Over time, alcohol may make you gain weight if you drink it in excess. Heavy drinking may activate hormones that signal appetite, hunger, and stress. Alcohol is also high in calories but lacks nutrients supporting good health.
Frustrating Ways Alcohol Makes You Gain Weight
In addition to triggering telltale hangover symptoms like headache, nausea and fatigue, alcohol can also lead to dehydration, gastrointestinal discomfort, risky behavior and poor sleep, says Diaz. “In severe cases, excessive consumption can lead to life-threatening alcohol poisoning, marked by vomiting, seizures and slowed breathing,” she emphasizes. Multiple studies showed a moderate amount of whiskey (no more than seven servings a week) lowers your risk of heart disease and heart failure, according to Forbes.
The Myth of the Beer Belly
The answer depends on several factors, including your overall diet and how much you drink. Beer itself isn’t very high in calories — one can (12.5 ounces) has about 150 calories, 12 grams of carbs, 1.6 grams of protein, and no sugars or fats, per MyFoodData. Piña colada, by comparison, boasts 340 calories, 5 grams of fat, and 44 grams of carbs, including 40 grams of added sugar, per serving (via MyFoodData). “If you enjoy a moderate amount of alcohol and it is something that is important to you, I don’t recommend restricting yourself to try to lose weight,” she says.
- Excessive alcohol intake, in particular, can adversely impact various aspects of your well-being, from your immediate safety to your long-term health.
- Your liver lets alcohol go to the front of the line, before other nutrients, because it simply needs to break it down into CO2 and water and get it out of your body.
Health conditions that cause weight gain
So, if you’re eating pizza or even a light salad with your cocktail, the calories from that food get stored as fat instead of burned for energy. What’s more, calories from alcohol are typically considered empty calories, since most alcoholic drinks do not provide substantial amounts of vitamins, minerals, or other nutrients. While the calories in one glass of wine don’t seem like a lot, a few glasses pack over 300 calories and a bottle has upwards of 600 calories. Depending on how much you drink, wine can contribute a significant number of extra calories to your daily intake (6).
A total of 42 percent of Americans in the poll preferred beer, compared to 19 percent who preferred to drink liquor. A standard 7-ounce mixed drink and 12-ounce beer typically have the same number of calories and will likely contribute to the same amount of weight gain. However, pure spirits alone contain fewer calories and carbohydrates. But if you drink heavily like that every night or even multiple times per night, you may find that weight gain sticks around, even when you’re not drinking or recovering from drinking. Still, these factors do contribute to a longer-term connection between alcohol and weight gain. Remember, these effects are usually temporary, and the additional weight is often not from increased body fat, but from fluid and digestive changes.
To flush out this water weight, cut the carbs down to 50g the day after drinking. Also use intermittent fasting combined with C8-MCTs to promote additional fat-burning. If your goal is to be able to still drink and get skinny, then you’re going to need to pick the healthiest alcoholic beverages.
How To Quit Drinking Alcohol: 15 Tips From Someone Who Did It
Oxidation of alcohol via the MEOS produces less ATP than oxidation via alcohol dehydrogenase, using the energy from alcohol intake primarily to enhance heat production 37, 54. The extent to which wasted energy from regular alcohol consumption contributes to weight gain prevention is unclear. Over the long term, drinking beer regularly but moderately in portions of less than 17 oz (500 ml) per day doesn’t seem to lead to an increase in body weight or belly fat (7, 8). Research has found that light-to-moderate alcohol intake does not cause weight gain. Instead, regular heavy drinking may lead to weight gain over time. This is due to elevated levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin,16 which encouraged the rats to eat extra calories, leading to weight gain.
The effects of alcohol on opioid, serotonergic, and GABAergic pathways in the brain all suggest the potential to increase appetite 62–65. A summary of the effects of alcohol on important appetite hormones and central neurological pathways in humans can be found in Table 2. However, if you drink a lot of beer or binge drink regularly then you are at a very high risk of belly fat does drinking make you gain weight gain, as well as various other serious health problems. So, if you’re trying to lose weight and improve your health, switch to a diet mostly based on whole, unprocessed foods and cut back on added sugar (42, 43, 44).
Don’t Drink Too Much (a.k.a. Mindful Drinking Habits)
If you want to accelerate your weight loss, you can opt for weight-loss drinks like vegetable juices, protein shakes, and more. These can be paired with compatible diet pills as well for better results. Over time, your reduced intake will turn into completely quitting diet soda which will better support health and fitness goals.
