If you're trying to lose weight, drinking alcohol could slow down your efforts. Alcohol has 7 calories per gram, which is more than carbs and protein at 4 calories per gram and almost as much as fat at 9 calories per gram. Also, alcohol actually changes the way your body metabolizes and stores excess calories and can stop your body from burning stored fat. When you consume alcohol, your liver converts most of it to acetate, which your body uses as a fuel source instead of fat.
Step 1
Keep track of your weekly alcohol consumption. In moderation, a couple of glasses of wine may not derail your diet, but if you drink four or five days a week, you'll see how quickly those calories can add up. The average wine cooler or 12-oz. beer contains 150 calories, and a light beer contains about 110 calories. A 4-oz. glass of wine has 75 calories, an ounce of 80-proof liquor contains 65 calories, and an ounce of 100-proof liquor contains 80 calories. Cordials and liqueurs can contain between 100 and 125 calories per ounce. If you drink two beers a day four days a week, you add 1,200 calories to your weekly caloric intake. Eating 3,500 calories more than you need causes you to gain 1 pound, so you could be gaining a pound every three weeks -- or an extra 17 pounds a year.
Step 2
Add in calories for mixers. In addition to the calories in the alcohol, you need to tally up the total calories in the juice, soda and mixers. An 8-oz. cocktail contains about 100 calories of juice or soda plus the calories in the liquor. A 4-oz. margarita can contain 175 calories because of the high sugar content of margarita mix. Split a pitcher of margaritas with a friend at happy hour, and you could easily consume between 600 and 800 calories.
Step 3
Lower the calories you consume when drinking by alternating alcohol with water, asking for diet soda instead of regular soda, turning your glass of wine into a wine spritzer by adding club soda or substituting a light beer for your regular beer. Make sure you allow for alcohol calories when you are planning your daily caloric intake. And don't drink on any empty stomach; if you get hungry after you've been drinking, you're more likely to make poor nutritional choices.
Tips and Warnings
- Don't substitute alcohol for food to minimize your calories. Alcohol calories are devoid of nutrients. You need the vitamins and minerals in food.
- If you've had gastric bypass surgery, your body will metabolize alcohol more quickly. Be careful drinking post-op, because you'll have a much lower tolerance for alcohol.
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