thoughts on drinking beer and trying to get gains
- Thread starter maxx77
- Start date
xigotmailx
Well-known member
In moderation it will not affect you that much in the gym or at all. I even read something about nutrient timing and red wine as to where it would help burn more calories than you were drinking after a workout. Then again, it's the internet hahaha
VS91588
Active member
Moderation is key... Those negative sides only apply to ppl who binge drink like frat boys and alcoholics. Basically if you are abusing it. You don't have to be 100% strict for we have occasions like New Years Eve or your Bday for instance where you may want to celebrate. Once in a blue moon will not inhibit gains
Torobestia
Well-known member
Agreed.
Also, a glass of red wine boosts testosterone a bit, actually. So you're doing yourself a favor
:bigok:
ZiR RED
Well-known member
It comes down to a few things, many already mentioned.
1. Amount and frequency. The more you drink and the more often, the more the negatives will occur.
2 and 3 go hand in hand.
2. How much do you have to drink to reduce testosterone, pro synthesis etc., and how will that manifest in reduced gains
3. What level are you at in your lifting career? The closer you are to a cieling or elite level, the harder it is to make gains, and the more dramatic the manifestation of drinking effects will be.
Br
1. Amount and frequency. The more you drink and the more often, the more the negatives will occur.
2 and 3 go hand in hand.
2. How much do you have to drink to reduce testosterone, pro synthesis etc., and how will that manifest in reduced gains
3. What level are you at in your lifting career? The closer you are to a cieling or elite level, the harder it is to make gains, and the more dramatic the manifestation of drinking effects will be.
Br
mr.cooper69
Legend
The effects on protein synthesis are highly acute. The effects on testosterone are only manifested to a protracted degree if drinking extremely heavily or consistently for a long period of time. And even then, the reduction in testosterone is probably not physioloigically relevant for muscle mass accrual unless this is a chronic endeavor. Acute dehydration isn't a big deal unless you have a medical condition. Alcohol consumption may inhibit lipolysis but it will not cause fat storage unless carbohydrate or more importantly, fat, substrates are present.
In short, there is a fair bit of alarmism in the BBing community with respect to alcohol. Is it great for you? No (unless consumed in true moderation, in which case health markers are actually improved in comparison to those who abstain from alcohol altogether). However, it is unlikely to significantly alter your gains except for recovery from intense eccentric exercise and/or attempting to conduct a workout with adequate intensity the day after a night of heavy drinking. If consumption is controlled, including concomittant food intake, then one should engage in social drinking if they see fit. Hell, alcohol is a potent activator of AMPK.
In short, there is a fair bit of alarmism in the BBing community with respect to alcohol. Is it great for you? No (unless consumed in true moderation, in which case health markers are actually improved in comparison to those who abstain from alcohol altogether). However, it is unlikely to significantly alter your gains except for recovery from intense eccentric exercise and/or attempting to conduct a workout with adequate intensity the day after a night of heavy drinking. If consumption is controlled, including concomittant food intake, then one should engage in social drinking if they see fit. Hell, alcohol is a potent activator of AMPK.
loganchristop
New member
It will not affect you almost at all if you keep it in moderation.
SOme people even recommend it !
SOme people even recommend it !
purebred
Guest
Alcohol and thermogenesis
There's been an ongoing debate for years whether Invalid Link Removed "count" or not. This debate has been spurred on by the fact that drinkers Invalid Link Removed than non-drinkers and studies showing accelerated weight loss when fat and carbs are exchanged for an equivalent amount of calories from alcohol. The connection between a lower body weight and moderate alcohol consumption is particularly strong among women. In men it's either neutral or weak, but it's there.
How can this be explained, considering that alcohol is a close second to dietary fat in terms of energy density per gram? Not to mention the fact that alcohol is consumed via liquids, which doesn't do much for satiety?
