholic beverages, alcohol consumption would seem to represent another potential target area in the battle against obesity. The findings presented in this paper, however, indicate a statistically significant yet quantitatively immaterial link between increasing alcohol use and weight gain among men. Moreover, contrary to our expectations, alcohol use does not appear to be a risk factor for weight gain among women and older adults.
To summarize their conclusion, the researchers are saying that drinking alcohol has little to no impact on weight gain, depending on the demographics.
Daily vs heavy/Binge Drinking
“Several studies have found that only excessive or heavy drinking is correlated with increased measures of adiposity.”
The participants in the aforementioned study drank 1 - 3 drinks per occasion on 74 days for men and 36 days for women, on average. As someone who frequents microbreweries several days a week and has a beer most afternoons, I would almost consider those drinkers as abstainers.
A 2015 study published in Current Obesity Reports, researched associations between alcohol consumption and body weight, the researchers’ noted:
Overall, the majority of cross-sectional studies since 2005 have demonstrated that frequent light to moderate alcohol intake does not seem to be associated with obesity risk. Heavy drinking and binge drinking, however, are more likely to carry such an association with excess body weight.
This same scholarly article also reported:
studies in adults have found that the amount or intensity of drinking per drinking occasion is positively correlated with BMI, while the frequency of drinking is negatively correlated, suggesting that frequent light drinking might offer a protective effect (bolding is mine).
Cross-sectional studies find that for men, drinking less than 20 drinks per week or 4 or fewer drinks per day were not associated with increased body fat or weight gain compared to abstainers or heavy drinkers. The same results are found in women, but with fewer drinks as women are smaller on average.
Meaning, frequent, such as daily, light to moderate drinking lowers your chance of obesity and keeps you in a healthy weight range.
Why is moderate drinking healthy?
Being lean while also a regular drinker is known as the “alcohol paradox.” However, it’s really not surprising. Alcoholic beverages are social and are enjoyed while outdoors, after recreational hobbies, pool parties, bike rides, and the like. This social component combined with physical activities promotes increased caloric burn and frequent drinkers' bodies adapt to alcohol and burn fat while processing alcohol.
Quitting Alcohol & Weight Loss
If you are a frequent and heavy drinker, especially if you drink alone or while watching TV, playing on your phone, or are just generally stationary while drinking, you will lose weight if you quit. How much weight you lose will depend on how many calories you are exceeding your energy needs. But quitting/reducing alcohol and replacing lesser foods with lean proteins is a good start.
Research has suggested that for frequent, binge drinkers, just eliminating alcohol will result in 10 pounds of weight loss in the first month or 30 days.
Types of Alcohol & Fat Distribution
Everyone knows someone with a beer belly, but what about a tequila-gut or wine-belly?? Well, wine belly is a real thing, and just like the beer gut, extra calories from ALL alcohol can contribute to an increase in fat around the belly area. Some types of alcoholic beverages are worse, but that is due to higher alcohol concentrations or added sugars, such as piña coladas.
Cutting & Alcohol
If you’re a bodybuilder in a cutting cycle or someone on a very low-calorie diet, it’s best to eliminate all alcohol. During this phase, it’s nearly impossible to ingest enough muscle-sparing proteins if you are consuming alcohol. Now is not the time to choose the wine over the chicken breast.
Final Thought
Drinking alcohol isn’t unhealthy - frequent binge drinking is. If you happen to be a heavy daily drinker, chances are alcohol isn’t the biggest flaw.
Jesse is the Director of Pedal Chile and lives in La Patagonia. Jesse has a Master of Science in Health and Human Performance and is an avid MTBer. Jesse enjoys reading books, particularly non-fiction and academic studies. Favorite MTB trail? The singletrack on the active volcano in Chile.
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