Does Alcohol Make Me Fat?

Some people enjoy drinking one or two alcoholic beverages each day because they have heard that certain drinks offer a variety of health benefits. The problem is there are conflicting reports regarding alcohol consumption. While some reports say that the antioxidants in red wine can strengthen your heart and lengthen your life span other reports say that alcohol can make you gain weight, slow down your metabolism and negatively affect your bodily functions. The truth is that there is some truth to both types of reports.

Does Alcohol Make You Fat?

When you drink alcohol, your body digests it just as it would food except alcoholic beverages have little nutritional value. Nutritionists would label the calories in alcohol as empty calories. The consumption of calories is the only thing that causes weight gain. Although many people believe that fat and sugar are responsible for weight gain, calories are the actual cause. If you consume a greater amount of calories than you expend throughout the day you gain weight. When you consume fewer calories than you expend you lose weight. It is a simple formula but the addition of alcohol makes it quite complex.

How Can Alcohol Make You Fat?

The human body converts alcohol into acetate, which is much like vinegar. The body uses this vinegar as energy before beginning to burn other calories that have been consumed. This means that if you have a glass of wine with a big steak dinner that the body will burn off the calories in the alcohol first and convert the fatty calories in the steak into fat stores.

Another problem is that that people tend to eat around 20% more calories while drinking alcohol. Alcohol makes you feel hungrier and since you let your inhibitions down after a couple of drinks, you are more likely to make poor food choices. Alcohol and snack foods are a bad combination.

Can Drinking Just a Little Bit of Alcohol Make You Fat?

Some people ask the question, can alcohol make you fat if you only drink one or two drinks? Alcohol will not necessarily make a person fat but the extra calories may just add up if you are having one or two drinks per day. If you are going to drink alcoholic beverages, you need to start exercising regularly or cutting back on your calorie intake.

Eating healthier foods and getting plenty of exercise is a reasonable approach to a healthy lifestyle that includes alcohol. If you plan to consume alcoholic beverages then do not keep tempting snack foods in your house. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a drink as long as you plan accordingly. You can even lose weight if you have a few drinks per week if you are willing to increase the length of your exercise sessions or give up higher calorie foods.