Alcohol is labeled as 7.1 calories per gram, but the real value is more along the lines of 5.7 calories due to theInvalid Link Removed (TEF) which is 20% of the ingested calories. This makes the TEF of alcohol a close second to protein (20-35% depending on amino acid composition). The heightened thermogenesis resulting from alcohol intake is partly mediated by Invalid Link Removed.
Is higher TEF a reasonable explanation for lower body fat percentage in regular drinkers? We need to consider that alcohol does not Invalid Link Removed like other nutrients. The disinhibition of impulse control that follows intoxication may also encourage overeating. Ever come home from a party in the middle of the night and downed a box of cereals? That's what I mean.
It's unlikely that the effect of alcohol on body weight in the general population can be attributed solely to the high TEF of alcohol. An alternative explanation is that Invalid Link Removed in the long term.
Another explanation is that regular alcohol consumption affects nutrient partitioning favorably via improvements in insulin sensitivity.
Alcohol, insulin sensitiviy and health
Moderate alcohol consumption Invalid Link Removed, lowers Invalid Link Removed and improves glycemic control. Not only in healthy folks, but also in Invalid Link Removed. There is no clear consensus on the insulin sensitizing mechanism of alcohol, but one viable explanation may be that alcohol promotes leanness by Invalid Link Removed. It's not a stretch to assume that this might have favorable effects on nutrient partitioning in the longer term.
If the effect of alcohol consumption on insulin sensitivity doesn't impress you, then consider the fact that studies have consistently shown that moderate drinkers Invalid Link Removed than non-drinkers. This can be mainly attributed to a lowered risk of cardiovascular disease. However, alcohol also contributes to a healthier and disease-free life by protecting against Invalid Link Removed, Invalid Link Removed, Invalid Link Removed, the Invalid Link Removed, different types of Invalid Link Removed,Invalid Link Removed and many other Western diseases. The list goes on and on.
It can almost be said beyond doubt that moderate alcohol consumption is healthier than complete abstinence. With this in mind, it's strange that the fitness and health community shun alcohol. This irrational attitude seems to be grounded in the beliefs that alcohol is fattening and will hamper muscle gains. So let's take a look at that.
Alcohol, hormones and training
You've probably heard that alcohol intake lowers testosterone. While this is true, the actual impact has been widely exaggerated. Invalid Link Removed that had men and women consume 30-40 g alcohol per day, showed a 6.8% reduction in testosterone for the men and none for the women at the end of the study-period. That's three beers a dayfor three weeks and a measly 6.8% reduction in testosterone for the men. What kind of an effect would you think a few beers on an evening once or twice a week would have? Hardly any.
For alcohol to significantly lower testosterone, you need to do some serious drinking. ~120 g alcohol, the equivalent of 10 beers, will Invalid Link Removedfor up to 16 hours after the drinking binge. If you Invalid Link Removedthat you are admitted to the hospital, you get a similar effect with a reduction of about -20%.
A few studies have looked at alcohol consumption in the post-workout period. One study examined the hormonal response to Invalid Link Removed using 70-80 g alcohol, equivalent to 6-7 beers. Talk about "optimizing" nutrient timing. Anyway, despite this hefty post-workout drinking binge, no effect on testosterone was found and only a very modest effect on cortisol was noted. The latter is as expected, considering the effect of alcohol on catecholamines. Citing directly from this paper, this quote sums up the scientific findings regarding the effects of alcohol on testosterone:
"Although the majority of studies involving humans show no ethanol effect on serum luteinizing hormone (LH), some data have demonstrated an increase while others have supported a decrease"
- Invalid Link Removed.
It seems that the fitness mainstream, which has been most adamant about propagating the "alcohol-zaps-testosterone-myth", have cherry-picked a bunch of studies to base their claims on. Well, no big surprise there. We've been through this many times before with meal frequency and countless other diet myths.
When it comes to recovery after strength training, moderate alcohol consumption (60-90 g alcohol) does not accelerate Invalid Link Removed or affect Invalid Link Removed.
