If you’re a person who enjoys a glass of wine at night or likes going out with friends on weekends and having a brew or two (or more), then you may be wondering what effect your alcohol consumption is having on your waistline. In other words, is alcohol stored as fat on your body?
Fortunately, the answer is no, but that doesn’t mean that you should give yourself permission to drink as much as you’d like. While alcohol isn’t exactly stored as fat, it does hinder your fat burning process, which means that the end result is still the same.
Additionally, calories consumed per gram of alcohol are almost double the calorie-count contained within carb and protein sources (7 for the former versus 4 for the latter). These are calories void of nutrients, so they do nothing for you other than increase your waistline.
To make matters worse, drinking alcoholic beverages tends to diminish your ability to make healthy choices. While you may have had every intention of ordering a salad for dinner, for example, one or two glasses of wine or ale later and you’ll find it easier to choose something deep fried and greasy instead.
Add that to the difficulty that you’ll probably have making it to the gym the next day due to your hangover or from staying out all night, and your fitness goals are going to be harder to meet. The snooze button on your alarm will be extra tempting and your after-work exercise routine will be left squarely on your to-do list.
In the end, one occasional glass of alcohol isn’t going to hurt you, but if you make it a habit it could really impact your habits and the achievement of your goals.
How do you feel about drinking alcohol? Is it okay, or do you avoid it?
