Beyond Macros: Impacts of Alcohol on Nutrition Goals
In part one we broke down the macros of alcohol. Today for part two, we’re going to discuss the implications of drinking on your nutrition, specifically for weight loss and sports performance.
When you drink alcohol, your body stops processing anything else and immediately starts to process the alcohol. What this does is put a hold on processing carbs and fats, leading to your body storing them as adipose tissue, aka body fat. If you’re starting to plateau on your weight loss journey, you may want to consider your drinking habits. That being said, I’m all about flexibility and moderation. If you’re someone who likes to enjoy alcohol as part of your lifestyle, perhaps you reconsider the speed at which you lose weight or other ways you can connect with others that don’t involve drinks.
Not only is drinking calorically expensive but it can also lead to a calorie surplus. Midnight pizza anyone? I don’t know about you but after a couple of drinks, all I want is pizza or a giant soft pretzel to snack on. Because alcohol lowers our self-control, we are way less likely to stick to our plan. One way to combat this is to cut back on the number of drinks and to drink water in between each one to slow you down. I like to pre-plan the amount of drinks I’m going to have in my macros so that I stick to that limit and make healthier choices. I also tend to leave more macros for the meal after drinking just in case things don’t go according to plan.
Not only can excess weight make it harder to achieve higher levels of sports performance, but the acute impacts of alcohol can negatively impact your training. Your reaction time slows down with alcohol and can remain that way the morning after as well. Try snatching a heavy weight or trying to time the perfect wave when your cognition is slow! Alcohol is a well-known diuretic, leading to you feeling dehydrated for your next session. Even as little as 2% dehydration reduces your power output and your endurance. If your goal is to improve in your sport, go light on the alcohol in volume and frequency.
Remember that you’re human and things will happen. I have certainly had days where I chose to drink a little more and make memories with my friends, but they’re few and far between. I also accept that when I do that, I’m not moving the needle forward and I need to be ok with that for that day. It’s important to have all of the facts so that we can understand how our choices impact our goals and the speed with which we achieve them. Taking a flexible approach to nutrition is going to be key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, so do your best to remain as chill as possible.