However, the research is a bit mixed on this topic. Invalid Link Removed, which used a very brutal regimen of eccentric training only, followed by alcohol intakes in the 80 g range (1 g/kg) noted impaired recovery in the trained muscles. I should note that eccentric training is hard to recover from and the volume used here was pretty crazy.
Another study looked at Invalid Link Removed followed by post-workout alcohol intakes in the 120 g range (1.5 g/kg) and saw significant suppression of testosterone that carried over to the next day.
The common denominator among these two studies is either extremely tough training or unusually high alcohol intakes in the post-workout period. Unless you're in the habit of going bar-hopping after 50 reps of eccentric leg extensions to failure, this stuff does not apply to you. Yet it's studies like these that gets the attention among the alcohol-alarmist fitness crowd.
What about protein synthesis? Strangely enough, the acute effects of alcohol on muscle protein synthesis in normal human subjects are non-existent in the scientific litterature. It has only been studied in chronic alcoholics, which have reduced rates of muscle protein synthesis. Invalid Link Removed, which causes muscle loss, is one unfortunate side-effect of alcohol abuse. However, Invalid Link Removedshowed that alcoholics without myopathy had lower body fat percentage and the same amount of lean mass as non-drinkers. So much for the argument that alcohol makes all your muscles fall off.
If you put any stock in Invalid Link Removed, it's clear that alcohol affects protein synthesis negatively. Then again, results from rat studies are almost never directly applicable to human physiology. There are profound differences in how humans and rodents cope with macronutrients and toxins.
Alcohol and fat storage
Let's quickly review how nutrients are stored and burned after a mixed meal.
1. Carbs and protein suppress fat oxidation via an elevation in insulin. However, these macronutrients do not contribute to fat synthesis in any meaningful way by themselves.
2. Since fat oxidation is suppressed, dietary fat is stored in fat cells.
3. As the hours go by and insulin drops, fat is released from fat cells. Fat storage is an ongoing process and fatty acids are constantly entering and exiting fat cells throughout the day. Net gain or loss is more or less dictated by calorie input and output.
If we throw alcohol into the mix, it gets Invalid Link Removed in the in the substrate hierarchy: alcohol puts the breaks on fat oxidation, but also suppresses Invalid Link Removed.
This makes sense considering that the metabolic by-product of alcohol, acetate, is toxic. Metabolizing it takes precedence over everything else. This quote sums up the metabolic fate of alcohol nicely:
"Ethanol (alcohol) is converted in the liver to acetate; an unknown portion is then activated to acetyl-CoA, but only a small portion is converted to fatty acids.
Most of the acetate is released into the circulation, where it affects peripheral tissue metabolism; adipocyte release of nonesterified fatty acids is decreased and acetate replaces lipid in the fuel mixture."
- Invalid Link Removed (1999).
Acetate in itself is an extremely poor precursor for fat synthesis. There's simply no metabolic pathway that can make fat out of alcohol with any meaningful efficiency. Studies on fat synthesis after substantial alcohol intakes are non-existent in humans, but Invalid Link Removed(from quotation) estimated de novo lipogenesis after alcohol consumption to ~3%. Out of the 24 g alcohol consumed in this study, a measly 0.8 g fat was synthesized in the liver.
The effect of alcohol on fat storage is very similar to that of carbs: by suppressing fat oxidation, it enables dietary fats to be stored with ease. However, while conversion of carbs to fat may occur once glycogen stores are saturated, DNL via alcohol consumption seems less likely.
There's been an ongoing debate for years whether Invalid Link Removed "count" or not. This debate has been spurred on by the fact that drinkers Invalid Link Removed than non-drinkers and studies showing accelerated weight loss when fat and carbs are exchanged for an equivalent amount of calories from alcohol. The connection between a lower body weight and moderate alcohol consumption is particularly strong among women. In men it's either neutral or weak, but it's there.
How can this be explained, considering that alcohol is a close second to dietary fat in terms of energy density per gram? Not to mention the fact that alcohol is consumed via liquids, which doesn't do much for satiety?
