IS ALCOHOL MAKING YOU FAT

SHRINK YOUR CALORIE INTAKE – AND YOUR STOMACH – BY WATCHING WHAT YOU DRINK!

Let’s face it – almost all of us enjoy an alcoholic drink from time to time. We do it to wind down, to socialise, and to help have a good time. Your alcohol consumption, though, could be ruining your health… and your fitness regime! So if optimal health and weight loss in your goal, then stop forcing your body to ingest calorie-dense, body-destroying alcohol every week.

Clearly alcohol is a toxic partner for your training regime. It’s loaded with empty calories, a standard beer contains between 100 and 200 calories– and it affects your concentration, productivity, mental state and coordination, too!

Alcohol slows down the Central Nervous System and, among other things; it unsettles your hormone, energy and vitamin levels. It can even inhibit the release of growth hormones and testosterone! Recent studies show that growth hormone production – responsible for muscle growth, recovery and bone development – can decrease by as much as 70 per cent due to the effects of alcohol.

REFER TO MY GUIDE BELOW TO HELP STAY ON TRACK AND NOT LET A FEW SOCIAL DRINKS RUIN ALL YOUR HARD WORK.

1. Understand how alcohol affects you and your performance the next day – each person responds differently, even to a single drink.
2. Assess your reasons for drinking in the first place. Are you drinking for social or for emotional reasons? If it’s an emotional factor, alcohol won’t help.
3. Calculate the calories you’re drinking. There are far more nutritional things to put in your body, especially if you’re aiming to lose weight.
4. Choose spirits like gin or vodka, with mixers like soda water with a slice of lemon or lime. Avoid coloured beverages that are loaded with sugar.
5. Alternate your alcohol consumption with non-alcoholic beverages. Water is a great option – its calorie free and limits dehydration.
6. If you have had a few drinks, then be sure to have a big glass of water before bed, it will help with dehydration the next day.

ABOUT MARK MOON

Mark Moon is a holistic fitness and wellbeing coach with over 20 years experience educating people on the importance of a balanced and sustainable approach to their health and lifestyle. His philosophy is to teach people to think long term and big picture about how they want their life to look, and uses modalities such as strength training, yoga and life coaching to help them create it.

As a dynamic and down-to-earth trainer, Mark believes there are three key areas to sustainable fitness: MINDSET – NUTRITION – MOVEMENT – and when optimized, there’s no limit to the personal, professional and wider life goals you can achieve.

You can join Mark’s online fitness and yoga classes, or find him teaching in numerous Sydney-based health clubs including Body Mind Life, The Space Yoga Studio, Flow Athletic, Crunch Fitness and Fitness First.