Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Weight Loss, How Alcohol Will Make You Fatter

By Ricardo d Argence

So much information on weight loss has been put out there over the years. New diets here and a new gadget over there. There has not been a lot of information give to us on the effects of alcohol when you're trying to lose weight. That is what we will look at here today.

Alcohol contains calories like everything else, but there are a few differences. Extra calories from alcohol might not seem like a bad thing, but these calories have no nutritional value to your body. These empty calories are worthless and you will still need to ingest quality calories in addition to these useless ones.

As with other calories, those from alcohol are converted in the liver in the body. Alcohol calories are kind of like bullies, as they must be burned first, all other calories are patiently stored. And we all know what stored calories are, they are fat.

Not only is alcohol a bad choice because it inhibits your judgement and harms your health, it is also bad for your diet. Alcohol contains twice as many calories as carbohydrates and proteins. What this means is alcohol provides seven calories per gram as opposed to carbohydrates, which contain four calories per gram. To summarize if you consume four 12-ounce beers you have ingested 600 calories! It is easy to see how prolonged use of alcohol could pack on the pounds.

One final point regarding the caloric outcome of alcohol is the mixers. Many popular alcoholic drinks are actually a mix of different substances. The preservatives and other chemicals make the calories add up. For example, one long island ice tea has an astounding 740 calories. You could get half of the day's recommended allowances just by drinking one!

Metabolism is another key ingredient to weight loss. The sum of the physical and chemical reactions in your cells that produce energy is your metabolism. Or more simply put the rate at which your body processes calories into energy. A study published in New England journal of Medicine shows how alcohol slows this entire process. A person on a 1250 calorie diet where 250 of the calories were from alcohol could see as much as a 36% reduction in their metabolism. In reality what happens is that the calories that you taken in are not being processed as fast as the should be. So you need to be more active and if you are then the calories will be burnt off a lot faster.

Many people who consume alcohol regularly inform that at first they feel much better. On the other hand, you can suffer from depression if you drink to excess, since alcohol is actually a depressive substance. If you are feeling depressed it will feel a lot harder to diet, actually people are known to eat more as a way of comforting themselves. A vicious cycle if you stop and think about it. Depression can cause lack of motivation as well as making you less likely to want to continue any kind of exercise routine.

Water plays a significant role as far as basic health is concerned, but it is also vital for muscle building. Muscles need a pretty big amount of hydration so that they can preform correctly, with having this, there is a chance they will become week and inefficient. When alcohol is consumed the kidneys need a great quantity of water to flush toxins from the system thus causing dehydration.

Too much drinking causes damage to various organs, but one drink a day is actually good for most people's health. Besides the issues it may cause for weight reduction, there are also medical concerns to keep in mind. If you are over weight, and are trying to drop it, you will loose more weight if you do not drink alcohol. Until you get control of your weight, red wine is the best choice if you must drink. - 15683

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