Alcohol is labeled as 7.1 calories per gram, but the real value is more along the lines of 5.7 calories due to theInvalid Link Removed (TEF) which is 20% of the ingested calories. This makes the TEF of alcohol a close second to protein (20-35% depending on amino acid composition). The heightened thermogenesis resulting from alcohol intake is partly mediated by Invalid Link Removed.
Is higher TEF a reasonable explanation for lower body fat percentage in regular drinkers? We need to consider that alcohol does not Invalid Link Removed like other nutrients. The disinhibition of impulse control that follows intoxication may also encourage overeating. Ever come home from a party in the middle of the night and downed a box of cereals? That's what I mean.
It's unlikely that the effect of alcohol on body weight in the general population can be attributed solely to the high TEF of alcohol. An alternative explanation is that Invalid Link Removed in the long term.
Another explanation is that regular alcohol consumption affects nutrient partitioning favorably via improvements in insulin sensitivity.
Alcohol, insulin sensitiviy and health
Moderate alcohol consumption Invalid Link Removed, lowers Invalid Link Removed and improves glycemic control. Not only in healthy folks, but also in Invalid Link Removed. There is no clear consensus on the insulin sensitizing mechanism of alcohol, but one viable explanation may be that alcohol promotes leanness by Invalid Link Removed. It's not a stretch to assume that this might have favorable effects on nutrient partitioning in the longer term.
If the effect of alcohol consumption on insulin sensitivity doesn't impress you, then consider the fact that studies have consistently shown that moderate drinkers Invalid Link Removed than non-drinkers. This can be mainly attributed to a lowered risk of cardiovascular disease. However, alcohol also contributes to a healthier and disease-free life by protecting against Invalid Link Removed, Invalid Link Removed, Invalid Link Removed, the Invalid Link Removed, different types of Invalid Link Removed,Invalid Link Removed and many other Western diseases. The list goes on and on.
It can almost be said beyond doubt that moderate alcohol consumption is healthier than complete abstinence. With this in mind, it's strange that the fitness and health community shun alcohol. This irrational attitude seems to be grounded in the beliefs that alcohol is fattening and will hamper muscle gains. So let's take a look at that.
Alcohol, hormones and training
You've probably heard that alcohol intake lowers testosterone. While this is true, the actual impact has been widely exaggerated. Invalid Link Removed that had men and women consume 30-40 g alcohol per day, showed a 6.8% reduction in testosterone for the men and none for the women at the end of the study-period. That's three beers a dayfor three weeks and a measly 6.8% reduction in testosterone for the men. What kind of an effect would you think a few beers on an evening once or twice a week would have? Hardly any.
For alcohol to significantly lower testosterone, you need to do some serious drinking. ~120 g alcohol, the equivalent of 10 beers, will Invalid Link Removedfor up to 16 hours after the drinking binge. If you Invalid Link Removedthat you are admitted to the hospital, you get a similar effect with a reduction of about -20%.
A few studies have looked at alcohol consumption in the post-workout period. One study examined the hormonal response to Invalid Link Removed using 70-80 g alcohol, equivalent to 6-7 beers. Talk about "optimizing" nutrient timing. Anyway, despite this hefty post-workout drinking binge, no effect on testosterone was found and only a very modest effect on cortisol was noted. The latter is as expected, considering the effect of alcohol on catecholamines. Citing directly from this paper, this quote sums up the scientific findings regarding the effects of alcohol on testosterone:
"Although the majority of studies involving humans show no ethanol effect on serum luteinizing hormone (LH), some data have demonstrated an increase while others have supported a decrease"
- Invalid Link Removed.
It seems that the fitness mainstream, which has been most adamant about propagating the "alcohol-zaps-testosterone-myth", have cherry-picked a bunch of studies to base their claims on. Well, no big surprise there. We've been through this many times before with meal frequency and countless other diet myths.
When it comes to recovery after strength training, moderate alcohol consumption (60-90 g alcohol) does not accelerate Invalid Link Removed or affect Invalid Link Removed.
