Alcohol and Fitness!

From Tip 6: Opt for simple mixed drinks or wine in most cases. Enjoy cocktails, but only when they’re really great ones that you really want!

Most people I work with (including myself) want to know if they can drink alcohol and still reach their goals. I recommend only making changes you could imagine sustaining long term, so I have good news for those of us who don’t want to completely cut alcohol! While alcohol isn’t healthy or conducive to things like athletic performance, muscle gain or fat loss, it’s very possible to reach lifestyle goals while still drinking in moderation.

I recently did a series of Instagram posts on this. There was a ton of info and I get asked about this weekly, so I figured it would be good to draft a post here for reference.

Three ways alcohol impacts your progress

1. Muscle growth and repair
   It’s pretty widely known that alcohol inhibits weight loss, fewer people realize it slows muscle and strength development. Studies show that significant alcohol consumption (2-3+ drinks) inhibits muscle protein synthesis (essentially the process of building muscle mass) for the 2-8 hours following ingestion. Muscle protein synthesis plays a key role in repairing and rebuilding muscle tissue after a strength workout. Slower protein synthesis —> slower muscle growth.

2. Hydration

   Alcohol is a diuretic (it dehydrates us). You might have noticed you have to pee more often when you’re drinking, that’s why. Hydration is key for muscle recovery. Dehydrated people recover slowly from training sessions and are more prone to injury. Slower recovery time and higher rate of injury —> fewer impactful training sessions.

3. Sleep

   Alcohol lowers our quality of sleep and disrupts the natural sleep cycle. This increases cortisol levels (an important stress hormone). High cortisol levels result in low Human Growth Hormone (HGH) levels. So, if you aren’t sleeping well due to excessive drinking, your stress hormones are high and HGH levels low (bad on both ends!).

   This is a bit complicated but it’s important. HGH levels are so closely related relation to quality of sleep because the majority is secreted while we sleep! This hormone helps us to repair, grow and maintain healthy tissue (including muscle tissue). Sleeping is when our body intends to get the bulk recovery work done and alcohol makes those important recovery hours less productive.

   Bottom line: High cortisol levels resulting from low quality sleep means slower muscle repair, more unhealthy food cravings and a slower metabolism.

   Alcohol as a Macronutrient

   What is alcohol and how does it function as a nutrient? First, most hard alcohols have a very similar calorie content. We’ll take vodka as it’s simplest example - it has 7 calories per gram (most other hard alcohols including darker alcohols like rum are pretty similar). For reference: protein has 4, carbs have 4, and fats have 9 calories per gram. This means alcohol is on the higher end, fat is the thing one that’s more calorically dense.

   Where is this coming from? These 7 calories per gram are all from the...alcohol itself. Turns out alcohol is an alcohol and not a carb, its an alcohol! In fact, as alcohol percentage increases, carbs actually DECREASE (the fermentation/distilling process is the process of breaking down organic material/carbs into alcohol when yeast is present). Healthy protein, carbs and fats are essential for muscle repair/recovery, energy levels, hormonal balance and more. Calories from alcohol are nonessential, so we can think of them as empty calories.

   Tracking alcohol

   Many people have some limited experience tracking food intake, a lot of trainers ask new clients to do this as its a popular and effective tool when used properly. The empty calories in a drink are concerning to a lot of dieters. In my experience, many people try to “save up” for drinking by eating less during other meals. This way they still feel like they’re “staying on track” with their calorie consumption and weight loss or muscle gain goal.
   
   Why this (sometimes) works: Many dieters think in terms of carbs, protein and fats (the basic macronutrients). People who use a food logging method (i.e. IIFYM using MyFitnessPal, LoseIt!, Lifesum, etc) often need to log alcohol. They have to “fit” it into their macronutrient goals. As a result, many people opt to put alcohol down as a carb, sometimes a fat. This isn’t because its a carb or fat, it’s not either of those. It’s because it’s just better to borrow from fats/carbs than protein for many reasons outside the scope of this post.

   This is a reasonable when used properly - if you track what you eat every day and enjoy a drink, you’ve gotta write your alcohol down somewhere. Most tools don’t have a category for alcohol separate from the three main macronutrients, so fitting it into another category (as long as you know what you’re doing) can be effective. Curious if you’re doing it correctly? Feel free to contact me for tips!
   
   The problem: this tends to be misleading for the average person. Alcohol doesn’t function to help us stay healthy or recover from workouts in the way that healthy carbs/fats do. If you aren’t tracking religiously (i.e. almost every meal/weighing food out/etc), it isn’t that useful to shove it into a group with things like rice, fruits and veggies. This will just discourage you from eating the nutrient dense veggies and complex carbs that you need. Plus, skipping parts of your dinner likely to leave you hungry and more likely to grab something really unhealthy after alcohol has really lowered your inhibitions. Bottom line: consider alcohol a treat that you have in moderation in addition to healthy food, not a replacement for real food.

   Reach your goals without giving up alcohol

   Here are nine things I always keep in mind - they’ve helped me to work towards my goals without cutting out moderate alcohol consumption.
   

   1. Eat protein. The negative effects of alcohol consumption on strength gains were greatly reduced when participants still ate adequate protein. I recommend aiming for .8-1g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight as a baseline. More individu

   2. Don’t skip dinner. Don’t even skip a portion of your healthy dinner. It’s alcohol, it doesn’t replace the nutritional value of actual food.

   3. Always keep healthy habits in mind. Yes, even after a few drinks. A lot of the negative effects of alcohol are magnified because people tend to abandon their healthy habits after a couple of drinks. Don’t let a night out derail you from normal recovery routines like drinking water, sleeping, stretching, exercising and eating nutrient dense foods.

   4. Stay hydrated. Order a glass of water for every single drink you order (and actually drink it). This doesn’t count towards your daily water intake goal, it’s in addition. Daily water intake recommendation: Weight in lbs / 2 = recommended oz of water (for me that’s 73 oz or 2 1/4 Nalgenes. Not so hard!)

   5. Schedule workouts intelligently. Alcohol consumption slows muscle recovery by inhibiting protein synthesis, dehydrating the body, lowering sleep quality, and more. If it’s up to you, don’t plan nights that involve heavy drinking close to an intense strength workout.

   6. Choose healthier drinks. Unless I’m at a really amazing cocktail bar, I usually opt for a glass of wine when I’m out. Its pretty safe to say you’ll know exactly what’s in that glass (just wine). Simple cocktails like a gin in tonic made at home are often better for you as bars tend to add way more simple syrup and other sugary liqueurs than you might realize (there’s a reason they taste so good).

   7. Get enough sleep. Aim for 7-9 hours even after a late night of drinking. Your sleep will be lower quality so you might as well at least get enough of it. Ensure you improve quality of sleep in all the other ways that are under your control: no lights on, try natural lavender scents, don’t have caffeinated beverages.

   8. Avoid peer pressure. Drink only when you actually want to. I go to the bar with friends and just order water/food weekly! They’re still friends with me (I think). If you only have fun with a group when you’re drinking, they’re probably not really good friends.

   9. More motivated by number? Make yourself a goal. I (usually) limit to 6 drinks/wk. Obviously drinking all your alcohol in one night isn’t ideal (binge drinking!). However, if I have a big party coming up on the weekend I’ll skip my casual glasses of wine midweek.

      If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! Feel free to email or comment below with questions on alcohol and fitness, your favorite “healthy” drink, or ideas about what I should cover next!