Today we’re going to talk about a question I get often. Does alcohol cause weight gain?
The answer is yes. Alcohol use is one of many factors that contribute to weight gain. And people who drink more than the recommended alcohol amount may be able to lose weight when they stop drinking alcohol or limit their intake. But it’s important to remember that alcohol has many different effects on health, and how it causes weight gain is complex.
Depending on how much you drink, different types of alcohol have different amounts of calories. But it’s important to remember that all alcohol can cause weight gain if you drink it excessively. Keep in mind there are about 150 calories in a 12oz can of beer, 120 calories in a 5 oz glass of wine, and about 100 calories in 1.5 oz of liquor.
Besides the obvious extra calories a person receives by overdrinking (the body stores these extra calories/energy as fat), alcohol also slows down your metabolism. This is because alcohol is toxic to the body. When you drink it, your body focuses its energy on processing and removing it from your body which, unfortunately, causes your metabolism to slow down. Instead of metabolizing food, your body is metabolizing alcohol.
Alcohol can also lead to unhealthy food choices. This is because your brain is under the influence of alcohol, and your decision-making processes are impaired. When this happens, you may be more tempted to choose less healthy food options.
Stopping completely or cutting back on your alcohol consumption makes it easier to lose weight and lowers your risk for heart and liver disease, improves your sleep quality, mental health, energy, and sexual function, and can even improve your immune system.
How much weight you lose by limiting or giving up alcohol depends on how much alcohol you are drinking, your eating habits, and other lifestyle habits. Let’s take, for example, a person who is drinking 3 glasses of wine per night. As a result, they will consume 360 fewer calories per day. In 1 week, they will consume 2,520 fewer calories.
Add this to better sleep, improved mood, better sex life, and fewer unhealthy food choices, and you can see how weight loss can happen and health benefits can add up.
When these lifestyle changes (limiting alcohol, changes to your diet, and exercise) aren’t enough for you to lose the weight you desire, weight-loss medications like semaglutide may be helpful.
It’s also important to remember that even when taking weight-loss medications like semaglutide, you must continue to eat healthy and exercise regularly to maintain long-term weight loss.
Thanks again for listening to The Peptide Podcast. You can find more information at pepties.com. We love having you as part of our community. If you love this podcast, please share it with your friends and family on social media. Have a happy, healthy week!
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