Why alcohol causes you to gain weight

The reason I picked this topic to write about is a funny one! I’m sure all of us know someone who has a “beer belly”; this is one reason why some of us avoid drinking beer.  Well did you know that you could get a “beer belly” from drinking your favorite wine or whiskey? NO! Well ill explain to you how.

Alcohol is considered a Carbohydrate and contains 7 calories per gram! Wow right?! Let’s look at an example of all those calories in servings of beer. (Note: some people drink on average 5-6 beers in a night.)

Alcohol Item (serving size)	Carbs (g)
Beer, regular (12 fl oz)	13g (91 calories)
Beer, light (12 fl oz)	4.5g (31.5 calories)
Wine, red (3.5 fl oz)	1.75g
Wine, rose (3.5 fl oz)	1.5
Wine, white (3.5 fl oz)	1g
Cider, dry (1 pint)	15g (105 calories)
Sherry (2 fl oz)	3g
Port (2 fl oz)	6g
Guinness (1/2 pint)	4g

See how quickly those calories can add up? Downing all of those beers in one night can quickly take your calorie count into the thousands. When you add on what you have eaten that day, and other beverages that you have drank, it will show that you are way over the amount of calories you need for one day. 

Studies show that when you drink alcohol your liver burns the liquor introduced to your body before it burns fat. You may ask if my body is busy burning alcohol instead of fat what happens with the fat? Allow me to explain. Fat doesn't wait its turn in line behind alcohol and other empty calories, it gets stored throughout the body depending on different factors.

When you intake more calories than you burn the excess is stored as fat in the body, where it’s stored depends on sex, age, and hormones. As kids both men and women start off with the same fat storage patterns but when puberty hits those patterns change substantially.

Women tend to store fat under the skin in their buttocks, thighs, arms, and bellies. Men have less subcutaneous fat so they store fat mostly in their bellies. “Beer bellies” tend to be found in more older people then young ones, the reason being is that when you get older the amount of calories you need to function decreases so gaining weight becomes easier. If you aren't as active as you use to be your body doesn't burn off those extra calories anymore.

Hormone levels decline in men and women as they age; they're more likely to store fat around the midsection. Menopausal women who take hormone replacement therapy tend to have less of a shift toward more belly fat than those who don’t. Studies suggest that smokers may also deposit more fat in their bellies.

If you would like to lose your beer belly cutting alcohol down or completely out your diet is a good way to start. If you stop drinking as much as you usually do it will decrease your calorie intake significantly. The best way to lose belly fat is to exercise, and I don’t mean crunches and sit-ups those simply tone your abdominal muscles. The exercise’s you should be doing are the ones designed to burn fat (running, swimming, cycling, jump rope, etc.) These exercises’s burn fat throughout the body and will diminish belly fat more quickly because it’s visceral fat. Visceral fat is more metabolically active and can be broken down quicker than other fat.

If you have any questions & input feel free to comment on this blog post or visit our site at www.droppoundsconsulting.com . We can help you lose that stubborn belly fat in no time all it takes is our knowledge and your dedication. Thanks for reading and be sure to subscribe for future blog posts.

–“Drop Pounds, Live Longer”


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Soda vs. Weight-loss

I picked this topic because it’s one that affects us every day but most people ignore it because they are so prone to soft drinks. It’s reported that over 14+ billion gallons of soda is consumed each year in America alone. This high count of consumption is mostly due to people’s addiction to the sugars that are in these drinks. I know firsthand the pleasure and enjoyment people get after twisting a cap or snapping the top off of a cold soda. But what people have to understand is the world of health problems that they open up once that soda or soft drink is going down their throat.

Lets first start with the SUGAR CONTENT of sodas; Let’s use a 12oz. can of soda for this example, this is what you get in that one can (140-150 calories, 3.3 tablespoons of sugar, and 45mg of sodium). That’s a very large amount considering most people can drink up to 5 cans of soda a day. Think about that’s nearly 17 tablespoons of sugar; we are allowing our children and ourselves to consume massive amounts of sugar without thinking about the toll this can take on our health. The American heart association recommends that daily consumption of sugar should be 6 teaspoons for women and 9 teaspoons for men.  Consuming large amounts of sugar raise our blood glucose levels which in return lead to hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Sodas along with many other processed foods contain HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP as their main sugar ingredient. “HFCS” is a bi-product of corn that has undergone major processing to become the sweet sugary syrup that is added to many of our foods and beverages. High fructose corn syrup also puts stress on the pancreas leading to fluctuating blood sugar levels. Soda makes a big contribution to the onset of type-2 diabetes in America with rates growing rapidly; we have to learn to avoid these drinks and high sugar foods.   

Now let’s talk about DEHYDRATION, I’m sure many of you have been told at some point in life that our body is made up of mostly water, 60% percent to be exact. Just from that small fact it tells us that water is very beneficial to our health and that things can go wrong in our body if we don’t have it. We lose water many ways throughout the day from sweating, urinating, and even breathing. This water must be replaced with WATER to keep us functioning properly; it’s recommended that we consume 8-9 cups a day. The amount of water we should consume varies depending on your level of activity and where you live. SODA is the enemy of water and most people consume it in place of H2o which is a big mistake. Most sodas contain caffeine; caffeine acts as a diuretic and tells the body to dump its vitamins and minerals through increased urination. Alcohol also does the same thing this is why those who drink alcohol end up being dehydrated if they don’t replace the lost water. Lastly soda contains high amounts of sodium; sodium draws water from cells in your body and promotes dehydration.  

