My Views on Alcohol
First, let me tell you my personal view of alcohol (in case you care LOL!). I think I can count on 1 had all the drinks I have had since starting P90X over 5 years ago. It’s not because I think having a drink is a sin (Jesus drank wine after all. But He did warn us not to get drunk — another topic for another day…..). I’m just not the type of person who enjoys drinking. I don’t really like the taste. I don’t have a desire to get drunk (been there, done that in college and I have no desire to revisit the fool I made of myself!). The fact that I have no desire for it makes my decision to basically avoid alcohol easy.
I might at some point have a glass of wine with dinner with my wife. I’m not ruling that out. It’s just not something that flies on my radar screen very often. Thus, it doesn’t get my attention often for posts and articles. But I get asked by you guys about drinking, so I figured why not talk about it for a bit, from the P90X / Insanity / Body Beast nutrition perspective.
I know that for many of you, alcohol does come across your radar screen quite often. Either having a couple drinks on the weekend is your “usual” routine, or you run with a crowd that usually ends up doing some social drinking when eating out. What should your approach be in these situations?
Alcohol Nutritionally Speaking
First, let’s look at alcohol from a nutritional point of view. Every gram of alcohol has 7 calories. This is more than carbs (4cals), but not quite as much as fat (9cals). It is not considered a macronutrient because you don’t need it for survival. All the other macronutrients, protein, carbohydrates, and fats are needed to sustain life. So nutritionally, alcohol adds quite a bit of empty calories to your diet. These alcohol calories have no nutritional value to you. It won’t fuel muscle growth. It won’t speed fat loss. In fact, alcohol will be burned as fuel first causing your other macronutrients to be readily stored as fat when in a surplus (thanks for the clarification and correction @GuestGeorge!). So can too much alcohol hurt your progress? Sure, just like an abundance Twinkies can hurt your progress!
How much will an occasional drink hurt your progress though? Well, perhaps as much as an occasional Twinkie. And if you like a 12 pack on the weekends, you might as well eat a case of Twinkies too! LOL! Am I saying you can never ever have a drink? No, I’m not saying that. What I am saying, though, is that it can add up in a hurry if you aren’t careful and alcohol consumption tends to correlate with other not so great nutritional habits.
From what I have seen, when people go to drink it also means foods. If everything is accounted for in your tracking, you are in the best place to keep your results going. But if we are honest, that doesn’t happen. We drink and we eat. We break out the calorie dense food and wash it down with empty calories from the alcohol. Then if you are drinking enough to let your inhibitions go, you eat more and more. When I think of alcohol and getting ripped, I think of extreme caution!
My Recommendations on Alcohol
So, do I recommend avoiding alcohol as much as possible? Sure, especially if you are trying to drop body fat quickly. If you are in a maintenance mode and the occasional influx of empty calories won’t hurt you too badly, then go ahead, but be wise and account for it in your daily calorie budget so that you don’t just add it on top of your daily calorie budget. If you know you will have a beer or a glass of wine, then make sure you compensate earlier in the day by lowering your carbs and fat intake to accommodate it into your daily nutrition budget.
Coach Wayne, the buzz-kill! Literally! LOL! But I call it like I see it.
“But Coach Wayne, what about wine being good for your heart?” Ah yes, wine has antioxidants and resveratrol from the red grapes, which are good for your health. There is no denying that. But news flash, you can get those same things in fresh fruit. You don’t have to drink wine to get them! So don’t just add it onto your day and think the calories don’t matter cuz of the wine’s “heart health” benefits. If you drink it, track it! And keep it in moderation :)
Need a coach?
My email: coachwayne@teamripped.com
IG: @wayne_wyatt
