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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