However, the research is a bit mixed on this topic. Invalid Link Removed, which used a very brutal regimen of eccentric training only, followed by alcohol intakes in the 80 g range (1 g/kg) noted impaired recovery in the trained muscles. I should note that eccentric training is hard to recover from and the volume used here was pretty crazy.
Another study looked at Invalid Link Removed followed by post-workout alcohol intakes in the 120 g range (1.5 g/kg) and saw significant suppression of testosterone that carried over to the next day.
The common denominator among these two studies is either extremely tough training or unusually high alcohol intakes in the post-workout period. Unless you're in the habit of going bar-hopping after 50 reps of eccentric leg extensions to failure, this stuff does not apply to you. Yet it's studies like these that gets the attention among the alcohol-alarmist fitness crowd.
What about protein synthesis? Strangely enough, the acute effects of alcohol on muscle protein synthesis in normal human subjects are non-existent in the scientific litterature. It has only been studied in chronic alcoholics, which have reduced rates of muscle protein synthesis. Invalid Link Removed, which causes muscle loss, is one unfortunate side-effect of alcohol abuse. However, Invalid Link Removedshowed that alcoholics without myopathy had lower body fat percentage and the same amount of lean mass as non-drinkers. So much for the argument that alcohol makes all your muscles fall off.
If you put any stock in Invalid Link Removed, it's clear that alcohol affects protein synthesis negatively. Then again, results from rat studies are almost never directly applicable to human physiology. There are profound differences in how humans and rodents cope with macronutrients and toxins.
Alcohol and fat storage
Let's quickly review how nutrients are stored and burned after a mixed meal.
1. Carbs and protein suppress fat oxidation via an elevation in insulin. However, these macronutrients do not contribute to fat synthesis in any meaningful way by themselves.
2. Since fat oxidation is suppressed, dietary fat is stored in fat cells.
3. As the hours go by and insulin drops, fat is released from fat cells. Fat storage is an ongoing process and fatty acids are constantly entering and exiting fat cells throughout the day. Net gain or loss is more or less dictated by calorie input and output.
If we throw alcohol into the mix, it gets Invalid Link Removed in the in the substrate hierarchy: alcohol puts the breaks on fat oxidation, but also suppresses Invalid Link Removed.
This makes sense considering that the metabolic by-product of alcohol, acetate, is toxic. Metabolizing it takes precedence over everything else. This quote sums up the metabolic fate of alcohol nicely:
"Ethanol (alcohol) is converted in the liver to acetate; an unknown portion is then activated to acetyl-CoA, but only a small portion is converted to fatty acids.
Most of the acetate is released into the circulation, where it affects peripheral tissue metabolism; adipocyte release of nonesterified fatty acids is decreased and acetate replaces lipid in the fuel mixture."
- Invalid Link Removed (1999).
Acetate in itself is an extremely poor precursor for fat synthesis. There's simply no metabolic pathway that can make fat out of alcohol with any meaningful efficiency. Studies on fat synthesis after substantial alcohol intakes are non-existent in humans, but Invalid Link Removed(from quotation) estimated de novo lipogenesis after alcohol consumption to ~3%. Out of the 24 g alcohol consumed in this study, a measly 0.8 g fat was synthesized in the liver.
The effect of alcohol on fat storage is very similar to that of carbs: by suppressing fat oxidation, it enables dietary fats to be stored with ease. However, while conversion of carbs to fat may occur once glycogen stores are saturated, DNL via alcohol consumption seems less likely.
purebred
Guest
Summary
* Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with an abundance of health benefits. The long-term effect on insulin sensitivity and body weight (via insulin or decreased appetite) may be of particular interest to us.
* The thermic effect of alcohol is high and the real caloric value is not 7.1 kcal: it's ~5.6 kcal. However, it's still easy to overconsume calories by drinking. Calorie for calorie, the short-term effect of alcohol on satiety is low. Adding to this, intoxication may also encourage overeating by disinhibition of dietary restraint.
