Day 11 and a weighty subject! The 11th reason for doing Dry July is that reducing alcohol makes it easier to keep weight under control.
Day | Tuesday 11th July |
|---|---|
Days without alcohol | 26 |
Funds raised | $2,753.50 |
Badges earned | 1 week Dry |
I'm feeling | Dry |
Despite the blessing of a healthy metabolism I have always had a problem with keeping my weight under control.
Regular consumption of alcohol doesn’t help with that.
Energy
When I worked with a major liquor retail chain in Auckland a while back, I was slightly surprised to learn that their number one seller was Woodstock ready-to-drink bourbon and cola.
There’s a bit to unpack in that fact alone, but let’s zoom in on the relationship between alcohol and undesirable weight gain aka getting fat.
There are 375ml of liquor in a can of Woodstock. That represents three standard drinks, by the way, so just one of these is a non-trivial amount of alcohol.
The 375ml contains around 800 kilojoules or about 200 calories of energy. In a normal week I will consume around 10,000kj or 2,400 calories of energy in a 24 hour period. Adding in a couple of Woodies would not only make me more than a bit tipsy it would add more than 10% more energy than I need.
Bad energy
Weight control isn’t a simple energy-in vs energy-out equation, but the kind of energy contained in most alcoholic drinks is so refined and concentrated that my metabolism basically says, “crikey that’s a lot, better store this quickly”. Our bodies store energy by building fat, nek minnit beer gut!
And there are other effects. Alcohol can stimulate the appetite and lower inhibitions, leading to increased snacking and poor food choices. Why do you think they serve chips in a bar?
By consuming less alcohol, we’re less likely to engage in mindless munching, especially on high-calorie snacks. This reduction in empty calories can contribute to weight management.
Alcohol can also impair the body's ability to absorb essential nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals. This can negatively impact overall health and weight management efforts. By cutting back on alcohol, you allow your body to better absorb and utilise the nutrients from your diet, supporting a healthy metabolism.
Decreased motivation
Because alcohol has a sedative effect, it can decrease motivation and energy levels, making it more challenging to engage in regular physical activity.
And even if you can motivate yourself to exercise it doesn’t help as much as you might think. Around 80% of our energy consumption comes from our base metabolism so you have to do a huge amount of exercise to offset the energy input of even a single drink.
There’s also the well-known “license effect” - I can treat myself to a drink or two because I worked out today. Doing that is more likely to completely reverse any positive effect you gained from your workout.
So overall if you are trying to lose weight, cutting down the booze is a no-brainer.
On day 11 my weight is still pretty stable (which is good because it has been going up lately) but the Dry July people tell me it gets better from here.
You can get behind my campaign by donating here
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