Alcohol And Fitness Gains

Whether it’s for a birthday, holiday, summer barbecue, or on a lake, alcohol is very present in a lot of peoples’ lives. If you’re someone who stays away from alcohol already, this article might not directly apply to you. However, many people want to live a healthy life but still enjoy some drinks now and then. But surely that’s not possible, right?

There is a way where we can have a little bit of both. Now, before I go any further, this is not a way to drink daily then say, “Well Colin said I can drink and be healthy...” but there is a way that we can actually program alcohol into our daily macros. Because alcohol has its own macro count, that’s how we’re going to break down how we can implement alcohol and still not completely ruin our fitness goals. If you’re not someone who tracks macros, that’s perfectly ok! We’re going to go through some of those tips as well.

Macro Breakdowns

Protein = 4 calories per gram Carbs = 4 calories per gram

Fat = 9 calories per gram Alcohol = 7 calories per gram

Some people would think that alcohol would be considered to have 4 calories per gram and considered a carb since it’s considered a sugar, but alcohol is ethanol and thus is its own macronutrient. So when people say that they’ve been drinking hard alcohol and not beer, it gives me a good laugh because it doesn’t matter. A vodka soda might be lower calorie and have less sugar, which are good things, but you can still have a few vodka drinks and consume more calories than a non-alcoholic sugary drink.

So how do we fit alcohol into our macro budget?

Say you should be consuming 2200 calories per day, and you’re planning on having a couple glasses of wine with your significant other for movie night. For this example we’re going to use 7 Moons because it’s amazing, and is 130 calories per 5 oz serving. Let’s say you’re planning on three of those that night, which would be 390 calories. Let’s round to 400 and so now you have 1800 calories to play with for whole foods throughout your day. Since fat has the highest number of calories per gram, I would take some of the calories from there to allot towards the wine. If you’re someone who needs a bit of a heavier meal with carbs before drinking, then you want to leave that heavy meal in. You don’t want to steal from protein because it’s one of the more satiating macros, and most proteins have to come from a whole food source. Through a little bit of simple math, you can quickly determine what you need from food and what you can allow for drinking.

But what if you don’t track macros and still want to be healthy?

If you plan on drinking that evening, you still want to keep protein high and would still try to limit fats a little more than carbs. Maybe you have an egg white omelet and some fruit, then you have a big salad with grilled chicken and veggies, then you have a nice dinner with your significant other accompanied and followed by wine. So it’s about finding ways to manipulate your meals so you can adhere to your health and fitness goals, but not completely ruin them.

In either case, if you go over, you’re going to be ok. Say you eat a bit too much and still have a few glasses of wine and you’re at 2500 calories instead of 2200. Going to be a big deal? Probably not. If you’re consistently doing that, then yes you might see some weight gain. What you can do is just take that excess 300 and reduce it from the following day’s intake. That way, your weekly calorie goal is still in check. Nothing happens in a day. One pizza never made anyone fat and one salad never made anyone skinny. Consistency works both ways. Just try to keep good overall balance and adjust where you can to account for still living and enjoying your life.

Effects of Alcohol on Body Composition

So this can be debated back and forth. Some people can eat and drink what they want and still have the body they want. Genetics isn’t something we have much control over but we can still control a lot.

Having the occasional drink or two, very unlikely that your weight or muscle gains will be affected either way. If you’re drinking to excess and the point of being drunk, you could temporarily hinder muscle building or weight loss affects(1). If that stays consistent, however, then you’re looking at frequent caloric surpluses along with the other negatives of too much booze. Ambitions go down, control of what we eat goes down resulting in typically poor food choices. You’re also dehydrating yourself with alcohol, and since your muscles are majority water, not feeding that could be detrimental as well.

A drink or two here and there could relieve some other stressors, which could in fact play a positive affect on your body composition, so alcohol is kind of a double-edged sword.

All in all, if you’re balanced and live your life to enjoy those little things and don’t take things too overboard, you’re going to be just fine. Track if you need to, but be conscious about what, and how much you’re consuming. Enjoy your life.

1) Parr, Evelyn B, et al. “Alcohol Ingestion Impairs Maximal Post-Exercise Rates of Myofibrillar Protein Synthesis Following a Single Bout of Concurrent Training.â€Â PloS One, Public Library of Science, 12 Feb. 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ articles/PMC3922864/