* The negative effects of alcohol on testosterone and recovery has been grossly exaggerated by the fitness mainstream. Excluding very high acute alcohol consumption, or prolonged and daily consumption, the effect is non-significant and unlikely to affect muscle gains or training adaptations negatively.
* The effect of alcohol on muscle protein synthesis is unknown in normal human subjects. It is not unlikely to assume that a negative effect exists, but it is very unlikely that it is of such a profound magnitude that some people would have you believe.
* Alcohol is converted to acetate by the liver. The oxidation of acetate takes precedence over other nutrients and is oxidized to carbon dioxide and water. However, despite being a potent inhibitor of lipolysis, alcohol/acetate alonecannot cause fat gain by itself. It's all the junk people eat in conjunction with alcohol intake that causes fat gain.
How to lose fat or prevent fat gain when drinking
Now that you understand the effect of alcohol on substrate metabolism, it's time for me to reveal how you can make alcohol work for fat loss. Alternatively, how you can drink on a regular basis without any fat gain. Without having to count calories and while drinking as much as you want.
Apply this method exactly as I have laid it out. If you've paid attention, you'll understand the rationale behind it. I've tested this on myself and on numerous clients. Rest assured that I'm not testing out some large-scale bizarre experiment here.
The rules are as follows:
* For this day, restrict your intake of dietary fat to 0.3 g/kg body weight (or as close to this figure as possible).
* Limit carbs to 1.5 g/kg body weight. Get all carbs from veggies and the tag-along carbs in some protein sources. You'll also want to limit carbohydrate-rich alcohol sources such as drinks made with fruit juices and beer. A 33 cl/12 fl oz of beer contains about 12 g carbs, while a regular Cosmopolitan is about 13 g.
* Good choices of alcohol include dry wines which are very low carb, clocking in at about 0.5-1 g per glass (4 fl oz/115ml). Sweet wines are much higher at 4-6 g per glass. Cognac, gin, rum, scotch, tequila, vodka and whiskey are all basically zero carbs. Dry wines and spirits is what you should be drinking, ideally. Take them straight or mixed with diet soda. (No need to be super-neurotic about this stuff. Drinks should be enjoyed after all. Just be aware that there are better and worse choices out there).
* Eat as much protein as you want. Yes, that's right. Ad libitum. Due to the limit on dietary fat, you need to get your protein from lean sources. Protein sources such as low fat cottage cheese, protein powder, chicken, turkey, tuna, pork and egg whites are good sources of protein this day.
* For effective fat loss, this should be limited to one evening per week. Apply the protocol and you will lose fat on a weekly basis as long as your diet is on point for the rest of the week.
Basically, the nutritional strategy I have outlined here is all about focusing on substrates that are least likely to cause net synthesis of fat during hypercaloric conditions. Alcohol and protein, your main macronutrients this day, are extremely poor precursors for de novo lipogenesis. Alcohol suppresses fat oxidation, but by depriving yourself of dietary fat during alcohol consumption, you won't be storing anything. Nor will protein cause any measurable de novo lipogenesis. High protein intake will also compensate for the weak effect of alcohol on satiety and make you less likely to blow your diet when you're drinking.
By the way, a nice bonus after a night of drinking is that it effectively rids you of water retention. You may experience the "whoosh"-effect, which I've talked about in my two-part series about Invalid Link Removed. That in itself can be motivating for folks who've been experiencing a plateau in their weight loss.
Apply this with good judgement and don't go out and do something stupid now. Remember, this a short-term strategy for those that want to be able to drink freely* without significantly impacting fat loss progress or causing unwanted fat gain. It's not something I encourage people to do on a daily basis, but it's one of the strategies that I apply for Invalid Link Removed for myself and my clients.
* Now of course...you can always drink in moderation and make sure to not go over your calorie budget for the day. But what fun is there in that? I'd rather cheat the system with the kind metabolic mischief I've layed out above.Invalid Link Removed
* Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with an abundance of health benefits. The long-term effect on insulin sensitivity and body weight (via insulin or decreased appetite) may be of particular interest to us.