PHOSPHORIC ACID is also a common ingredient in soda; this acid depletes the calcium from your bones and decreases calcium absorption. Studies have found that among women it leads to poor bone development or osteoporosis.

We gain weight when we consume more calories than our body burns & needs to function or burn off on a daily basis. When you drink soft drinks you are consuming allot of “empty calories” these are calories that provide no nutritional value to you they are just “there”. Consumption of all those empty calories leads to faster weight gain if you are drinking 4 cans of pop a day for example you are consuming about 600 “empty calories” just from soda alone. Now add on the chips, and candy that you love and the “empty calorie” count is sky-high. Whatever your recommended body weight is you should add a “0” to that number and that’s how many calories you need a day if you aren’t doing a job that’s very labor intensive. For example if you should weigh 150lbs add a zero to it and you should consume only 1,500 calories a day to maintain your weight. Now when soda and junk food get added to the picture, along with over-eating that counts ends up being doubled to 3,000 calories.

Soda is just one of the many things that contribute to obesity, we have to start tackling these issues head on, and once you identify your problem it’s going to be your first step to making a change for the better. This is why our approach at Drop Pounds Consulting is so unique because we address our client’s individual issues that contributed to weight gain and unhealthy eating habits. After we address those problems we build you and fitness & nutrition plan to target those individual needs and stay in touch with you throughout your weight loss journey. Thanks for reading and be sure to bookmark our site www.droppoundsconsulting.com

-“Drop Pounds, Live Longer”


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Here’s some helpful info!

Soda Alternatives

·         Iced tea (caffeine-free)

·         Infused water

·         Seltzer+juice

·         Kombucha

 Fresh juice

How we became a company

                                                      

ABOUT US

Drop Pounds Consulting, Inc. is a Chicago based fitness & nutrition consulting company.  We specialize in custom built fitness and nutrition plans designed to fit the needs for each and every client.

Started in late 2012 by founder Allen C. Lane, with a mission to inform the world of valuable nutrition and fitness information to implement in ones daily life - the creation of Drop Pounds Consulting came about in a very surprisingly and unplanned way.

It starts with Allen Lane’s childhood!  As a child and throughout his teenage years he struggled with obesity and pre-hypertension.  Allen grew up in poverty on the west side of Chicago, and due to those circumstances he and his family were forced to eat low-nutrient, high-calorie foods. These foods are commonly known as “processed foods” which are the only foods a vast majority of people living in poverty can afford because of the low prices, large quantity, and quick preparation times.

Early in Allen’s childhood, he began an accelerated path to obesity that almost took him to the point of no return.  Later on came the loss of his beloved Aunt and Father who struggled with morbid obesity, which eventually led to both family members dying of severe heart attacks.  These two tragic events opened Allen’s eyes and changed his life for the better.

Shortly after Allen’s 18^th birthday he was ready for a lifestyle change!  It was time for him to take charge over his life and confront the battle to lose the excessive weight he had been carrying for 8 + years.

The path he took wasn’t an easy one!  With greatness comes plenty of trial & error, and Allen had experienced allot of it.  His path began with the help of his mother, investing in a home gym that consisted of resistance equipment and free weights.  Allen would soon come to find, that expensive weight equipment wasn’t what he needed at that early stage in his weight loss journey.

As time passed with minimal results he began to consume every piece of fitness & nutrition information he came across.  Allen took it a step further by even enrolling in Fitness & Nutrition courses online.  Armed with a significant amount of information learned, he began what might have been his tenth try at losing weight - and this time it worked!  Mr. Lane had successfully constructed for himself a foolproof, full-fledged fitness & nutrition regimen and strictly adhered to it!  At the initial start of his custom built weight lost plan, Allen weighed 280lbs with a height of    5’ 9” and within the first five months, 80lbs of pure fat had been lost.  

 

Although Allen successfully shed all of his excessive weight, he still didn't think of starting a company to help the millions of others that struggle and suffer from obesity.  The thought started to cultivate through the next few years as he would explain his story to others and give them detailed advice on how to “Drop Pounds” and “live longer”.  One day in spring of 2011 while working a job as a direct sales “consultant” (a profession he knew little about) he received a call.  The call Mr. Lane received was from a friend he went to high school with and the very first thing she asked was “how did you lose all of your weight, and can you help me?”  He saw success in the friends he had given weight lost advice to and it just made him happy to be of assistance to others.  Allen immediately knew what his calling in life was after that! 

After a year of planning and financial mishaps Allen C. Lane was finally able to found a company he would name “Drop Pounds Consulting”.  Allen vowed to provide his clients with the best support and information he can offer with very affordable flat rates.  Along with his website he has set up a fitness & nutrition blog that he updates frequently with free tips, advice, and information.

Drop Pounds Consulting, Inc. will remain structured to provide our clients with the best services but most importantly - remain gimmick free!  Fitness & nutrition is a way of life not a momentary change.  By becoming a client of ours, we commit to offer you a thorough service.  In return, we ask that you implement our customized regimen in your life forever!    

– “Drop Pounds, Live Longer”


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