Alcohol inhibits weight loss, but maybe it doesn't

Most weight loss experts agree that 1-2 drinks once a week is okay.
A drink consists of 1 beer, or one glass of wine, or one shot.
The shot may be mixed with diet pop or seltzer.
A typical drink contains between 120-150 calories.

So as I continue on my quest to lose weight and get in shape there is one little thing that I need to work out around, and that is my love and respect for Whiskey and Diet Coke. This is particularly true after a tough day at work, a good day at work, or even an enjoyable day off spent with the family. A couple of drinks is simply a great way of ending the day. However, I have learned that alcohol, even one glass, has an inhibitory effect on weight loss.

John Leyva, of builtlean.com said that a serving of alcohol is:

• 1 glass of wine (5 ounces)
• 1 beer (12 ounces)
• 1 shot of 80 proof/ 40% drink (1.5 ounces) 

He said it's easy to limit yourself to one 12 ounce beer if you are drinking from a can.  It's easy to monitor your whiskey or vodka intake if you are using a shot glass.  However, many bar tenders, for example, just pour wine into a cup, or whiskey or vodka into a drink, meaning you never know how much you are drinking.  It's important that you monitor your intake by mixing your own drinks is the point here. 

Even one beverage has the following effect on weight loss. It causes:

1.  Increased fat storage. Your body begins to break down alcohol fast.  It uses the alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) pathway by converting alcohol into acetaldehyde which gets further broken down into acetate.  Acetaldehyde and acetate are seen as poisons, and therefore are broken down to create energy before carbohydrates. So while only 5% of the alcohol is stored as fat, any carbs you eat will be stored as fat.  It essence, it causes your body to stop burning carbohydrates for energy, resulting increased fat storage. 

2.  Loss of energy.  Your body will need to use water soluble vitamins B1, B2 and B6, folate and C to burn off acetate and acetaldehyde.  It may also require fat soluble vitamins A, E, and K1. This may result in lack of motivation, energy and well being. 

If you stop right there you will be fine.  Alcohol does have other effects if you continue drinking, such as it can:

3.  Inhibit Sleep.  It will increase in the usage of an inhibitory neurotransmitter called GABA, which can lead to depression and addiction.  However, if you limit your intake of alcohol to 1-2 drinks once a week you should be fine.

GABA is what allows you to stay asleep. So while too much alcohol can make you drowsy, by using up your GABA supply, alcohol may make it so that you do not stay asleep.  This lack of sleep can have a disastrous affect on weight loss.  As John Hussman of hussman fitness says:

"Sleep deprivation causes significant imbalances in several hormones – cortisol, ghrelin, and leptin – and will increase your appetite for junk carbohydrates, reduce your metabolic activity during waking hours, and get in the way of muscle growth. Ideally, find a way to get 8 and preferably 9 hours of sleep a night during the main "transformation" part of your program.

4.  Inhibit desire to eat healthy. Alcohol intake can have an impact on the higher processing area of your brain (your cerebral cortex), while leaving lower parts of your brain unaffected.  This can make it so you still want to do things, although the ability to refrain yourself from doing things you might consider unacceptable while you are sober may be inhibited. 

Thinking of this reminds me of a poster one of my dad's sales representatives showed me while I was visiting him at work one day.  The poster showed a man all disheveled lying in bed the morning after a drunk with beer cans lying all around the bed.  Lying next to him was a dog.  My point here is that alcohol tends to make even the unacceptable seem like a good idea at the time.  (Note: I apologize if any dogs or women are offended by this paragraph.)

That said, it also has an inhibitory affect on what you eat.  For example, my wife buys me pretzels because I love to eat pretzels the way my dad loves to eat peanuts, only pretzels are fat free.  Still, while I'm dieting I like to avoid, or at the very least, to limit by pretzel intake.  However, after just two drinks last night, I found myself eating pretzels, and I know I ate more than one serving.  You see, this is not good if you are trying to lose weight.

5.  Causes Dehydration.  Another affect of drinking more than 2 glasses of alcohol is an increase in the anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), and this makes you pee in order for your body to get rid of the alcohol.  Your desire to pee increases with each drink (about 100 ml per 10 grams of alcohol).  This causes dehydration not only due to loss of water but by loss of essential vitamins and minerals.  This can slow down your body's metabolism, thus having the opposite effect of drinking 8-10 glasses of water a day.

6.  Inhibits your desire to exercise. Plus, Leyva adds, "Finally, with heavy drinking, the breakdown of alcohol can occur for up to 48 hours after your last drink. This means less glucose is reaching your brain and working muscles, making you both more tired and quicker to fatigue if you do exercise."  Emphasis added by Leyva.

So, note to self, behave this weekend.

However, while all this sounds fine and dandy, there is evidence that alcohol may actually not inhibit weight loss after all, and many are listed at muscleforlife.com.  This topic was also discussed by Rick Frea over at Respiratory Therapy Cave.  The cave notes that:

Dr. Charles F. Lieber, the same man who established a link between alcohol to liver cancer, said in 1991 that alcohol does not cause weight gain. He said that there is no evidence that alcohol causes weight gain. So, in other words, it's not the alcohol that causes weight gain, it's the other stuff you eat when you are drinking. It's not the fat free alcohol that makes you gain weight at a party, it's eating too many fattening cakes.