* The thermic effect of alcohol is high and the real caloric value is not 7.1 kcal: it's ~5.6 kcal. However, it's still easy to overconsume calories by drinking. Calorie for calorie, the short-term effect of alcohol on satiety is low. Adding to this, intoxication may also encourage overeating by disinhibition of dietary restraint.
* The negative effects of alcohol on testosterone and recovery has been grossly exaggerated by the fitness mainstream. Excluding very high acute alcohol consumption, or prolonged and daily consumption, the effect is non-significant and unlikely to affect muscle gains or training adaptations negatively.
* The effect of alcohol on muscle protein synthesis is unknown in normal human subjects. It is not unlikely to assume that a negative effect exists, but it is very unlikely that it is of such a profound magnitude that some people would have you believe.
* Alcohol is converted to acetate by the liver. The oxidation of acetate takes precedence over other nutrients and is oxidized to carbon dioxide and water. However, despite being a potent inhibitor of lipolysis, alcohol/acetate alonecannot cause fat gain by itself. It's all the junk people eat in conjunction with alcohol intake that causes fat gain.
How to lose fat or prevent fat gain when drinking
Now that you understand the effect of alcohol on substrate metabolism, it's time for me to reveal how you can make alcohol work for fat loss. Alternatively, how you can drink on a regular basis without any fat gain. Without having to count calories and while drinking as much as you want.
Apply this method exactly as I have laid it out. If you've paid attention, you'll understand the rationale behind it. I've tested this on myself and on numerous clients. Rest assured that I'm not testing out some large-scale bizarre experiment here.
The rules are as follows:
* For this day, restrict your intake of dietary fat to 0.3 g/kg body weight (or as close to this figure as possible).
* Limit carbs to 1.5 g/kg body weight. Get all carbs from veggies and the tag-along carbs in some protein sources. You'll also want to limit carbohydrate-rich alcohol sources such as drinks made with fruit juices and beer. A 33 cl/12 fl oz of beer contains about 12 g carbs, while a regular Cosmopolitan is about 13 g.
* Good choices of alcohol include dry wines which are very low carb, clocking in at about 0.5-1 g per glass (4 fl oz/115ml). Sweet wines are much higher at 4-6 g per glass. Cognac, gin, rum, scotch, tequila, vodka and whiskey are all basically zero carbs. Dry wines and spirits is what you should be drinking, ideally. Take them straight or mixed with diet soda. (No need to be super-neurotic about this stuff. Drinks should be enjoyed after all. Just be aware that there are better and worse choices out there).
* Eat as much protein as you want. Yes, that's right. Ad libitum. Due to the limit on dietary fat, you need to get your protein from lean sources. Protein sources such as low fat cottage cheese, protein powder, chicken, turkey, tuna, pork and egg whites are good sources of protein this day.
* For effective fat loss, this should be limited to one evening per week. Apply the protocol and you will lose fat on a weekly basis as long as your diet is on point for the rest of the week.
Basically, the nutritional strategy I have outlined here is all about focusing on substrates that are least likely to cause net synthesis of fat during hypercaloric conditions. Alcohol and protein, your main macronutrients this day, are extremely poor precursors for de novo lipogenesis. Alcohol suppresses fat oxidation, but by depriving yourself of dietary fat during alcohol consumption, you won't be storing anything. Nor will protein cause any measurable de novo lipogenesis. High protein intake will also compensate for the weak effect of alcohol on satiety and make you less likely to blow your diet when you're drinking.
By the way, a nice bonus after a night of drinking is that it effectively rids you of water retention. You may experience the "whoosh"-effect, which I've talked about in my two-part series about Invalid Link Removed. That in itself can be motivating for folks who've been experiencing a plateau in their weight loss.
