HOW ALCOHOL UNDERCUTS STRENGTH TRAINING AND FAT LOSS
If you are serious about having a kick ass body and tearing it up at the beach next summer, there is no better gift you can give yourself than cutting out the alcohol. This is one of hundreds of important health related topics I cover in my book Spiritual Adrenaline: A Lifestyle Plan to Strengthen & Nourish Your Recovery and on my website http://www.spiritualadrenaline.com.So why does being sober help make the body you always wanted attainable? Here is what science tells us.Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram. Carbs contain 4, proteins contain 4, and fat contains 9. So only fat contains more calories than alcohol. Moreover, while rich in calories, alcohol is deficient in nutrients and contains almost none. So really, calories taken in by alcohol cannot help you achieve any goal in the fitness context. It can however, undercut your goals.When alcohol metabolizes, it converts to acetate and acetyl coa. These substances signal the body to not burn any fat or sugar.By drinking large amounts of alcohol and creating an imbalance of acetate and acetyl coa, your metabolism slows down, which interferes with fat burning and other body functions. As a result, you retain rather than burn fat.Moreover, alcohol makes us crave food and even more alcohol. We all have gotten the munchies and sought out comfort foods while drinking. Often when I was drinking, I didn’t remember eating comfort foods until I found the wrappers or mess in my apartment the next day. So even indirectly, alcohol increases overall calorie intake, and likely increases the intake of foods that are counter productive to strength training and fat loss.So let’s make the most of our training now that alcohol is no longer undercutting our workouts and health.There is one other benefit for people in the program. Early on, when people outside of recovery circles would ask me why I wasn’t drinking, I would tell them I was in “training.” This was true, and gave me an out for having to lie to them about being on an antibiotic, or telling them that I was “sick,” or making up some other excuse to avoid telling them that I wasn’t drinking because I’m an alcoholic.I much preferred having a healthy excuse, such as weight training, than pretending that I was “sick” and on antibiotic or some other medication. During my years of using, I had played the sick card as an excuse when I overslept, missed work, or was just barely functional. In recovery, I wanted everyone to know I was healthy and no longer wanted to use being “sick” as an excuse for anything.In my book Spiritual Adrenaline: A Lifestyle Plan to Strengthen & Nourish Your Recovery, I cover all the basics about how alcohol, illicit and prescription drugs impact your metabolism and health. Chapter Five (Recovery Exercise) is dedicated to going through the science and Chapter Ten (Your Exercise Toolbox) is full of exercise tools you can fine tune to your health and goals. Spiritual Adrenaline can help you not just white knuckle it in recovery, but thrive. For more information, visit http://www.spirituaoadrenalinel.com.We would love your feedback on this blog. Please send your comments to Tom@spiritualadrenaline.com.