Plus there are obvious health benefits to drinking alcohol.  For instance, studies have shown moderate drinking may be good for the heart and prevent Alzheimer's disease.  So, in other words, our science regarding alcohol and weight loss may not be as accurate as we believe.

I am of the belief that it is better to have a night like last night than to not drink at all and have that result in you falling off the diet wagon, per se.  In other words, as my grandpa John used to say (per my mom of course, since he died when I was 3 months old), "Anything in moderation is good for you."

Further reading:

1. John Leyva, of Built Lean: does alcohol prevent weight loss, or cause weight gain
2. Studies link alcohol to worsening asthma
3. John Hussman: Ten Keys to Fast Fitness
4. David Robson: bodybuilding.com: Five ways alcohol hinders weight loss 
5. RT Cave: Myth Buster: Peanuts and alcohol cause you to pack on pounds

Beer and socializing

I love beer. On some nights when I know I don't have to work the next day, I like to sit in my recliner, watching my favorite news program, sipping on a nice cold one. Or, in the summer, out on the deck bantering with a neighbor.

When I was a kid my grandpa would give me a quarter to fetch him another. Occasionally I'd take a sip. It's neat how times change, because I usually wait until the kids are in bed before I click the tab, and I rarely send my kids to fetch another.

Although I think drinking responsibly in front of your kids is a good thing. Okay, so debate me on that if you want. Since we can't protect our kids from everything, I think the best thing we CAN do is show how to responsibly do things, like drinking beer (or spending money is another good example).

My dad and grandpa owned a car dealership, and they always kept beer in the fridge at work. When work was done, they'd sit among employee and play a game of pinachle, and drink a beer or two. I don't know if there was ever cooler bosses than dad and gramps.

Like my dad and grandpa, I am a happy drinker. Well, I am. I remember my dad telling me once that if you aren't a happy drinker, then you better not drink. If you're one of those drinkers who gets angry, or let the alcohol control you, or drink too much, you better not drink at all.

I remember dad letting me go to hunting camp when I was 10, and there was one guy walking around slobbery, grossly, inappropriately drunk, and screaming ribald advice.

Dad took me aside, smiled, breathed his beer/cigarette smelling breath on me, and said, "Don't ever get like that. All that does is make you look like a fool."

That's all dad ever said, and I heeded his advice, and example.

I don't have the luxury of having a job that I can drink while working. You can't even smoke where I work anymore, not that I've ever smoked. I never drink the night before I work either. I mean, I can't. If alcohol for some reason is in my system, and I so happen to get pulled over for a urine test, I'd lose my job. We have a no tolerance program here, which is actually a good thing. Of course this is another sign of how times have changed.

Drinking is a lot worse in the movies. I remember watching Guiding Light once and some lady drank one time in her life and was considered an alcoholic the rest of her time on the show. Usually alcohol gets a bad rap on TV, and is associated with wife beaters and wife beater T-shirts. Some people associate drinking with evil.

Well, not all people drink irresponsibly. Some people who drink are irresponsible, and they tend to show alcohol in a bad light, and get all the media. Most drinkers are responsible.

Dad is now retired, and at 4 p.m. every day he has happy hour with his friends. Still to this day I've never seen him drunk. Happy yes. Drunk no.

A few years ago I visited him. One of his cool neighbors, I observed, had a cup of vodka at his side from the time he woke to the time he went to bed at night. Now HE was a true alcoholic. He was fun, but he was killing himself with the Vodka.

Last year when I visited dad this guy had quit drinking. He had to have surgery, became belligerent because he had to go through detox, and vowed never to drink the stuff again.

Dad said, "That's what happens when you abuse the stuff. If you're wise like you and I, you won't have to give it up like he had to. Now he'll never be able to enjoy this gift again."

Wise is my father. And still the good example he was 30 years ago when I was a kid.

Still, if drinking was like it was portrayed in the movies, I don't think people would have a problem with prohibition.

However, in real life, most people do not drink to get drunk. They drink because they have kids, spouses, and stresses, and it's nice to sit down at the end of the day and knock the tip off the stress. It's nice to end the day happy.

We never drink anywhere but at home, unless there's a guaranteed designated driver. We do on occasion visit the cabin, but we have a rule: "Once you go to the cabin you have to stay at the cabin."

The problem with that is, I have to make sure my asthma is under control if I go out there. Because, not only is the cabin an asthma trigger for me, so is beer.

That's why I wrote this post. I didn't write it so some of you can say Rick Frea is a drunk because he drinks beer on occassion. If that were the case, I'd keep it to my self. But this blog isn't about keeping secrets. It's about asthma. It's about being honest about asthma.

So, beer causes asthma. Beer, while it brings joy at the end of the day, also causes asthma. So, here I am writing at 5:00 in the morning -- woke up tight. No matter how well controlled my asthma is, beer always makes me tight the next day. It's like clockwork.

Beer has fungus in it that can trigger asthma. Likewise, beer dries out your system, including your lungs, which can trigger asthma. And if I drink beer in a bar, or at the cabin where there's lots of dust mites and molds, this can make my asthma even worse. Except it's not so bad now that I'm on Singulair and Advair.

Still, though, while we want to be as normal as possible, we asthmatics still have to be careful all the time. We have to know what might cause asthma, and be wise about exposing ourselves to these things.

I like to be normal, and to socialize like the normal people in my life. Although it's always good to be a little extra cautious, and a little extra responsible whether you have a chronic disease or not.