Apply this with good judgement and don't go out and do something stupid now. Remember, this a short-term strategy for those that want to be able to drink freely* without significantly impacting fat loss progress or causing unwanted fat gain. It's not something I encourage people to do on a daily basis, but it's one of the strategies that I apply for Invalid Link Removed for myself and my clients.
* Now of course...you can always drink in moderation and make sure to not go over your calorie budget for the day. But what fun is there in that? I'd rather cheat the system with the kind metabolic mischief I've layed out above.Invalid Link Removed
tyrub42
Well-known member
This was one of the most informative things I have read in awhile, and it seems to really sum up what a lot of people were saying from their own experience: a drink or two a night won't do much damage. I had one rager on my last Anabeta run (bachelor party), and I still had amazing results from that run due to being [I think] a super responder to the supplement and keeping a disciplined diet. I did feel that getting drunk enough to cause a hangover did do some damage, though. That's just common sense really. Even though I drank 1.5 liters of water and 1.5 liters of the Taiwanese gatorade equivalent, I still felt a bit dehydrated the next day and slow in both mind and body for a few days.
One other thing to note, though, is that alcohol consumption usually means a lot of empty calorie consumption. Beer has a lot of carbs, and unless it is microbrewed beer, they will come from a lot of rice/corn. Mixed drinks are loaded with bleached sugars and artificial dyes. Also, I don't know about you guys, but I am MUCH more likely to break my diet if I have been drinking. All food for thought (pun intended), but this definitely explains why so many people I know manage to stay cut up even though they drink quite a bit. Thanks again!
Best,
Tyler
P.S.- Every time I go back home to NY to visit the family, I get more and more jealous of all of you living in the states for the amount of great quality IPAs, Double IPAs, Barleywines, Imperial Stouts, and every other hopped up American innovation I come across. I don't know if I would be able to keep my drinking in check if I was back there with all of that. Over here, the only thing that keeps me sane is the Anchor line (American style Pale Ale, English style Barleywine, and American style Porter), Rogue Dead Guy Ale (like 5 bucks a bottle at the supermarket though), and Fuller's London Porter, but I would kill for some of the really good IPAs/Double IPAs to get imported...wow I love beer. Sorry for that rant.
tyrub42
Well-known member
"By the way, a nice bonus after a night of drinking is that it effectively rids you of water retention. You may experience the "whoosh"-effect, which I've talked about in my two-part series about Invalid Link Removed. That in itself can be motivating for folks who've been experiencing a plateau in their weight loss."
This is so true. When I wake up with a nasty hangover, I have never felt worse or looked better, haha. I even get super vascular the day after for some reason. Kind of a let-down though when you look super bloated the day after that though (but maybe that's just from me over-feeding the hangover)...
This is so true. When I wake up with a nasty hangover, I have never felt worse or looked better, haha. I even get super vascular the day after for some reason. Kind of a let-down though when you look super bloated the day after that though (but maybe that's just from me over-feeding the hangover)...
Deeerdre
Well-known member
Tyrub I see you like IPA's you should go to Invalid Link Removed its a brewery in San Diego with really good IPA's and other awesome beers check it out
jwa254
Well-known member
Stone is awesome!
tyrub42
Well-known member
Yeah Stone kicks ass for sure. Pretty much everything they make that I tried is really good, but in NY you can spend upwards of 25-30 bucks on a 6-pack of Ruination or Arrogant Bastard. If it were cheaper, I would hit it up more often when I come back home. So far my fav beer overall is probably Troegs Nugget Nectar (for some reason a bar in Queens had this on tap in July a few years ago...it was one of the coolest things that ever happened), and my fav brewery is prob Three Floyds. Unfortunately, they stopped shipping to NY a loooooooooooong time ago. You are lucky living in Cali, man. You guys have so many awesome Microbreweries over there. I would love to visit Stone and Bear Republic. I imagine they always have crazy beers that they don't bottle on tap at those places. This thread is making me jealous of all of you, haha.
Best,
Tyler
Deeerdre
Well-known member
haha definitly tons of microbreweries in san diego its nuts